WASSERMAN, JACOB. See GERMAN LITER ATURE, Fiction.

WASTE PRODUCTS, UTILIZATION OF. See AGRICULTURE.

WATER POWER. See ELECTRIC POWER, TRANSMISSION OF.

WATER PURIFICATION. One after another such of the public water-supplies of the country as are from rivers, lakes, and other surface sources, and thereby liable to pollution, are being subjected to purification-as have been surface supplies generally in England and in Germany for years. Not many years ago scarcely an American city of any size had a water-purification plant of any kind. To-day nearly all of them are drinking water that has at least been chlorivated or disinfected for the elimination of possible disease germs, chiefly typhoid fever. During 1915 large mechanical water-filtration plants were completed and put in operation by Baltimore and St. Louis, and a similar plant was well on towards completion by Cleveland. Most of the recently constructed filtration plants are of the rapid or mechanical rather than the slow sand type. This is due in large part to greater ease and less labor of operating the mechanical filters, which are cleaned by merely reversing the flow of water through them, sometimes supplemented by compressed air to aid in agitating the sand. Most of the slow sand filters are cleaned by means of a considerable amount of labor. Chlorine disinfection is now widely used as a finishing process with both types of filters. It goes far towards removing whatever feeling some sanitarians held as to the greater reliability of slow sand as compared with mechanical filters, and in addition it lessens the amount and therefore the cost of the sulphate of alumina used as a coagulant in connection with mechanical filtration. Liquid chlorine instead of hypochlorite of calcium is now being used for most new disinfecting plants and is replacing the hypochlorite where that was previously used. The liquid chlorine is bought in heavy steel or iron cylinders. It turns to gas when it is released from pressure. The hypochlorite is bought in sheet steel drums, is troublesome to handle, and requires double sets of solution and dosing tanks. The apparatus for applying liquid chlorine is much simpler and the rate of dosing is more easily and accurately controlled. European war conditions were held responsible for heavy increases in the price of both sulphate of alumina and hypochlorite during 1915, and for a relatively light increase in the price of liquid chlorine. The increased price of sulphate of alumina added materially to the cost of mechanical filtration, but disinfection by either hy pochlorite or liquid chlorine costs so little at normal prices for the chemical that even a heavy rise is no great burden. The rapid increase in filtration of one kind or the other and the general use of disinfection of both filtered and unfiltered surface water supplies has doubtless contributed materially to the marked decline in the typhoid death rate in recent years. In a fair number of American cities this rate is now closely approaching the very low European fig. ure which has prevailed for many years past.

WATER SUPPLY. See AQUEDUCT. WATER-WORKS. Statistics published early in 1915 show 4872 towns in the United States having public water-supplies, of which 435 were supplied from works in other towns. Water

works were combined with lighting plants in 969 cases. For Canada, 313 towns were listed, 75 of which had combined water and lighting plants. The distribution of towns supplied by States and provinces, as well as the number of towns supplied with water in England and Wales, may be found under MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. See also WATER PURIFICATION. For summarized descriptions of the water-works of the United States and Canada, see The McGraw Water-Works Directory, 1915 (New York), and for descriptions of the water-works of England and Wales, see Return as to Water Undertakings in England and Wales (London).

