Ball, Sir

ROBT. STAWELL, an Irish astronomer, born in 1840, formerly Royal Astronomer of Ireland; appointed Lowndean Prof. of Astronomy at Cambridge, Eng., 1892. Wrote Star land; The Story of the Sun; In the High Heavens, 1893; Great Astronomers, 1895. Ball, Thos., born at Charles town, Ma ., in 1819, the noted sculptor of the group Emancipation (Washington, D. C.), and of the statues of Webster (Central Park, N. Y.), Washington, Sumner, For rest, and almost all the public men of this country. Ball Bearing. An axle-bearing in which the shaft rests at its point of support, not on a cylindrical surface, but on a number of small balls which turn freely IMG:content-0832.jpg:[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small] The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia such machines have been adopted in some States. In voting with these machines the voter, alone in the booth, has simply to touch a knob for each candidate for whom he desires to vote, the particular knob con- nected with each candidate's name being in some plain manner indicated. The machine is so constructed and arranged that it will not record two votes for any one candidate or votes for two candidates for the same office, the pre ing of the knob locking those of all competing candidates. The voter may vote a straight or a split ticket as he wishes, but in no way can he duplicate his vote; and when he has voted for the full number of candidates the machine is completely locked. As he leaves the booth, the closing of the door unlocks the machine in readine for the next voter. One special advantage of these machines is that they count the votes. When the election officials eventually unlock the machine they find the vote for each candidate recorded upon the dial opposite his name, so that within a few minutes after the polls close the result is known. As for ballot-box stuffing and false counting, these evils are quite done away with, the machine telling the un- questionable truth as to the vote given. Machines of this character were used in New York in the 1896 elec- tion, and proved highly satisfactory. It is likely that before many years they will be widely adopted. Other measures to prevent corruption or fraud in connection with elections have been devised, and the time seems near at hand when ballot reform will be a thing accom- plished, and the given results of an election will truth- fully represent the preferences of the voters concerned. Ballou, MATURIN MURRAY, born at Boston, Ma ., in 1820; a great-grandnephew of Hosea B. A journalist, in turns proprietor of Ballou's Monthly, editor of the Boston Daily Globe and other journals. Wrote Due West, Due South , The New Eldorado, and Due North : or Glimpses of Scand in a via and Ru ia , 1887. Balmace'da, JosÉ MANUEL, born in 1840; a Chile an statesman, and President 1886-91. After instituting numerous reforms, he shot himself, in a fit of despera- tion over his ill-succe in a war brought about between himself and Congre through di ensions in his own party, in 1891. Bal'lot Reform'. Among the various measures of reform of recent years, that in methods of voting has not been overlooked, and various changes have been adopted with the purpose of securing the secrecy of the ballot and for the prevention of fraud at the polls or in the count. Under the old system of voting in the U. S., the voter found it very difficult to keep his vote secret, while the opportunities for the purchase of votes, "stuffing the ballot box," or depositing illegal votes, and other fraudulent operations were so easy that it was almost impo ible to prevent dishonesty at the polls. To guard against "repeating," or voting by parties without legal right to the ballot cast, the system of a previous registration has been adopted in many States, no person being permitted to vote whose name does not appear on the registration list and who cannot prove his claim to the name if challenged.-- Australian ballot. As regards secrecy at the polls, an efficient system has been adopted in Australia, and within recent yeare in- troduced into Great Britain and nearly all the States of this country, which goes far to do away with the im- perfections of the old system. By no means all of our States, however, have adopted the system it its original form, many of them making some modification in it, and in every such case detracting from its degree of security. In the original Australian system the names of the candidates for each office are printed in alpha-graduating at the University of Cervera, and being betical order on the ballot, with some mark or word to distinguish their party or to give some nece ary in for- mation concerning them. The voter, being given a blank ballot, enters a screened-off booth in the voting room, so that he may prepare his ballot unobserved. He does this by making a mark beside the names of the persons he desires to vote for, after which he folds the ballot, and, leaving the booth, places it in the hands of the officer whose duty it is to deposit it in the box. This is the method in use in Ma achusetts, and perhaps in a majority of the States, a small blank space being left opposite each name in which the voter may make or stamp a cro . All the names for all the offices are grouped together upon one large "blanket ballot." In a number of other States each party is given its separate column on the blauket ballot, with the party title at the head and the names of all the candidates of that party given below. For those who wish to vote the whole party ticket a space is reserved at the top, in which a single cro serves to vote for all the candidates, or they can be indicated separately if desired. Where there are many parties such a ballot often becomes of un- wieldy size. In still other States other methods are in use. One of the chief difficulties yet met with in this system of voting is in regard to the illiterate