By Act of 1919 a department of public safety (state police) was estab- lished to relieve the military arm of the state and to aid in establish- ing the system of private peace officers. By Act of 1915 the member- ship of the House of Delegates (previously 86) was increased to 94.
Welfare Legislation. A state tuberculosis sanatorium established by Act of 1911 was opened for patients in 1913 at Terra Alta. A similar institution for coloured people was opened in 1919. Re- vision of laws relating to medicine and health in 1913 marked the beginning of a new era in sanitary legislation. In 1914 a hygiene laboratory was established. In 1915 a state department of health was created, with a commissioner as executive officer, two new divi- sions, vital statistics and child welfare, were added by Act of 1919.
History. Apart from the economic and educational move- ments above described, the outstanding event of the decade ending 1920 was the adjustment of the long-standing " Vir- ginia debt question." It arose from the formation of West Virginia as a separate state in 1863 and at various times had been a prominent issue in state politics. .A U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1911 tentatively fixed West Virginia's share of the old debt at $7,182,507.48 (leaving the question of interest for later adjustment), and by a later judgment of 1915 against West Virginia fixed the total obligations at $12,393,929.50 ($4,215,622.28 and accrued interest from Jan. i 1861), with a decree that this total amount should draw interest at 5% until paid. In Feb. 1917 Virginia filed application for a writ of mandamus against the Legislature of West Virginia to compel the levy of a tax to pay the judgment; but the court deferred action in order to give West Virginia a reasonable opportunity to act without compulsion. The total amount of principal and interest on Jan. i 1919 was $14,562,867.16. Of this amount West Virginia, by Act of March 31 1919, arranged to pay $1,062,867.16 in cash and the balance by an issue of " listable " 35% bonds in favour of Virginia, payable in 1939 (or earlier). Bonds amounting to $12,366,500 were delivered to the Virginia debt commission at Richmond, Va., on July 3 1919. The remaining bonds ($1,133,500) were held in escrow pending the filing of remaining outstanding Virginia debt certificates.
The state continued Republican in politics, but party divi- sion resulted in the election of a Democrat to the governor's office in 1916. The governors since 1909 have been: William E. Glasscock, 1909-13; Henry D. Hatfield, 1913-7; John J. Cornwell, 1917-21; Ephraim F. Morgan, 1921- .
BIBLIOGRAPHY. J. M. Callahan, Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia (1913); Thos. C. Miller and Hu. Maxwell, History of West Virginia and its People (1913) ; John T. Harris, West Vir- ginia Legislative Handbook (1920). (J. M. C.*)
WHARTON, EDITH [NEWBOLD JONES] (1862- ), American
writer, was born in New York City in 1862. She lived much
in Italy and France. She married Edward Wharton, a Boston
banker, in 1885. She began her literary career as a writer of short stories, her first story, " Mrs. Manstey's View," appear-
ing in Scribner's Magazine in 1891. Her first long novel, The
Valley of Decision, appeared in 1902, the scene being Italy
toward the close of the seventeenth century. Her novel, The
House of Mirth, appeared in 1905 and was highly successful.
In 1908 it was translated into French by Paul Bourget, who
called it the greatest American novel. It was dramatized with
the help of Clyde Fitch, but had slight success. After the out-
break of the World War she edited in 1915 The Book of the
Homeless, sold for the benefit of Belgian refugees; and later for
services she was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour of
France. Her works include The Greater Inclination (1899);
The Touchstone (1900); Crucial Instances (1901); Madame de
Treymes (1907); The Fruit of the Tree (1907); The Hermit
and the Wild Woman (1908); Tales of Men and Ghosts (1910);
Ethan Frame (1911); The Custom of the Country (1913); The
Age of Innocence (1920).
