offsef to the Anglo-Japanese alliance an alliance was made with Russia for protection in Eastern affairs and President Loubet paid a visit to the Czar during the Summer that ripened the friendship of two nations. French relations in Haiti and Venezuela, although somewhat strained, did not reach the state of open breach. On the other hand, in Alsace-Lorraine and bordering German provinces pro-French demonstrations occurred on the anniversary of the battle of Voinville (August 16, 1870). Changes in the diplomatic service also were important. In the United States M. Jules Cambon was succeeded as Ambassador by M. Jean Jusserand. Of still greater importance was the change in home affairs, caused by the retirement from the Premiership of M. Waldeck-Rousseau and his succession by M. Emil Combes and the religious school riots caused by M. Combes's forcible closing of all sectarian schools not conforming to the public schools laws. The Summer elections sustained M. Waldeck-Rousseau's policy, and a special vote of the Deputies afterward approved that of M. Combes. The following are the latest available statistics regarding the condition of the French colonies: Fuel; the World's Supply. Much study has been given dung recent years to the matter of the world's future supply of fuel, and the problems connected therewith have be come of vital int rest to the people of this country, especially, because of the paralysis of the coal industry caused last year by the great strike of miners. In fact, the extraordinary prolongation of the trouble between the mine owners and the operatives had an effect upon that branch of industry in ail coal mining countries. The inconvenience and even suffering which resulted from the cutting off in the United States of the customary supply gives addi tional interest to the fuel question in general. While there is a constantly increasing demand for fuel in nearly every portion of the earth, there is a steady decrease in nature's stored supply of coal, which article constitutes the great bulk of the fuel supply of the present age. The persistent drain is not compensated for by any process of nature, such as marked the many centuries when wood constituted the only fuel, and when the comparatively slight destruction of forests was offset to a very considerable degree by new growth. Ever since the discovery of the adaptability of coal to use as fuel the inroads upon the forests for purposes of manufacture as well as for fuel have been so persistent and so destructive that it would be impossible for the world to recur to wood for use as ordinary fuel. Of The available supply of coal is not inexhaustible, and computations of a somewhat sensational nature have been put forth from time to time tending to show that within a certain specified period the deposit would be exhausted, or so far exhausted as to make the further mining of it extremely expensive. much more value, some estimates made by Dr. Ferdinand Fischer, of Gottingen, Germany, are here presented. Dr. Fischer has collected with much care all the available data as to the coal resources of the entire world. The attainable supply, according to his estimates, is represented in round numbers as follows: Germany, 160,000,000,000 tons; Great Britain, 81,500,000,000 tons; Austria-Hungary, Belgium and France combined. 17,000,000,000 tons; America, including all its several countries which are coal-producing, 684,000,000,000 tons. Russia has coal deposits which are undoubtedly enormous, but of which little is known at present, so that its value as a source of future supply cannot be determined; while China, richer in coal than any other country, so far as is known, does not affect the problem as yet, because transportation from the mines would be too costly until the country attains a much greater development in modern facilities than it has reached. Japan has large coal resources, particularly in the southern province of Kinshiu; Borneo is rich in coal formations, and New South Wales has great deposits. Africa and South America are poorer in coal than any other portions of the world, but the developeint of mines in South Africa affords promise of a supply sufficient for the industrial needs of that country. Coal mining is carried to a greater extent in the United States than elsewhere, and the use of machinery in this industry is carried to a degree far exceeding its use in other countries. Great Britain is the one country that is so near the exhaustion of her supply as to make the possibility of immediate interest, the cause being that she supplies the larger part of the world's export. Dr. Fischer estimates that at the present rate of mining Great Britain's supply will be exhausted in fifty years, or in a century at most; while Germany has a supply available for the next thousand years. The coal production of the United States in 1901 was nearly 20 per cent larger than that of Great Britain, but, as already shown, the attainable supply is immensely larger-nearly eight times as large, in fact. According to returns to the United States Geological Survey from producers representing fully 97 per cent of the entire coal output of the United States, the production in 1901 amounted to 292,240,758 short tons, valued at $348,813,831. As compared with 1900, when the output amounted