inspector-general, whose advice in all native affairs had been
most valuable, was inevitably compelled to resign. Mention
may also be made of the resignation of Sir Edgar Bonham-
Carter in 1917 after 18 years' service. He had been responsible
for the creation and development of the whole legal and judicial
system of the Sudan.
Col. (afterwards Maj.-Gen. Sir) Lee Stack, civil secretary
to the Sudan Government, succeeded Sir Reginald Wingate as
governor-general and sirdar; Slatin Pasha's post was not filled.
See the Annual Reports on the finances, administration, etc., of
the Sudan, issued annually in London up to 1913, and the Report
for 1914-9, issued 1920, which is of special value. The Sudan
Almanac and Handbook to the Sudan are also official publications.
Murray's Guide to Egypt and the Sudan, and Macmillan's, Baedeker's
and Lock's guide-books may be used with profit. See also Y. P. Artin,
England in the Soudan (1911); and Sudan Notes and Records, an
excellent serial publication begun in 1918. The Survey Depart-
ment, Khartum, issues a map of the Sudan, in many sheets, on the
scale of i :25o,ooo. (J. R. R.)
SUDERMANN, HERMANN (1857- ), German dramatist and
novelist (see 26.20). His novels include Das hohe Lied (1909);
and Lilauische Geschichten (1917); while in 1911 appeared a volume
of short stories, Die indische Lilie. His later plays include Strand-
kinder (1910) ; Der Beltler von Syrakus (1911) ; Der gute Ruf (1913) ;
Die Lobgesdnge des Claudian (1914) , and Das Hohere Leben (1919).
SUESS, EDUARD (1831-1914), Austrian geologist (see 26.21),
died at Vienna, April 25 1914.
SUEZ CANAL (see 26.22). The five years 1909-13 witnessed a
considerable increase in the traffic passing through the canal.
The World War greatly restricted the use, particularly in 1917.
In the following table the figure for receipts is obtained by taking
25 francs as equal to i sterling except for 1920, when the rate is
reckoned at 50 francs to the i :
No. of
vessels
No. of
passengers
Net
tonnage
Gross
receipts
1909
1913
1917
1920
4-239
5,085
2,353
4,009
213,122
282,235
142,313
500,147'
I5,4 7,527
20,033,834
8,368,918
17,574,657
4,782,724
5,140,403
2,880,761
5,329.213
1 This abnormal increase was due to the movement of troops.
In Feb. 1915 the Turks, who had traversed the Sinai peninsula,
attacked the Suez Canal at various points, and it was not until
after the battle of Romani in Aug. 1916 that all danger to the
canal was ended. Throughout this period traffic was interrupted
on two occasions only, and then for very brief periods. During
the World War, under Adml. Robinson as Director-General of
the Egyptian Ports and Lights Administration, 1,239 transports
and men-of-war, totalling over 8,000,000 tons, were passed in
safety through the canal, and 965 transports, 43 hospital ships,
36 store ships and 307 colliers were dealt with at Port Said.
Striking differences in the pre-war and post-war shipping were the
elimination temporarily after 1914 of German vessels (which in 1911
had 13-4% of the tonnage) and the increasing number of Japanese
and United States ships using the canal. Japanese vessels represented
before the war 1-7% of the tonnage; in 1920 their tonnage had in-
creased to 9-1%. United States vessels, rarely seen in the canal
before the war, in 1920 represented 4-1% of the tonnage. British
ships continued to provide the bulk of the tonnage, the proportion
in 1920 being 61-7% compared with 62-2% in 1911. In 1920 three
passages were made by steamers of over 23,000 tons gross, a figure
never before reached, and one vessel had a length of 669 ft., the
longest registered in the canal. The quantity of goods passing
through the canal in 1920 was 34% below the figures of 1913. There
had been some change in the character of the merchandise, food-
stuffs diminishing sensibly in volume, though corn from Manchuria
and China made its appearance. Imports of coal from S. Africal
and Australia were particularly marked in 1919 and 1920.
A scheme to extend the concession of the Suez Canal Co. the
existing concession does not expire until 1968 was rejected by
the Egyptian General Assembly in 1910, not on its merits but'
in an effort to discredit the British administration. The Suez
Canal Co. cooperated heartily with the British authorities in
Egypt during the war. To meet the increased costs caused by the
war the Company in 1916 and 1917 imposed higher tariff charges, i
which, after the war, acted in restraint of traffic and were not of [
permanent benefit to the Company. In 1919 the Company asked j
to have put into operation at Port Said the free zone regime
provided for in an agreement made in 1902 between it and the
Egyptian Government. It held that the transit trade would be
stimulated if an area were set apart in which goods could be
handled, or remain, uncontrolled by the customs. An agreement
on the subject was drawn up in 1920.
