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    "source_key": "britannica_1926",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)",
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    "chunk_id": "1926:west indies british:e6ecb34111c2",
    "title": "WEST INDIES, BRITISH",
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    "verified_text": "in 1925 the estimated total population of this group was 1,805,436 (bahamas 55,423; barbados 159,499; jamaica 904,405; turks and caicos islands 5,400; cayman islands 5,465; trinidad and tobago 381,753; grenada 68,957; st. lucia 54,304; st. vincent 47,591; antigua 29,420; dominica 38,632; montserrat 11,890; st. kitts-nevis 37,140; and the virgin islands 5,557). emizration from the islands to cuba and santo domingo remained considerable, but the adoption of the quota system in the united states in 1924 almost stopped the exodus to that country. i. political history on the outbreak of the world war in august 1914 many west indians came over to enlist, and a contingent comprising 15,601 officers, non-commissioned officers and men was recruited voluntarily for active service and embodicd as the british west indies regiment, which served with distinction in france, flanders, egypt, palestine and elsewhere. private contingents also went over for enlistment in the united kingdom. the total contributions made by the british west indies towards the cost of the war, relief funds, etc., amounted to over £3,250,000, the most notable gift being a contribution of £60,000 annually for 40 years voted by the jamaica legislature. while the idea of political federation of the west indies awoke little enthusiasm the scattered colonies tended increasingly to co-operate in matters of common interest. this is largely attributable to the intercolonial conferences which were held from 1899 onwards to consider such matters as agriculture, legal affairs, quarantine, customs tariffs, etc. all proved emi- nently successful, the customs conference (1919), for example, having resulted in the adoption of uniformity of definition and arrangement of the west indian tariffs, whilst the conference on legal aflairs (1916) led to the establishment of a west indian court of appeal. a further step in the direction of closer union was the foundation in 1917 of the west indian associated chambers of commerce, which holds triennial conferences that serve to focus opinion on commercial mattcrs affecting the group. in 1926 a conference, at which all the west indian colonics as well as british guiana and british honduras were represented by official and unofficial delegates, was held in london to discuss the desirability of setting up a permanent conference or council to discuss periodically west indian affairs. in 1920-21 grenada, st. lucia and st. vincent petitioned the king for the substitu- tion of representative government for the crown colony system. while the request of grenada was granted, those of st. lucia and st. vincent were rejected on the grounds that the signatorics were not sufficiently representative. in 1921-2 a colonial office mission, comprising the hon. edward wood, m.p., under-secretary for the colonies, the hon. w. ormsby-gore, m.p. and mr. r. a. wiseman visited the west indies and british guiana with the object of promoting io2t closer touch between the colonial office and those colonies and of studying the constitutional question. they visited in suc- cession all the islands and british guiana. in his report (cmd. 1,679) mr. wood advocated the reintroduction of the elective system into the constitutions of grenada, st. lucia and st. vincent and its adoption in trinidad and tobago. he recom- mended an increase in the tariff preference granted by great britain on empire sugar from one-sixth to one-third, and in the event of the duties being reduced its stabilisation on the basis of not less than £3 15s. od. per ton on 96° sugar, and the adoption of the proposals for establishing an “ all red ” telegraphic system in the british west indies. most of his recommendations were adopted. trinidad, which had been since its cession in 1797 a crown colony, with its ward tobago, was granted a measure of representative government, and the elective element was reintroduced into the constitutions of grenada, st. lucia, st. vincent and dominica. the result of the british empire exhi- bitions of 1924 and 1925 was to attract much tourist traffic to these colonies, and to increase the interest taken in their affairs in great britain. delegations of members of parliament visited parts of this area in 1924 and 1925; the prince of wales had already toured them in 1920. ii. economic history trade—the world war and the boom which followed brought about a remarkable revival of prosperity to the british west indies, their total trade rising from {20,993,559 1n 1913 to £54,691,648 in 1920. in 1923 the total was {30,674,367. the chief staples, sugar, rum, molasses, cacao, cotton and arrowroot, all commanded greatly enhanced prices, the only industry, indeed, that reaped no benefit being that of the production of lime and lime products in dominica, which was adversely affected by the lack of shipping facilities and by import restrictions in the united states, more recently it suffered from the outbreak of withertip disease, which necessitated imperial assistance of £22,000 (loan £13,400; grant £8,600). some anxiety was caused in 1912 by the decision of the imperial government to withdraw from the international convention for the suppression of sugar bounties and cartels, but the remaining high contracting powers having decided to adhere to that agreement no ilt effects resulted. though great britain withdrew from the con- vention, she decided to adhere to its principles and not to give a preference to sugar produced within the empire or to cane over beet, in aug. 1918 she gave to the signatories of the convention six months’ notice of her intention to resume complete liberty of action in respect of her policy with