LAOS. See FRENCH INDO-CHINA. LATVIA. A new republic in the neighborhood of the Baltic, formerly within the old Russian Empire, and comprising the former Russian province of Courland, together with the four southern districts of Livonia and the three western districts of Vitebsk. It claimed also strips of territory in the former provinces of Grodno and Pskov and in East Prussia. Total area, about 24,000 square miles; pop., Jan. 1, 1914, over 2,500,000, of whom about 78 per cent were Letts. The interests are mainly agriculture, but the forest resources are extensive. The chief exports have been flax and timber. The flax crop available for export in 1919-20 was estimated at about 10,000 tons-less than one-third of the pre-war average. Other statistics published in 1920 dated from before the war. The free state of Latvia was proclaimed at Riga, Nov. 18, 1918, and was recognized de facto by Great Britain, Japan and Italy, and several of the smaller states. The constitution was in process of formation during 1920, elections to the constituent assembly having been held April 17-18 on the basis of universal suffrage for both sexes. The provisional government consisted of a state council of 102 members. Prime minister in 1920, K. Ulmanis.

A peace treaty was signed with Moscow August 11 and ratified by the Latvian Constituent Assembly, September 2. It provided for the return to Latvia of public property and property belonging to commercial and industrial concerns and of the means of transport; for the payment to Latvia by the Soviet government of 4.000,000 rubles in gold; and for the release of Latvia from the liabilities of the former Russian empire. At the close of the year, the boundaries of the country were still subject to final decision of the Allies or the League of Nations. Events of 1920 indicated that while the government was socialistic in tendency it continued to be steadily opposed to Bolshevism. Recognition of the de jure independence was still withheld during 1920 by the United States and France on the ground that Latvia had formed an integral part of the former Russian empire. At the close of the year France was considering recognition, but there was no sign of change in the policy of the United States in that respect as set forth in the note on the subject of American relations with Russia by Secretary Colby. See RUSSIA, Baltic Provinces; also WAR OF THE NATIONS.

LASCELLES, Sir FRANK. British ambassador to Germany from 1895 to 1908, died in London, January 2. It was during his ambassadorship that the famous Kruger telegram was sent by the Kaiser. He was born March 23, 1841. He entered the diplomatic service in his vouth and was secretary of legation at Berlin in 1867-8. He next served in Paris during the period of the siege and the Commune. In 1879 he was appointed consul-general to Bulgaria, in 1686 minister to Rumania, and in 1891. minister to Persia. In 1894-5 he was ambassador to St. Petersburg and in October, 1895 was transferred to Berlin. He interpreted the Kaiser's conduct at this time as due to natural capriciousness, rather than to any definite policy and he did not attach sufficient importance to the Kruger telegram.

He was popular at the imperial court and is believed to have had considerable influence there. He was on familiar terms with the Kaiser, about whom he recounted a number of

anecdotes which exhibit him as a man of changeable and impulsive character and much given to a rather boisterous humor. In general Lascelles' record was not that of a very active and far-seeing diplomat.

LASH, ZEBULUN AITON. Canadian lawyer and financier, died, January 24. He was born at St. Johns, Newfoundland, Sept. 29, 1846, and was educated at the University of Toronto. He was called to the bar of Ontario in 1868 and practiced law in Toronto till 1876. He was president of the Great Northwestern Telegraph company, and an officer of other important railway and financial institutions in Canada. He wrote besides various pamphlets and articles on legal subjects a volume entitled Defense and Foreign Affairs. LAUCHHEIMER, CHARLES HENRY. Officer of the Marine Corps, died, January 15. He was born at Baltimore, Md., in September 1859; and After graduated at the Naval academy in 1881. 1883 he served in the United States Marine Corps and was promoted through the various grades to the rank of brigadier-general, Aug. 29, 1916. He was the author of Forms and Procedure for Naval Courts and Boards (1896–1902).

LAUDER, CHARLES JAMES. British artist, died, April, 1920. He was the son of James Thompson Lauder, the portrait painter, and was educated at Glasgow. He pursued his art studies in various countries of Europe and exhibited frequently in London and Glasgow. For fifteen years he lived at Richmond on the Thames and executed many scenes in that neighborhood. published: Picturesque London; Hampton Court; and Royal Richmond.

He

LAW, EVANDER MCIVER. Confederate officer, At the time died at Bartow, Fla., October 31. of his death he was the ranking surviving officer of the Army of the Confederacy. He was born in 1836 and at the beginning of the Civil War was a professor in the King's Mountain Military Academy. He entered the war as lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Alabama Infantry and served till the war's close, attaining the rank of major-general.

