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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1908)
11 rn OMATTA SUNDAY BEE. FEBRUAUT 0, 1903. D Something About the Country England is Developing in Central Africa r J ' . i . , v . - , ' A . , . 1 ... W i ; . v ' mm in t n n ,i,...i.-.ii I. l-.ii.. til ..nil. ) '.i?uw- r n r - . , rfy.; fv-:.,-.-;-. . v ' ' ' - .... 1 n ii - "" ' i ii ill n ! Ii I ! Hi il . im nim .iiii. iiitin- L aiftni r t. n nirniii BUSINESS STREET IN NAIROBI. CAPITAL OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. "WAIKIKUTU (Copyright, by Frank O. Carpenter.) AIRUBI. British East Afrtca.- Nl (Bpeclal Correapondenca of The I Be,) I hav just had long; i&ut wiLn air. maencK jhck on, the acting; governor and commander-in-chief of this big; which John Bull owns In the Africa. Mr. Jackson came out territory heart of here to hunt big; game about twenty-five years ago, and he has been on the ground from that time to this. He has long; been employed by the British government In the administration of Uganaa and of the protectorate of East Africa, and he Is now lieutenant governor, and in the absence of Colonel Sadie, the acting governor of the country. . Before I go farther, let me give you some Idea of this wonderful territory which the Brltlnh are oppnlnt? up In the heart of the IN FULL DRES& these natives, your excellency," said L "Thoy are of many tribes, each having its own character and customs. Among them are the Masai, a pastoral people who deal altogether wlrti cattle. The Masai are noted for their warlike propensities, and in the past their children were trained up to be warriors. Then there are the Waklkuyu, who have agricultural tenden cies. They have small farms and are In dustrious. They live all about here, and you will go through their country on your way to Lake Victoria. In addition there are theNandl and many other natives who are both farmers and stock rearers. Altogether these people are in a low state of civilisation. Indeed, it is almost Im possible to conoelve how far down on the scale of the werld's progress they are. They have practically no wants. A strip a man and he can earn enough for his food in a very short time. Before we can do much with these we must make them have wants and give them the denlre for accumulation. We must begin right st the bottom, and it will be a long time before we can turn them into consumers of for eign goods or into a valuable laboring class. Indeed, our natives are much worse In these respects than those of Uganda, There, the people cover their bodies with clothes of one kind or another. They are intelligent and many of them will work to get money." East AfrlcTfoTWnlte Men. "How about your white settlers? Will this country ever be inhabited by Cauca sians?" "That again, is difficult to say," replied the conservative governor. "We have a few European settlers already, but whether we can make this colony a second South Africa remains to be seen. I have lived here for over twenty years, and I am not sure as to how far any white man can do hard manual labor in this latitude. It is true we are more than a mile above the sea, but nevertheless we are on the equa tor, and the equator Is not fitted for the white man. The only Europeans who will succeed here will be those who bring some money with them, and who will use the native labor in their work. I don't think, any settler should come to East Africa without he has as much as $3,000, reckoning about that matter as yet," replied the of the amount of your money. He should flclaL "This country is just in the mak have enough to buy his land, stock it, ing, and we know practically nothing build his house, and then have something about it We realise that we have some to go on. He should not start out with a of the richest grasses in the world very small tract. Much of the grazing grasses which have supported vast herds of 6,000 acres, and we are selling tracts of 1,9)0 acres at 68 cents per acre. If a man takes the first thousand and pays for it, the, other 4.000 are held for him subject to certain improvements and developments upon the first thousand. After these are completed, he may buy the remaining tract at the price per acre of the first thousand acres." HI Laad Ownera. "I understand much of your land is be ing taken up in large holdings." "That la so to a certain extent," re plied Mr. Jackson, "but we are now dis couraging such allotments, and would rather have the land apportioned in tracts of from 640 acres to about 6,000 acres each. If the land is for graalng, the larger area is desirable. If It is for grain farming oraalrying, it is better that it should be small. As to our large landholders, the British East Africa company owns about five hundred square miles. Lord Dela mere has about one hundred thousand acres and Lord Hlndllp a little less. There are thousand acres or more.' "How about ; your ranching possibili ties T I understand that your stock grow ers expect to found a great meat industry here which will crowd our Chicago pack ers out of the markets of England." "I do not think there is room for alarm goats and hogs will thrive. But we do not know whether we can conquer the diseases and insect pests which attack all the animals we have so far imported. We seem to have every disease that cows, horses or sheep are subject to in other parts of the world, and I venture we have some peculiarly our own. We have ticks by the millions and flies by the myriads. Bo far our experiments with cattle are turning out well, and we know that we can produce excellent beef and good but ter. We hope to find our first market for our meats