====================================================================== DECLARATIONS PETITIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NUMBER | DATE DATE | WT. | ASSUMED | | | NUMBER --------+--------------------------------------------+-----+---------- | 1910 | 1 | 55,038 | 1911 | 2 | 147,288 136,698 | 1908 1912 | 3 | 286,881 143,212 | 1909 1913 | 4 | 380,744 167,226 | 1910 1914 | 5 | 619,275 186,157 | 1911 1915 | 4 | 425,268 169,142 | 1912 1916 | 3 | 324,027 | 1917 | 2 | 264,640 | 1918 | 1 | 110,416 | | +---------- TOTAL 802,435 | 25 | 2,613,577 AVERAGE 160,487 | | 104,543 PERCENTAGE 160,487 into 104,543 | | 65.1 ====================================================================== The chances of error in this calculation lie in the facts (1) that until September, 1913, declarations made under the law as it existed prior to 1906 (the so-called “old-law declarations”) were held to be valid, no matter how old their date; (2) that the decision of the United States District Court,[114] applying the seven-year limit to all outstanding declarations, undoubtedly hastened many petitions in 1913-14, and (3) that the effects of the war in Europe probably were in some cases to expedite and in others to delay or to prevent the filing of petitions. Undoubtedly some of the petitions of 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913 are attributable to declarations more than seven years old, and some which in normal conditions would have been filed during the period 1914-18 were not filed. It may be assumed, however, that these factors to a great extent offset each other, and that in any case their effect is negligible. And if it should appear that a substantial number of “old-law declarations,” originating prior to 1908, were accepted up to 1918 by those courts which did not promptly accept the seven-year decision, it would mean only that the percentage of 65.1 is too high; that _more_ than 35 declarations out of 100 do not eventuate in petitions.