Java's Quinine Industry and Its Commercial Importance
(Copyright, 1301, by Frank 0, Carpenter.)
BANDONO, Jnvn, Aug. lj.--(Speclal
Correspondence of Tlio Heo.)--The
United States government
should Investigate the poslblll
ties (jf cinchona plnntntlons In
ho Philippine IfllnmlH. 'i'lio cllinutc nnd
Mill there nro nliout tho hiiiih; iih thoso of
Jnvtt, ntnl tin.' Dutch nro making fortunes
mil of tin! business, They begun to plant
trees only n few years ngo nml thoy aro
now producing rnoro tlinn four-fifths of nil
tliu 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 anil cinchona tmrk used In tho
world. Last yenr'.i crop ntnoimtud to more
ilinn 12,000,000 pounds of (iilnlti(i alone, and
tho out put In steadily Increasing. Tho de
mand Is nlno Increasing nnd tho plantations
ptomlsu to ho tnnro nnd tnoro profltnhlc In
yearn to come. At prinont they nro paying
from :i0 to 10 per cent dividends nnd arc, I
am told, all doing woll.
Tin) cinchona plantations of Java are
managed by the government, by syndicates
and by Individuals. The Hyndlcatcfl havn
tho moNt trees. They have olghty-thrto
great ostntes which aro bringing l "Ito
gother about $1,000,000 a year. Tho moil
of these estates aro on lands leased from
I ho government for terniB of cvouty-llvo
years. Tho planters ngrco to mnko certain
developments and to pay certain rents In
lieu of taxed, and they havu to carry on
their work after tho rules laid down by tho
government. Tho private plantations are
managed to some extent tho Fame way.
They nro well cared for and three of th in
each yield about 300,000 pounds of quinine
annually.
Tho government plantations nro conduct d
more with regard to tho study of the cin
chona tree and tho extraction of the quinine
fiom Its baric than for profit, although I be
lieve they pay. They nro now raising about
700,000 pounds of (tilnlno n year and In nd
dltlou to this nro supplying all the uliilnc
needed for the Dutch nrmy nnd nnvy.
hr ii- (liilnliif Orluliuiti'il.
Iltit before I describe the government ox
grains, or enough to give every mnn, wo
nion child three two-grain pills, an amount
which Is manifestly not enough to coun
teract tho malaria nnd tho mosquito s. An
allowance of one do?.cn pills per person
would quadruplu tho demand, requiring a
pioduct of 30,000.000,000 grains, or enough
to build up quinine fortunes In every part
of tho Philippine Islands.
MniwiiiillofN unit Miliaria.
Tho scientists hero nro Inclined to the be
lief now current nt home that the mosqui
toes communicate malaria. They tell me
certain kinds of mosquitoes arc full of ma
larial parasites, germs so smoll that It
tnkes a billion of them to glvo a man a bail
enso of fever, and a quarter of a billion to
produce a chill. These parasites breed so
rapidly, however, that a few hours, or at
most n few days, after being bitten by the
mosquitoes the mnn Is full of them nnd ho
soon comes down with malaria. The only
thing poisonous to the parasites so far dis
covered Is quinine. This kills them, the
blood throws off tho orgnnlstn nnd the man
grows well again. I came near dying while
in Kcundor not leng ago from the bites of
uch irosqiiltoes. I had gone up to tho foot
of the Amirs through a vast tract of Hooded
country which swarmed with malarial mos
quitoes. 1 redo about for two days In a
en line through the tops of the trees being
bitten by the Infects, and upon my return
to Guayaquil was taken down with a bad
ease of pcrnlclo'n, something lii:o the C'hn
gres feer. I had a imtlr doctor who gave
me from thirty to sixty grains of quinine
at n time nnd the quinine 1 believe killed
the organisms and Baved my life. Later on
I met in Argentina one of our consuls, a
Dr. Ayres, who has been stationed for pome
years In tho city of Para, at the mouth of
the malarial Amazon. I told him of my ex
perience with the fever nnd also that I was
tites llrst In tho botanical garden tit llul- on the government plantations there aro Thero are steam pipes running through the going up the Amazon. He thereupon wnmcd
ten org and afterwaid hero at llandong anil single trees which will yield ns much ns vats, which keep the oil just at the boiling me to saturate myself with quinine before I
elsewhere. Thoy experimented for hoiiiu ji;i worth of nulnlno. At this rate a thou- point, or nt almost 200 degrees Fahrenheit, got there, saying that the fever germs
,.,i,i ii .. i. ,ii u,..,,..ii,i.,,r iii time and Dually discovered that tho best mind would vleld Ml.ooo. the urcntest nrnflt At this point the dust is dissolved nnd the could not live In cells which contnln quinine.