regard to sugar, and the finance act of 1918 provided for the granting of a preference of one-sixth off the duties on sugar, molasses, tobacco, coffee, cacao and other products imported from within the empire into the united kingdom, and a preference of 2s. 6d. per gallon on rum. the preference on sugar was increased in 1925 from is. 8-3d. per cwt. on sugar polarising 96° (to which it had fallen consequent upon a reduction in the sugar duty in the preceding year) to 3s. 8-75d., and stabilised for 10 years at that figure by clause 7 of the finance act of 1925. following an inquiry in 1909 by a royal commission, a conference was held at ottawa in i912 between representatives of the dominion and the british west indian colonies, the bahamas, british honduras and jamaica excepted, to consider the question of closer trade. on april 9 1912 a reciprocal trade agreement was signed, the basis of which was a mutual preference of 20% on the chief products of the countries concerned, with a minimum preference on flour in favour of canada of 12 cents per 100 lb. and 15 cents on g6° test sugar not over no. 16 dutch standard in colour in favour of the british west indies. certain concessions which the canadian refiners had enjoyed of importing foreign sugar at the british pref- erential rates were withdrawn. the agreement came into force on june 2 1913. grenada gave her adhesion in the same year. in 1920 a second conference was held at ottawa at which all the west indian colonies, and also the impcrial government, were represented. a new agreement was signed on june 18 1920, and brought into force in may 1921, under which canada agreed to give to british west indian products a tariff preference of 50%, whilst the british west indies similarly agreed to extend to canadian products tariff preference of 50% in the case of barbados, british guiana and trinidad, 333 % in that of british honduras, the leeward islands and the windward islands, 25°% in jamaica and 10°%% in bahamas, the legislature of which colony afterwards woluntarily increased the preference to one of 25° 5. certain products were again specifically dealt with, the preference on canadian flour entcring the west indies being not less than is. per 196 ib., and that on west indian sugar being not less than 83-712 cents per 100 ib. on 96° test. the government of canada further agreed to endeavour to arrange for a weekly freight, mail and passenger service, with steamers of 5,000 to 6,000 tons burden, capable of steaming 12 1022 knots, between st. john (new brunswick) or halifax (nova scotia) down the islands lying to windward, british guiana and back, the colonies contributing £27,000 per annum; also a service of freight, mail and passenger steamers of 3,500 tons burden, capable of steam- ing io knots, from canada to nassau (bahamas), jamaica, belize {british hlonduras) and back, fortnightly, the colonics concerned contributing at the rate of £13,000 per annum toward any loss in- volved should the service prove unremunerative. the canada- british ilonduras service was inaugurated in jan. 1921, but the western service was withheld. a declaration appended to the agrce- ment favoured the laying of british-owned and british-controlled cables as soon as possible, to connect bermuda with barbados, trinidad, british guiana, the windward islands, the leeward islands and turk’s islands or jamaica. in 1925 a new and more comprehensive agreement was signed under which west indian produce (other than tobacco, cigars and alcohol) was to enjoy a preference of 50° off the full duty on enter- ing the dominion. canada was to withdraw the benefit of the british preferential tariff from any british colony producing cacao beans which did not extend to her a satisfactory reciprocal preference. she was to admit, free of duty, bananas produced in british colonies and impose a duty of 50 cents per bunch on foreign bananas, canada also undertook to provide for the western group a fort- nightly freight passenger and mail service from canadian ocean ports calling at all the islands both ways and at british guiana, and alternating with a fortnightly freight service from river ports in summer and ocean ports in winter calling at st. kitts, antigua, barbados, trinidad and british guiana, towards the cost the colonies visited were to contribute £29,000 annually. for the western group canada was to provide a fortnightly passenger freight and mail service with refrigeration for 70,000 bunches of bananas alter- nating with a fortnightly freight service to carry 50,000 bunches of bananas. the west indies on their part were to give increased tariff preferences, namely 2s. per barrel or bag of 196 ib. of canadian flour, and in the case of jamaica, the bahamas and british honduras a preference not less than 30% on dairy products, meat and apples, and in the other colonies a preferential duty of not less than one-third of the general rate. industries.—sugar remains the principal staple. under the central factory system canes from the surrounding estates or farms are dealt with at a central base, at which the most efficient extracting machin- ery can be installed. the cocoa industry suffers from competition with the rapidly increasing production of cacao in west africa. the banana industry is making headway in jamaica after a set- back due to a succession of hurricanes in 1915, 1916 and 1917. a considerable acreage has been planted under bananas in st. lucia, and much interest in this crop is being shown also in grenada and trinidad, it being believed that arrangements will shortly be made for the provision of a fruit steamer service. the sea island cotton industry, which owed its development in the west indies to the ravages of the boll-weevil in the united states, received a check in 1920, through the appearance of the still more dreaded boll-worm in st. kitts and montserrat, to which it was brought by a brazilian vessel. a comparatively new industry, which made rapid progress, was that of rice. at one time british guiana had