Poland

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

1922. The first parliamentary elections under the constitution were held in November, 1922 , and resulted in the seating of representatives of no less than thirteen parties in the House of Deputies. The largest st number of seats held by any single group fell to the National Democrats and affiliated nationalist parties in both the Deputies and the Senate. M. Gabryel Narutowicz was elected first constitutional President of the Republic to succeed Marshal Pilsudski, first acting Chief of State; but two days after his inauguration the new President was assassinated by by an unbalanced fanatic. The National Assembly chose as second President M. Stanislas Wojciechowski, former cabinet minister and a prominent economist. Foremost among the difficulties of Poland following the establishment of independence were the questions of boundaries and of racial minorities in the bordering provinces acquired by the World War. Part of Upper Silesia was added to Poland by decisi decision of the League of Nations, 1921, and a treaty finally confirming thi this decision and providing for the formal division of the territory was signed between Poland and Germany in May, 1922. The district of R RADIO LIGHTHOUSES, so-called, in general are , simple structures situated at convenient points along the coast and designed primarily to afford protec- Vilna was finally annexed April 18, 1922; but other Polish-Lithuanian disputes continued to threaten peaceful relations. A neutral zone was provisionally established between the two countries in 1920, but abuses charged by both parties, and in 1922 of neutrality were Poland asked the League of Nations to determine a final line of demarcation. Census of Poland on September 30, 1921, was 25,- 1921. -The population of 372,447, exclusive of Upper Silesia and Vilna. The population of Silesia was 980,296 and of Vilna 498,968, Polish Upper making a total (with additional barracks figures) of 27,160,163. Of this number, 8,012,564 persons were non- Polish. PORTO RICO. Kansas City was appointed governor in E. Mont Reily of 1921. He soon came into conflict with the Unionist party, which controlled the Porto Rican matter of Legislature, first in the later in regard to the entire question of certain appointments, but local icanization of the island. Charges were autonomy, independence, and Amermade of maladministration , and requests for his removal were formally made at Washington. tained the governor, who, however, re- President Harding H sussigned February 16, 1923, the resignation S. take in April. The Supreme Court (April, 1922) decided that the right of that demeanors did not exist in Porto Rico, trial by jury for miswhich has not been incorporated in the United States and in which Spanish civil law still continues in this particular. PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. velopment of outstanding importance in A dethis field was the announcement cember, 1922, of an offer of $5,000 made in Deby the editors of the "Scientific American" for the production under satisfactory conditions of a psychic photograph or psychic manifestations of any other character, the determine the conditions being men of judges selected to international reputation, headed by Dr. William McDougall , Professor chology sor of Psyat Harvard University and President of the American Society for Psychical Research. tion for radio apparatus by which wireless signals may be transmitted to ships at sea. Many of these stations ready been erected along the coasts of have althe United States, and the system is being rapidly extended, replacing the costly beacon towers which had often to be erected in exposed and inaccessible places and whose searchlights and other signals even then were limited in scope and sometimes uncertain. The radio beacon stations, constituting a directionfinding system, make it possible for ships along the coast to determine their positions with accuracy when 100 miles or more at sea and without regard to fog or other unfavorable weather conditions. RADIO SEARCHLIGHT OR DI- RECTIONAL SENDER, an invention of Marconi which sends radio waves in one direction only. It is designed to secure privacy of radio messages. RAILWAY SHOPMEN'S STRIKE. (See UNITED STATES, 1922-23.) REJUVENATION THEORY. (See OLD AGE). REPARATIONS (continued from p. 37). A long series of efforts on the part of the Entente Governments, continuing into January, 1923, failed to establish any final plan for the payment of reparations by Germany. The sum of 720,000,000 gold marks in cash and 1, 450,000,000 gold marks in kind was first fixed upon by the Reparation Commission as due for the year 1922; but Germany declared these sums to be unpayable in the absence at least of an international loan, and when this failed in June, 1922, she declared her inability to make any further payments on her obligations, asking for a two-year moratorium. A reduction of one-third