It is noteworthy that in 1919, and to a much more marked extent
in 1920, the Company benefited by the decreased value of the
franc. This was made possible as snipping dues were collected in
Egypt and were paid in money less depreciated than the franc, and
profits earned in Egypt were used in the purchase of francs at cur-
rent rates. In 1920 the benefit from these operations amounted to
101,772,000 francs, or over 2,000,000 at average rates of exchange.
The annual reports of the Suez Canal Co., published in Paris,
give full statistical information. (F. R. C.)
SUGAR (see 26.32). In the year 1910-1 the world's produc-
tion of sugar amounted to 16,951,000 tons, of which 8,391,000
tons Were produced from cane and 8,560,000 tons from beet, in-
cluding that grown in America. For 1913-4 the world's total pro-
duction reached 18,486,000 tons, of which the cane production was
9,577,000 tons an increase of 1,186,000 tons of cane. The beet
crop for the same period was 8,909,000 tons, of which 655,000
tons were grown in America an increase of 349,000 tons. These
were the highest figures reached during the decade 1910-20, for
after the outbreak of the World War in 1914 the European pro-
duction declined yearly, until in 1919-20 the world's beet crop
reached only a little over 3,200,000 tons, of which 653,000 tons
were American. The world's crop of sugar for 1920-1 was esti-
mated at about 16,475,000 tons, of which cane was estimated to
produce over 11,828,000 tons, and beet 4,647,000 tons, of which
935,000 tons were American.
Owing to the British Government recognizing at once the impor-
tance of securing to the nation a supply of sugar sufficient for the
wants of the people, sugar was the first commodity to be controlled
in the United Kingdom during the war (see FOOD SUPPLY), and
within a few days of its outbreak the Government had bought
several thousand tons of sugar. In Aug. 1914 a Royal Com-
mission on the Sugar Supply was formed. It took over the duties
of buying and selling sugar. These operations were done through
the ordinary channels of trade, and everyone was guaranteed a
SUKHOMLINOV, V.
617
supply on the basis of his trade before the war, the actual quan-
tities being fixed from time to time in proportion to the sugar held
by the Government; and it is not too much to say that the sugar
control was the most successful of the many Government controls.
It may be noted that in the Final Report of the Commission
issued in June 1921 it was stated that: " The wisdom of the
Government in at once taking over in 1914 responsibility for
the sugar supply was, in our opinion, fully proved in the sequel.
But while we recognize that in the special circumstances State
management was a necessity, our experience does not lead us
to think that State control is a desirable thing in itself in the
region of trade in commodities."
The total consumption of sugar sold under control was approxi-
mately as follows :
Tons
818,488
1915
1916
1917
1918
IQI9
1920
,219,761
109,905
,595,004
952,408
The stocks held by the Commission on March 31 1921 were 390,-
479 tons of raw and 57,787 tons of white.
The Commission had desired to carry out their operations free
of cost to the Exchequer. " This aspiration cannot now be realized,"
they add, " but the fault is not ours. From time to time since the
middle of 1919 the Commission has on various occasions pleaded for
an increase in the selling prices of its sugars, so as to build up a re-
serve to meet the loss which it foresaw as probable on the liquidation
of its stocks on the conclusion of its operations. But on no occasion
has a rise been authorized until weeks or months after it was recom-
mended, and then not always to the extent recommended.
" From a calculation we have made we are able to say that if our
recommendations (which were always kept as low as possible in view
of the reluctance shown by the Cabinet to an increase in prices) had
been approved at the time they were made pur receipts would have
been 16,000,000 more than they have been in fact. Even that sum
is less than the deficit which it is probable that the Exchequer will
have to meet on our operations, and which we estimate at not less
than 24,500,000. Some may perhaps hold that it is not of material
importance to the public whether it has to bear a burden of this
kind in its capacity as a taxpayer or in that of a consumer of sugar.
But to us it is a matter of regret that we shall not be able to claim
that we discharged the duties imposed upon us without having re-
course to the funds of the Exchequer otherwise than for the purpose
of the temporary financing of our operations. The advances made
to us under this latter head by the Treasury stood on March 31 at
27,281,937."
