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sequence of an adverse vote on the budget brought forward by Count Katsura's ministry, which provided for the continuation of the land tax, in order to meet the demand for naval expansion, and extension of the railroad and telephone systems. In the House of Representatives, which met in May after the elections, the Government party was still in hopeless minority, but were sustained in their position by the Marquis Ito who, to avoid frequent changes of ministry, used his influence as leader of the Sei-Yu-Kai for national instead of party purposes. He endeavored to arrange terms between the Sei-Yu-Kai, and in a conference it was decided to drop the land tax, and to provide funds for naval expansion by economies in the administration, by domestic loans and appropriations. This arrangement was accepted not without some discontent. The House then introduced a vote of censure on the ministry, and while the vote was thrown out a combination of parties resulted in the defeat of the government on May 29 on resolutions demanding the fixing of ministerial responsibility in connection with recent official scandal. The Cabinet ignored the censure and the Prime Minister declared that the resolution passed by the House of Representatives did not require the resignation of the ministry as the cabinet held its concession from the Emperor, not from the Diet.

The position of the Cabinet had become untenable, and on June 4 the Minister of Education resigned, in consequence of being regarded as responsible for the text book scandal which had led to the conviction. of over 40 subordinates in his department on charges of bribery by booksellers and publishers. The Minister of Commerce who had advised some ill considered legislation for the regulation of rates of exchange also resigned, together with the Minister for Communication whose program for railway extension had been excluded. Marquis Ito, at the Emperor's invitation, accepted the post of President of the Council. Among other changes that followed the Sei-Yu-Kai, with which Marquis Ito was unable to continue his connection, was introduced by him to a new leader in Count Saionji, and a section which had broken away from the party in dissatisfaction with the absolute control exercised by Marquis Ito, founded a new party called "Doshi-Sukai," or, the Assembly of Fellow-Thinkers, under Count Itagaki. On December 10 the Emperor delivered in person a speech upholding the Cabinet.

Australia's Strong Labor Party

Sir Edmund Barton, Prime Minister of the Australian Commonwealth, resigned toward the close of the year to accept a post in the high Federal Court. He was succeeded by Mr. Deakin, a leading politician, a consistent advocate of federation from the Independent Democratic side, and an ardent supporter of the Imperialist views of Mr. Chamberlain. An election of one-third of the Senate, and of the whole House of Representatives took place on December 16 with rather startling results. According to the Constitution each state votes as one electorate for the Upper House. The experiment was tried for the first time at this election. For the first time also women voted at a general election, The issue was simply between the labor party and the other parties, and the result was that the labor party gained six seats in the Senate, 4 from the Ministry and 2 from the Opposition. In the House of Representatives it won 6 seats from the Ministry. The parties were represented in the totals as follows: In the Senate there were 8 Deakin Ministerialists, 15 of the Opposition and 15 of the Labor party; in the new House of Representatives there were 26 Deakin Ministerialists, 26 of the Opposition and 23 of the Labor party. These numbers showed the growing strength of the Labor party, and pointed to a peculiar political complication. In the Senate, designed to be a conservative and steadfast body and the last constitutional resource, the Labor party had an actual majority.

The triumph of the Labor party was ascribed chiefly to the better discipline of its members who concentrated their strength, as the block system enabled them to do, on the return of their selected candidates. The women's vote, exercised for the first time, doubtless had its share in achieving the labor victory. Mr. Deakin's own policy, as affirmed by himself, did not derive any color from the political triumph of his allies of the Labor party, nor was there any indication up to the close of the year of how the overpowering vote would influence his policy. In his electoral address Mr. Deakin made a strong point of urging the need of population for Australia. "We cannot have a white Australia without whites," he said, "there has been a continuous decline since 1861, but the only way conceived by the Labor party of increasing the white population was by restricting the employment of the color."

CHAPTER IX

INVENTION

Improvement in the methods of transportation and communication continued to offer the most attractive field for the inventor and the engineer. Time saving seemed the greatest desideratum. To Germany must be credited the most noteworthy achievement in rapid transportation. All former speed records were broken on October 6, when an electric car on the Marienfelde-Zossen experimental line reached a speed of 125*/ miles an hour, a kilometre more than the highest previous record; in fact, the car reached a speed considerably higher than any moving body short of a projectile had previously attained. At a second test made October 23 the car beat its own record, making a rate of 1311⁄2 miles an hour. In both tests the machinery and the roadbed were unimpaired. The current was between 13,000 and 14,000 volts, the power being reduced by transformers to about 450 volts. The car used had four motors having altogether about 1,100 horse power. It was constructed on the Siemens-Halske system. Twelve or fourteen persons on board, all technical men, affirmed that the motion of the car was no greater than that of an ordinary express train. The engineers gave their opinion that a speed of 125 miles an hour was not practicable under existing conditions on the state railroads of Germany, though they recommended a speed of 93 miles an hour for express trains between Berlin and Hamburg.

