Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, March 30, 1902, Image 30

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CHIEF FROM THE GERMAN CAROLINES.
(Copyright, 1902, by Frank Q. Carpenter.)
QOKVO, Japan, Feb. 28 (Special
I I Correspondence of The bee.)
I rn..l . IK- IV.i.lfli
tune juui may ui iub m-mv
ocean and look at the territory
which Germany Is slowly, but
surely, acqulrhiK within It. A few years
ago she hail nothing Today the Iron hand
of the kaiser holds tho great Chinese prov
ince of Shuuluug In Us grasp. am bis flag
floats over German Islands through 23 de
grees of north and south latitude. Some of
tho best steamship Hues which ply between
Asia and Europe are German, and her ves
sel are trading from Australia to Man
churia. With the settlement of our war with
Spain Gtrmany came In and bought the left
overs. Just east of the Philippines He the
Pelew. the Caro'lue and the Ladrone Isl
ands, with Guam almost In their center.
Uncle Sam retained Guam In order to have
a station between Honolulu and the Philip
pines, but the rest of the Inlands were left
to Spain, and she sol. I them to the Germans.
The title passed In October, 18119. when Ger
many paid to Spain less than $4,500,000 tor
the property.
Thtwo Islands are numerous, but very
small. They cover the oceun east and west
tor a d stance of about 2,0(0 mlKs, and north
and south for almost 1,000 miles. The Caro
lines alone hav about 500 islands, the Pe
lews have 200 and the Marshalls and the
Ladrones are of the came nature. The most
of the Inlands are mere beds of coral jutting
out of the sea, but on many of them cocoa
nut trees grow and copra is an article of
export
The Marshall islands have belonged to
Germany since 1885. and now large planta
tions of coeoanuts are set out upon them.
They pnduce In the neighborhood of 3,000
tons of copra every year. The Carolines,
In addition to the copra, have good Ashing
groun Is. They are noted for tbelr tortoise
shell and mother-of-pearl, but neither they
nor the Marchalls as yet bring In a revenue
large enough to pay the expenses of gov
erning them.
(iermaay tu lasioa.
The eame Is true of Samoa. There Ger
many has the two largest islands, Savall
and Upola, upon which many cacao and
cocoanut plantations have been set out.
The officials have high salaries, so that
Germany pays about $36,000 a year to make
the taxes mtt the government expenses.
There are about 200 Germans on the Islands,
mostly officials. Apia has less than COO pop
ulation, but Its officials receive annual sal
aries amounting to $27,000. The chief
Justice, who doe about the same business
as a notary or justice of the peace, get
$8,000. and the president of the municipal
township, who acts as mayor, bss $5,000.
Apia is the center of Samoa n trade. Its
exports and Imports are about $700,000 a
year, consisting hledy rf copra. The town
is l.r.00 miles from Auckland and 1. 100 mile
from Honolulu. The chief ships which go
to It are thore trout San Francisco on their
way to Australia, and It is bow said that
Kaiser After
IsP
i
A SCENE IN SHANTUNG. CHINA.
tbeso ships will soon call at Tutulla In
stead. Tutulla, which is the largest of our
Islands in the Samoans. has the best har
bor in the southern Pacific, and It is not Im
probable that it may become the principal
fBland of thla part of the world. For a long
time the Samoan group was under the pro
tection of England, Germany and the United
States, but the Germans so acted that we
narrowly escaped having a war with them,
and then Great Britain agreed that the
group should bo divided between us and
the Germans. Aad we got the best of the
bargain.
What really may in time oerome valuable
property are tho German possessions in
New Guinea and in the Bismarck archipel
ago, lying just east of It. New Guinea Is nn
enormous island and the Germans have the
southeastern end of It. They have lands
thore one-third as large as the whole Ger
man empire. The soil la good for farming
and the mountains are said to contain gold
and other minerals. There are good har
bors along the northern coast and about
tho?e the Germans are now setting out
sugar plantations. Thry are experimenting
with cotton, and hope that this country, in
connection with their possessions In South
Africa, may eventually supply their fac
tories. They con htro labor at about 5
cents a day and at this rate It Is bard to
see how we can compete when we must pay
from 75 cents to $1 a day.