The cost of the establishment of the Commission from 1914 to
1922 is given as 103,239.
The year 1920 stands out as having the most violent fluctuations the
sugar trade has probably ever experienced. The British Royal Com-
mission on the Sugar Supply and the American Equalization Board
acted conjointly in 1919, and by their actions controlled both the
American and European markets. Prices were kept between 303.
1 and 633. per cwt. for Java 96 F.L., but there was some hesitation in
: the autumn with regard to the continuation of the operations of the
! American Equalization Board, which did not decide on further action
until December. In the meantime a good deal of the Cuban crop
1 had been sold to Europe and the East on a basis of 6^c. per lb., and
when the American Equalization Board decided to continue control
it was too late to secure the Cuban crop. The planters, having sold
, a certain quantity of sugar, were independent, and prices were forced
up to I2c. (equal to 765. gd. per cwt.) at the end of January. In Feb.
there were, however, large offerings on the part of the Cuban plant-
ers, owing to supplies of sugar coming into the market, and quota-
; tions declined to gc. (equal to 593. 3d. per cwt.). In March the
American refiners began to buy freely, and this increased demand
was intensified by two serious reductions in the estimate of the Cuban
crop. Wild speculations took place, and in May as much as 23Jc.
(equal to 1363. per cwt.) was paid. Large purchases were also made
in Jan. and May of Manila sugar for shipment during the summer
months. The effect of these inflated prices brought its own remedy ;
consumption decreased rapidly both in England and in America,
and by the end of July Cuban prices had fallen to l6c. which was
' equal to a fall of 405. per cwt. This fall continued until, at the end of
the year, Cuban sugar was actually sold at 3c. per lb., or equal to
a total fall from the highest point of over lios. per cwt. The result
of these heavy fluctuations caused a financial crisis in the trade.
Enormous losses were suffered by the American and Canadian
refiners, who had bought and sold heavily for the autumn months,
and these forward sale contracts were largely repudiated when the
time came for delivery. The British refiners, being still under con-
; trol, escaped these violent losses.
The values of refined sugar in 1910 varied from 173. 3d. to 233. 6d.
oer cwt. for Tate's cubes, and in 19 n the year of exceptional
drought prices continued to advance to 273. 6d., but towards the
end of 1912 prices declined to 193. 3d. and with slight fluctuations
prices were further reduced at the outbreak of war to 173. gd. There
was then a steady rise, and in 1914 cubes were sold at 353., and granu-
lated at 303. per cwt.; in 1915 cubes were 503. and granulated
333., and then by gradual stages till, for domestic consumption,
cubes in 1920 reached Il6s. and granulated 1123., but, under the
voucher system which was in vogue during control, the prices of
sugar for manufacturing purposes were from i6os. to 1643. per cwt.
Refined sugar produced by the British refineries from 1910 till the
outbreak of war averaged about 45 % of the total consumption, but
after the war the production was about 74 %. The British duty from
1910 till 1914 was is. tod. per cwt., in 1915 gs. 4d. per cwt., in 1916
145. per cwt., and in 1918 it was increased to 253. 8d. per cwt., at
which it remained in 1921. This was out of all proportion to the
value of the sugar, and naturally checked consumption.
In 1913 the British Government withdrew from the Brussels
Convention, which had been adopted in 1903, after many years'
endeavour on the part of Great Britain to counteract the effect of
the system of continental bounties on beet sugar. The adoption
of the Convention had undoubtedly saved the British West In-
dian sugar trade from extinction, and British sugar refiners were
able to compete on more equal terms. At the same time there was
still strong opposition in England from the Free Trade party, who
were anxious to have sugar at any price, whatever injustice might
be inflicted on the British colonies and the home refiners. In 1911
there was a serious falling-off in the European beet crop, and there
was a large deficiency in the world's supply, so that an inevitable
rise in price took place. Russia, however, had large stocks on hand,
which, under the Convention, could not be imported into England
owing to the fact that prohibition was in force instead of counter-
vailing duties. Had there been countervailing duties the sugar
would have been shipped to England and the difference in duty
paid. Giving way to pressure from those who were anxious to get
cheap sugar irrespective of the reason for the cheapness, Mr.
Asquith's Liberal Government gave notice in Aug. 1912 to with-
draw from the Convention. The curious feature was that, as the
result of this notice, Russia was permitted to send a considerable
quantity in excess of the limit laid down by the Convention, but
the quantity she sent had very little effect in making up the
shortage of about 1,700,000 tons of the world's production.