to 269,831,827 short tons. worth $306,891,364, this represents an increase of 22.358.931 short tons, or 8 per cent in quantity, and of $41,022,467, or 13.6 per cent in value. The production of Pennsylvania anthracite showed a phenomenal Increase from 51,221,353 long tons (equivalent to 57.367.915 short tons) in 1900 to 60,242.560 long tons, or 67,471,667 short tons, in 1901. This represented a gain of 17% per cent, the largest percentage of gain made by the anthracite trade in twenty years. Part of this increase in 1901 was due to a decreased output of anthracite in 1900 as compared with 1899, as owing to the historic strike of 1900 the output that year was reduced by over 2,500,000 long tons. The increase in the value of the anthracite product is still more striking, the amount received at the mines in 1901 showing a gain of $27,716,169, or more than 31 per cent over that of 1900. This was entirely due to the unprecedented period of prosperity which enabled consumers generally to pay higher prices for their fuel. The average price for the marketed anthracite coal-that is, the product shipped to market or sold to local trade-was $2.05, the highest figure obtained since 1888. The production of bituminous coal, lignite, cannel coal. etc., increased from 212,513,912 short tons in 1900 to 224.769,091 short tons in 1901, indicating a gain of 12.255,179 tons, or about 6 per cent. The value of this product amounted to $236,309,811, as compared with $221,133,513 in 1900, an increase of $15,176,298, or a little less than 7 per cent. The price of the bituminous product did not show any material advance in 1901. The reason why the United States cannot compete with Great Britain in supplying other countries with zoal is that, in the first place, her available deposits are further from the seaboard, and, in the next place, the distances from the American coast to the markets are much greater. A comparison of the coal resources of Great Britain and the United States was recently made by Mr. A. S. E. Ackermann. Mr. Ackermann shows that the area of coal fields of the United States is about 225,000 square miles, and only 9,000 square miles in the United Kingdom. The American deposits have not been worked so long as the British. The former are found in wider seams and practically level strata, while the latter are tilted up at all sorts of angles and are so lean that a vein fifteen inches wide is not neglected. Perhaps the greatest disparity exists between the depths at which it is necessary to work, a disparity whose importance is recognized when the cost of holsting and pumping is considered. Few American mines go deeper than 200 feet, while it is not uncommon on the other side of the Atlantic to mine coal 4,000 feet below the surface. Still another natural advantage enjoyed in this country is the relative scarcity of fire damp., When it comes to actual mining operations the American uses much more machinery than the Briton. No specific reference is made to the difference in wages, which are greater in the United States than in England; but Mr. Ackermann says that the annual product of the American miner averages 526 tons, while that of the British miner is only 300. In the United States legal damages in consequence of the subsidence of the region over the mines are much lower than abroad, because the land is usually owned bere by the coal companies. In America the railway freight charge per ton-mile is about one-sixth as large as in Great Britain. Two causes operate to produce that result. Coal in the United States is usually shipped in cars holding fifty tons, while in Great Britain it is broken up into six-ton or ten-ton lots; secondly, the original investment of capital in railroads is much greater a mile in England than in America, and the rates must be heavier in order to pay dividends. Before transportation becomes necessary, and while the coal is yet at the mouth of the mine, Mr. Ackermann believes that the cash expenditure in the United States is only one-half as great as in Great Britain. An equal advantage should be enjoyed, then, after land carriage has been paid for three times the distance which British coal must travel to reach the seaboard. For domestic consumption the United States has a large supply of fuel in the form of natural gas, which is obtained from borings in certain regions of the country. This fuel is so economical that its use is very extensive in the localities where it is obtained, but to which it is confined, as the distribution of it to distant points has not been undertaken. An important step in the adaptation of mineral oil to use for fuel has been made in Germany. A manufacturing concern in that country is now engaged in the production of solid petroleum in the form of briquettes, which can be handled like coal or coke, and possess all the desirable qualities of coal and ordinary petroleum without any of the objectionable qualities of either. The principal item of expense in the manufacture is that of the oil, the other ingredients and the machinery and labor costing but little. Alcohol as fuel is not a new proposition, although its use has been extremely limited, confined, in fact, to the apparatus of the sick room, to the camp outfit and to the chafing dish. The possibility of its larger use has attracted