imported large quantities of rice for the eastern tmmi- grants, but in 1905 this colony was already able to cover her require- ments and export 45,223 lb. and in 1925 15,495,727 pounds, almost as rapid has been the development of the petroleum in- dustry in trinidad. the existence of petroleum deposits in trinidad has long been recognised. as far back as 1864 oi] was struck, but it proved impossible to make a financial success of the enterprises concerned. about 1900 mr. randolph rust, a local resident (mayor of port of spain in 1921}, imported modern oil-boring machinery and successfully struck oil at aripero in 1901. other prospectors came on the scene, and in 1910 followed the successful flotation of the trinidad oilfields, and trinidad enjoyed an extraordinary boom. the new industry, which, was officially inaugurated in gtr, devel- oped rapidly. with many new wells being drilled it was certain that the production of oil, which in 1925 amounted to 126,233,293 gal., would undergo material expansion. college of tropical agriculture —as the outcome of the report of a committee appointed by lord milner in 1919, the impcrial college of tropical agriculture was founded in 1921, with heaclquarters at st. augustine, about seven m, east of port of spain, trinidad. its objects are to provide training in the science and practice of tropical agriculture to students intending to become tropical planters, agricul- tural administrators or officers or specialists in different branches of agricultural science and technology, and to offer facilities for the study of tropical agriculture to graduates of other colleges and universities. an important feature of the college is the provision for research and investigation work which its laboratories and fields afford. the site was given by the govt. of trinidad and tobago, whose planters furnished £50,000 towards the erection of the college building, the first wing of which was opened by the governor, sir horace byatt, in the presence of lord pecl and the other members of a parliamentary delegation which was visiting the island. maintenance is provided for by imperial grants and con- tributions from the govts. of certain of the west indian and west african colonies. attached to the college is an instructional westinghouse—west point sugar factory, towards which the british sugar machinery firms contributed plant to the value of £20,000. communications.—in 1915 the royal mail steam packet co. terminated the transatlantic contract steamer service on the ground that they had been precluded from using their terminal port at southampton. in the same year the fortnightly intercolonial con- tract service was also terminated by mutual agreement between the company and-the colonies concerned. for some time thereafter the company continued to berth small passenger steamers for the west indies at irregular intervals; but this service was also brought to an end in 1920, and passengers between the west indies and great britain were compelled to travel by foreign steamers, cargo boats or via canada or the united states. in 1920 t. & j. ilarrison, who had acquired scrutton sons & co.’s cargo service, entered the trans- atlantic passenger business. they now send passenger steamers every few weeks to barbados, trinidad and british guiana. later, elders and fyffes ltd. included barbados and trinidad in the itinerary of certain of their steamers. it is consequently only in and in connection with the smaller islands that the need for better steam- ship communication is seriously felt, though throughout the colonies there is a demand for a regular line of steamers to carry fruit to (sreat britain. new cables were laid in 1924 from grand turk to barbados, with spurs from barbados to british guiana and trinidad, and wireless stations established at barbados, grenada, st. lucia, st. vincent, st. kitts, antigua and dominica. the new system is conducted by the pacific cable board on behalf of the govts. of great britain, canada, british guiana and the west indian colonies concerned. (a. el a.) bip_iocrapuy.—a. e. aspinall, the british west indies, their present position and prospects (1921); w.g, a. o. gore, the west indies to-day, articles reprinted from the times (1922); a shipley, islunds west indian-acgian. sce also a. e. aspinall, colonial re- ports (annual). the pocket guide to the west indies. westinghouse, george (1846-1914), american inventor and manufacturer, was born at central bridge, n.y., oct. 6 1846. he entered the union army in the civil war in 1863, but in 1864 was appointed third assistant engineer in the navy. at the close of the civil war he resigned and entered union college, but on the advice of the president, withdrew to devote his time to mechanical invention. in 1865 he invented a device for re- placing derailed cars and also a reversible steel railway frog. in 1869 he patented his air-brake and organised the westinghouse air brake company. in 1872 he invented the automatic air- brake (see 4.414). this brake was quickly adopted by railways in america and gradually in europe. he also developed a system of railway signals, operated by compressed air with the assistance of electrical contrivances. in june 1912, he received the edison gold medal for “ meritorious achievement in con- nection with the development of the alternating current system for light and power.” in 1893 this system was installed at the chicago exposition. later his pittsburgh establishment built dynamos for the power plants at niagara falls, for the rapid transit systems of new york city, and for the london metropoli- tan railway. westinghouse also devised a method for conveying gas through long-distance pipes, thus making it a practicable fuel. he died in new york march 12 1914. west point (sce 28.558).