DUMA 



1878 



DUMAS 



include grain elevators, saw mills and flour 

 mills, shipyards, slaughter houses, a ten-million 

 dollar steel plant, erected in 1915 by the United 

 States Steel Company, a blast furnace, iron 

 works, machine shops, a cement factory, match 

 factories, etc. Ample power for manufacture is 

 supplied by a fall of 378 feet in the Saint 

 Louis River. 



History. Duluth received its name from 

 Daniel de Grecylon, Sieur Du Lhut, a French 

 trader and explorer, who visited this point 

 about 1679. He traded with the Indians at 

 Fond du Lac, which after 1752 was a depot of 

 Astor's American Fur Company and is now 

 about ten miles from Duluth. The place was 

 settled about 1853, and the land was ceded by 

 the Indians two years later. It was first reached 

 by railway in 1870 and in that year became a 

 city. In 1912 the commission form of govern- 

 ment was adopted. G.D.MCC. 



DUMA, doo'mah, the lower house of the 

 Russian Parliament, officially the Imperial 

 Duma, established by edict of the czar in 1905 

 and reorganized in its present form in 1907. 

 The Duma was given to the nation in response 

 to a growing demand of the people for partici- 

 pation in government, but the process of elec- 

 tion to membership does not fairly distribute 

 representation among the classes. There are 

 422 members, chosen for five years. The in- 

 volved election machinery keeps in the major- 

 ity the representatives of the wealthy land- 

 owners, and places the representatives of the 

 mass of the people in the minority. The Duma 

 has joint legislative power with the Council 

 of the Empire, of 196 members, of whom one- 

 half are named by the czar. Bills passed by 

 these houses are subject to veto by the czar, 

 and, if thus disapproved, cannot be voted on 

 again without the ruler's consent. 



The powers of the Duma, as well as of the 

 Council of the Empire s are strictly limited. All 

 measures regarding the army and navy are 

 outside its jurisdiction. It has absolutely 

 no voice in more than half the items 

 which make up the annual budget; as for 

 the other half, if the Duma disapproves it 

 or the czar vetoes it, the government retains 

 the power to levy special taxes in addition to 

 renewing the budget of the preceding period. 

 Any member may introduce a bill, but it must 

 first be submitted to the Minister in whose 

 department it falls. The Minister determines 

 the form in which the bill shall be presented to 

 the houses. Amendments, however, may be 

 offered on the floor of the house and have 



sometimes been carried against the government. 

 The czar has the power to issue a special ordi- 

 nance (ukase) which has the force of law, at 

 any time when the Duma is not in session; as 

 the czar furthermore may prorogue or dissolve 

 the Duma at his pleasure, these ordinances 

 might easily become permanent. Finally, the 

 czar may at any time proclaim martial law, 

 thus superseding the civil statutes. This last 

 step has been taken in Poland, in Finland and 

 even in parts of Russia itself, in order that 

 the opposition to the government's policy 

 might be crushed by force. Under these cir- 

 cumstances it is little short >f marvelous that 

 the Duma has actually established its position 

 as a branch of the government. 



In spite of its limited functions, the Duma 

 has steadily grown more powerful, and its 

 voice has stirred to action men who were once 

 heedless of public opinion. Especially after 

 the outbreak of the War of the Nations in 

 1914 the Duma voiced the patriotism, the new 

 nationalism, perhaps, of the Russian people. 

 In 1916, for example, the resignation of a reac- 

 tionary, strongly bureaucratic Ministry and the 

 substitution of a more liberal one were gen- 

 erally attributed to Ihe Duma's influence. The 

 Duma was strongly in favor of a vigorous 

 prosecution of the war, whereas there were 

 influential men in the so-called bureaucratic 

 circles who seemed to favor an early peace. 

 See RUSSIA, subtitle Government. 



DUMAS, dumah' , the family name of two 

 great French writers of the nineteenth century, 

 father and son. 



Alexandra Dumas (1802-1870), a French nov- 

 elist and dramatist, called DUMAS THE ELDER 

 to distinguish him from his son (see below), 

 who inherited his literary ability. As a writer 

 of thrilling romances, Dumas has no equal 

 among French novelists, and his stories are 

 probably the most widely-read in the entire 

 realm of fiction. He was born in the town of 

 Villers-Cotterets. His father, a general of Na- 

 poleon's army, was the son of a rich colonist 

 of Haiti and a negress of the island. From the 

 latter the novelist took his name Dumas, and 

 from her, also, he inherited many of his mental 

 and physical traits. In his youth he began 

 the study of law, but, having had his interest 

 awakened in the stage, went to Paris in 1823 

 to try his fortunes as a dramatist. In order 

 to live until his pen should support him, he 

 took a position as secretary in the household 

 of the Duke of Orleans, afterward King Louis 

 Philippe, remaining there until 1830. 



