the time a partner in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and is succeeded by Kálmán Széll. February 27 – Japanese immigration to South America, primarily the nation of Peru, begins as the ship Sakura Maru departs from Yokohama with 790 men employed by the Morioka-shokai Sugar Company. The group arrives in Callao on April 3. February 28 – U.S. President William McKinley approves a law increasing the pension to American Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate, to $25.00 per month. March 1899 March 1 – In Afghanistan, Capt. George Roos-Keppel makes a sudden attack on a predatory band of Chamkannis that have been raiding in the Kurram Valley, and captures 100 prisoners with 3,000 head of cattle. March 2 – Mount Rainier National Park is established, in the U.S. state of Washington. March 3 – Guglielmo Marconi conducts radio beacon experiments on Salisbury Plain in England and notices that radio waves are being reflected back to the transmitter by objects they encounter, one of the early steps in the potential for developing radar. March 4 – Cyclone Mahina strikes Bathurst Bay, Queensland. A 12 meter high wave reaches up to 5 km inland, leaving over 400 dead (the deadliest natural disaster in Australia's history). March 5 – George B. Selden sells the rights to his patent for an internal combustion engine to the Electric Vehicle Company, and he and the company then claim a royalty on all automobiles using such an engine. March 6 – German chemist Felix Hoffmann patents aspirin, and Bayer registers its name as a trademark. March 7 – The Provisional Law on the Judiciary is issued in the Philippines to provide for the selection of a Chief Justice. March 8 – The Frankfurter Fußball-Club Victoria von 1899 (predecessor of Eintracht Frankfurt Association football club) is founded. March 9 – Japan promulgates its commercial code, the Shōhō, to take effect on June 16. The Shōhō, as amended applies to Japanese business today. March 10 – The U.S. state of Delaware enacts its general corporation act that makes it the most important jurisdiction in United States corporate law. At the Battle of Balantang, the U.S. Army sustains 400 casualties in an attack by Philippine troops under the command of Pascual Magbanua. March 11 – A wireless distress signal is sent for the first time by a patrol boat to aid the endangered British cruiser Elbe. The Morse code distress