in monthly coal deliveries was also requested, among other things. France refused to reduce certain payments due her nationals and was also against the granting of any moratorium unless accompanied by productive guarantees, namely, control of German mines and forests and certain industries in the Rhine and Ruhr districts. Great Britain objected to this policy of guarantees, but a compromise decision on the moratorium was reached August 30th by the Reparation Commission, which granted Germany a suspension of cash payments during the remainder of 1922. The entire question of reparations had in the meantime been renewed. Successive conferences led to no agreement, although both France and England expressed their willingness to reduce the total of German reparations from 132 to 50 billion marks. They were also in agreement as to the necessity of outside financial supervision of Germany, but they differed diametrically on the question of guarantees, England strongly objecting to the occupation of any further German territories. On December 26, 1922, the Reparation Commission by a vote of three to one declared Germany to be in voluntary default on her wood deliveries for the year, adding by a similar vote two days later that any one of the Allies was authorized to take independent action in such case. a Another vote, January 9, 1923, declared Germany in default on coal deliveries, Italy and Belgium voting with France, while Great Britain cast the negative vote. This was followed at once by Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr industrial district of Germany, which in turn was followed by Germany's declaration that, as long as the occиpation continued, she would not be able to make any reparations to the powers which had brought about this state of affairs. On January 26, 1923, the Reparation Commission voted Germany in default on all obligations to France and Belgium. RHODESIA. By a referendum vote held October 27, 1922, Southern Rhodesia rejected incorporation with the South African Union and became a self-governing colony in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Northern Rhodesia continued as before to be under the rule of the British South Africa Company. The white population of Southern Rhodesia by the census of May 3, 1921, was 33,620, of whom 18,987 were males and 14,633 females. The increase in ten years was 42.4 per cent. ROADRUNNER, the popular name of Geococcyx Californianus, a large bird of the cuckoo family found in the southwestern cactus belt of the United States. It is noted for its remarkable running ability as well as for its destructiveness to rodents, lizards, snakes, etc. RURAL SCHOOLS. The problem of rural education is not only one of pressing importance in view of the need of upholding and encouraging the agricultural portions of the community, but it presents peculiar difficulties on account of the sparseness of rural settlement, the general conditions of country life, and local financial limitations. For economy and efficiency a school unit or district must be large enough to embrace a certain number of pupils, yet the area that may be included in a district is limited by the difficulty of gathering many pupils daily from widely scattered homes to a single school center. In the present average country school district the number of pupils is so small that division into classes is practically impossible. All are gathered together in a single-room schoolhouse, under the direction of a single teacher, and usually without any adequate equipment of books, materials, or apparatus such as is found in the town or city school. The teachers are usually underpaid on account of deficient financial resources and as a consequence they are largely untrained, without experience, and immature. An improvement over the isolated school is effected by the union or consolidation system. Here the unit is enlarged, many districts are united, and in 1 place of a number of small, one-roomed schools each attended by a handful of pupils of all ages, we have a substantial central school comparable with the best modern city schools, adequately equipped and provided with trained teachers, and drawing an increasing number of pupils for whom regular transportation is provided to and from their homes, wherever needed. In 1920 there were 9,752 consolidated schools in the United States, beside 2,179 in the Philippine Islands, ds, and the number was rapidly increasing in almost all sections. There were nevertheless 189,227 one-room schoolhouses still in use, and in fact it is obvious that the consolidated system does not yet offer a solution of the school problem in those parts of the country where population is so sparse that a district of many square miles would not include a dozen school-children between the ages of 5 and 18. Many students and authorities in the field of education believe that the most immediate hope for improvement in the schools of the open country lies in a system