MADAGASCAR. 



holding on to its achievements and cherishing its 

 memories, and turn with hope to the new. with its 

 opportunities and obligations. These we must 

 meet, men of the South, men of the North, with 

 high purpose and resolution. Without internal 

 troubles to distract us or jealousies to disturb our 

 judgment, we will solve the problems which con- 

 front us untrammeled by the past, and wisely and 

 courageously pursue a policy of right and justice 

 in all things, making the future, under God, even 

 more glorious than the past.' 7 



Early in the autumn of 1901 the President, ac- 

 companied by .Mrs. McKinley and several mem- 

 bers of his Cabinet, visited the Pan-American Ex- 

 position at Hull'alo. N. Y. On Thursday, Sept. 5, 

 he delivered an address embodying the ripest wis- 

 dom of his long and prosperous political career. 

 It gathered the experience of his many years of 

 service to the country, and announced in clear, 

 strong language the 'policy that was to guide 

 him in the future. The speech is not merely an 

 expression of the personal views of the President; 

 it is a sound statement of the actual problems 

 involved in the new position that, under his own 

 wise guidance, our country has assumed in the 

 world. It is in a sense Mr. McKinley's legacy to 

 his native land. On Friday afternoon, in the 

 music-hall of the exposition, while receiving his 

 fellow citizens, he was twice shot by an assassin, 

 who was executed for the crime in the following 

 month. The President lingered until early on 

 Saturday morning, Sept. 14. Funeral services 

 were held in Buffalo, and Thursday, Sept. 19, was 

 by President Roosevelt appointed a day of mourn- 

 ing and prayer throughout the United States. On 

 that day the body lay in state in the national 

 Capitol, after which there was a public funeral. 

 At the same time unprecedented honors were paid 

 to the memory of Mr. McKinley in St. Paul's Ca- 

 thedral and Westminster Abbey, London, and in 

 other parts of the Old World. The dead Presi- 

 dent's body was temporarily laid to rest in Can- 

 ton, Ohio, where his widow resides. Probably 

 none of his predecessors during their terms of 

 office enjoyed as great popularity as William 

 McKinley, and it may be safely asserted that the 

 death of no other President was so universally 

 mourned among his countrymen. See Speeches 

 and Addresses of William McKinley, compiled by 

 Joseph P. Smith (New York, 1893) ; the Life of 

 Major McKinley, by Robert P. Porter (Cleveland, 

 1896) ; and Speeches and Addresses of William 

 McKinley, from 1897 to 1901 (New York, 1900). 



MADAGASCAR, an island colony of France 

 near the southeast coast of Africa, formerly a 

 kingdom, proclaimed a French protectorate in 

 1885, and declared a French colony on Aug. 6, 

 1890. The colony is administered by a Governor- 

 General, Major-Gen. Gallieni. The area of the 

 island, with Diego Suarez, Nossi Be, Sainte Marie 

 de Madagascar, and the lies Glorieuses, is esti- 

 mated at 228,500 square miles. The total popula- 

 tion according to a recent official estimate is 

 2,252.230, the natives being estimated at 2,250,000, 

 besides whom there are 207 Africans, 589 Asiatics, 

 1,042 French, and 398 Mauritians and others. 

 There were 760 French civil functionaries in 1900, 

 and the troops in 1901 numbered 490 officers and 

 16,406 soldiers. The Hovas, a tribe of mixed 

 Malay origin that formerly ruled the island, are 

 estimated to number 1,000,000. Most of them are 

 nominally Christian, the majority of them Prot- 

 estants. Antananarivo, the capital, has about 

 260,000 inhabitants; Tamatave, the seaport on 

 the east coast, and Majunga, on the west coast, 

 about 6,000 each. Hindus and Chinese carry on 

 the local trade in the towns and Arab trade on the 



coasts. Slavery was abolished by proclamation 

 in Imerina, the Hova province, and wherever 

 French authority reaches, on Sept. 26, 1896. Of 

 the troops 8,165 were Europeans and 8,241 natives 

 of Madagascar. The chief judicial officers are 

 French, with native judges in the lower courts. 

