DEWEY, GEORGE. 



221 



31.257, of 662,152 tons. In the coasting trade 35,- 

 800 vessels were entered and 35,719 cleared. 



The commercial navy of Denmark and colonies 

 on Jan. 1, 1897, numbered 3,651 vessels, of 345,583 

 tons, of which 439, of 164,075 tons, were steamers. 



Communications. The length of railroads is 

 1,434 miles, of which 1,067 miles belong to the Gov- 

 ernment, built at a cost of 206,942,000 kroner. 



The postal traffic in 1896 was 74,606,941 letters 

 and postal cards and 69,038,468 newspapers and 

 samples. 



The telegraphs, which all belong to the Govern- 

 ment, had a total length on Jan. 1, 1897, of 3,349 

 miles, with 9,375 miles of wire. The number of dis- 

 patches in 1896 was 577,062 internal, 1,218,941 in- 

 ternational, and 145,751 official. The telegraph re- 

 ceipts for the fiscal year 1897 were 1,357,194 kroner ; 

 expenses, 1,571,048 kroner. 



Political Affairs. The neutrality of Denmark 

 has been for several years a part of the programme 

 of the Radical party in the Folkething. Vice-Ad- 

 miral Ravn, having endeavored to ascertain the 

 views of the European powers on the subject, de- 

 clared in January his conclusion that there was no 

 probability of obtaining an international guarantee 

 of Denmark's permanent neutrality. In the elec- 

 tions to the Folkething on April 5 the Conservative 

 and Moderate Liberal parties met with a signal de- 

 feat, and the Radicals, who had before depended 

 on Socialist support, commanded a considerable 

 majority of the whole house. This did not, however, 

 drive the Conservative ministry to resign, since 

 it justified its continuance in office by the support 

 of the majority of the Landsthing and the confi- 

 dence of the King. The elections resulted as fol- 

 low : Conservatives, 15 ; Moderate Left, 23 ; Radi- 

 cal Left, 63 ; Socialists, 12. In the previous 

 Folkething there were 24 Conservatives, 25 Mod- 

 erates, 55 Radicals, and 9 Socialists. One half of 

 the elective members of the Landsthing were re- 

 newed in September. The Socialists were disap- 

 pointed in not obtaining an increase in their num- 

 bers, the Agrarian Radicals in a doubtful district 

 having joined the Conservatives against them. 

 The Conservatives -lost 4 seats, making the house 

 consist of 43 Ministerialists and 23 members of op- 

 position groups. 



Colonies. The colonies of Denmark are Iceland, 

 Greenland, and the West Indian islands of St. 

 Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. The latter are 

 inhabited by a negro population whose prosperity 

 has been much impaired by the fall in the price of 

 sugar. The total area of the islands is 118 square 

 miles, and the population numbers 32,786. The 

 imports in 1896 amounted to 306,000 kroner, and 

 the exports to 80.000 kroner. Greenland has an 

 area of 46,740 square miles under Danish jurisdic- 

 tion, with a population of 10,516 souls. The im- 

 ports in 1896 were 557.000 kroner, and the exports 

 406,000 kroner. The trade has fallen off, owing to 

 the competition of Japan, in the supply of train oil. 

 The trade in this article and in eider down and furs, 

 the other products, is carried on by a bureau of the 

 Finance Ministry and entails a loss to the Govern- 

 ment. 



Iceland, which has an area of 39,756 square miles 

 and 70,927 inhabitants, has its own legislative sys- 

 tem. The trade returns for. 1896, which are imper- 

 fect, show 2,089,000 kroner of imports and 3,291,- 

 000 kroner of exports. 



DEWEY, GEORGE, an American naval officer, 

 born in Montpelier, Vt., Dec. 26, 1837. For por- 

 trait, see frontispiece of this volume. 



At daybreak on May 1, 1898, Commodore George 

 Dewey, flag officer of the Asiatic squadron, was 

 known in army and navy circles as a faithful and 

 meritorious officer who had distinguished himself 



as a subaltern in the civil war, and who had risen 

 by the slow steps of regular promotion in time of 

 peace to his present grade. When the sun went 

 down he stood in the front rank of the victorious 

 naval commanders of his race. 



Since he won his brilliant victory over the Spanish 

 at Manila numerous sketches have been published 

 describing his career from boyhood with more or 

 less of authority ; and he has been so far away that 

 he could neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of 

 such accounts. His brief official record, as pub- 

 lished by the Department, shows that he was ap- 

 pointed to the Naval Academy at Annapolis from 

 Vermont in 1854, and the summary that follows sets 

 forth his term of duty on different ships, the actions 

 in which he participated during the civil war, and 

 the important bureau work in which he was engaged 

 from time to time at the academy and in the De- 

 partments at Washington. 



His father, Julius Yemans Dewey, M. D., was a 

 typical New England doctor, driving about in his 



THE HOUSE IN WHICH ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY WAS BORN. 



well-known gig over the Green mountain hills in 

 the vicinity of the little city. Like many country 

 doctors of his day, he was an influential citizen and 

 commanded the affection and confidence of a large 

 portion of the community. Montpelier has not 

 changed very much in the sixty years that have passed 

 since Dewey's birth ; it is still the clean, thrifty, 

 typical New England town that it was in those days, 

 not very much larger and still cherishing many of 

 the traditions that governed it then. Dr. Dewey was 

 one of the founders of the first Episcopal church 

 in the place, and there his son George and three 

 other children were baptized. George, as soon as 

 he arrived at the mischievous and adventurous age. 

 developed all the energy characteristic of an ambi- 

 tious Yankee boy. The house where he was born 

 stood on the slope of the hill at the foot of which 

 glides the beautiful but misnamed Onion river, 'and 

 he is described as having been a barefoot lad driv- 

 ing the cows to and from pasture, attending school, 

 and foremost in all the enterprises and in much of 

 the mischief of his kind. 



His father, if report be true, was of the stern 

 Puritanical type of New-Englander, and when 

 George's teacher one day sent him home from 

 school with his back smarting from a liberal use of the 

 birch, George was comforted by the information that 

 unless he showed some evidences of contrition for his 

 wrongdoing his father would repeat the punishment. 

 In these modern days it is to be feared either that 

 the wrongdoer would not receive the punishment 

 that he deserved, or that the weak-minded and 

 indulgent father would go to law and have the 

 daring teacher indicted for cruelty. It was not in 

 this milk-and-water school that young Dewey was 

 brought up, and the result certainly speaks well in 