tho tree whose bark supplies tho little pill lrco for tholn WHS tll(J red-bark cinchona r,er acre perhaps of any crop known. Hven uutnliio atoms separate fiom It and go Into j ,ild po, nnd though I trnveled 2,000 miles
Mint tnii.m ,:.v th.. r,.,,.r Tim ..inniinnn which grows to ilotiblo tho thickness innu.h it rciiuired ten venrs to ernw tlm tho oil, being soaked up as water soaks niiiong the mosquitoes of the Amazon 1 had
tree comes originally Horn the eastern side "f 11 "mnB ,,(,,ly t0 " ,lulnt of al"ml whole crop this would bo equal to $0,100 salt. After twenty hours all tho quinine
of tho Andes. Thero Is a strip of country tcrU 1,1 ,1SP'0 ho 1,11,1 (,nly 7'000 "f per acre i or year. Divide tills by four nnd lla8 Ic,ft tl,u ,1,lst 1)ecomo n ,)art. ,hu
,i t inn ,ii,.u ,,.,i ,i ..v..- - (inn ,niina tliuBo trees. 'I hey have now many, inniiv ,.nn would silll ! u-..n v,.i. unni.i i,n oil, while tho residuo sinks to the bottom.
.J
PKKPAUIKG QULNMNH 1IAHK KOU THIC IWCTOIIY.
no sign of malaria.
Clint Itivilileiit (inventor.
I ng, running along tho slopes of those
mountains from Venezuela ns far south as
lower Ilollvlii, Which Is spotted with qui
nlno groves. Tho trees nro far In tho In
terior and hnrd to roach. 1 saw some
thing of them during my travels In South
America In 1898. Tho bark Is cut In tho
millions. Tho .lava trees aro of exactly the
same variety as thoso used In India, hut
the planters hero tell ma that tho .lava
hark produces far more quinine than tlu
India bark and thnt tho trees yield differ
ently nccordlng to soil nml climate.
This letter Is written nt Handong, In tho
$1,000 per nele, which Is by no menus a bad
yield In theso days of I per cent Interest
nml 70-ccnt wheat.
Tho biggest quinine factory of the world
is situated in this city of Handong. It Is
Tho oil Is now drawn otf Into other vols,
vhero It settles. It now looks for all tlu
world llko clear water. It Is really kero
sene oil soaked with quinine. Tho next
tiling Is to get the quinine cut. This is ilotu-
forests and hauled for many miles on the center of the best quinine-producing region
"it" ' .
I.,f l.,l ,. I.,., l.i.l,. .,,,1,1 .,.,,1 ...,.).,,.
, . t I . . lllllUHULIIIh O HI It I. 111.1. 1 ,IMI Itlllt t.
u..uu. H imiwm iier .sun, am is run T0 aclJ ,nkt,s lhu olli ,J1t r(,Jec,3 t,u
as a private en erprlso In tho Interests of qulnltlc nnd whcI1 lho ,, ,,, nro
tho planters, although I believe they have (lrnwn ,)ft tllc bMom ot ti,B Vnt has a scdl-
110 stock In It. Tho factory does not buy II10Ilt of ,,rty whlt0 Bnll(li Tllls l3 ,.rui,,,
tho cinchona bark. It moroly takes toll ,,UI1U. U 8 clarilled or refined much as
for Its work. Tho bark is delivered In Wo rcdno sugar and at the end comes out
bales of 200 pounds each. These aro caro- ( tho frosted silver, llaky powder known
fully analyzed by the government chemists ns puro quinine. It Is now packed Into tins
to llnd tho percentage of quinine which of 100 ounces and thus shipped to New
each bale contains. After this tho planter York, Amsterdam, London and tho other
gets a check for the value of the bark loss great drug markets ot tho woild.
tho toll, and the nark Is now thrown In Dr. Van Lingo tells mo thnt S.'i per cent
with tho other bark In the warehouse. I of all tho world's quinine conies from Java
went with Dr. Van Lingo1 through the dlf- nnd that C." per cent of this Is from tho
ferent branches of the factory watching relghborhood of llandong. He says that a
the processes of reducing tho bark to qui- largo amount of that made here goes to the
nine. As It comes from tho tree It looks United States and that the demand from
not unlike ordinary bark, but when you thero steadily Increases.
tasto It It Is llko bltlnc Into n 11III. Much r government might easily set out
During my stny here T have called upon
tho resident governor of the Preanger prov
inces, Lord Van Ilethem van den llerg.