 The Christians are estimated to number 450,000 

 Protestants and 50,000 Catholics. The missions 

 carry on hospitals, orphanages, colleges, and 

 about 1,800 elementary schools, with 170,000 pu- 

 pils. The colonial French Government has insti- 

 tuted rural schools in which instruction is given 

 in both French and Malagasy, and in provincial 

 centers industrial and agricultural schools, with 

 superior schools in which officials, teachers, law- 

 yers, and physicians receive their training. The 

 revenue for 1897 was 9,093,820 francs, and the 

 expenditure 9,328,679 francs. For 1900 the local 

 revenue was estimated at 11,972,000 francs, to 

 which the French Government added a contribu- 

 tion of 1,800,000 francs to cover the estimated ex- 

 penditures. The actual revenue in 1900 was 19,- 

 400,000 francs from all sources, and expenditure 

 17,100,000 francs, leaving a surplus of 2,300,000 

 francs to be added to the reserve fund. The rev- 

 enue in 1901 was expected to reach 25,000,000 

 francs. For military expenditure in 1901 the sum 

 of 29,147,100 francs is set down in the French 

 budget, and the total expenditure of France in 

 that year is put at 31,602,449 francs. The debt of 

 the colony requires 2,625,000 francs a year for in- 

 terest, including the new loan of 60,000,000 francs, 

 The reserve fund in 1901 amounted to 5,000,000 

 francs. The local revenue has increased six and 

 one-half times in five years. Madagascar is believed 

 to be rich in minerals. Gold, copper, iron, galena, 

 sulfur, graphite, and lignite have been found, and 

 300 claims have been filed, but the development of 

 mines is slow because the law requires companies 

 to be managed exclusively by Frenchmen. Con- 

 cessions of land are granted to Frenchmen free 

 and have been sold to foreigners. The forests 

 abound in valuable woods, in caoutchouc, and 

 other forest produce. The natives weave silk, cot- 

 ton, and rafia fiber by hand, and are skilled in 

 working metals. The value of imports in 1899 

 was 27,994,000 francs, against 21,641,000 francs in 

 1898; the value of exports was 8,046,000 francs, 

 against 4.960,000 francs. The principal articles 

 imported in 1898 were cloth for 8,513,000 francs; 

 drinks for 2,702,000 francs, besides wine for 1,429,- 

 000 francs; flour, 423,000 francs; tobacco, 128,000 

 francs. The chief exports in 1898 were caoutchouc 

 for 1,282,000 francs; cattle, 653,000 francs; hides, 

 637,000 francs; rafia, 561,000 francs; wax, 383,000 

 francs. The total general trade of Madagascar in 

 1900 was 51,000,000 francs, having nearly quad- 

 rupled in five years. 



The port of Tamatave was visited during 1898 

 by 6,061 vessels, of 879,362 tons, 734,068 tons being 

 French, 78,053 tons British, and 39,305 tons Ger- 

 man. A railroad has been built from Tamatave 

 to Ivondro, which is connected by a canal witk 

 Jaroka, whence the railroad will be carried to 

 the capital. The lagoons along the east coast 

 are being joined by canals. A telegraph-line, 180 

 miles in length, runs from Tamatave to the capi- 

 tal, and another from the capital to Majunga, 

 connecting with a cable to Mozambique, giving 

 communication with Europe. Antananarivo has 

 telegraphic communication also with the chief 

 towns of the interior. A road from Tamatave 

 to the capital has been completed, forced labor 

 having been employed in its construction accord- 

 ing to the old custom of the country. Gen. Gal- 

 lieni has promised to abolish the corvee, as well 

 as slavery. A poll-tax was introduced in lieu of 