WATSON, WILLIAM. American scientist and educator, died Sept. 30, 1915. He was born in Nantucket, Mass., in 1834, and graduated from Harvard in 1857. In the same year he was appointed instructor in differential and integral calculus at the Scientific School at Harvard, holding that position for two years, when he took postgraduate courses in Jena and Paris. He was university lecturer at Harvard in 186364. Information concerning technical education which he gathered in Europe was made the basis of the organization in 1864 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in which from 1865 to 1873 he was professor of mechanical engineering and descriptive geometry. In 1884 he became secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and continued to hold this position until his death. He was a member of many scientific societies both in the United States and abroad. His published writings include: Technical Education (1872); Descriptive Geometry (1873); On the Protection of Life from Casualties in the Use of Machinery (1880); Courses in Shades and Shadows (1889); and many technical papers. WEATHER. See METEOROLOGY. WEATHER BUREAU. See METEOROLOGY. WEED CONTROL. See AGRICULTURE. WEIDNER, REVERE FRANKLIN. An American theologian, died Jan. 6, 1915. He was born in Lehigh County, Pa., in 1851, and graduated from Muhlenburg College in 1869. After studying at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, he was ordained to the Lutheran ministry in 1873, and in the same year became a pastor at Phillipsburg, N. J. He remained there until 1878, at the same time acting as professor of English history and logic at at Muhlenburg College. From 1878-82 he was pastor at Philadelphia, and in the latter year was appointed professor of dogmatics and exegesis at the Augustana Theological Seminary, remaining there until 1891, when he was made president and professor of dogmatic theology and Hebrew exegesis at the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary. He held this position until his death. He was the author of many theological works. These include: A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark (1881); Biblical Theology of the Old Testament (1886); Studies in the Book-New Testament (3 vols., 1890); Old Testament, Volume 1, Genesis (1892); Biblical Theology of the New Tes tament (1891); Christian Ethics (1891); The Doctrine of the Ministry (1907); The Doctrine of Man (1912); Christology, or the Doctrine of the Person of Christ (1913).

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. The tenth annual conference on the weights and measures of the United States, held as usual at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C., took

place on May 25 to 28, 1915, and was attended by a large number of commissioners of weights and measures, and other officials of the various States. This conference adopted a schedule of tolerances and specifications for weights and measures, and weighing and measuring devices, which were designed to apply to the usual types of weights, and measures, and apparatus used in ordinary commercial transactions. These specifications dealt with liquid capacity, measures, measuring pumps, milk bottles, dry capacity measures, and scales, and it was hoped that their adoption in the various localities of the country would produce much needed uniformity and increased accuracy. During the year the United States Bureau of Standards put into service a second test car for testing track scales, and considerable improvement was to be noted in the railway track scales of the country, although much remained to be done. The original set of standard weights used on the first test car were redetermined, and their errors were found to be practically inappreciable. A novel track scale known as a "plate fulcrum" track scale, was installed during the year by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at East Tyrone, Pa., in a large gravity yard. This scale was designed jointly by A. H. Emery, and members of the engineering departments of E. and T. Fairbanks and Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. It had no pivots, knife edges, bearing steels, loops, or links in connection with the vibratory system, and for the regular knife edge a plate fulcrum similar to that used in testing machines and dynamometer was employed. This scale gave satisfactory results in exhaustive tests and was in regular use by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

On December 6th a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives to establish the metric system of weights and measures, as the sole standard of the United States on and after July 1, 1920, and this was typical of the movement to reopen again the old question of the introduction of the metric system. The growth of South American and foreign trade was urged as a strong argument in addition to the familiar recommendations of scientists that had figured in previous campaigns.

A number of conferences were held during the year by the National Association of Scale Experts, the American Scale Men's Association, and various State organizations of sealers. The Scale Journal, published in Chicago, entered on its second volume, and was publishing a large number of papers having to do with the test and manufacture of weights and various measuring devices.

In several States during the year, inspections were made of the prescription scales and measures of pharmacists, and in Wisconsin the Dairy and Food Commission and Weights and Measures Office formulated specifications and tolerances for prescription scales and balances which were to become effective Jan. 1, 1916. A report made by the city sealers of Wisconsin for the year ending June 30, 1915, indicated that 22.3 per cent of the prescription scales had to be condemned for repairs or condemned outright, and that 7.4 per cent had to be adjusted. Of weights tested, 20.6 per cent were condemned either for repairs or outright, and 13.6 per cent had to be adjusted before being sealed. See also AGRICULTURAL LEGISLATION.

WEIHAIWEI. A British leasehold, since 1898, on the north coast of the Shantung Peninsula, China. It includes, besides the port and bay, a strip of land 10 miles wide along the coastline of the bay, the Island of Liukung, and all the islands in the bay. Area, 285 square miles. Population (1911), 147,177. The native town of Weihaiwei has about 2000 inhabitants. The port is duty-free. Revenue in 1913-14, £9378; expenditure, £16,696; grant-in-aid, £8300; grant-in-aid in 1912-13, £6000, and in 1914-15, £5000. The territory is administered by a commissioner, resident at Port Edward, on the mainland. See SOCIAL ECONOMICS. WELLAND CANAL. See CANALS. WELLESLEY COLLEGE. An institution for higher education of women, founded at Wellesley, Mass., in 1875. The total enrollment in all departments in the autumn of 1915 was 1512. The instructors numbered 162. There were no notable changes in the membership of the faculty during the year. A $2,000,000 endowment fund was completed through gifts on Jan. 1, 1915. The productive funds amounted to about $3,000,000, and the annual income to $127,000. The library contained about 85,000 volumes. The dean was Ellen F. Pendleton.