of professional supervision. The absence of a well-trained teaching force makes it doubly necessary that the work of instruction be under the direction of competent guides. In the past the work of supervision has consisted too commonly of little more than an annual visit to each district school by some county superintendent, himself untrained, appointed or elected for political reasons, and with too many duties assigned to his office. More recently, improvements have been made in many states. In several cases, the states themselves have undertaken the main part of the work and expense of supervision. In most others the county still retains control, with the district the unit for general administration; yet the tendency on the whole is toward an enlargement of the unit of responsibility for the entire school system. The county supplants or contributes in some way to the maintenance of the smaller district unit, and the state becomes increasingly responsible for the equalization of school standards and opportunities throughout its boundaries. Repeated efforts have been made and are being made, although against widespread opposition, to have the Federal Government aid the states in the matter of rural education. One other tendency is especially noteworthy, namely, the change that is being brought about in the system of studies in rural schools. Especially in the large consolidated schools of the central agricultural states, the courses offered are not merely those which are regularly offered in city schools, but are chosen with a view to their applicability to agricultural needs and interests. RUSSIA, 1922. The famine which began in 1921 was gradually checked during 1922, principally by American contributions of supplies and the labors of the American Relief Administration. The number of victims which at first threatened to exceed 8,000,000 was believed to have been reduced to 500,000. The situation nevertheless continued to be critical and both the American and the International Relief Committees extended their work into 1923. In connection with the famine, the Soviet Government issued a decree authorizing the seizure of the treasures of religious bodies in Russia. Confiscations of church wealth in jewels and the precious metals amounted to many millions of dollars. The Russian Church leaders resisted the decree and many priests and bishops were arrested and condemned to death by revolutionary tribunals. Archbishop Tikhon, Patriarch of the Russian Church, was arrested on the charge of fomenting counter-revolution and was forced to resign his post in May. A number of bishops supporting the Government formed a temporary church administration and later attempted to organize a new church, called the Resurrection or Living Church, in place of the established Orthodox Church. From June to August, 1922, came the trials of thirty-four members of the Social Revolutionist Party, accused of conspiracy to murder Lenin, Trotzky, and other Bolshevist leaders and to bring about a counter-revolution. The accused were defended in the first days of the trial by Socialist lawyers of international reputation, who, however, soon gave up all efforts to obtain a fair hearing and withdrew from Russia to escape persecution. Fifteen of the prisoners were condemned to death and most of the others given prison sentences, while the Government's determination to stamp out all opposition was evidenced by its banishment of the native lawyers who had defended the Revolutionists, accompanied by new arrests of Russian intellectuals throughout the country. The Social Revolutionist Party, through its central committee, refused in reply to an offer of clemency for its condemned members to cease its efforts for the democratization of Russia. A change of outstanding importance in the economic policy of Russia was made during 1921 and 1922 by a partial return to private capitalism in the fields of distribution, commerce, and the smaller industries. Private-profit cooperative societies, which had existed in Russia prior to 1918, were allowed to resume their earlier status, and mixed commercial corporations were established, part of whose capital was owned by the State and part by private financiers. Most of the smaller industrial enterprises were leased back to private capitalists for terms of years. In the larger, basic industries, the Government retained control. Efforts to obtain muchneeded foreign assistance for Russia's industrial restoration failed in the international economic conferences held at SAKHALIN. Japan took possession of the Russian portion of the island, Northern Sakhalin, in reprisal for the massacre of more than 700 Japanese at Nikolaievsk in 1920. The refusal of Russia to acknowledge responsibility or to pay any indemnity for the massacre led to continued Japanese occupation. SANFORD, EDWARD TERRY, associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, was born at Knoxville, Tennessee, July 23, 1865. He was