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STBAFFOBD 112 STBALSTJND the strongest and most arbitrary mea- sures. For these services he was cre- ated Earl of Strafford. When the Long Parliament met, the very first movement of the party opposed to arbitrary power was to impeach Strafford of high trea- son, with which charge Pym appeared at the bar of the House of Lords in 1640. His defense, however, was so strong that the original impeachment was deserted lor a bill of attainder. The bill passed the Commons by a great majority, and was feebly supported by the House of Lords. The king endeavored to secure his safety, but yielded to the advice of his counsellors, backed by a letter from Strafford himself, who urged him, for his own safety, to ratify the bill. Straf- ford was accordingly beheaded on Tower Hill May 12, 1641. STEAIGHT, WILLAED DICKER- MAN, an American financier and public official, bom in Oswego, N. Y., in 1880. He was educated at Bordentown (N. J.) Military Institute and at Cornell Uni- versity, and in 1911 married Dorothy Pajme Whitney, the daughter of the late W. C. Whitney {q. v.). From 1902 to 1904 he was in the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service; from 1904 to 1905 a newspaper correspondent in Korea, Japan, and Manchuria; in 1905 consul-general at Seoul; in 1906 private secretary of the American Minister to Cuba; from 1906 to 1908 consul-general at Mukden ; and from November, 1908, to June, 1909, acting chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs in the Depart- ment of State, Washington, D. C. In 1909 he went to China as the representa- tive of a group of American bankers, and remained there until 1914. Upon his return he was connected for a short time with J. P. Morgan & Company, then studied international law at Columbia and became a vice-president of the Amer- ican International Corporation. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical So- ciety, president of the Asiatic Associa- tilon and a trustee of Cornell University. During the World War he served in the Adjutant General's Department. He died in 1918. STRAIGHT COLLEGE, an institution for the higher education of negroes, founded in 1869, at New Orleans. It is co-educational. It has an endowment of about $25,000. It is supported chiefly through voluntary contributions. In 1919 there were 474 students and 26 members of the faculty. President, Rev. H. A. M. Briggs. STRAIN, in mechanics, the force which acts on the material, and which tends to disarrange its component parts or de- stroy their cohesion, or the charge re- sulting from application of such force. See Stress: Strength of Materials. STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, a British crown colony in the Malay Peninsula, deriving its name from the Straits of Malacca which separate the Malay Pen- insula from Sumatra, and form the great trade route between India and China. The capital of the colony and seat of government is Singapore. The governor is assisted by executive and legislative councils. The constituent parts are as follows: Singapore, an island off the S. extremity of the Malay Peninsula; area 217 square miles. Pop. (1918) esti- mated, males 274,238; females 113,098. Penang (including Province Wellesley and Dingings), area 661 square miles. Pop. (1918) estimated, males 188,720; females 117,019. Malacca is a town and territory 240 miles S. of Penang. Its coast, rocky and barren, extends 42 miles; area, 659 square miles. It is ruled by a resident councillor, subject to the governor of the colony. Pop. (1918) estimated, males 92,340; females 60,668. Total population of Straits Set- tlements, males 555,298; females 296,785. Included in the administration of the Straits Settlements are the Cocos (or Keeling Islands) , a small coral group lying some 700 miles S. W. of Java, and Christmas Island which lies 200 miles S. W. of Java. Since 1907 the boun- daries of the colony have included the colony of Labuan. The governor is also high commissioner for the Feder- ated Malay States, STRALSUND (stral-sond), a seaport of Prussia; on a narrow strait called the Strela Sound, which divides the mainland from the island of Riigen; 67 miles N. W. from Stettin. It forms an island, connected with the mainland by bridges. Down to 1873 the place was a fortress of the first class. Many of the houses are finely gabled, which gives the town a quaint and ancient look. The most in- teresting building is the tov/n house (1306), with a museum of antiquities from the island of Riigen. Stralsund carries on a large export trade in malt, com, fish, wool, coal, groceries, etc„ and manufactures leather, gloves, mirrors, earthenware, sugar, starch, oil, and play- ing cards. Pop. about 35,000. It was founded in 1209, and became one of the most important members of the Hansa. During the Thirty Years' War it suc- cessfully Avithstood a terrible siege (1628) 'by Wallenstein; but in 1678 it capitulated to the Great Elector after a furious bombardment. It again opened