This man Is one of the ablest of the olllclnls
In the Dutch l'ast Indies and he has one of
tho most responsible positions of this
Island. The provinces over which ho rules
arc oxceidingly rii h and he has many mil
lions of natives under him. He has n mag
nificent home here surrounded by palms
and other tropical trees and It was In It
that ho received me when I presented my
letters from the governor general. He
speaks lCngllsh fluently and we chatted for
fome tlmo about Java.
Among other things I asked Lord Van
Ilethem van den llerg something ns to the
land system of the country. Ho said:
"The lauds heie nominally belong to the
government and we really have control of
most ot them. We take charge of them to
hold them for the natives In case tho popu
lation Increases so that we need them to
feed tho people. Wo will then dispose of
them to small proprietors or In some wav
of It comes to the factory In a.t, and It Is llons Jj- . th-m E l' Wo bo.lo U
TIIH QUIN'INi: FACTORY AT 11ANDONO.
ns quinine. Tho process Is to get tho whlto
atoms out. This is done by mixing the dust
with water and boiling It lit mineral oils.
OK
SC0FIELD
CUW&SUrTGO.
backs of donkeys to the rivers or tho sea- or tliu world. It is situated In a Imsln In
ports. I raw 11 great deal of It at La Pnz, tho Preanger, or mountainous region ot
where It was brought to bo shipped by western Java, surrounded by quinine plan
stage or rail to tho coast. A donkey load tatlons. It has also tho government fac
welghe.l fiom 1U0 to 200 pounds and $32 try where tho bark is reduced to that bit
worth w ns ntiout nil one donkev could tor powder which kills tho malaria. Tho
carry. Ouu of the llolhians offered to sell planlatlons nro In tho mountains at nliout 1 no Dolling Is douo In grent vats of steel,
me 11 forest of 800.000 trees for $01,000. or MOO or 4,000 feet nbovo sea level. You mo lu which a sort of kerosene refuse Is put
8 cento a tree, and others of whom I In- their rich, red color spotting tho IiIHb ns
quired told 1110 thoy had experimented In ' rldo nbout and In places you may sco
working tho plantations nnd lost. Some t"u natives taking up the trees or stripping
yenrs ago thero was quite a cnuo nt La h the bark. Tho soil here Is very rich
Paz for such speculation. Tho cinchona nml there aro frequent rains all tho year
or Peruvlnn bark wub then Belling for nbout around.
2 cents n pound, or for thirty times ns 1 am surprised at tho sclentlnc methods
much as It Is bringing thero now. A mini- which prevail In tho cultivation of tho iiul-
ber of plantations were set out and nbout estates. I have discussed thorn with
$3,000,000 was Invested In them by La tho planters nnd also with Dr. A. It. nn
Pazltes alone. Then quinine foil, nnd now Miik. tho director of tho factory. Ihev
It Iniidlv imvs to cut tlio bark from tho nil tell mo that tho trees must bo planted
wild trees, although tho conditions In Java Just so nnd tho greatest caro taken to en- ,
nnd tho Philippines are such that tho trees rich tho soil. Oil cakes and especially ens-
could bo raised there tit n prollt. lr oil cakes aro used as ninnuro. The (
i ron, 11.,. .,uWn ... Juvu. ground Is carefully cultivated and tho plants ,
tiro sot out occordlng to the methods which ,
Until within comparatively few yenrs It lM0 KOvornment experiments Iinvo proved
was supposed that tho quinine tree would ,est 1
grow only 011 tho Andes. Tho South Amor- vante nT0 raised from the seeds,
IcntiB thought thoy imd the monopoly or wj,cj, nro S0WI, j 8oed beds. Tho seeds
tho biiBlnesB. Tho various governments nru mm,h )0 nnxae,, po small that ono
taxed all exports of tho bark. It wns nil ,. nf .,..,, ..,, nI.niino ni,m,t 20.OOO
shipped to London, whero It wns handled by . nU Afu,r 0 8prouts ,mvo grown nbout
11 trust, which rnlscd nnd lowered qulnlno ., .,, ... , .mnsnlnntnd nnd
later on transplanted again Into tho places
whero thoy nro to stny.