graduated from the University of Tennessee (1883) and from Harvard (1885), receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws from the Harvard Law School (1889). He was admitted to the bar in 1888. From 1898 to 1907 he was a lecturer in the law department of the University of Tennessee. In 1907-08 he was Assistant Attorney- General of the United States under President Roosevelt, and in 1908 was appointed U. S. district judge for the eastern and middle districts of Tennes- He was named by President Hardsee. ing January 24, 1923 to succeed Justice Pitney on the U. S. Supreme Court. SANTO DOMINGO. On July 11, 1922, Secretary Hughes announced the Genoa and the Hague, April and June, 1922, owing to Russia's refusal to accept the terms laid down by the Western Allies. A treaty was made with Germany, however, mutually renouncing all claims arising out of the World War and promising a renewal of economic relations. Russia was invited to participate in the Near Eastern conference at Lausanne, Switzerland, 1922-23, on the question of the future of the Turkish Straits. A previous treaty with the Turkish National Government at Angora (March 16, 1921) had placed Russia in the position of strongly supporting Turkey's new aspirations. The fifth anniversary of the Bolshevist revolution was celebrated in November, 1922. A treaty of complete union between Soviet Russia, the Ukraine, White Russia, and the Transcaucasian Republics was signed December 30, 1922, forming one Allied State, "The Alliance of Socialist Soviet Republics," with its capital at Moscow and the sovereign power centered in the Soviet Congress and the Central Executive Committee of the Alliance. S details of a new plan to withdraw American military forces from the republic and to restore full power to the Dominican people. The plan included the establishment of a provisional government selected by representatives of Dominican parties, with the subsequent holding of general elections without intervention by the United States. A convention with the latter was to recognize the validity of all acts of the American military government, including the validity of bond issues authorized in 1918 and 1922. The treaty of 1907 providing for American control of Dominican finances was to remain in force till these bonds were paid. In accordance with this plan, a provisional president was named October 6, 1922, and took office on October 21st, thus ending the regime of American occupation. Admiral Robinson, American military governor, sailed from the island October 24th. SEVRES TREATY. (See NEAR EASTERN QUESTION.) SHIPPING. At the conclusion of the World War the United States had a merchant fleet of approximately 13,300,- 000 tons. This had been reduced by 1922 to approximately 12,500,000 tons, of by the which more than half was owned control government. The vessels under of the Shipping Board at the end of a that year numbered about 1,400, with total deadweight tonnage of over 9,000,were steel 000 tons. Almost all of these ships, the government's wooden fleet in Sephaving been disposed of by sale Shiptember. Less than a third of the ping Board's fleet was in operation in was 1922, and the loss to the government placed at $50,000,000 annually. In June, 1922, the ship tonnages of the world were as leading nations of the follows: Great Britain and Ireland, 2,201,000; 19,053,000; British Dominions, United States, 12,506,000 0; Japan, 3,325,- , 000; France, 3,303,000; Holland, 2,613 000; Germany, 1,783,000. The lastwhich stood second in named country, shipping in 1914, showed the greatest in 1921-22, 1,131,000 tons comincrease pared with a total of about 1,400,000 tons for all the rest of the world combined. Great Britain, however, again construction under way took the lead in at the beginning of 1923, with Germany and the United States sixth. second, The prophecied importance of oilburning, motor-driven vessels in the shipshow ping of the future had begun to itself in the latest statistics. Out of a total of 61,343,000 gross tons of shipping world, 51,653,000 tons are now in the still driven by steam turbines, and 1,540,- 463 tons by motors. SHIPPING SUBSIDIES. Plans for the maintenance and upbuilding of the American merchant marine were among those most urgently advanced by Presthrough the first two ident Harding plans years of his administration, these including the gradual sale of the government's war - built fleet to private owners, ownership with encouragement of such government aid of by the granting of government - owned various kinds. Of the ships fleet of 1,400 steel ships about 400 , at an annual were in operation in 1922 Ship Subsidy , was debill, introduced into Congress postponements of action upon it, ending in con- February, 1923, in a final filibuster ducted by its opponents. In 1922 the U. S. Government paid approximately transportation of its $6,000,000 for the foreign mails, about $2,500,000 of this being paid to foreign steamship sum lines.