ing, if erected under any of the plans, would exceed the limit of the appropriation and would require modification to come within the $550,000. There was no evidence that the architects, or the experts passing upon the plans, had made any inquiry into cost of material or price of labor in Harrisburg or its vicinity.

"The four commissioners caused new plans and specifications to be made by an architect of their selection, and on Jan. 20, 1898, advertised for sealed proposals for the erection of a building according to his plans and specifications. An examination of these disclosed the fact that the commissioners proposed to let a contract for the erection, not of one building as required by the act of Assemby, but of an incomplete part of a larger structure intended ultimately for the accommodation of all the departments of the State government. The specifications called for 'temporary' work, particularly in the interior, and provided for the erection of a building in no sense fireproof, notwithstanding the act required the building should be as nearly fireproof as possible. Further requirements of the act were that it should be complete' and 'ready for occupancy and furnishing not later than Nov. 15, 1898.' "Believing the proposed action of the commissioners to be in violation of the law, and that if permitted would commit the Commonwealth to the expenditure of large sums of money, not contemplated in the act, the Attorney-General on Feb. 4, 1898, filed a bill in equity to restrain them."

The court decided for the commissioners, upon their statement that the building would be complete in the time specified and fitted for occupancy within the amount of the appropriation. The Governor says further:

"I now aver that the four members of the commission have utterly failed to carry out their sworn promise to the court, and that they have acted in flagrant disregard of the act of Assembly. The structure in which you are assembling to-day is unworthy of your honorable bodies and is a disgrace to the Commonwealth. In its present condition it is hardly fit for human habitation, much less the official abode of the representatives of the great Commonwealth. Although the act of Assembly requires that the building shall be made as nearly fireproof as possible,' the roof and most of the interior fittings are as combustible as possible."

Peace Jubilee.-Oct. 25-28 a peace jubilee was held in Philadelphia, including a naval review, a procession of vessels around the anchored ships of war, the "Columbia," the "Texas," the "Gloucester," and the "Winslow," an army review and a civic parade in which 25,000 men marched, a dinner and a reception. The President and many of the Cabinet officers and army officers were present. On Oct. 28 the old Independence Hall was rededicated.

Bank Failures.-Several disastrous bank failures took place during the year. The People's Bank of Philadelphia closed its doors March 25. The Guarantors' Finance Company made an assignment about the same time, and the cashier of the People's Bank, John S. Hopkins, committed suicide March 24. The connection of the three events was shown when an examination revealed the fact that the cashier had loaned to the manager of the Finance Company sums still unpaid, aggregating, it was said, $600,000, without the knowledge of the other officers and the directors of the bank, and that the securities for the loan were practically worthless. Richard F. Loper, vice-president and general manager of the Guarantors' Finance Company, was placed under arrest March 28, charged with conspiracy to cheat and defraud the People's Bank. The People's Bank was a depositary for State and

city funds, and at the time of its failure had more than $500,000 belonging to the State and more than $50,000 of city funds. The liabilities of the bank were placed at $1,559,843, and the assets $529,803. The president, Mr. McManes, promised to make good the losses. In connection with the failure, United States Senator Matthew S. Quay, his son, Richard R. Quay, and Benjamin J. Haywood, ex-State Treasurer, were indicted, charged with conspiracy with John S. Hopkins to use unlawfully the money of the State on deposit in the People's Bank.

The Supreme Court near the close of the year granted a stay of proceedings, which had been denied in a lower court by Judge Finletter, who overruled the demurrers to the indictments. The Chief Justice refused a petition to have the trial removed from the Philadelphia courts.

The German National Bank of Pittsburg went into voluntary liquidation Oct. 19. It held a large amount of stock of the Pittsburg Pure Beer Brewing Company, as it seems, which received a charter Aug. 31, 1897, with a capital stock of $1,000; but the next day the stockholders increased the capital stock to $1,000,000. It was alleged that this stock was loaned illegally, before the State department was notified and the papers approved by the Secretary or his deputy.