the attention of no less a personage than the German Kaiser, upon whose suggestion the Norddeutsche Lloyd and the Hamburg-American steamship companies have decided to conduct a series of experiments to ascertain the value of alcoholic spirits as fuel. It is known that, volume for volume, spirits have just double the heating power of coal. Peat has been used for years as fuel in some countries, notably in Ireland. In the North European countries it has long been an important reliance. Even in Germany, which is relatively rich in coal, the peat bogs are being exploited fairly extensively. In the United States, on account of the great abundance of coal and other fuels, there has been little inducement for the development of the country's peat wealth; nevertheless, many have believed that even at present there is a wide field for profitable use of peat fuel in this country. Far greater possibilities in this direction exist in Canada. Practically bare of coal, but rich indeed in peat (as is also the United States), that country is gradually finding itself forced to consider the use of this latter material on an extended scale to supply its needs for fuel. Peat, in its natural state, is a poor fuel. It holds, suspended in the meshes of the network of vegetable fibres of which it is composed, a very large percentage of water, and also contains much water in more intimate combination. A number of methods of treating peat have been developed, and some of them are in operation. It has long been realized, however, that the most desirable peat product would be a coke, and numerous attempts have been made in this direction, Up to the present none of these attempts has had sufficient success. A process developed quite recently promises better results. If the claims made for it are well founded the peat coke it produces will soon be a valuable and widely used fuel. Its Electricity is a possibility in the direction of economic Lenting, for whatever purpose heat may be required, and it may be regarded as one of the eventual conservators of the world's supply of fuel. production at the present time increases the consumption of fuel, but the conversion of the natural forces of moving water into electrical energy has already begun, and when it is carried further, as it probably will be, to the conversion of this energy into heat for cooking and warming purposes, a new and welcome factor will operate in the fuel problem. HALL Georgia. Capital: Georgia is one of the original thirteen States, the last of the number to be settled. Previous to 1733 the country lying within its present bounds was a wilderness, and though comprehended under the charter of Carolina, was claimed by Spain as well as by the British. In 1732 George II. granted the territory to a corporation, "trustees for settling the colony of Georgia," and in November of the same year 116 persons embarked at Gravesend, under the direction of General James Oglethrope, with the intention of becoming colonists in the new country. Soon after landing, General Oglethrope purchased a large tract of land from the Creeks and founded a town which afterward became Savannah. Many of the colonists returned to Carolina to escape the onerous military duty attendant upon their holding lands in Georgia. The population continued to increase. however, and when war broke out between England and Spain in 1739, General Oglethrope was able to muster an army of 1,000 men. In 1752 Georgia received a royal patent with the same privileges and regulations accorded the other colonies. From this period on population increased rapidly and the colony grew in wealth and importance until, at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, it occupied an important place in the Continental Con gress. Georgia has an area of about 59,475 square miles and a population estimated in 1901 to be 2,258,000. Like most of the Southern States, Georgia's industries are chiefly agricultural, though there has been a steady increase in manufacturing industries during recent years. As State it is but natural that the facture. Cottonseed oil and cake tured products, and, keeping bas erected and put into operation last few years, and now manufac crop within her own borders. Ranking next to cotton produc pentine and resin, made possible cover the State. These forests also timber, and in the production of among the Southern States. By a it is claimed that the products de be argely increased in value, but seem to destine them to early ex In recent years much attention fruits for market, and the peach in the United States. The Georgia lence unsurpassed by that fruit in and the warm climate makes its canning and preserving have become upon the success of the fruit crops. At the Democratic State Con M. Terrill was nominated as Gov part of the platform of the party of temperance should be made a best interests of the people, as cause, demand the complete sep sonal and party polities. We ap non-partisan policy which charac this subject." The Kansas City Governor Joseph M. Terrell. cotton is the principal crop of the chief industry would be its manustand among the first of manufacpace with her sister States, Georgia numerous cotton mills during the tures a large part of her staple tion comes the manufacture of turby the extensive pine forests which