—the administration building, east academic building, riding hall, two new cadet barracks, cadet chapel and chaplain’s quarters, artillery barracks and stable, cavalry barracks and stable, eight sets of officers’ quarters, two apartment buildings each containing eight sets of officers’ quarters, a cadet laundry and a concrete athletic stadium with a capacity of 20,000 were completed after 1910. by act of may 4 1916, the number of cadetships authorised at the academy was increased to 1,332. by authority of the war department, april 191s, candidates were permitted, in lieu of passing the regular entrance examination, to qualify for admission upon the presenta- tion of satisfactory certificate of previous academic work in accredited institutions. by acts of 1919 and 1920, the pay of cadets was fixed at $780 per annum and one ration per clay or commutation thereof at the rate of $1.08 per day. the war and the demand for officers led the war department io direct the graduation of the first or upper class april 20 1917, and of the second class aug. 30 1917. ‘the next year the need for officers resulted in the graduation of three classes, the first, june 12 1918, and the second and third together, nov. 1 1918. a class of new cadets was admitted at an irregular time, nov. 2 west virginia 1918, and provision was made for a temporary one-year course. after the armistice the war department directed, may 12 1910, that the course of instruction be fixed for three years, but the following year congress specified that the course should be four years. the academic authorities thereupon reorganised the curriculum in the light of the most recent military and educa- tional experience.— the schedule contains the following features:— (1) the upper classes on duty undergo military training june 15 to aug. 30, at west point; (2) the new fourth class enter the academy july i and receive at west point preliminary military training until aug. 30; (3) during the academic year, extending from sept. 1 to june 4, tactical drills and supervised athletics alternate daily for all cadets; (4) academic instruction is given in the following subjects — fourth class, mathematics, english, french and survey- ing; zhird class, mathematics, english, french, political history, drawing and theorctical tactics; second class, natural and experi- mental philosophy, chemistry and clectricity, spanish and drawing; first class, military engineering, law, military art and _ history, ordnance and gunnery, economics and government and military hygiene. training in riding and equitation is given to the upper three classes. the number of graduates of the academy 1910 to 1925 inclusive was 2,993. the superintendents since 1910 have been t. i]. barry, 1910-2; c. p. townsley, 1912-5; john biddle, 1916-7; s. e. tillman, 1917-9; douglas mcarthur, 1919-22; fred w. sladen, ; ae a5 west virginia (see 28.560), a state of the united states of america. in the decade before 1920 the population increased from 1,221,119 to 1,463,701 (19:9%), the urban population from 18:7% to 25-2%, and the density of population from 50-8 to 60-9 per square mile. the five largest cities in 1920 were wheeling (56,208), huntingdon (50,177), charleston (39,608), clarksburg (27,869) and parkersburg (20,050). a griculture.—in 1920, 62:2°% of the land area of west virginia was in farms, and 57-7 wasimproved. the total number of farms was 87,289, and the total farm acreage was 9,560,720. in the pre- ceding decade the total value of all farm property increased from $314,738,540 to $406,430,617 (57-7°%), and the value of farm lands and buildings from $264,390,954 to $410,783,406, the value of implements and machinery from $7,011,513 to $18,395,058, and livestock from $43,336,073 to $67,261,153. ‘the number of farms reported mortgaged grew from 9,525 in 1910 to 10,274 in 1920. the average debt per mortgaged farm was $1,241 in 1920. of the 87,289 farms in the state in 1920, 86,785 were operated by white farmers, of whom only 752 were foreign-born, and there were only so4 coloured farmers, compared with 708 in 1910. of the native white farmers 71,18r were owners, 1,071 managers and 13,781 tenants. domestic animals —the following table shows the number of domestic animals in 1910, 1920 and 1925:— i910 1920 1925 horses 176,530 169,148 157,000 mules . 11,577 14,981 15,000 milch cows 560,770 587,462 224,000 other cattle 7 be 343,000 sheep 556,952 509,831 514,000 swine a a 261,000 the value of all crops for west virginia in 1919 was $96,537, 459, compared with $36,167,014 in 1909. the rotg value of the corn crop was $29,768,131; oats, $3,054,668; wheat, $8,395,007; hay and forage, $23,746,574; potatoes, $6,461,619; tobacco, $2,731,338; apples, $7,540,491; peaches, $1,518,784. the varia- lions in production of the chief crops in 1909, 1919, and 1923 is shown in the following table:— 1909 i9iq 1923 bu. du. su. ; corn 17,119,097 | 17,010,357 20,536,000 | oats 1,728,806 3,054,068 4,000,000 wheat 2,575,996 4,747,812 2,760,000 buckwheat 533.670 537,883 693,000 potatoes 4,077,066 2,809,398 4,851,000 oe in 1920 4,080,000 lb. of tobacco were produced. fruit-raising has recently become more important, especially in the eastern 1023 panhandle and south branch. in 1922 the production of apples was 5,600,000 bu. and peaches 715,000 bushels. the extension of agricultural teaching, which was established at the west virginia university in 1913, has been an important factor in the development of scientific agricultural methods. mining.