German New Guinea has rolling plains
covered with rich grasses. It U a good
horse and cattle country and altogether it
is said to be a land of promise.
American Queen of Nrii I'uiumern.
The richest woman in all the German pos
sessions In the Pacific is on American. Sho
llvts on tho 1-land of Neu romraern In the
Bismarck archipelago and she has six
times as many acres as any of the Indi
vidual Germans. She has a plantation there
which contains 120.000 acres. She has lung
stretches of sea beach which sre rich In
pearl shells and pearl oysters, and she
ships shells by the hundreds of tons. One
of her cotton plantations contains 15,000
acres, and upon It sre employed fifty Euro
peans and hundreds of natives. She hss
other lands on the islands nearby and alto
gether she la very rich. She is a trad.T aj
well as a farmer and hT khlps go from
Island to Island buying copra, pearl shells
and beche de mer and selling bright colored
calicoes. Anurlcan axes, knives and to
bacco, together with crackers, csnned meats
and chewing gum. She was the first to In
troduce American chewing gum Into the
Islands. The natives have acquired the
habit aud I am told that even the New
Guinea girls now chew gum.
This woman's name la Mrs. Emma. E.
Korsythe. She is the daughter of one of
our American consuls to the Samoaa
islands who rusrrled the daughter of a
Saruotn chief. She was well educated anl
when about 18 married an Englishman, who
oon died and left her a widow. This was
about thirty or more years ago and Mrs.
Forsythe, who received a small property
from ner husband's estate, concluded to In
vest It In trading in different parts of the
South seas. She bought her ships In San
Francisco and sent tbem from Island to
Island, making something of a specialty of
the New Guinea trade She saw that there
was money In the business and developed
it. As she grew richer she bought land and
set out plantations cf coeoanuts and copra
She ha -onderful business ability and
Big Share of Ocean Trade
3
made her money breed faster than Austra
lian rabbits.
After a time she took a man named Far
rell iulo partnership with her and her busi
n3 was done under the name of Thomas
Karrtll & Co., planters and trading mer
chants, although much of the brains of the
firm was furnished by herself.
I understand that Mrs. Forsythe is an
enthusiastic American, and that she has
done much for American Interests in the
Pacific. It was largely through her that
we first secured the harbor of Pago Pago
as a coaling station, and later on she of
fered the American government twenty
flllEF FROM ISLAND OF SAVAI1,
GERMAN SAMOA.
acres of ground on her own property in
the island of Malulu. Being the grand
daughter of one of the Sjinoan chiefs on
her mother's side she has great influence
among the Sam.ians She speaks their lan
guage fluently and has acted as interpreter
and translator In our consulate at Apia.
She also speaks the languages of the Islands
In which she trades.
The islands of the Bismarck archipelago
have altogether an area about half as large
as the state of Ohio, and their population
is about 190.000, the most of whom are
natives. There are only 200 Europeans on
the islands, of which ninety-fix are Ger
mane and thirty-four English. There are
a few Chinese and Samoans. The commer
cial development of the islands Is In the
bands of the German New Guinea company,
which operates both In the archipelago and
New Guinea. It has Its trading stations
here and there and it exports copra, tre
pang, cotton and shell.
A little south of these islands are the
Solomon islands, a part of which belong
to Germany. They are Inhabited largely
by savages and are of no great value. The
Bismarck archipelago. New Guinea and the
Solomons is well as the Carolines and
the Islands to the northward, are ruled
f '
1 S ' is K.
VX:
IN TSINGTAU. CAPITAL OF GERMAN CHINA.
from New Guinea, the Imperial governor
residing on the island of Neu Pomtnern.
Germane lu Cliinn.
It is in China, however, that the Ger
mans are making most progress. They
seem to have a tacit understanding with
the Russians as to the territory, and have
such contracts with the Chinese as will
give them an enormous part of the trade
of north China. By the treaty through
which Klau-Chau bay was ceded to Ger
many that country was practically given
the control of the trade and commercial
development of th ptovlnre of Shantung.