WHITBREAD, SAMUEL (1830-1915), English politician, was born at Cardington, Beds., May 5 1830, the son of Samuel
Charles Whitbread, M.P. for Middlesex and grandson of Samuel
Whitbread, M.P. for Beds, (see 28.597). He carried on the
family tradition both in brewing and in politics, controlling the
brewery founded by his great-grandfather from 1867 to 1889,
and then becoming chairman of the company to which it was
transferred. Like his father and grandfather he sat in the House
of Commons as a Liberal, representing Bedford from 1852 to
1895. He died at Biggleswade Dec. 25 1915.
WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832-1918), American educationalist (see 28.599), died at Ithaca, N.Y., Nov. 4 1918. His later works included Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of
Humanity With Unreason (1910) and The Work of Benjamin
Hale (1911). In 1913 he published a new edition of The Warfare of Science and Theology in Christendom.
WHITE, EDWARD DOUGLASS (1845-1921), American jurist, was born on a plantation in the parish of Lafourche, La., Nov. 3 1845. His father was seventh governor of Louisiana. He was educated at Mount St. Mary's, Md., Georgetown (D.C.) College, and, after the outbreak of the Civil War, at the Jesuit College in New Orleans. During the latter part of the war he served
as a private in the Confederate army. He studied law in the office of Edward Bermudez, later chief justice of Louisiana,
was admitted to the bar in 1868, and practised law in New Or-
leans. In 1874 he was elected to the state Senate, and four years
later was appointed associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme
Court. In 1891 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and before
completing his term was appointed, in 1894, associate justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court by President Cleveland. In 1910 he
was appointed chief justice by President Taft. Many of his
notable opinions were delivered in connexion with the Sherman
anti-trust law. Of special importance were his opinions re-
quiring the dissolution of the Standard Oil Co. and the American
Tobacco Co. in 1911. As chief justice he administered the oath
of office to President Wilson in 1913 and 1917, and to President
Harding in 1921. He died at Washington, D.C., May 19 1921.
WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835-1912), British field-marshal (see 28.599), died in London June 24 1912.
WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845-1913), English naval architect (see 28.602), died in London Feb. 27 1913.
WHITEAVES, JOSEPH FREDERICK (1835-1909), British palaeontologist (see 28.602), died at Ottawa Aug. 9 1909.
WHITLOCK, BRAND. (1860- ), American diplomat and
writer, was born at Urbana, O., Mar. 4 1869. He -was educated in the public schools, became a newspaper reporter in Toledo, 0., in 1887, and was appointed political correspondent on the Chicago Herald in 1890. Three years later he accepted a clerkship in the office of the Secretary of State of Illinois, where he remained until 1897. Meanwhile he read law and was admitted to the bar (1894). In 1897 he returned to Toledo and practised law until 1905, when he was elected mayor. He was reelected for three succeeding terms, but in 1911 declined the nomination for a fifth term. In 1913 he was appointed by President Wilson minister to Belgium and in 1919 his post was raised to ambassador. This office he continued to hold under President Harding until the close of 1921. Before he had been in Belgium a year the World War broke out and the German invasion took place. Although the other diplomatic bodies followed the Belgian court to Havre, Whitlock insisted on remaining in Brussels in order to render any possible aid to the oppressed people. It was largely due to his urgent advice that Brussels did not resist and thus escaped even more ruthless devastation. In the early days of the war he gave protection to many German residents who had been unable to leave the country. By his firm attitude toward the German military officials he saved many innocent Belgians from death; but his activities in behalf of Edith Cavell were unavailing as he was misled' at the last moment by false promises by the Germans. After the formation of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, its operations were placed wholly under his direction. Food and clothing were provided for destitute civilians whose means of sustenance had been destroyed. His ceaseless work in their behalf won the gratitude of all the Belgians; and although worn out by the physical strain he refused to quit his post until the signing of the Armistice in Nov. 1918, when he returned to America for a short rest. He was decorated with the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold by King Albert (1917), and was made burgher of Brussels (1918) and of Liege (1919) and Honorary Citizen of Antwerp (1919).