—next to agriculture, mining is the chief occupation. in mineral production west virginia ranks second among the states of the union. the total annual mineral output is valued at over $300,000,000, oil production in 1920 was 8,173,000 bbl., valued at about $20,000,000. the yield in 1922 was 7,026,000 bbl. and in 1924 was 5,924,000. gas production, which in 1o19 was approximately 201,500,000,000 cu. ft. (valued at $40,304,- 500), decreased to 192,960,989,000 cu. ft. in 1924. coal produc- tion, which had reached 61,671,019 short (net) tons in 1910, con- tinued to increase steadily, reaching in 1914 71,707,626 short tons, valued at $71,391,408 and furnishing employment to 78,363 persons. ‘the industry became especially active when the united states entered the world war. in 1916 the production increased to 86,460,127 short tons, valued at $102,366,092. in 1919 it was 75,500,000 short tons, and, together with coke production of 1,454,000 short tons, gave employment to 91,566 persons. in 1920 it was 87,500,000 tons. the production of coke, which steadily increased until 1910, when it reached 14,217,380 short tons, valued at $7,525,922, diminished in 1919 to 1,454,000 short tons. the total output of coal in 1922 was 81,000,000 tons, that of 1923 was 97,475,177 tons, valued at $276,759,877, and that of 1924 was 103,325,960 tons, valued at $206,651,920. the deter- mination of the united mine workers in 1912 to unionise the mines of west virginia led to a bitter and prolonged labour war. manufactures —in 1914 west virginia was the 28th state in importance of manufactures. the number of establishments was 2,749, with an invested capital of $175.998,011 and a production valued at $193,511,782. the number of persons employed was 79,353 (11% more than 1909). earning $51,377,760. the leading industries were lumber and timber, steelworks, rolling-mills, tin- plate and terneplate, glass, leather, railway cars and shop con- struction, flour-milling, and the manufacturing of clay products. the state ranked second in the production of glass, and also in the production of tinplate and terneplate, and eighth in the value of clay products. by 1923 the number of manufacturing establish- ments was approximately 3,000 with a total capital of $225,000,- ooo, employing 110,000 labourers and producing goods valued at over $228,000,000. iwater-power.—one of the most prominent features is electri- cal production by water-powcr, which has largely transformed mine operation. large projects have been planned on new gau- lay and cheat rivers. the latest activity of this kind is on cheat river at the pennsylvania line, where a large dam was finally com- pleted in 1926. a revision of the restrictions of the state water- power act with a view to co-operation with the federal water- power act and to encourage water-power development was recommended by gov. cornwell in 1921. a senate joint resolu- tion, adopted april 29 1921, authorised the governor to appoint a commission to consider suitable water-power legislation suitable for development and proper control of natural water-power sites. banks and banking.—banking resources increased more than 100°, in the years 1916-25. from 1920 to 1923 the total deposits in west virginia state banks rose from $154,440, 268 to $186,802, 607 (which, however, decreased to $183,922,397 in 1924) and in west virginia national banks from $136,717,090 to $156,676,000. the condition of the banks in west virginia in 1924 was as follows :— | = eats nee eh state banks number 125 22: capital $13,126,000 $20,339,043 surplus 10,529,000 13,805,900 loans 131,320,000 71,729,992 deposits 34,429,000 183,922,307 finance.—the long impending dispute known as the virginia debt question, which arose from the formation of west virginia 1024 as a separate state in 1863, was partly settled by a u.s. supreme court decision of 1911 and a later judgment of rors fixing the ob- ligation of west virginia at $12,393,929.50 (including interest since 1861). it was finally settled in 1919 when the west vir- ginia legislature, facing a threat of compulsion, arranged to pay $1,062,287.16 in cash and the balance by an issue of “ listable ” 31% bonds in favour of virginia, payable in 1939 or earlier. the state fund revenue for the year ending june 30 1924 was $10,416,699 and the disbursements were $9,193,997. on june 30 1924 the total bonded indebtedness of the state was $39,100,000, of which $9,100,000 were virginia debt bonds and $30,000,000 were road bonds. before 1914 west virginia obtained its revenue for state purposes from a small direct levy on assessed valuations, a charter or licence tax on corporations, and from liquor or other licence. an act of 1915 imposed a business tax which in 1921 produced $1,400,000. the legislature in 1919 imposed a privilege tax on pipe-lines carrying oil and gas. this law, which was expected to yield about $1,500,000, was declared unconstitutional by the u.s. supreme court in 1921. anticipat- ing the failure of the law the legislature of 1921 passed an act which repealed the laws of 1915 and 1919 and substituted there- for a gross sales tax desizned to reach every person, firm, associ- ation or corporation, doing a business of $10,000 or more in the state, and also declaring a tax on persons practising professions on the excess of their annual gross income above $10,000. in 1925 the gross sales tax and the gasolene tax were increased. from 1918 to 1923 direct taxes increased $24,694,311 (120%). in 1918 the aggregate assessed valuation of all property was $1,449,451- 754, in 1923 it was $2,109,813,186 and in 1924 it was $2,122,919- 846 {real estate, $1,236,516,283; personal, $430,789,236, and public utility, $455,514,327). education.—in 1924 the total school population was 479,766, the total school enrolment 401,344, the average daily attendance 316,510, the per capita cost of education $37.33 based on enu- meration and $44.20 based on enrolment. the total number of teachers was 13,632. the total number of school houses was 7,196. the expenditure for all public schools {elementary and high) was $21,446,542, and the total for higher state institutions was $1,860,814. the value of public-school property was estimat- ed at $40,981,335. a compulsory school law of 1920 has steadily become more effective. the development of the high schools has been a prominent feature of recent educational growth. in 1924 the state had 218 classified high schools with 1,733 teachers an an enrolment of 32,075, with 5,317 graduates during the year. the high school property was valued at $16,277,253. the total cost of maintenance in 1923-4 was $3,402,730, or $105.08 per ca- pita. under the act of rorg the control of all educational affairs of the state, from the lowest school to the university, was vested in a state board of education. the board has an advisory coun- cil of three coloured citizens. public health—in 1914 a hygiene laboratory was established. in 1915 a state department of health was created; two new divi- sions, vital statistics and child welfare, were added by an act of to1g. in 1925 general laws relating to health and medicine in- cluded provisions for examination and registration of midwives and nurses, for regulation of the practice of pharmacy and of chi- ropractic, for prevention of the sale of fraudulent diplomas by medical schools, for regulating the sale of caustic poisons and for legal action against places of prostitution. state government.