to the U.S. on December 10 by Spain. The five-man group, chaired by Cornell University President Jacob Schurman, later concludes that the Philippines will need to become financially independent before a republic can be created. January 21 Opel Motors opens for business in Germany. The Malolos Constitution is ratified in the Province of Bulacan by the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines. January 22 – The leaders of six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne, to discuss the confederation of Australia as a whole. January 23 Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in, as President of the First Philippine Republic. Mubarak Al-Sabah, the emir of Kuwait, signs the Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899 a secret treaty with the British Empire to accept protectorate status for the Middle Eastern sheikdom in return for British protection of Kuwaiti territory. The British Southern Cross Expedition crosses the Antarctic Circle. January 24 – The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, one of the oldest medical schools in the United States, is founded. January 25 – The city of Ponce, Puerto Rico is saved from disaster by seven firemen and one volunteer civilian who disobey orders and stop "El Polverin", a fire near the U.S. Army's store of explosive artillery. A "Monument to the Heroes of El Poverin" is later erected in their honor. January 26 – U.S. Representative George Henry White of North Carolina, the only African-American in Congress at the time, delivers his first major speech, speaking out against disenfranchisement of black voters and proposing that the number of representatives from a U.S. state should be based on the number of persons of voting age who actually cast ballots, rather than population. " German inventor Karl Ferdinand Braun, who will later share the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Guglielmo Marconi, receives British Patent No. 1899-1862 for his wireless radio invention "Telegraphy without directly connected wire". January 27 – Camille Jenatzy of France becomes the first man to drive an automobile more than 80 kilometers per hour, almost breaking the 50 mph barrier when he reaches an unprecedented speed of in his CGA Dogcart racecar. Jenatzy's speed is more than 20% faster than the January 17 mark of set by Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat. January 28 At a time when U.S. Senators are elected by the state legislature rather than by ballot, wealthy businessman William A. Clark is elected senator by the Montana state legislature after offering bribes to most