Gideon W. Marsh, president of the Keystone National Bank, which failed in March, 1891, returned to the city Nov. 3, after being a fugitive seven years, and gave himself up. William H.Wanamaker, who had given bonds for $20,000 for Marsh's appearance in court, was obliged to forfeit the bail. He pleaded guilty to the indictments against him. He informed the court that his predecessor had left a deficiency of more than $1,000,000; that he had erred in covering this, but that he never had profited one dollar through the bank's losses. He was sentenced to imprisonment twelve years and three months and to pay a fine of $500.

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William Steele, formerly cashier of the Chestnut Street National Bank, which failed in 1897 (see Annual Cyclopædia " for 1897, page 661), was convicted in December on a charge of making false reports of the condition of the bank and aiding its president in misapplying its funds with intent to injure and defraud. The president, William M. Singerly, died suddenly Feb. 27, 1898, not long after the failure. The evidence in the trial of this case showed that Mr. Singerly, as president of the bank, without the knowledge of the directors, applied $800,000 of the bank's money to his own use -$300,000 more than the entire capital-and that he was enabled to do so by the assistance of the cashier, who issued false reports to cover the transactions.

State Laws in Court.-The law taxing alien labor, passed in 1897, providing that employers shall pay three cents a day to the State from the wages of aliens, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, because opposed to the provision of the national Constitution declaring that no State shall deny the equal protection of the laws to all within its jurisdiction.

The law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine and other imitations of dairy products was declared void by the United States Supreme Court, in so far as it interferes with the sale of original packages, which comes under the interstate commerce law. The Pure-Food Department has gone on with prosecutions in cases not coming under the Federal law.

In a case in Philadelphia in which the ground was taken that the liquor license law was unconstitutional, the Superior Court affirmed the validity of the law.

Political.-State officers were chosen Nov. 8; also members of Congress and a State Legislature (with the exception of half the Senate), which will have the choice of a United States Senator to succeed Matthew S. Quay.

The People's party held its convention at Williamsport, April 27, and made the following nominations: For Governor, Dr. Silas C. Swallow; Secretary of Internal Affairs, T. P. Rynder; Member of Congress, William H. Berry.

Dr. Swallow, who as Prohibition candidate for the office of State Treasurer in 1897 received nearly 119,000 votes, was afterward made the candidate for the Governorship by the Prohibition, Liberty, and Honest Government parties.

The Republican State Convention met in Harrisburg, June 2. There was a bitter contest between the Quay and the anti-Quay forces, the latter led by John Wanamaker, who had been a candidate for the nomination for Governor, but withdrew his name, leaving the contest between W. A. Stone, of Allegheny, the Quay candidate, and C. W. Stone, of Warren, anti-Quay. W. A. Stone won by a vote of 198 to 164. A proposition to make the nomination unanimous was voted down. The resolutions were mainly upon national affairs. Demand was made that Congress "make adequate provision for the construction of a water way between the slackwater navigation of the Ohio and its tributaries and the Great Lakes" and "continue the appropriation for the improvement of Delaware river until this channel shall be of sufficient depth and width to receive the largest battle ships and the biggest vessels of our merchant marine into the port of Philadelphia."

Gratitude was expressed to the representatives of the State in Congress for their efforts in securing such appropriations from the National Government as will insure the final completion of the improvements upon the Ohio, the Allegheny, and the Monongahela rivers, so that free slack-water navigation will be secured to the people of that great manufacturing and industrial region.

The State administration was approved, and goodroads legislation recommended.

The ticket was: For Governor, W. A. Stone; Lieutenant Governor, J. P. S. Gobin: Secretary of Internal Affairs, James W. Latta; Congress at Large, Galusha A. Grow and Samuel A. Davenport; Superior Court Judge, William Porter.

The Democratic Convention met in Altoona, June 29. A strong effort was made to unite the party upon Judge James G. Gordon, a gold-standard Democrat, as the candidate for Governor. James M. Guffey was also mentioned as a candidate. He had been appointed early in the year to succeed W. F. Harrity as the representative of the State on the National Democratic Committee, the charge having been made that Mr. Harrity was no longer in accord with his party. Mr. Guffey before the convention threw his strength to George A. Jenks. He led the free-silver forces in the convention, which proved to be dominant. Notwithstanding this fact, an effort to insert a plank reaffirming the Chicago platform was defeated, the controlling influence in the convention preferring that the platform should relate entirely to State issues.