—an amendment proposed in 1917 and rati- fied in nov. 1918 provided that an itemised and classified budget should be prepared by the board of public works and presented to the legislature for its guidance in determining appropriations. the governor urged the necessity of a modification which would place upon the executive the duty and the authority of preparing the budget, as the original draft of the amendment (before muti- lation by the legislature) had provided, and in 1925 the legisla- ture submitted a budget amendment placing large responsibility and power in the hands of the executive in the preparation of the budget. anothcr amendment ratified in nov. 1920, provided for two periods of every regular session of the legislature—one of 15 days in january, primarily for presentation of bills, and another weygand—whales and whaling of 45 days in march-april, primarily for consideration and action on bills. an amendment in 1920 increased the salaries of members of the legislature to $500. by an act of 1915 the membership of the house of delegates (previously 86) was increased to 94. fol- lowing 1913 the salaries of elective state officers and supreme judges were increased. by an act of 1919 the salary of the governor was increascd to $10,000, effective marth 4 1921. by an act of to19 a dept. of public safety (state police) was established to relicve the military arm of the state and to aid in abolishing the system of private peace officers. its need was demonstrated by a serious condition resulting from a strike of steel workers at benwood and weirton in the upper panhandle. among the most important acts of the legislature of 1923 were those providing for instruction in american history and civics in all public and private schools, for organisation of co-operative marketing associations to facilitate the sale of agricultural prod- ucts, for increasing compensation paid to injured employces and for the appointment of factory inspectors. among the most important general laws enacted in 1925 was one authorising a bond issue of an additional $20,000,000 for further extension of state highways, one providing a better system of deposits of state funds, one creating a state forest and conservation com- mission, several] relating to public health and medicine, and sev- eral relating to banking and taxation. the state continued republican in politics, although party division resulted in the election of a democrat, john j. cornwell, to the governor’s office in 1916 to succeed gov. h. d. hatfield. in the elections of rg20 and 1924, the republicans elected the entire state ticket headed by ephraim f. morgan in 1920 and by howard gore in 1924. bibliography.—j. m. callahan, semi-centenntal history of west virginia (1913) and iistory of west virginia, old and new (1923); thos. c. miller and h. maxwell, history of west virginia and its people (1913); john t. harris, west virginia legislative itandbook (1920). (j. m. c.*) weygand, max (1867- ), french soldier, was born at brussels jan. 21 1867. having entered the military college at st. cyr in 1885, as a foreigner, he proceeded to the cavalry school at saumur. he was appointed sub-lieutenant in 1888 and after successive promotions commanded the 5th hussars in r912. on sept. 21 1914, as a temporary colonel, he was appointed chief of the general staff of an army, and in aug. 1916 he was made a gencral of brigade. from the outset of the world war he was the immediate assistant of marshal foch, whom he succeeded as the french representative on the inter-allicd general staff in 1917. in april 1918 he resumed his work as chief of the general statf under marshal foch, which post he held during the remainder of the war; and tn this capacity he was considered by many to be what berthier was to napoleon. but, and here the balance was in his favour, he proved himself capable of personally directing opcrations on a very large scale in poland. in aug. 1920, when warsaw was surrounded and threatened by a soviet army, at a distance of only 20 km., gen. weygand arrived, and speedily reconstituting the disorganised polish army, launched an offensive against the bolsheviks’ vul- nerable points. in dec. the enemy was in retreat. when the people of warsaw acclaimed him, he said: “ my rele was mercly to fill up the gaps; it was the heroic polish nation itself which won the victory.” weygand became a member of the conseil superieur de la guerre, and was made a grand officer of the legion of honour on sept. 1 1920. in nov. and dec. 1922 he served as military expert on the french delegation to the lausanne conference, and in jan. 1923, he was sent to the rhine to inspect the allied troops, thesame year he succeeded gen. gouraud as high commissioner in syria, where he proved himself to be a remarkable organiser. he was recalled to paris on nov. 29 1924, and placed in charge of the centre des hautes etudes militaires. (m. gu.) whales and whaling (28.570).