and dairy produots in South Africa, and later on to ship such things to Europe. The creating of an industry of that kind, however, is one of gradual development. We shall have to arrange as to transportation, and that means cold-storage cars and cold-storage ships. We have not cone Tar enough as yet to be able to predict what we can do." J , . ft " : ' ;.. '' '. r s. A I W tad . .ft, .. v .. - r- n 1 m'-,y t j: irr::.t MASAI GIRLS NATTV ES OF NEWEST ENGLAND. Fiber Plants ssd Minerals. "What other possibilities have youT" I asked. I T, but the deposits so far discovered tlcally inaccessible by railroad. This Is hi.ve not been valuable enough to pay for especially the case with the forests of the their mining. This whole country is vol- Kenla province, which contains fine woods." canlc. We lie here in a basin surrounded bv volcanoes. We hv Mrmnt Konia nn 980,000 for Ilantlnc License. V luiu uriu muuuv iilvo int, 11101a l(y . . . . - . . a number of settlers who have twenty , 1 m'y ltuIhr be able to the north, Kilimanjaro on the south and "How about your game? Is this country . coffee, and we are already exploit- Mount Elgon away off to the northwest. t continue to be the chief game preserve Ing certain fibers which grow well between The eruptions of these mountains have here and the coast. The plant which pro- been comparatively recent, and some be- duoes the Sanslvera fiber is indigenous lleve that they have burled the precious to this country, and it Is being exploited metals so deep down in the earth that we by Americans who are working not far shall never get at them." from the station' of Vio, about 100 miles "How about your timber?" Inland from the Indian ocean. I have no "We have fine forests, containing both doubt we can raise sisal hemp, and know hard and soft woods, and among them a that we can grow ramie without cultlva- great deal of cedar such as is used for Uon making cigar boxes and lead pencils. The "As to minerals, a great deal of pros- most of such wood, however, is inland and pecting has already been done, but the at a long distatnee from streams upon results have not been satisfactory. We which It could be flnntori Anvm tn th game preserve of the world?" "That question I am not able to answer. We charge, you know, for the right to shoot here, and we took In about 10.000 for such licenses last year. That la about $00,000 of your money, but the game Is so numerous that the animals killed have made no visible diminution in the supply. "I doubt whether there is a place on earth where there are so many kinds ol game as In British East Africa," the com missioner continued. "We have vast herd! of antelopes, gnu and other wild animals. OW does the public know things? In the first place It doesn't; that Is, It has to be taught or shown. And It has to be show over and over again. The very knowledge which it has It is prone to cast to the winds when most needed. How then is the fabrlo built up and maintained? writes George C. Lawrence in Appleton's Maga zine for February. A part of his article is here reproduced with one of the illustra tions. The greatest, the overshadowing, means of forming public opinion, the mlghtteBt factor In contributing to that store of common knowledge on which business and social life la based. Is the newsnaper. "What," Is the cry, "do I rely on the penny sheet, the chronicler of murder and sudden death, for the knowledge that I have?" So far as the greater part of It Is concerned, yes. unequivocally yes. "I see by the papers," Is the ffreat American password. Of all that we know of current events the world over by far the largrent part is obtained from the maligned news papers. Stop to think, you who hold the obvious obvious. How many among the millions in this country know by any other means, for example, that Theodore Roosevelt Is president? Not one in 10,000. Run yourself fairly and honestly Into the gaping corner and then admit that you know It because you read it in the papers. How many in the country, except by this means, know that there actually was an earthquake In San Francisco or a war he- country Is now kept in good order by only tween Russia and Japan, or any one of the How Great Newspapers Prevent Spread of Panic H black continent. It Is the newest England, of cotton cloth suffices for the clothing of lands are now being divided up Into tracts of game, and upon which cattle, sheep, know that we have gold, silver and cop- At present, our timber resources are prac- We have so many sebras that they have become a serious' trouble to the farmers and stockmen. They move about in herds of hundreds and sometimes of thousands. They are easily frightened, and. if they become panic stricken, will go off on the gallop, rushing against the wire fences . - about the farms and breaking them down. Why? Because the optimism of true con- the financial centers, obtained all 1U In- obvious which the publlo had forgotten In They will run right Into barbed wire with """"u Bnu U""BU ,l " on l" "ana the true situation, of which panic was uch ,orc " to tear it from the staples information purveyed by the press. Just thu danger of panic eliminated. and crack off the posts. At present we so tut u any one was made to under- The public, not conditions, were sick, and ave great game preserves where no shoot stand the true situation, of which pnto was for the public the press prescribed simply ng can be done. This is the case along the last logical outcome. Just so fast as the allopathic slugs of truth. And behold the the railroad, and the animals seem ta public was cured. Day after day the press know It and make that one of their chief fought