The platform said, regarding the Republican party:

"It promised, in most solemn declaration, reform in legislation and the betterment of municipal government, and it has not only violated these promises, but it endeavored to perpetuate by most obnoxious statutes the power of municipal rings and combinations of corrupt politicians to pass laws for the enrichment of special interests, and it has, through the system of bossism, to which it has complacently sub

mitted in the past, elevated these self-constituted leaders to the highest positions of political honor and public trust within its power to confer.

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"It has not only needlessly multiplied offices to make place for party hacks and the subservient tools of party leaders, thereby greatly enlarging the public expenditures and made increased taxation necessary to pay new salaries, but has without just cause recklessly increased the salaries of public officials in all departments of the State government, and so depleted the public funds that the public charities of the State have been robbed of their necessary appropriations.

"It has not only tolerated the unjust withholding of the public moneys appropriated to the common school and public charities, that favorites of the treasury might be enriched and the funds for corrupting the elections might be enlarged, but its recognized leaders have endeavored to thwart and defeat all legislation and every movement looking to a correction of these abuses.

For the purpose of maintaining large balances in the State treasury and to use them for corrupt political purposes it has withheld millions of dollars of personal property tax from the counties which were entitled to the prompt return of it.

"It has created a building commission for the erection of a State Capitol whose manifest purpose is to disregard the plain mandate creating it, to perpetuate for an unnecessary length of time its unfortunate existence, to benefit the favorite contractors of some political boss, the fruit of whose actions will be a large increase of the State indebtedness."

Further, the resolutions declared that the Democratic party, if intrusted with the administration of the affairs of the State, would abolish needless offices, and reduce excessive salaries, simplify the ballot law, and pass laws prohibiting trusts and combinations inimical to free competition and individual enterprise; and that the statute regulating the administration of the State treasury should be fearlessly and faithfully enforced, the moneys appropriated to public schools and public charities should not be withheld, and those due the counties should be properly paid to them; "equal and exact justice should be meted out to citizens. with favoritism for no persons or interests; and no laws prejudicial to the interest of the States, cities, and municipalities" should be passed.

The ticket follows: For Governor, George A. Jenks; Lieutenant Governor, William H. Sowden; Secretary of Internal Affairs, P. C. Delacey; Congress at Large, Jere N. Weiler, F. P. Iams; Superior Court Judges, William Trickett and C. M. Bower. The vote on the nomination for Governor stood: Jenks, 305; Gordon, 116; A. H. Coffroth, 2; J. Henry Cochran, 1.

The canvass was very animated, and serious charges of bribery, "selling out." and secret deals were made, besides charges of misappropriation of public funds against past State administrations. Mr. Wanamaker, Mr. Jenks, and Dr. Swallow made speeches arraigning officials for their conduct of State affairs. The Republican candidate for the office of Governor declined a challenge from Dr. Swallow to a joint discussion of the issues of the campaign. Single-Plank Clubs were organized in the various counties by the Honest Government managers, having for their motto, "Thou shalt not steal."

The election resulted in the victory of the Republican ticket. The vote for Governor stood: Stone, Republican, 476.206; Jenks, Democrat, 358,300; Swallow, Honest Government, etc., 132,931; Barnes, Socialist-Labor, 4,278.

The Legislature for 1899 will have on joint ballot 164 Republicans, 84 Democrats, and 6 Fusionists.

After the election Mr. Quay offered a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of any one bribing, or attempting to bribe, a member of the Legislature during the senatorial contest; and Mr. Wanamaker offered $20,000 for information securing the conviction of any one giving, offering, or taking bribes.

PERSIA, an absolute monarchy in Asia. Muzaffereddin, born March 25, 1853, succeeded his father, Nasreddin, as Shah in Shah, or Emperor, on May 1, 1896. The Valiahd, or heir apparent, is Mohammed Ali Mirza, born in 1872.