—the last two decades of the rgth century which witnessed, at many european and american ports, the decay almost to extinction of whaling by the use of sailing ships and harpoons thrown from their boats, saw also the beginnings of the new whaling which was to replace wharton, edith it. the svend foyn gun (see 28.571) was first employed for the capture of whales near the norwegian coast; it was carried on small steamers and the whales being taken near shore were towed back to harbour for flensing and the extraction of oil. these three features—the use of the harpoon gun and harpoon with explosive head, of steamers capable of manoeuvring quickly and towing the whales, and of shore stations at which efficient plant could be installed for economic utilisation of the catch— are the essentials of modern whaling, an industry which has spread to practically every ocean coast of the world. afethods —no material change has been made in the harpoon, which has four 12-in. barbs which open out on entering the whale. whale catchers and factories, however, have been developed greatly. a modern catcher is of 150 tons, with a crew of 11 men: she may reach 130 ft. in length, and can develop a speed of 12 to 15 knots. similarly a shore station, with its accommodation, engine-houses, boilers and machines, is a small settlement and gives employment to about 150 men. latterly, to enable whaling to be carried out in regions in which the maintenance of shore factories is difficult or impracticable, large ships equipped with boilers and other plant and capable of carrying 5,000 to 7,000 tons of whale oil are used. these float- ing factories do not operate in the onen sea, but take up their position in such sheltered coves as they can find, where the attendant catchers (generally three in rumber) feed them with whales. the floating factory taken by capt. larsen to the ross sea was a 7,000-ton ship and was accompanicd by five catchers. although utilising a far greater proportion of the whale than was possible in the early days of whaling, floating factories are less efficient in economy than the shore stations. factory processes.—on arrival at the factory, the whale is drawn up a sloping stage by means of a steam winch, power being used also in stripping the blubber, dividing blubber and carcass and transporting them to the boilers. the blubber is tried down in open boilers, the flesh and bones in pressure boilers, steam being the heating agent. the oil is graded into five qualities, of which grades 0 and 1 are obtained from blubber alone, 2 and 3 from carcass and bones and 4 from refuse. the finer quatnes, after hydrogenation, are used in soap-making (see oils, fats and soap). the oil was of great importance during the w ar as a source of glycerin; it is also used in the manufacture of margarine, and in dressing leather and fibre. the meat, espe- cially that of certain species, is much used for food in japan and has been used on the pacific coast of the united states; for modern use, however, it must be eaten or tinned when very fresh. whale meal and guano are made for cattle feeding and fertiliser respectively. whalebone has much declined in impor- tance in recent years. ambergris is still employed in making perfumes. the value of the oil, however, enormously pre- ponderates. present conditions—the new methods spread rapidly over the north atlantic seaboard reaching iceland and the faeroes before 1900 and great britain shortly after, and after more than one exploratory voyage antarctic whaling was resumed early in this century. the whaling in this region centres about the dependencies of the falkland is., whose waters are now by far the most productive whaling field. in 1906 norwegian companies took 47,200 bbl. of oil from the northern and 4,200 bbl. from the southern hemisphere; in 1911 they took 38,o00 from the former and 306,000 from the latter. it may be added that the technical success of the norwegians has ied to whaling being very largely in their hands. according to expert evidence given before an inter-departmental committee on the falkland is. dependencies, 72° of the world’s supply of whale oil in 1917 was contributed by norwegian companies; even in com- panies whose capital is in british or other hands the expert labour is almost entirely norwegian. types of whale—the whales of the falkland is. dependencies are chiefly the blue whale (balaenoptera musculus) which may reach 100 ft. in length and yields on an average 12 tons of oil, the fin whale (b. physalus) giving 7 tons, the humpback (megaptera nodosa) with 5 tons, together with right whales, 1025 sei and other species in far smaller numbers. during the years 1909-18 the mean annual numbers of all kinds taken was 8,197 and in some years the catch exceeded 10,000, while in the same period the total value of products rose from just over £250,000 to over £1,500,000. danger of over-fishing-—unfortunately the very success of whaling brings its own dangers. one catcher has been xnown to bring to her station (vancouver) 325 whales in seven months, and six whales in one short voyage. thus the destructive eflect of modern whaling exceeds immensely that prevailing in the arctic or south sea whaling of former times. in the antarctic whaling mentioned the fishery has shown a tendency for the humpback whales to figure less largely in the catch, and for the tin whales which succeeded them to give place to blue whales; and though, perhaps, this may be explained in part by the increasing facility with which improvement in ships and gear permits larger and more valuable species to be attacked, when coupled with the known history of several other whale fisheries it constitutes a prima facie case for inquiring whether, notwithstanding the rigid regulations of the fishery by limita- tion of catching power, the region is not being fished to the detriment of future supply. sctentific investigations.