YEAR BOOK A RECORD OF EVENTS AND PROGRESS 1911 EDITED BY FRANCIS G. WICKWARE, B.A., B. Sc. UNDER DIRECTION OF A SUPERVISORY BOARD PREFACE SINCE the publication of the first volume of the AMERICAN YEAR BOOK in January, 1911, the organization for its preparation has gone forward on the same general lines. The number of learned and technical societies which are now included is 38. In some cases the representative of a society has himself prepared the material for the YEAR Book for 1912; in other cases he has designated the writers and has supervised the resulting manuscripts; where he has so preferred the writers have been selected at headquarters. As a means of perpetuating the organization the representatives of the societies formed themselves in January, 1911, into the American Year Book Corporation, which is simply an official name for the body of associates who take joint responsibility for this work. In general the present volume follows the lines of the first volume, except that the analysis of topics has been carefully worked over, some new subjects being introduced, a few dropped out and others combined into a new arrangement. Various members of the Board, representatives of the publishing house and candid readers have assisted in this process by their criticisms. In the first volume some important topics were summarized and brought up to a point of departure; this process has not been necessary in the present volume, which is intended to cover as nearly as may be the twelve months from about December 1, 1910, to December 1, 1911, with some additions so as to bring the political and governmental story beyond the meeting of Congress. As before, the bulletins of the Thirteenth United States Census have been issued in this statistical work, up to the last possible moment. The scope of the work remains as described in the preface to the first volume : "The AMERICAN YEAR BOOK is intended for the needs of writers and searchers of every kind. Because of its inclusion of scientific subjects, it has been necessary to limit the political and statistical material which is the staple of many annual handbooks; the book does not aim to treat everything that could be useful, but throughout to select from the enormous mass of details those things which, in the judgment of experts in that field, are most significant, most permanent in value, most likely to answer the searchers' questions." "The AMERICAN YEAR BOOK does not aim to be a rival of other annual publications, either foreign or domestic. Details as to elections, the personnel of state and municipal governments, political personalities, societies, and educational, literary, and scientific institutions have deliberately been reduced, in order to make room for material of a kind not found in most of the annuals. The AMERICAN YEAR BOOK appeals first of all to students in all fields, who wish a record of progress, not only in their own but in other departments of human endeavor. It is intended, also, as a handbook for busy men, editors, contributors, professional men, teachers, scientific workers, engineers, practical and business men, who wish to verify or confirm points that arise in their minds; and to serve as a handy body of reference material settling questions of fact. Throughout the work the object of the Corporation and the Managing Editor has been to make the volume convenient for the user; hence the YEAR BOOK is arranged on a plan entirely unique in publications of this general character. It is |