LAWN TENNIS. See TENNIS.

re

LEAD. The following information in gard to lead production in 1920 was supplied by the United States Geological Survey: The output of soft lead by mines of the Mississippi Valley and Eastern States was about 275,000 short tons, and that of argentiferous lead by mines of

the Western States was about 236,000 tons, a total of 511,000 tons. The corresponding figures for 1919 are 237,000, 206,000, and 443,000 tons, and for 1918, 267,184, 314,470, and 581,654 tons. The total increase in 1920 was 68,000 tons, as compared with a decrease of 138,500 tons in 1919. The southeastern Missouri district made the largest production, 183,000 tons, as compared with 157,158 tons in 1919, and the Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho came next, with about 121,000 tons, as against 83,833 tons in 1919. Utah had an output of 67,000 tons, an increase from 61,915 tons in 1919. The imports of lead in ore were about 15,000 tons and in bullion about 49,000 tons, a total of 64,000 tons, as compared with 65,799 tons in 1919. Of the imports in 1920 Mexico furnished about 54,000 tons and Canada 4000 tons. The lead content of lead ore in bonded warehouses on November 30 was 16,187 tons and of base bullion 32,671 tons. Part of this may have been smelted or refined, but not shipped, and thus may be included in smelter stocks.

The production of primary domestic desilverized lead in 1920 was about 215,000 short tons, of soft lead about 189,000 tons, and of desilverized soft lead about 70,000 tons, making a total output from domestic ores of about 474,000 tons of refined lead, compared with 424,433 tons in 1919, made up of 208,751 tons of desliverized lead, 147,744 tons of soft lead, and 67,938 tons of desilverized soft lead. The output of lead smelted and refined from foreign ore and bullion was about 64,000 tons, compared with 57,787 tons in 1919. The total lead smelted or refined in the United States was thus about 538,000 tons, compared with 482,220 tons in 1919

While the production of lead in the United States (estimated at 471,744 short tons) had decreased from 1916 when a record of 592,241 tons was made, yet in 1920 there was a slight increase in production over the previous year (454,921 short tons) and a continuation of the demand for the metal that developed early in 1919. As a result there was a continuance of the high prices at the end of 1919 into 1920, reaching a maximum of 9.371⁄2 cents a pound in New York in March and then after some recession going up to a second high price of 9 cents in August. But in this upward trend the London market was a dominant factor and when the decline began there it was followed in the United States, but it also permitted imports from Mexico and Europe to America. Naturally as industrial conditions grew less promising in the United States the demand slackened during the autumn and there was a rapid fall in price from 8.9 cents a pound on September 8 to 4.5 cents on December 5 The lead market was interesting in 1920 as it was truly a world market though to a degree speculative. England imported from Spain as in 1919, but considerably less from Australia than in 1920 an account of a strike. It is also of interest to realize that the American paint industry in 1920 was the largest consumer of pig lead, and after this came the manfactures of storage batteries and the manufactures of leadincased cables, these three industries probably requiring in 1920 a greater amount of lead than the domestic production of the United States. There was also a demand from manufacturers of sheet lead and pipe and also for shot, baring metals, solder, caulking metal, type metal, foil,

etc. Of course considerable reclaimed lead was available commercially and it was estimated in 1920 that over 150,000 tons of secondary lead was made available for consumption. The production of lead in the United States as given in the Annual Review of the Engineering and Mining Journal is shown herewith:

LEAGUE OF THE NATIONS. On December 31, the League of Nations had nearly completed its first year having come into official existence January 10. Only three nations entitled to membership remained outside, namely the United States, Costa Rica and Honduras. The first meeting was held in Paris, January 16 and was presided over by M. Bourgeois, the French representative. By the provisions of the Covenant it comprised as will be remembered the following elements: (1) an Assembly, which was to consist of at most three delegates from each member of the League each delegation to have but one vote; (2) the Council consisting of the permanent representatives of the four chief Allied Powers, namely, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, and provisional representatives from four other Powers, namely, Belgium, Brazil, Greece and Spain; (3) the permanent secretariat to consist of a chief secretary with an assistant-secretary and a numerous staff. The last of these elements, the secretariat, was the essential organ of administration. It was to arrange the order of business, determine the subjects to come before the Council and Assembly, correspond with members of the League, collect documents, keep the records, etc. Between January 16 and the beginning of December, the Council had met ten times and subsequent meetings were to be held every two months thereafter. Among the matters that engaged its attention were the administration of the basin of the Saar and the city of Danzig; the Belgian questions of Eupen and Malmédy; the question of mandates; and the racial minorities. More specifically it discussed the matter of the Aland Islands, the dispute between Lithuania and Poland, and the constitution of the permanent court of justice etc. In its administrative work it participated in the campaign against typhus in Poland, the repatriation of prisoners of war, the control of the white slave traffic, and the suppression of the opium trade. It organized an office of international hygiene, a permanent committee on Armaments, and a commission on communica

cations and transit. In the financial field it
organized the conference at Brussels where
six delegates.
twenty-nine states were represented by eighty-

president of the League, M. Leon Bourgeois,
it was decided to create an advisory committee
divided into two parts, one for economic questions
and the other for financial, under the presidency
of M. Gustave Ador, President of Switzerland
Finally the most important event in the League's
history was the meeting for the first time of its
Assembly at Geneva on November 15. An
account of the meetings, discussions, and results

At the recommendation of the

98,596 2,083 100,679

61,380 1,547 62,927

51,700

2,197

53,897

Grand Totals.

613,377

635,669

a These figures include the lead derived from scrap and junk by primary smelters.

656,912

See METALLURGY,