Area and Population.-The area is about 628,000 square miles, with a population estimated at 8,904,000, of whom 8,000,000 are Shiites, 800,000 Sunnites, 45,000 Armenian and 25.000 Nestorian Christians, 25,000 Jews, and 9,000 Guebres. The European residents do not exceed 800.

Finances. Every village and district is required to pay in kind or cash a collective tax, the amount of which is fixed by the assessor from time to time. In this way about 82 per cent. of the revenue is raised, the burden falling upon the laboring classes. Customs supply 15 per cent., and the post office and mining and other concessions 3 per cent. A foreign loan of £500,000 was raised in 1892 to indemnify the tobacco company for a canceled concession. The expenditures are chiefly for the army, pensions, the court, allowances to princes, general and local administration, and education. The total revenue was estimated for 1898 at £1,470,000. The army numbers 24,500 men, while 53,520 trained and untrained men are liable to be called into the service. There are three armed steamers.

Commerce and Production.-The staple agricultural products are wheat, barley, and rice. About 606,100 pounds of silk are produced annually in northern Persia, two thirds of which is exported. The export of opium is estimated at 13,000 cases, and the production is increasing, the Persian drug being in demand both for medicinal purposes in Europe and for smoking in China. The annual export of tobacco is over 12,000,000 pounds; of cotton, 9,934,400 pounds: of wool, 7,714,000 pounds. The carpets exported each year are worth over $700,000. Dates are grown in the valleys and plains from 50 to 150 miles inland from the Persian Gulf. The production is 500,000 hundredweight a year, half of which is exported to India, Europe, America, and Africa. The dates consumed in Persia are not all used as food. Large quantities are manufactured into syrups, spirits, and vinegar. Other exports are pearls, turquoises, shells, and woven stuffs. The total value of the foreign trade was estimated for 1897 at $37,500,000.

The Political Situation.-Political and economic conditions have grown worse since the death of Nasreddin. In March, 1898, the province of Kirman was in rebellion. The people of southern Persia have for a long time been smuggling in Martini rifles and ammunition. In February, Abdul Kasim Khan, a friend of the English, was made Minister of Finance, but in June the Grand Vizier, Amin ed Dauleh, resigned, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mushir ed Dauleh, organized a new administration. Bread riots occurred at Tabriz and other places in the summer. Officials and merchants who had bought up the grain had their houses destroyed and their granaries plundered. Feuds occurred between the followers of rival priests. The British sought in the anarchical state of the country to strengthen their political position in southern Persia. In connection with a frontier survey a military force was massed on the borders of British Baluchistan and the tribes were brought into subjection. In some places the British troops crossed over into Persian territory. The British

Government had promoted the negotiation of a loan of £1,250,000 which a number of English banks contracted to make to the government of the Shah on the security of the customs revenue of southern Persia. The Russian Government forbade the Persian Government to conclude the loan, offering to advance a larger sum on the security of the customs of the whole of Persia.

PERU, a republic in South America. The legislative power is vested in the Congress, consisting of a Senate of 48 members, elected by departments. and a House of Representatives containing 108 members, elected by provinces, members of both houses for the term of six years, a third being renewed every two years. The President is elected for four years. Nicolas de Pierola was elected President in 1895 for the term ending Sept. 10, 1899. The Council of Ministers in the beginning of 1898 was composed as follows: President of the Council and Minister of Justice, Worship, Public Instruction, and Public Charity, Dr. Manuel P. Olaechea; Minister of Foreign Affairs, E. de la Riva Aguero; Minister of the Interior, Lorenzo Arrieta; Minister of Finance and Commerce, S. Rey; Minister of War and Marine, Col. J. R. de La Puente; Minister of Fomento, M. I. Cuadross.