This province Is ju.t south of Chlhll, which
LI Hung Chang ruled, and In which is Peklu,
and north of Klangsu, where Shanghai is
situated. The Grand canal runs thrcugh it
from north to eoulh, and the Yellow river
crosses it in a northeasterly direction.
It has as much territory as New Eng
land, and a population nbout one-third as
large as the whole United States. It Is a
country of great mineral wealth. It has
vast fields of coal which are yet unde
veloped, and gold has been found In the
mountains. By the treaty of the Klau-Chau
the Germans have the right to construct
railroads through this territory and also
to develop mining property for ten miles
on eath side of the roads. The roads are
so planned that they take In several great
coal fields, and make them tributary to
Klau-Chau bay. The treaty provides that
all machinery and materials must come
from Germany, and that In any future de
velopment of the province by the Cblneso
they must first apply to German capital
ists for money for all their schemes. Iu
other words, Germany has the first chance
at everything In Shautung, and the people
of no other nation can come In until she
has decided that it is not worth her while
to do so.
Th' aitual territory owned by the Ger
mans contains only abcut 2nd square miles;
but there Is a netural zone back of this
which practically belongs to them, which
i thirty miles in length, and. as will be
seen, the treaty in reality gives them the
v hole province.
The bay of Kiau-Chau is about twenty
miles square. It Is larse rn ugh to anchor
all the ships of the Pacific and the Ger
mans are dredging it and building break
wateis. so that it will eventually be one
if the finist ports of the far east. Tbey
are now spending about $2n,000,roo on a sea
wall to Inclose the inner harbor. They
have laid a railroad to the quarries in the
hills, several miles away, and carry the
stone down on steam construction trains.
They are p itting out piers and making har
bor improvements which would be a credit
to any of the European ports. They are
building dry docks which will do the re
pair work of the great German steamers
and are fortifying the bay.
German Town of Talniriau.
A German town is going up on the edge
of the harbor. The native Chinese are re
stricted to quarters outside it. and the
buildings within will be for Germans, made
after the German fashion. A complete sys
tem of water mains and sewers Is being
laid. The pipes for this are of horseshoe
form, ranging from five to nine feet In
diameter, and put together with Portland
cement. Streets snd roads are being cut
o-'t of the soild rock. Tbey are well graded
and one of them runs along the seashore,
forming a bund or park within the sea
walls. Many buildings are going up. Two
lighthouses have been constructed, hotel
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costing $100,000 in gold is already up, and
there are many new business buildings. The
chief German firms of the far east have
erected permanent business houses and n
number of factories have already gone up.
About three years ago an electric power
mill was started to saw and plane lumber,
chiefly Oregon pine. There are granite
quarries which operate their works by elec
tricity. These are two miles east of the
town. They use electric drills and have a
trolley line half a mile long to carry their
granite to the sen. There are two machine
shops run by steam and brick works with a
capacity of 20,000 bricks a day, as well as
many smaller factories.
Tslngtau Is lighted by electricity. It has
already several newspapers, a public library
and German and Chinese postofllces. The
port has considerable trade, Its exports to
Get n any being small, but Its import
amounting to more than 5,000,000 marks an
nually. The Germans are actuary building rail
roads In Shantung. The English and all
other nations, except the Russians, are
talking a great deal, but doing little. The
Germans are pushing their railways to the
coal mines. They have one road going to
Wtlhslen. a walled city 110 miles to tho
northward, and the trains are now running
over part of it. All the supplies and ma
terials of the road come from Germany. The
gauge Is the same as ours and the rails are
of the American pattern. The ties anl
bridges are of steel and the work Is being
thoroughly done. The owners are private
citizens, although the German government
reservee the right to purchase the road
upon completion.
Hinutuiitf Coal Mines.
The completion of the road to Welhslen
will open up some of the biggest coal fieldH
of China. The empire Is underlaid with
(Continued on Seventh Page.)
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