voter, or one who from physical disability cannot prepare his ballot. Provision is made that some official may accom- pany him into the booth to aid him in preparing his ballot, and this has been in many cases used to avoid the injunction to secrecy, voters falsely claiming that they need aid in preparing their ballots. - Ballot machines. As a still further a urance of security against fraud a number of voting machines have been invented, and into shares of $100 each; that the shareholders are held individually responsible, equally and ratably, and with one another, for all contracts, debts, and engagements of such a ociation to the extent of the amount of their stock in addition to the amount invested in such shares; that every a ociation, preliminary to the commencement of banking busine , shall deposit in the Treasury Department United States bonds to an amount not le than $30,000, and not le than one third of the capital stock paid in, whereupon, the proper examination being made into the affairs of the proposed institution, it shall be entitled to receive from the Comptroller of the Currency circulating notes equal in amount to 90 per cent. of the current market value of the bonds deposited, but not exceeding 90 per cent. of their par value. The act also required that the national banks in the city of New York should at all times hold a reserve fund in lawful money, for the redemption of national bank notes of not le than 25 per cent. of their deposits and circulation combined. The banks in other cities of redemption were required to hold the same amount of reserve, one-half of which, however, they were permitted to carry in New York as cash deposits. The banks in other places were required to maintain a reserve of 15 per cent., of which three fifths was allowed to consist of cash deposits in, or balances due from, approved banks in the cities of redemption. The banks were required to pay a half-yearly tax (Jan. and July) of 2 of 1 per cent. on their average circulation during each period of six months, except when the amount of such circulation shall have fallen below 5 per cent. of their capital, or when a bank, having ceased to i ue notes, shall have deposited in the Treasury an amount of lawful money equal to its notes yet outstanding. The payment on this tax on circulation. exempts the banks from all other taxes, on capital, .The act of March 3, 1865, placed a prohibitive tax of 10 per cent. on all notes i ued by the State banks, private corporations, ., which had the natural effect of driving all such notes out of circulation. -Notes of national banks are not legal tender, but are receivable at par in all government transactions, except duties on imports, interest on the public debt, and redemption of the national currency. Being practically i ues of the government, they circulate quite as freely as any other form of paper money, without the slightest reference to the standing of the bank of i ue. By the original act, N. B. circulation to the amount of $300,000,000 was authorized, which figure was subsequently advanced to $354,000,000; and later the limit was entirely removed, subject to the restrictions of the statutes, with the proviso that U. S. legal tender notes should be retired to the amount of 80 per cent. of the new i ues until the total sum of legal tender notes extant should be reduced to $300,000,000. The privilege thus given has not been largely exercised. The aggregate circulation of the national banks reached its maximum on October 13, 1882, -$363,407,474; after which there was a gradual diminution until it reached a minimum of $167,927,574 on July 1, 1891. From that time there was a gradual increase until, by the end of 1896, the amount was nearly $235,000,000, with every prospect of going higher. The accompanying table is interesting as showing the variations in circulation, by half decades from 1875 to 1890, and by years since the latter date, the figures given being those for July 1 of each year, as reported by the Comptroller of the Currency: IMG:content-0834.png:[blocks in formation] who select securities with reference to the amount of interest returned thereon; and an investment which is regarded as profitable, per se , by the ordinary investor, ought to be considered equally profitable to a banking corporation, which loses no interest by reason of having its bonds deposited in the Treasury. True, the banks pay a tax on circulation amounting to one per cent per annum, which payment exempts them from other taxes; but it is fair to a ume that their revenues from the same notes are not le than six per cent, per annum, and in many cases even more. It is also claimed that the 15 to 25 per cent. obligatory reserve of lawful money ties up too much of the bank's funds, and thus reduces profits below a satisfactory figure; but no well-ordered bank would presume to do busine on much le reserve, and besides, the national banks (as per table above) have used lawful money extensively to secure circulation, in lieu of bonds. In regard to the argument that several important national banks have constantly abstained from i uing notes in considerable amounts, thus presumptively showing that circulation is unprofitable, it need only be said that this is probably in accordance with the true science of banking, which should aim to prevent a "redundancy" of currency, such as was so freely complained of during portions of 1893-96-meaning, of course, an unprofitable accumulation of currency in the bank vaults, and not an uncomfortable plethora in the channels of trade and industry. Scarce money means high interest rates.In indulging our customary admiration for our national banking system, we should clearly understand that the uniformity and stability of our national currency-a welcome change from the old State bank notes-is due entirely to the fact that these i ues are e entially those of the United States Government, the