In 1919 Mr. Lloyd George's Government (with Mr. Cham-
berlain as Chancellor of the Exchequer) took a further step in ac-
cordance with the views of the British West Indian planters, and
agreed to give preferential treatment to sugar produced within
the British Empire, in the form of a reduction in its case of one-
sixth off the import duty on sugar. The British preferential duty
on raw sugar at 96 polarization is equal to a preference of about
35. gd. per cwt., and on white sugar of a polarization over 98
43. 3.33d. It was too soon in 1921 to know what permanent effect
this concession would have upon the production of sugar in the
British colonies, but it was hoped that it would enable their
planters to compete with Cuba and other countries where costs
are considerably less, and consequently secure a larger share of
the sugar trade of the United Kingdom.
Since 1910 serious attempts have been made to grow beetroots
in England for the manufacture of sugar. A factory was erected
in 1911 in Cantley, in Norfolk, but was worked only one season, and
was closed during the war. It was purchased by a private Liverpool
firm in 1920. A fair quantity of beetroots was grown in the imme-
diate neighbourhood, but the high price which was given for the
roots made it impossible for the purchaser to make a profit on the
sugar produced. As a matter of fact a loss of from 60,000 to 70,000
was incurred. A further and more ambitious attempt was in 1921
being made at Kelham, Notts, where a large factory was erected, con-
siderable quantities of beets having been planted in the neighbour-
hood. The British Government not only subscribed 250,000 of the
capital, but also guaranteed interest on the amount of public capital
raised at 5% for 10 years, and took 125,000 of second debentures.
See also FOOD SUPPLY and RATIONING. (L. A. M.)
SUKHOMLINOV, VLADIMIR (1848- ), Russian general
and war minister, was born in 1848. He passed through the
cavalry school in St. Petersburg, and in 1867 was given a com-
mission in the Guard Ulans. He graduated from the Academy
of the General Staff in 1874. He took part in the war with Tur-
key in 1877-8 as an officer of the general staff, and was awarded
the St. George Cross of the fourth degree. From 1884 to 1886
6i8
SUN YAT-SEN SUPPLY AND TRANSPORT
he commanded a dragoon regiment and from 1886 to 1897 he was
the head of the officers' cavalry school in St. Petersburg, having
meantime in 1890 been promoted to the rank of general. His
next appointment was as commander of the loth Cavalry
Division. In 1899, while commanding the troops of the Kiev
military district, Gen. Dragomirov appointed him as his chief-
of-staff and later as his assistant. His close connexion with
Gen. Dragomirov, who enjoyed enormous prestige in the Rus-
sian army, ensured Sukhomlinov's future career. After the
death of Dragomirov, he was appointed commander in Kiev.
From 1909 to 1916 he was Russian war minister, and it was
under him that two Russian orders for mobilization were given
at the outbreak of the World War. Self-confident and ambitious
Sukhomlinov played a disastrous r61e in the administration of
the Russian army. Notwithstanding the discovery, even in
Oct. 1914, that there was an insufficiency of shells, rifles and
cartridges, he assured the Duma that everything was all right.
It was only in 1916, under strong pressure of public opinion,
that the Tsar Nicholas II. dismissed him from office. Finally
he was brought up for trial on a charge of treason. The court
found him guilty of offences in office, and he was sentenced to
penal servitude. Later Sukhomlinov was freed by an amnesty
granted by the Bolsheviks and went to Finland. In 1921 he
began the publication of his memoirs. (N. N. G.)
SUN YAT-SEN ( 1 86 7- ) , Chinese leader of the revolutionary
movement which ended in the abdication of the Manchu dynasty
in Feb. 1912, was born in Kuangtung province, the son of a
native Christian. He studied at the College of Medicine in
Hong-Kong from 1887 to 1892, and there took his degree in
medicine and surgery. He practised his profession first at
Macao and then at Canton, but from the outset of his career
displayed more interest in politics than in medicine, being by
temperament an iconoclast, an organizer of secret societies and a
leader of conspiracies against the established order of things.
Inspired by his semi-European training, with bitter resentment
against the Manchus, whom he regarded as responsible for China's
humiliation at the hands of Japan, he first raised the standard
of rebellion and of Cantonese independence in 1895; but the
coup failed and Dr. Sun was compelled to seek safety in exile.