WELFARE WORK.

WELLS, H. G. See LITERATURE, ENGLISH AND AMERICAN, Fiction and Essays.

WESLEYAN METHODIST CONNECTION OF AMERICA. This denomination had its origin as a protest against slavery in the United States. It was founded in 1843, and attracted a large number of members of the Methodist Episcopal and other churches who were opposed to the attitude of their respective churches on the slavery question. General dissatisfaction with the episcopal form of government led, in the organization of the new church, to the adoption of a constitution based largely on that of the Federal government of the United States, so that it was often called in the early part of its history, the Congregational Methodist Church. After the close of the Civil War many who had joined the new church, recognizing that the object for which it had been founded was accomplished, returned to the churches to which they had originally belonged or joined other churches; but a considerable number adhered to the new organization, which became the nucleus of an aggressive reform body which has since been successfully maintained. Separation from all worldly and sinful alliances on the part of Christian people, and the advocacy of the Wesleyan doctrines of justification and holiness as essential to salvation, fill a prominent place in the thought and work of this denomination, as well as work for the adoption of other needed reforms, such as prohibition of the liquor traffic. Evangelistic work in America and missions in India and Africa are maintained, with the result of a steadily increasing membership. In 1915 there were 20,500 members, 675 churches, and 840 ministers. Sunday school work engages an increasing share of attention. The denomination has three schools of college grade: at Houghton, N. Y., Miltonvale, Kan., and Central, S. C. There is also a theological school at Fairmount, Ind., and a school for colored people in Alabama.

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. An institution for higher education, founded in 1831 at Middletown, Conn. The total enrollment in all

LEGISLATION. The United States Supreme Court on March 8th overruled as unjust and affording too little profit, the 2 cent passenger rate law.

On January 22nd Charles E. Littlefield as special minister made a report to the United States Supreme Court in which he stated that the State of West Virginia was liable to pay between $12,000,000 and $18,000,000 as its share of the State debt of Virginia, before the separation of the two States. The report was the outcome of the request of Virginia made in 1914 that the Court proceed to a final decree on its finding of 1911 that the share of West Virginia was $700,000 and interest. After the rendering of this decree West Virginia set up a claim to a share in the sinking fund of Virginia as it existed in 1861, and of the stocks of railroads and banks in which money on which the debt was based was invested. Virginia on the other hand claimed that West Virginia should pay interest from 1861. Mr. Littlefield in his report declared that West Virginia should share in the assets, which he valued at $14,000,000, with the share for West Virginia of $3,400,000. He held West Virginia liable for interest amounting to $8,000,000. The Supreme Court on June 14th decided the case by holding that West Virginia should pay $12,393,929, as its net share of the Virginia debt at the time of the partition of the State. West Virginia was required to pay $8,178,000 in interest, computed at 3 per cent from 1891 to date, and 4 per cent from 1861 to 1891. The Littlefield report was upheld in all particulars except that the Court decided that West Virginia was entitled to its share of the assets arising from the original principal debt, and fixed that amount at $2,966,000.

The Legislature enacted amendments to the prohibition law which limited shipments of liquor into the State, and forbade a person to have liquor in a public place, even for his own use. It also forbade any one to give a drink to another, except in his own home, it being decided that home is the permanent place of residence and not a hotel or other public place.

The Legislature on January 26th voted to submit to the people at the next election an amendment to the constitution providing for woman suffrage.

STATE GOVERNMENT. Governor, Henry D. Hatfield; Secretary of State, Stuart F. Reed; Superintendent of Education, M. P. Shawkey; Auditor, John S. Darst; Commissioner of Agriculture, Howard E. Williams; Attorney-General, A. A. Lilly; Treasurer, E. L. Long; AdjutantGeneral, John C. Bond; Commissioner of Insurance, J. S. Darst, ex-officio-all Republicans.