At llrst tho trees were set out wido apart, (
hut now they aro planted nt every three
or four feet, nnd ns thoy grow altornnto
trees nro cut out from year to yonr to
kIvo tho others moro room. Tho bark of
nil reduced to dust before It Is carried Into l8,lll Is nlmost ns Inrgo ns Java. It has
tho mill. some 01 1110 ricnesi sou 01 1110 tropics nnu
.... contains mountainous regions not unllko
llolle.l I., lwm.fi... oil. i-rennger. If tho secretary of agriculture
Tho dust looks llko cinnamon ground line, should establish nn experimental cinchona
It Is reddish brown, but each brown grain estnto In tho mountains near Xamhoanga
incloses some of tho whlto ntoms wo know or Davao tho matter could bo easily tested
and It might result lu exports of enor
mous value.
At present something llko 10,000.000
pounds of quinine nro used In the world
overy year. Tills Is about 0,000.000,000
our duty to take enro of Java so that It
will support tho natives and to do this wo
must keep tho title to the lands out of tho
hands of speculators and especially of tho
Chinese. Tho Chinese nro anxious to got
tho lands nnd once In their possession thev
work them solely for their own benefit,
dlsregnrdlng that of tho people. Thoy do
not care if tho nntives aro Impoverished.
They will establish stores on their lands
(Continued on Seventh Page.)
prices at will. Then tho Kngllsh govern
ment decided to Introduco tho trees Into
Ceylon and India and tho Holland govern
ment planned similar experiments for Java.
1 lot li countries sent scientists to Peru
nnd llollvln for seeds nnd plnnts. Tho
nntives thero got track ot the matter nnd
Impeded their mission In every possible
A New
Departure
MAMMO-MEASURl:
Ladies9 Fine Tailored Garments
Wo iiic pk'iised to announce that we have
opened in connection with our
Cloak, Suit and Fur Business
A Ladies Tailoring Department
Minai, mil nut la lluml fln t Tint tlm tlllUltn-
way. Tho Peruvian custom nouso omccrs - ' ;, ,:, , , 1 1 i 1 1 ,. , , . ,
would not let tho Kngiisn specimens lenvo tll" l)0ln8 t() I'roduco something within n iin, art. prepared (o take orders tor ladies Suits, Skirts,
tho country for weeks nnd in tho mean- r , "V -ilr t li o cl tVt T "onUnues" .lHMs, Capes and Cloaks- -made to measure by ex-
tlmo ono of tho nollvlaus poured sonio boil- thlr" cnr. n.ul tho cuttliif, continues ... , , , , . ' ...
imr water over tho seeds. After n tlmo. until tho tenth year, when tho treos aro pert HHMl tailoi'S illltl perlect I.V tit ted to VOlll' foi'lll. Wv
however, both seeds nnd plants wero so- run grown, in iiikiiib 0111 uio trees uuui
cured for Ceylon nnd Jnvtv. Tho Hngllsh tho roots nml branches nro saved, for they
set out lnrgo plantations In Ceylon and both yield qulnlno, nlthough tho best qul-
also nbout Madras, Thoy choso nbout the nlno comes from tho bark of tho stem,
snmo latltudo nnd cllmntes ns thoso In Tho bark Is dried lu tho sun or In evnpo-
whlch tho South Amorlcan trocs throvo rators and then packed up nnd sont to tho
nnd succeeded In producing trees which factory to bo nindo Into qulnlno.
yielded n fair quantity of qulnlno. Dr. Vnn Lingo tolls 1110 that about a thou-
Tho Japaneso government sot out Its sand trees are planted to tho aero and thnt
have a larjit
any style desired
less than usu
assortment of the most fashionable fabrics to select from and will make them up in
sired at reasonable prices. We also sell our suiting materials by the yard at much
ual tailors' prices. May we not have the pleasure of showing you what we can do'
O. K. Scof ield Cloak and Suit Co.
I5IO DOUGLAS STREET