Henceforward all his energies were directed towards stimulating
the anti-dynastic movement, first by the collection of funds from
the Chinese communities in the United States, Hawaii and the
Straits Settlements, and then by organized propaganda work
conducted by secret agents throughout the Empire. He received
considerable assistance and encouragement in Japan, where he
founded a society known as the Tung Men-hui, which played
a prominent part in Chinese politics after the establishment of
the Republic. Although an exile, he was generally regarded
by the "Western-learning" section of Young China as its
leader, especially after the Chinese Government's attempt to
kidnap him in London, in 1896. In 1911, when the revolution
broke out prematurely at Wuchang, Dr. Sun was in England;
but he hurried back to China and arrived at Shanghai on
Christmas Eve, in time to be acclaimed as the originator of the
Republican programme and elected Provisional President by
the delegates to the National Convention assembled at Nanking.
On Jan. 5, after having taken the oath of office, he issued a
Manifesto (countersigned by Wu Ting-fang as Minister for
Foreign Affairs) in which the purposes and policy of the Republi-
can Government were proclaimed. On Feb. 12 an Imperial
edict announced the abdication of the Emperor; it surrendered
the reins of government to the representatives of the sovereign
people and declared that henceforth the constitution should be
Republican; at the same time, the organization of the new form
of government was entrusted, "with full powers," to Yuan
Shih-k'ai. On the I4th, Sun Yat-sen resigned the Presidency and
in the name of the Nanking Assembly invited Yuan to accept the
position of Provisional President. His action was applauded
by Young China at the time as evidence of patriotic self-abnega-
tion, but events proved that it was chiefly inspired by recognition
of the fact that he and the Cantonese group of politicians who
had joined him as leaders of the Republican movement, did not
yet carry sufficient weight to justify them in attempting to form
a national government.
Relations between Sun Yat-sen and Yuan Shih-k'ai were
never cordial, but until the ejection from Peking of the Kuo
Min-tang Radicals by the President Dictator in 1913, they
preserved the appearance of goodwill, and towards the end of
1912 Sun accepted a highly paid appointment as Director of
National Railways at Shanghai. After the failure of the Kuo
Min-tang's " war to punish Yuan," Sun wandered again in a
wilderness of conspiracies. Eventually, after the death of the
Dictator (1916) he became one of the Cantonese group of
politicians which waged continual warfare against the party in
power at Peking. Because of the futility and sordid intrigues
which characterized the independent Military Government at
Canton, he, whose reputation in 191 2 had stood high at home and
abroad, came gradually to be regarded as an irreconcilable con-
spirator, whose personal ambitions were largely responsible for
the continuance of the senseless civil strife between the North and
the South. By the vehemence of his rhetoric, by the fervour of his
grandiose schemes for the remaking of China at the time of the
revolution, he captured the imagination of considerable sections
of the public, especially in the United States; but his subsequent
career failed to justify his own belief in himself as a heaven-sent
reformer. In April 1921, a special session of the Southern
(Canton) Parliament elected him to be President of the Chinese
Republic, his supporters declaring the Canton " Military
Government " to be the only lawfully constituted government in
the country; but the influence of these Cantonese " Constitu-
tionalists " over the other southern provinces had then become
almost insignificant, and the " Military Government," prohibited
by the Foreign Powers from interfering with the revenues of the
Maritime Customs, was confronted by financial problems of a
kind which threatened not only its reforming activities but
its continued existence.
SUPAN, ALEXANDER GEORG (1847-1920), Austrian geogra-
pher, was born at Innichen, South Tirol, March 3 1847. He was
educated at the Laibach gymnasium, and in 1870 took his
doctor's degree at Graz, afterwards becoming a teacher in the
Oberrealschule at Laibach. In 1872 he left Laibach and studied
geography at Vienna, Dresden and Halle, returning in 1877.
In 1881 he was appointed professor of geography at the univer-
sity of Czernowitz, and in 1884 became editor of Pctcrmanns
Mitteilungen, retaining this post until 1909, when he accepted
the chair of geography at Breslau. Under Supan's editorship
Petermanns Mitteilungen was more concerned with reports and
accounts of geographical work in every sphere than with original
papers and records of discovery, and a feature in which the
editor was much interested was the publication of supplements
to the Mitteilungen. An account of the economic produce of
N. America, 1880-5, appeared in this manner in 1886, and
Die Bevolkerung der Erde, founded 1872 by Hermann Wagner