banks being, at best, mere jobbers of our national credit s0 far as their circulating notes are concerned. Bank Shot, a term used in billiards to denote a shot in which the cue-ball strikes a cushion before hitting the object ball. Bank Swallow, n. ( Ornith .) A small bird of the northern hemisphere ( Cotyle riparia ), which builds its nests in the banks along the rivers. It is frequently termed, locally, the "mud swallow." Banswarra ( bǎnz - worrah ), a state of Hindostan, in Rajpootana, between N. Lat. 23° 10-23° 48′, E. Lon. 74°2′-74°41′, bounded E. by Malwa and W. by Guzerat. Area, 1,440 sq. m. Cap . Banswarra. This state, formerly subject to the Mahrattas, has been under British protectorate since 1818. Pop . (1895) 104,000. Banting, WILLIAM, & London (Eng.) undertaker, born in 1797, who, in 1864, gave publicity to an anti-fat diet which had been recommended to him for his own use by William Harvey, the designer, and which shortly became known under his name. B. had previously acquired a certain notoriety as the builder of the Duke of Wellington's funeral car, in 1852. Died in 1878. Bantu, an African family of mankind, including the tribes of Zulus, Kaffirs, Bechuanas, Basutos, and numerous others, whose range extends, on the west coast, as far north as the Cam a roons. They are of dark skin, but not always black, in many of them, as the Kaffirs, the Negro characteristics being so modified that they are often called Negroid instead of Negro. They are joined into one family by the similarity of their languages. Their words are harmonious in sound, each syllable beginning with a consonant and ending IMG:content-0835.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0836.png:[blocks in formation] Various reasons have been a igned for the decline in circulation which culminated in 1891, the most probable being the growing scarcity of U. S. bonds and their relatively high premium. It is also alleged that improved banking facilities, allowing a more extensive use of checks, reduced the demand for currency. Furthermore, the large increase in silver money, both coin and certificates, following the acts of 1878 and 1886, and of Treasury notes following the Sherman act of 1890, probably had the effect of reducing the demand for notes of the national banks, even in the face of a rapidly growing commerce. It will be noted that the suspension of silver purchases in 1893, and the ensuing bond i ues, were immediately followed by an increase in the national bank note circulation, notwithstanding the unprecedented busine depre ion then prevailing. -Profits . It has been generally supposed that the national banks are able to make large profits, especially on their circulation; and this belief is still quite generally held, although somewhat laborious efforts have been made to prove the contrary. It has been said that the high market price of the bonds makes it unprofitable to hypothecate them for bank notes at only 90 per cent. of their face. In this connection it should be remembered that the market price of U. S. bonds reflects their current value as estimated be intelligent investors with a vowel, while there is a great capacity for inflexion, both initial and final. In consequence, those languages are very euphonious and have wide capacity for expre ion. Banville, THÉODORE FAULLAIN DE, a French poet, novelist and playwright, born in 1823. Les Car i a tides, Les Odelettes, Les Odes Funambulesques, were the best of the best of his early productions; among the latest were Mes Souvenirs, 1882; Socrate et sa femme , 1885; a series of Contes, 1881-85; a series of Scènes , 1886-88. Died in 1891. Baptist a, MARIANO, a South American statesman, who was President of the Republic of Bolivia, 1892-96. Baptists, Continued from SEC. I. having become Unitarian. The Scotch Baptists are often regarded as a separate denomination, as they have certain peculiar practices-weekly celebration of the communion, the love-feasts, the ki of charity, and abstaining from blood and things strangled. From the beginning of their history, many of the English Baptist churches, having been formed out of older Separatist churches, practised "open" communion. During the present century that practice has gained ground rapidly, and now perhaps the majority of the churches are "open." Some even tolerate mixed membership, i.e., admit without baptism those sprinkled in infancy. IMG:content-0837.png:[blocks in formation] Estimates of non-reporting churches raise the number of churches to 2,917 and of members to 353,967.-The first Baptist church in the U. S. was established in Providence, in 1639, when Roger Williams was baptized by Ezekiel Holliman, and then baptized Holliman and eleven others. Another church was established soon after at Newport. These had increased to ten churches by 1700. Baptists were severely persecuted in the New England colonies during this period, except in Rhode Island, where they were instrumental in procuring the adoption of the principle of religious liberty, whence it has spread to every State in the Union. Baptist churches were founded in New Jersey and near Philadelphia from 1688 onward, and began at once to hold "yearly meetings," which in 1707 were changed to an A ociation composed of delegates from the churches. This is now known as the Philadelphia A ociation-the oldest body of the kind in the U. S., and through all its history the most influential. Baptists soon spread to the other colonies, and in most of them were persecuted, especially in Virginia and Georgia, until the Revolution. They did not gain equal rights in New England until 1833, when Ma achusetts adopted a constitutional amendment securing equal religious liberty to all her citizens. At the beginning of the present century the most careful estimates make the number of Baptist churches about 1,500 and the membership 100,000. The period of their most rapid increase was the years from 