supply large quantities of excellent yellow pine Georgia ranks high proper system of forest preservation rived from the pine forests might the destructive methods employed tinction. has been given to the raising of orchards of Georgia are the largest peach has a reputation for excelany other section of the country, cultivation doubly profitable. Fruit important industries, dependent vention, held July 2, 1902, Joseph ernor. This convention adopted as that: "We do not believe the cause political issue in this State. The well as the furtherance of the aration of this question from perprove the wisdom and safety of the terizes our present legislation upon declaration was entirely ignored. The Liquor law of Georgia provides for local option, and 120 out of the 137 Counties have prohibition. After the convention, Hon. Dupont Guerry announced himself as Democratic candidate for Governor squarely in favor of State prohibition of the sale of liquor on the plan adopted in Maine, expecting thereby to throw the Democratic vote against the seventeen "wet" Counties of the State, or drive the Prohibitionists of the 120 Counties into direct opposition to the party. German Capital: The kings of Prussia are descended from Count Thassilo, of Zollern, who was one of the generals under Charlemagne, and it was his successor, Count Friedrich I., who built the family castle of Hohenzollern, in 980 A. D. In 1273 Friedrich III. became a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, receiving the Burggraviate of Nuremburg in fief. In 1415 the property of the family was increased by the addition of the province of Brandenburg, and, two years later, Count Friedrich IV. obtained the rank of Elector. In 1511 Margrave Albrecht, a younger son of the house of Hohenzollern, was elected Grand Master of a large province in Prussia, and, a few years later, he declared himself hereditary prince. The early extinction of his male line, however, brought the province to the Electors of Brandenburg, who already occupied an important position in Northern Germany. Under the wise reign of Friedrich William (1640-1688), the Hohenzollerns prospered greatly, for the Great Elector left his house so well established that his son, Friedrich I., was able to assume the kingly crown, January 18, 1701. From that day the Hohenzollerns have steadily increased in wealth and strength, and while, under Friedrich William III., nearly one-half the State was taken by Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna not only remedied the loss, but added still more territory, including part of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Rhineland and Swedish Pomerania, making a vast domain which was shaped into a compact State by the war in 1866. The election of Wilhelm I., King of Prussia, as German Emperor, in 1871, was by the vote of the Reichstag of the North German Confederacy, and, upon his acceptance of the dignity, the imperial office became hereditary in the House of Hohenzollern. Wilhelm, "Der Grosse," reigned until 1888, when he was succeeded by his son, Friedrich, who lived but a few weeks. His eldest son, the present emperor, Wilhelm II., was born January 27, 1859. On February 27, 1881, he married Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (born October 22, 1858), daughter of the late King Friedrich. THE MINISTRY.-Chancellor of the Empire, Count von Bulow; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron von Richthofen: Minister of the Interior, Dr. Count von Posadowsky-Wehner; Minister of Marine. Admiral von Tirpitz; Minister of Finance, Baron von Thielmann; Kmelhe; Minister of Railroads, By the Constitution of the Em States of Germany are bound into a Prussia as the Deutscher Kaiser. to declare defensive war, make point and receive Ambassadors. In the Bundesrath of fifty-eight mem session, and the Reichstag, of 397 lot for five years each. Of all the raine alone is without vote in the legislative vote. Railways and tele ment control. Religious liberty is constitution between the Church and the differJesuits is prohibited, and convents or purely contemplative), are sup Education is compulsory be throughout the Empire. There is academic and preparatory schools, night school. There are twenty-one One judicial system prevails ism is relieved under laws enacted actment. The system of finance includes railways, and the profit from these. cise and posts, defrays the common sessed to make up the deficit. The German Emperor. Justice. Dr. Nieberding: Minister of pire, dated April 16, 1871. the tween the ages of six and fourteen also a most thorough system of and working children must attend universities. throughout the Empire. Pauperin each State, based on national en operation of telegraphs and State with the revenue from customs. exexpenditure. The States are asGermany has a frontier of 4,570 miles. The Empire is divided into ten fortress districts, fortified with seventeen first-class and nineteen other fortresses. The peace strength of the Imperial army is at present 494,351 men, not including officers. Every able-bodied German must be in the army from his twentieth to his twenty-seventh year. The navy ranks next to that of the British Empire. It is manned by the obligatory service of the maritime population. The German Empire is composed as follows: |