Area and Population.-The area of Peru is 463,747 square miles, not including the province of Tacna, area 8,685 square miles, occupied by Chili for twelve years under an agreement that the population should decide in 1894 whether they should continue to live under the Chilian flag or return to Peru. The population of Peru is estimated at 2,980,000, of whom 462,000 are of pure Spanish descent, 600,000 of mixed race, 1,500,000 civilized Indians, 350,000 uncivilized Indians, 18,000 European settlers, and 50,000 Chinese and other Asiatics. Commerce and Production.-The exports of cotton in 1895 were about 12,000,000 pounds. Of coffee 2,300,000 pounds are exported annually. The Peruvian Corporation, having obtained a concession of 5,000,000 acres in central Peru, is establishing communications by way of the Amazon and the Ucayali with the coffee district of Chanchamayo and the valley of the Perené. The sugar production of 1897 was 65,000 tons. Other cultivated products are cacao, rice, tobacco, corn, wine, and spirits. The hair of the alpaca and vicuña is exported. India rubber, cinchona and other medicinal plants, and dyes are obtained from the forests. The export of coca leaves is important, amounting to 380,000 kilogrammes a year, besides which 3,407 kilogrammes of cocaine were exported in 1895. The mineral claims recorded in 1897 reached 3,475, including silver, gold, lead, zinc, quicksilver, coal, salt, sulphur, and petroleum. The silver production in 1896 was 3,300,000 ounces. The oil fields are extensive, but, owing to the fitful flow and inferior quality, the wells have not proved profitable.

Navigation. During 1896 there were entered at the port of Callao 525 vessels above 50 tons, of 592.783 tons, and at Trujillo 284 vessels, of 446,520

tons.

The merchant marine in 1896 numbered 36 vessels above 50 tons, having an aggregate tonnage of 9,953, and 96 smaller vessels, of 1,246 tons.

Communications.-Of 924 miles of railroads 800 belong to the state. The total cost of construction has been £36,000,000 sterling.

The Government telegraph lines had a total length of 1,491 miles in 1896, during which year 88,326 messages were transmitted.

Politics.-Owing to dissensions among its members, the Cabinet was reorganized on May 17, 1898, as follows: Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Señor Loayza: Minister of War, M. I. Cuadros Minister of Foreign Affairs, Señor Porras; Minister

of the Interior, J. R. de la Puente; Minister of Finance and Commerce, I. Rey; Minister of Public Works, Señor Butler. A Government commission, appointed in January to discuss the basis of an arrangement of outstanding differences with the Peruvian Corporation, consisting of Señor Candamo, Dr. Arenas, and Carlos Pierola, could come to no agreement with that company, which had a concession of all the railroads, guano deposits, lands, and mines for sixty-six years. After the opening of the regular session of Congress on July 28, President Pierola proposed a liquidation of accounts between the Government and the British company. The proceeds of the salt monopoly, amounting to 734,000 soles, enabled the Government to pay the first installment of 1,000,000 soles for the ransom of the provinces of Tacna and Arica, which Chili had agreed to restore to Peru. A law was enacted providing for the establishment of a gold basis and the coinage of Peruvian sovereigns. The importation of silver coins has been prohibited since May 10, 1897. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, an archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean, formerly a colony of Spain; occupied by the naval and military forces of the United States in June and July, 1898, and ceded to the United States by the treaty of peace concluded with Spain.

Area and Population.-The islands extend from 5° 24′ of north latitude up to 19° 38′ and from 117° 21' to 126° 8' of east longitude. There are more than 1,400 islands, but all except a few are barren volcanic rocks. The total area is estimated at 115,528 square miles, and the population is variously estimated at 8,000,000. Of the main islands the most important is Luzon, with an area of 57,505 square miles and nearly 5,000,000 inhabitants. Panay, with 4,742 square miles, has about 1,000,000 inhabitants. Mindanao, which is 38,000 square miles in extent, has scarcely 200,000. Another of the larger islands is Palawan. Of less extent, but more populous, are Leyte, Mindoro, Samar, Negros, Cebu, Masbate, and Bohol. Of the Negritos, or Papous, the original inhabitants of the islands, only a few thousands remain, scattered in bands through the mountains and forests. The Malays, who conquered them, form the bulk of the population, mingled with Chinese, who settled on the islands for trading and industrial purposes even before the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century, and with the Spanish immigrants. The Spanish residents, exclusive of the military, do not exceed 8,000. Including the Chinese, there are not more than 80,000 people of unmixed foreign blood in all the islands. The Malay Indians are divided into three main branches, the Bisayans, the Itocans, and the Tagals. In some of the numerous tribes into which they are subdivided is a large infusion of Japanese and Chinese blood, in others Papuan and Polynesian. The Manthras are a cross between the Malays and the Negritos. There are over 200 different tribes living alongside each other, severed only by race distinctions and customs. The people are industrious agriculturists and skillful sailors. The Chinese mestizos, sprung from the intermarriage of Chinese with the native women, number several hundred thousand in the island of Luzon, and these were the most active element in the rebellion against Spanish rule. The Spanish mestizos are less numerous. Before the Spanish conquest the Malays were Mohammedans. Forcible conversion to Christianity has left not more than 500,000 adherents of the ancient faith.