1820 to 1850. They were foremost among the religious bodies of the U. S. in mi ion work in the newly-settled West, in many cases their preachers being the first to enter a new State and establish a Christian church. The organization of the American Baptist Home Mi ion Society, in 1832, made this work systematic and insured its permanence. This society maintains mi ions in all the States and territories and in Mexico, who labor among seventeen different nationalities. In 1896 it supported, in whole or in part, 1,147 such workers. It a ists churches in the West to build houses of worship; maintains schools among the negroes and Indians, with a total enrollment of 5,220 pupils; and expends about $500,000 annually. In 1812, Adoniram Judson and his wife and Luther Rice, mi ionaries sent out to India by the American Board of Commi ioners for Foreign Mi ions, became Baptists through study of the Scriptures on shipboard. The result was the formation of the Baptist General Convention in 1814, and the vigorous prosecution of foreign mi ions by American Baptists. In 1844 differences on the question of slavery induced Southern Baptists to withdraw and organize a Southern Baptist Convention, which has since carried on both home and foreign mi ions in behalf of the Southern churches. It has mi ions in China, Japan, West Africa, Italy, Mexico, Cuba and Brazil. In its various operations it raises and expends about $400,000 annually. After the withdrawal of the Southern Baptists, the name of the Northern organization was changed to the American Baptist Mi ionary Union, which now maintains mi ions in Burmah, A am, India, Chins, Japan, Africa and several countries of Europe. In 1896 it reported 2,208 mi ionary workers, 1,724 churches, 11,552 baptisms and 195,018 members. Its annual expenditure in this work is over $800,000. The American Baptist Publication Society is the third of the great organizations of the denomination. Established in 1824 as a tract society, it gradually expanded into a general publication house of religious literature. It has a capital of about a million dollars, a list of 374 books, and a large number of tracts and periodicals. Its manufacturing department and offices are in Philadelphia, but it has branches in six principal cities. It maintains a mi ionary department for Sunday-schools, colporteur and chapel-car work, at an annual cost of over $100,000. It is the denomina tional agency for Bible printing and distribution, and expends annually $10,000 or more in this work. -The Baptist women have two auxiliary organizations. The Home Mi ion Societies (East and West) have a training school at Chicago and raise $100,000 annually for mi ionary work. The Foreign Mi ion Societies (East and West) raise annually $150,000, and have a Candidates' Home for instruction of mi ionaries. The Baptist Young People's Union of America, organized in 1891, represents the young B. of the U. S. and Canada. Its headquarters are in Chicago. Its work is largely educational.-American Baptists have been especially active in educational work. Their first institution (1794) was established through the efforts of the Philadelphia A ociation, in Rhode Island, the only colony that would give a liberal charter to Baptists, and was known as Rhode Island College, until 1804, when the name was changed to Brown University, in honor of a generous benefactor, Nicholas Brown. In 1820 an institution was opened at Hamilton, N. Y., for the education of ministers, that has developed into Colgate University. Columbian University, of Washington, D. C., was the child of the Baptist General Convention, and IMG:content-0838.png:[ocr errors] was established in 1821. The denomination has now 7 theological seminaries, 35 institutions of collegiate rank, and 159 schools in all, in which nearly 5,000 men and women are receiving an education, with property and endowments aggregating not far from $40,000,000, Eleven distinct Baptist bodies (counting as one the Northern, Southern, and Colored organizations of regular" Baptists), appear in the U. S. census, as appears in the table below, revised to 1897.-Only the following bodies demand additional description: Freewill or Free Baptists are Arm in i an in theology and "open" communion in practice. Their history dates from the formation of their first church in New Hampshire, in 1780. The Original Freewill Baptists had their rise about 1729, in North Carolina; their practices of feet washing and anointing the sick with oil are about all that separate them from the Freewill body. Sepa rate Baptists originated during the great White field revival of the last century; the "Regular" Baptists of that day objected to the "new measures" and the new organization was the result. Most of the Separates long ago united with the "Regular" churches. A few who thus united retain the name of United Baptists and a separate organization. They should probably be counted with the "Regulars" now. The Baptist Church of Christ dates from 1825, in the State of Tenne ee, where they claim to be the oldest Baptist body. Nothing but extreme conservatism keeps them a separate body. The Primitive (or Old School or Anti-Mi ion, sometimes derisively called Hard-Shell) Baptists separated from the "regular" Baptists from 1835-40 because they opposed mi ionary societies, Sunday-schools and other modern organizations as unauthorized by the New Testament. They are strong in Georgia and other Southern States, but nearly extinct in the North. Twoseed-in-the-spirit Baptists hold a peculiar doctrine of predestination, viz.: Among the offspring of Adam and Eve were two cla es: the seed of God and the seed of Satan. The former are the elect, chosen to salvation; the latter are predestined to the eternal kingdom of darkne . Following are the latest statistics (to Jan. 1, 1897) as to the B. of the U. S., to which is added the latest available figures for other countries: Bodies.