JUDICIARY. Supreme Court of Appeals: President, George Poffenbarger; Associate Judges, William N. Miller, L. Judson Williams, Charles W. Lynch, John W. Mason; Clerk, W. B. Matthews.

in all departments in the autumn of 1915 was 853. The faculty numbered 105. During the year E. D. Sanderson, dean_of_the_college of agriculture, resigned, and J. L. Coulter was appointed to take his place. Dr. F. L. Strickland was elected to the department of philosophy. The productive funds of the university during the fiscal year 1915 amounted to $115,104. The income and appropriations from State and national governments amounted to about $230,000. The library contained 43,500 volumes. Acting president in 1915, Frank B. Trotter.

WHEAT. The climatic conditions throughout the world in 1915 were generally favorable to the growth of the wheat crop and no very extensive areas suffered serious reductions in yield as a result of untoward weather conditions. The production of the Northern Hemisphere, which amounts on the average to about 93 per cent of the world's total harvest, was generally very satisfactory in 1915 and was reported by the International Institute of Agriculture as superior to each of the yields of the preceding 10 years. The same authority estimated the crop at 3,590,000,000 bushels which, together with 225,000,000 bushels produced early in the year in the Southern Hemisphere, mainly in Argentina, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand, made a total world crop of 3,815,000,000 bushels for the calendar year 1915. This output surpassed the average of the last 10 years and the increase was considered as largely due to the expansion of wheat culture in the three great exporting countries, the United States, Canada, and British India. The wheat area of Europe in 1915, as indicated by the incomplete reports at hand, was smaller than the area devoted to the crop the year before, the reduction in acreage being confined largely to Russia, France, and Rumania.

As the wheat harvest in the Southern Hemisphere occurs from December to February, figures on the production for the oncoming harvest at the time when the data regarding the harvest of the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere have been published are not generally available. It may be of interest to state in this connection that practically all of the world's wheat crop is harvested from December to September, the least active month being May, when the harvest is confined mainly to northern Africa. In the United States approximately 20 per cent of the crop is harvested in June, 45 per cent in July, and 35 per cent in August. In some crop statistics the production of the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres within the calendar year is regarded as being of the world's crop year, but in commercial statistics generally the harvests of the Northern Hemisphere are considered as the beginning of the world's crop year and those of the Southern Hemisphere as the close, hence the harvests of the Northern Hemisphere in 1915 and those of the Southern occurring from December, 1915, to February, 1916, furnish the supply for the world's commercial crop year. This commercial method of grouping the crops of the two hemispheres is based on the fact that the surplus from both north and south of the Equator reaches the world's importing countries about the same time.

The estimated yields of different countries in 1915 as compared with the production in 1914 are given in a table under AGRICULTURE (q.v.). Owing to the European war, crop statistics for many countries were not available and in order

to include them in the calculations the International Institute of Agriculture adopted the average production for the last four or five years as the production of the harvest for the year 1915 in the countries for which official data were lacking. About 80 per cent of the estimate of the total production in the Northern Hemisphere was based on official figures for the year. Taking the world's average consumption of wheat for the last five years as representing the requirements for the year 1915-16, the International Institute pronounced the world's supply as ample to meet the demands, especially in view of a large surplus in North America and British India and of promising harvests in Argentina and Australia.

The wheat crop of the United States in 1915 as estimated by the Department of Agriculture amounted to 1,011,505,000 bushels, the highest production in the history of the country and more than was ever produced by any one country in a single year. The area devoted to the crop was placed at 59,898,000 acres, making the average yield 16.9 bushels per acre, likewise larger figures than had ever been reached before. The winter wheat production according to the same estimate was 655,045,000 bushels from 40,453,000 acres, the average yield being 16.2 bushels per acre and the yield of spring wheat 356,460,000 bushels from 19,445,000 acres, or at the rate of 18.3 bushels per acre. The acreage and production of winter wheat stood unsurpassed but larger average yields per acre are on record. The average of spring wheat stood second to that of 1911 but the total production and the average yield had never been surpassed. Based on the average farm value of 92 cents per bushel on December 1st, the total value of the crop was placed at $930,302,000. The corresponding fig ures for winter wheat were 95 cents and $622,012,000 and for spring wheat 86.5 cents and $308,290,000. See also AGRICULTURE. WHISKY. See LIQUORS.