—such fears have led to the launching of a comprehensive investization into the whales, and the oceanic conditions affecting their growth, movements and abun- dance. capt. scott’s “ discovery ” has been practically rebuilt and as the royal research ship ‘‘ discovery,’? commissioned for the work, which is financed by the falkland is. govt. and directed by a special committee appointed by the colonial oimfice. it is impossible here to detail the wide field of investi- ration undertaken. the danger of exhausting the whale stock of (for instance) south georgia clearly depends largely on whether the catch 1s drawn from a separate local race or from the fringe of a great circumpolar stock. an important part of the investigations consists in marking whales by discharging at them numbcred discs, resembling drawing pins in shape, which fasten into the whale’s hide. these marks when returned by the whaler on the ultimate capture of the whale will cast lisht on the creature’s migrations and thus on the question referred to, and if sufficiently numerous on the rate of destruc- tion. a vessel of whale-catcher type appropriately named “ william scoresby,” will be employed in this work but will co-operate with ‘ discovery ”’ in other ways. a laboratory has been placed on south georgia for the use of the staff. the investigations, which will keep close touch with other expedi- tions, can hardly fail to yicld results of great economic and scientific importance. pelagic whaling, in which the whales are treated at sea after being drawn up on a slipway lect into the stern of a large floating factory, has been inaugurated. it is too early to learn whether this method, which can hardly approach existing methods in efficient use of materials, will be a financial success: but if successful and permitted unrestricted development it will clearly increase the danger of depletion. pea dig eit —j. hyort, fishert og hvalfangst 1 det nordlige norge (bergen, 1902); r. c. andrews, whale hunting with gun and camera (1916); the set whale, american museum of natural history monographs, n. series, vol. i, pt. 6 (1916); report of inter- departmental committee on research and development in the de- pendencies in the falkland islands, cd. 657 (1920); j. t. jenkins, a itistory of the vw hale fisheries (1921); s. risting, ay itvalfangstens itistorie (oslo, 1922 hawes, w *haling (1924); george f. dow, whale ships and w waine (1925). (j. o wharton, edith (1862- ), american novelist, the daughter of george frederick jones, was born in new york city, but spent most of her later life in italy and france. in 1885 she married edward wharton, a boston banker, and in 1891 she began her literary career by contributing to scribner’s afagasine a story entitled afrs. afanstey’s wiew. her first long novel, the valley of decision, a not very interesting essay in historical romance, was published in rg02. the ilouse of mirth (1905) definitely established her reputation as inferior to henry james’ alone in the field which she and james together ploughed. 1026 her splendid sense of character, her ineluctable wit would have secured her a still higher place in literature if, owing to long residence abroad, she had not too often set her characters amid the frivolity of cosmopolitan socicty. the best known of her later publications are: the fruit of the tree (1907); tales of afen and ghosts (1910); ethan frome (1911); the custom of the country (1913); the age of innocence (1920); old new york (1924), and the amfother’s recon pense (1925). wheat: see grain. wheatley, john (1869- ), british politician, was born on may 18 1869. educated in village schools in lanarkshire, he worked in the coal mines till 1891. after serving two years on the lanarkshire county council, he was elected to the glasgow city council in 1912, becoming a bailie, and acting as leader of the labour group. he was also chairman of the scottish national housing council. in 1922 he was elected m.p. for the shettleston division of glasgow. a member of the inde- pendent labour party from 1908, he was on its administrative council in 1923 and 1924. as minister of health in the labour govt. he was responsible for the housing act of 10924, which provided for a continuous building programme over a period of 15 years, designed to secure the erection of 2,500,000 houses to be iet at rents within the means of the working class. in a large number of pamphlets, and through journalistic articles, mr. wheatley set out what is known as a left wing view of british labour policy. white, andrew dickson (1832-10918), american cduca- tionalist (see 28.599), died at ithaca, n.y., nov. 4 1918. his later works included seven great statesmen in the warfare of humanity with unreason (1gto) and the work of benjamin hale (1911). in 1913 he published a new edition of the warfare of science and theology in christendom. white, edward douglass (1845-1021), american jurist, was born on a plantation in the parish of lafourche, la., nov. 3 1845, his father being 7th governor of louisiana. he was edu- cated at mount st. mary’s, md., georgetown (d.c.) college, and, after the outbreak of the civil war, at the jesuit college in new orleans. during the latter part of the year he served as a private in the confederate army. [le studied law in the office of edward bermudez, later chief justice of louisiana, was admit- ted to the bar in 1868, and practised law in new orleans. in 1874 he was elected to the state senate, and four years later was appointed associate justice of the louisiana supreme court. in 1891 he was elected to the u.s. senate, and before completing his term was appointed, in 1894, associate justice of the u.s. supreme court by president cleveland. in 1910 he was appointed chief justice by president taft. many of his notable opinions were delivered in connection with the sherman anti-trust law. of special importance were his opinions requiring the dissolution of the standard oil co. and the american tobacco co. in rott. as chief justice he administered the oath of office to president wilson in 1913 and 1917, and to president harding in 1921. he died at washington, d.c., may 19 1921. white, sir george stuart (1835-1912), british soldier (see 28.599), died in london june 24 1912. white, sir william henry (1845-1913), british naval architect (see 28.602), died in london feb. 27 1913. whiteaves, joseph frederick (1835-1909), british palacontologist (see 28.602), died at ottawa, canada, aug. 9 1900.",
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