See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS. BRAZIL: A. D. 1902. Inauguration of President Alves. Dr. Rodriguez Alves was inducted in office as President of the United States of Brazil on the 15th of November, 1902, succeeding Dr. Campos Salles. BRAZIL: A. D. 1903. Settlement of boundary dispute with Bolivia. See (in this Volume) ACRE DISPUTES. BRAZIL: A. D. 1904. An impromptu Revolt that became a comedy of errors. "To the American who is under the impression that all South America is continually in the throes of one or another revolution it will come as a surprise to learn that this vast district, comprising one half the territory and almost two thirds the population of the whole continent, has known no revolution since the founding of the Republic. The revolts of 1893, 1897, and 1904, menacing in varying degree, were outbursts fostered by a centralization of national vitality which inspired the belief in each insurrectionist that it was but necessary to strike the head,—the body would lie dormant. The justification of this belief lay in the historical fact that the vast majority of successful revolts throughout South America have consisted merely in _coups d'état_. The masses _have_ lain dormant, and the fighting, if any, has generally come after the somersault. "The revolt of November of last year in Brazil was so typical of South American revolutions, and so elementary, that it affords a lucid illustration. Owing to the prompt and efficient measures taken by the government to suppress true reports of the disturbance, and owing, too, to its signal failure, this revolt was scarcely mentioned by the American press. Nevertheless, it missed by little causing international commotion. … "A great epidemic of smallpox led the government to require of Congress a law making vaccination compulsory. Long and heated debate on the constitutionality of the measure went on, while the epidemic assumed alarming proportions. The Executive’s patience being worn out, arbitrary pressure was brought to bear, and the law passed. This intervention brought down the general censure of the press, and the opposition seized the handle with disproportionate avidity. On the eleventh of November a mass meeting was held in one of the central squares of Rio Janeiro. … The mounted police broke up the meeting with the flat of the sword: no lives were lost. On the following day the scene was duplicated, several people injured, and a life lost. By night riots had broken out in various parts of the city.