Manila, the capital, has about 250.000 inhabitants. Other cities are Laoag with 30,642, Lipa with 43,408, Banang with 35,598, Batangas with 35,587, Leyte, and Cavité. The Augustinian, Franciscan, and Dominican orders furnish the priests, who

were the real rulers of the country until the natives rebelled against their authority. Their foundations comprise nearly a third of the cultivated land in the Philippines. Missionary priests of the Jesuit order, not powerful and wealthy like the others, living among the remote and savage tribes and devoting themselves to Christianizing and civilizing these, never have provoked the hostility of the natives.

Finance. The Spaniards have collected a revenue of $8,000,000 a year. In addition to customs duties, which almost shut out all manufactures and other imports except those of Spain, the people were taxed in every possible way. On cotton goods and on petroleum the duty was equal to 100 per cent. There were taxes on stores and shops, on factories and professions, on horses and carriages, on houses, on every animal slaughtered, and each person according to his wealth and station had to pay a personal tax, ranging up to $25 a year. The Chinese paid a special tax. Even from cockfights a considerable revenue was obtained. Tobacco, hemp, and other products were made to pay duties on exportation. With a revenue of £2,715,980 in 1895, the estimated expenditure was £2,656,026 sterling.

There are 720 miles of telegraph in the islands and 70 miles of railroad.

Commerce and Industry.-Besides agriculture and fishing, the native Indians practice some fine branches of industry, such as the manufacture of ornamental mats and the weaving of fabrics from cotton, pure or mixed, pineapple fiber, abaca filaments, and other materials, the making of cigar cases, etc. The cloths called pinas are woven from the fibers of the pineapple leaf and exquisitely embroidered. The industries are mostly in the hands of the Chinese. In dyeing and in basket and metal work the natives are skillful. Great numbers are employed on an industrial scale in the Government cigar factories, in the making of cordage from abaca fiber, and in the preparation of hemp and the manufacture of sugar and copra. Sugar, hemp, tobacco, and copra are the chief exports, and rice, flour, wine, cotton cloth, clothing, coal, and petroleum the largest imports. Other articles are linens, iron, machinery, hardware, woolens, earthenware, and umbrellas. Rice is grown on the islands, and the cultivation can be indefinitely increased. Millet, maize, and sago are other food products, besides fruit in unequaled abundance and variety. Indigo and coffee are successfully cultivated. Dyewoods and gums abound on all the islands. The carabao, or water buffalo, is domesticated for husbandry, and hardy and active horses of a small breed are common. Pigs, sheep, goats, and poultry are reared. Edible swallows' nests are gathered in the chalk cliffs. The rivers and lagoons abound in fish. The soil is wonderfully fertile. A vast supply of lignite underlies some of the islands, but is as yet untouched. Other minerals are gold, copper, iron, quicksilver, lead, sulphur, and saltpetre. From the sea are obtained mother-of-pearl, coral, tortoise shell, and amber. The woods found in the forests include ebony, logwood, ironwood, sapanwood, and cedar. The orange, mango, tamarind, guava, and cocoanut palm grow everywhere. Some of the minor cultivated products are cotton, vanilla, cassia, ginger, pepper, cacao, pineapples, wheat, maize, cinnamon, and betel.

The small commerce is carried on by Chinese, while the export and import trade is in the hands of English, Germans, and Americans. The port of Manila has a trade of $36,000,000 a year. Its exports include $8,000,000 of hemp, $6,000,000 of sugar, $2,000,000 of tobacco. $2,500,000 of gold, and $1,250,000 of coffee. Besides these staples the