Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/304

DANIELS 260 DANTE ALIGHIEBI From 1895 to 1912 he was prominent in National and State politics as a Bryan Democrat and took a considerable part in the election of Wilson to the presi- dency in 1912. In March of the next year he received the appointment of Secretary of the Navy. He gained prom- inence by his order forbidding officers to have liquor aboard their vessels and by banning the use of liquor by the officers and men of the navy. He also advocated government manufacture of armor and munitions. During the war with Ger- many the navy of the United States did its work effectively, and this was due largely to the efforts of Secretary Daniels. A controversy between him and Admiral Sims, as a result of the latter's criticism of navy administration during the war was followed by a Senatorial in- vestigation in 1920. DANIELS, WINTHROP MORE, an American official and economist, born in Dayton, O., in 1867. He graduated from Princeton in 1888. After studying in Germany, he became professor of politi- cal economy in Princeton in 1892, serv- ing until 1911. In the latter year he was appointed a member of the Board of Public Utility Commissioners of New Jersey. He served in this capacity until 1914, when he became a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission. He was a chairman of the Commission in 1918-1919. He was the author of "Ele- ments of Public Finance" (1899) ; and "Continuation of Alexander Johnston's History of American Politics" (1902). He was a contributor to magazines on economic subjects. DANITE, a member of a former Mor- mon secret society whose purpose it was to avenge wrongs committed by the "Gentiles" on the "Saints." They are said to have been organized about 1837. They derive their name from Jacob's blessing to his son Dan (Gen. xlix: 17). DANNEMORA, a village on a lake of the same name, 24 miles N. N. E. of Upsala, in Sweden, celebrated for its iron-mines, the second richest in Sweden, which have been worked uninterruptedly for upward of three centuries. DANNEVIRKE (Danes work), the rampart built by the Danes about 808 across Sleswick, gust N. of the Eider; the scene of fighting in 1849, and razed by the Germans in 1850. D'ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE (dan- 6n'tse-5), an Italian novelist and poet; born at sea in 1864. He studied law in Pisa, but in 1885 took up literature. He wrote "Italy" and other poems, besides novels of pessimist tendency. "The Triumph of Death," published 1895, wont him international fame. In 1899 he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Depu- ties. When Italy entered the World War he enlisted in the Aviation Corps, was promoted to a lieutenancy and received the croix de guerre for bravery. After the Peace of 1919, dissatisfied with the GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO award of Fiume to Jugoslavia, and sup- ported by some military and naval con- tingents, he took possession of the city and instituted a local government. On Sept. 9, 1920, he proclaimed Fiume an independent state, but abandoned the city of Fiume in December, following the agreement of Rapollo. He was the author of many successful plays. Notable are "The Dead City) (1898); "La Gioconda" (1898); "Francesca da Rimini" (1901); "Juno's Daughter" (1904); "Fedra" (1909). His later fiction includes "Novella della Pescara" (1902); "Le Chevrefeuille" (1913), etc. DANTE, ALIGHIERI (dan'ta a-le. ge-a're), the greatest of Italian poets; born in Florence about the end of May, 1265, of a family belonging to the lower nobility. His education was confided to the learned Brunetto Latini. He is said also to have studied in various seats of learning. He seems to have been quite a boy, no more than 9 years of age, when he first saw Beatrice Portinari, and the love she awakened in him he has de- scribed in that record of his early years, the "New Life," as well as in his later great work, the "Divine Comedy." Their lives were spent far apart, Beatrice marrying a noble Florentine, Simone Bardi, in 1287, and dying three years afterward; while the year following Dante married Gemma dei Donati, by whom he had seven children.