England's Monorail System

In England Parliament authorized the construction between Manchaster and Liverpool of an electric express monorail track which promised to be the pioneer highspeed railway in the world for regular traffic. The engineers, Mr. F. B. Behr and Mr. R. Elliott-Cooper, proposed to run single cars on the single track at a speed of 110 miles.

an hour, the cars running every ten minutes. The length of the line authorized was 341⁄2 miles, for which distance the cars would take twenty minutes instead of the forty-five minutes required by the fastest express train run by the three existing railway companies. Mr. Behr, the patentee of this highspeed monorail devoted himself to his inveution for many years. In connection with the Brussels exposition he built an experimental monorail on which very high speeds were attained. The commissioners appointed by various governments to report on the line expressed their opinion that a speed of 100 miles an hour and over would be quite feasible on such a track, that cars could run around sharp curves with no possibility of derailment, and that passengers would feel no ill effects from such rapid travel. The practical features of the invention were highly commended.

Mr. Behr's idea was to convince the railway companies of the advisability of laying down special monorail tracks solely for the express passenger traffic, leaving the existing ground tracks for slow passenger and goods traffic. According to his system, the engine and cars rest upon one rail which is about half way from the floor to the top of the car. By arranging the seats back to back each of the carriages straddles the rail, extending to trucks on either side below the floor. On these trucks are set wheels which lie horizontally and run on the outside of two other rails. They thus act as steadiers, admit of high velocity with safety, and make abrupt curves possible.

Mont Blanc's Electric Railway

The French Minister of Public Works approved a project for an electric railway ascending Mont Blanc. The plan, drawn up by the famous engineer, M. Fabre, provided for a funicular railroad in every way identical with that in operation on Mount Rigi, and similar to the one that was put in operation on the Jungfrau toward the close of the year. The motive force was to be obtained from the Arve River, which takes its rise in the glaciers of Chamounix, the force given up by the stream also being used for illuminating and heating the stations and cars. Each locomotive was to be provided with two motors. Each train was to be limited to a maximum of twenty passengers; all details were worked out providing for comfortable travel at an elevation of 15,000 feet.

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French Automobile Trains

A new system of automobile railway passed beyond the stage of experiment in France. It consisted in the substitution on railways, for the existing locomotives and carriages of trains, of automobiles accommodating forty passengers with luggage, including a lavatory and refreshment bar, and capable of a normal speed of 611⁄2 miles an hour. The manager of the Paris-Lyons Railway Company declared the new system "an absolute revolution," and promptly offered to place the rails of his road at the disposal of MM. Gardner and Serpollet, the builders of the automobile train, for their trial trip. The first automobile train started from the Lyons station, Paris, in June, and reached Dijon, 315 kilometres distant, in three hours and ten minutes. Another practical automobile train, which was successfully operated without rails, was an invention of the well-known Colonel Renard, who had already won fame through solving problems with reference to dirigible balloons. A characteristic feature of his train was the principle that each car propels itself; the propelling force only is furnished by the locomotive, and since the latter has no pulling to perform, but only to supply power, it can be built proportionately very light. Colonel Renard's method seemed to furnish a practical solution of industrial transportation over interior roads and highways. It offered nothing less than a street car line without rails, and opened up great practical possibilities in the field of rural transportation.

The Magnetic Railway System

Magnetism applied to the propulsion of railroad trains was the principle of a patent taken out by Professor A. C. Albertson, formerly of the Royal University at Copenhagen, now residing in the United States. The inventor exhibited a working model and a car weighing 200 pounds, illustrating the idea of overcoming the weight of a railway train by means of powerful magnets which slide along underneath the rail. Professor Albertson claimed that he had found a way to abolish the attraction of gravitation so far as his train of cars was concerned. For example, if a train weighs ten tons the engineer in an Albertson locomotive would merely turn on a magnetic force of eleven tons, overcoming the weight of the train and allowing it to slide along the rails with a friction of only one ton. The entire train