WHITE SLAVES. See PROSTITUTION, pas

sim.

WHITNEY, ANNE. American sculptor, died Jan. 24, 1915. She was born in Watertown, Mass., in 1821, and was educated in a private school. She early showed a talent for writing verse, and her poems were collected in a volume in 1859. In 1855 she began professional work as a sculptor, and opened (1860) a studio in Watertown. She later studied four years in Europe, and on her return established herself in Boston. Among her best known works are the statues of Samuel Adams, Harriet Martineau, Leif Erikson, and Ethiopia.

WIDENER, PETER A. BROWN. American capitalist, died Nov. 6, 1915. He was born in Philadelphia in 1834, and was educated in the common schools. Before he was 21 years of age he had established a butcher shop of his own in Philadelphia. He soon had a chain of these stores, and was on the way to a moderate fortune. Taking an active part in the politics of Philadelphia, in 1873 he was chosen to fill out an unexpired term of city treasurer; and was subsequently elected for a full term. He had in the meantime become a warm friend of William L. Elkins, who was at that time a dealer in oils. The friendship thus formed lasted up to the death of Mr. Elkins. The two friends early turned their attention to street railways. They purchased an interest in many

of these enterprises in Philadelphia, and finally became owners of the People's Line, the best in that city. In 1886 Messrs. Widener and Elkins with Thomas Dolan came to New York City and joined their forces with the late William C. Whitney and Thomas F. Ryan. They gained possession of the traction lines of the city and formed a merger known as the Interboro-Metropolitan. This was followed eventually by financial disaster, and the dissolution of the merger as far as the Interboro road was concerned. That ended Mr. Widener's career as a street railway magnate in New York City. He acquired a large fortune through these manipulations. He also concerned himself largely and successfully in real estate, with steam railways, electric light and gas companies, industrial corporations, etc. He gave liberally to charities, and, following the death of his son and grandson, benefactions of his amounted to more than $4,000,000. One of the most notable art collections in the world was his; he specialized in paintings, and possessed fine examples of several of the old masters.

WIDOWS' PENSIONS. See PENSIONS FOR MOTHERS. WILDER, MARSHALL P. An American comedian and entertainer, died Jan. 10, 1915. He was born in Geneva, N. Y., in 1859. Owing to physical disability, his education was limited to a few terms in a public school. When he was still a small boy, he gave evidences of great talents as a mimic, to which his deformity-he was crippled and of very diminutive staturegave a certain piquancy. He first started in business as a peddler, and later served as a file boy in Bradstreet's Commercial Agency. He began to give a series of humorous public talks to add to his income, and these were remarkably successful, becoming widely popular. In 1883 he went to London, where he appeared before the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII; and he made repeated subsequent appearances there. In 1904-5 he made a tour of the world. From 1897 until the year of his death, he appeared continually in vaudeville. In addition to his entertaining, he wrote several books which had a substantial sale. These include People I've Smiled With (1888); The Sunny Side of the Street (1905); and Smiling Around the World (1907). He edited The Ten Books of the Merrymakers (1908).

WILLARD, EDWARD SMITH. English actor, died Nov. 9, 1915. He was born in Brighton, England, in 1853, and made his first appearance on the stage in 1869 in the Lady of Lyons. After several years of apprenticeship in stock companies and in tours with various stars, he secured his first London engagement at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1875. He played among other parts "Antonio" in the Merchant of Venice. He had then several provincial seasons, which called into play the versatility for which he afterwards was distinguished. He acted with notable success in King Lear, A Lesson in Love, Society, and The New Magdalen. In 1881 he appeared in the first production of Henry Arthur Jones's Elopement. One of his famous parts was that of "Clifford Armytage" in the Lights o' London. He had another great success in the Silver King. The personality of Mr. Willard, as well as his accomplished art, made him one of the marked figures in the theatrical world. In 1889 he undertook the man