to bring home a realisation of the r axing grounds." truth, and In the end truth conquered. It "How about Hons?" fought against enormous odds, against the "We have plenty of them," waa the re susceptibility of the mob, against the ten- P'y. "but the hunters look upon Hon shoot dency of the masses mado up of individuals ng as the best of sport and many of cognizant of truth to forget It and prac- the savage beasts are killed every year, tice error, and most of all it fought against The same Is true of the rhinoceros and the the vague rumor flylnsr from mouth to hippopotamus which are found in many mouth which did more than anything else parts of East Africa." to perpetuate danger. From coast a land which has only had a life of about twelve years as a colonial possession, and which, six years ago, waa as inaccessible as most parts of the valley of the Congo. Today the Uganda railroad crosses It from one side to the other, wagon roads have been cut through the various prov inces, and a new empire, which Is to be largely inhabited by white men, seems to be at Its beginning. Prairie m Mile Hick. The East Africa protectorate is for the most part prairie. It is a great plateau as high as Denver, which extends In one weep for 300 miles across the country and which rises almost straight up 200 or 800 miles back from the Indian ocean. On the north the plateau drops down to the deserts of Abyssinia and Somallland; on the west n Slopes geniiy to Victoria in y ansa, ana on the south, maintaining Its height, it Is lost In German East Africa. Right through the middle of the plateau is a mighty ditch known as the Great Rift valley, which contains five or Blx big lakes, and about It and on its edges rise the volcanoes of Kilimanjaro, Mount Elgon and Mount Kenla. This country all together Is bigger than New England added to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Mary land. It has, a population of 4,000,000 na tives, most of whom ten yeas ago were warring with one another. Some of the tribes made their living by preying upon their neighbors. Slavery was everywhere common, and one of the great slave routes to the coast was not far from the line where the Uganda railway now runs. Tooday all these evils have been done away with. The warlike tribes have been conquered, and they are turning their at tention to stock raising and farming Slavery has been practically abolished and peace prevails everywhere. The whole warrant a panic, and almost before It had begun they were pointing out this baHic truth. On the cars, In offices, or on the street, the omnipresent American ex pression "I see by the papers" quickly became one not of depression but of hope. dltlons was emphasised by the press. Many and many a depositor who had no first hand knowledge of the situation turned to his dally paper and was comforted. Many and many a family, removed from THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. VJL Ml, " MRATTLa, WAB1NOTOII TRDMlMV. tsCTOBKH H, IWt. ftlOWTEEH AnU LINER IMPRESS HI CHINA SINKS WITH BIG CARGO WOIRGTOH SHQRI LIHES flLUEPORT MICE KIT CENT MAM MURDERED. IWO WOUNDEO II MS ROW OMAHA SUNDAY BEE tax . ROCKEFELLER IS HOT AFRAID Of GOTHAM BAKKS & ( MOM illtsMM M Uff Iwt SB ff If OUIIt JILT TUDNftAlt Vtwe ersa l ' M" 'I 'Mw - 11111111 - .pt nv . . in , ' I , i "' mix .rwn I 1 1 kll.Ui i . . . M. A. nU, T ' III . aiftUlll'LVl IN RI.L II .hw ... m .Mm t,w. m in iWI-al i ...ii M l" n LO " 1 -. - -. - to coast, from Canada to Mexico, the newspapers, during the finan cial stress, were engaged In making the truth known, in making obvious the ob vious. How did they do it? They ham mered. They followed Goethe's saying. In rrovidonce, for example, where the In fluence of the New York situation reacted as strongly, as anywhere, the leading paper, at the end of the week of greatest dis turbance, published the following advice: "Keep away from the banks. The only danger threatening the banking institu tions of Rhode Island Is the needless alarm v.-j;-f.i, Land of Coffee. Speaking of the possibilities of British East Africa. It may be one of the coffee lands of the future. Several plantations have been set out not far from here and they are doing well. There Is one coffee estate within five miles of Nairobi, which belongs to the Catholic Mission of the Holy Qhost. I rode out on horseback yes terday over the prairie to have a look at It. The way to the estate Is through fenced fields, which are spotted here and there with the galvanised Iron cottages of English settlers. As I rode on I saw many of anxious depositors. It is the opinion h"mPd cattle grazing In the pastures. The about 1.800 police and less than 2,000 Eng lish and East Indian soldiers. A great part of It along the line of the railroad has been divided up Into ranches and farms. Small towns are springing up here and there, and In time most of the plateau will be settled. A White Man's Country. There Is no doubt but that white, men can live hare. The children I see are rosy with health, and the farmers claim that, with care, they are as well as thoy were when back home in England. There are some Europeans here who have had tholr hemes on the highlands for over twelve V'-ars. and they report that the climate Is healthy and Invigorating. They are able to work out of doors from ( until Id o'clock in the morning, and from I to o'clock in the afternoon, and during a part of the year all the day through. As a rule, however, the sun Is hot at mid day and one should not go out without his head Is well t protected. The heat here is dry. The nights are usually cool and a blanket is needed. At any altitude above eight thousand feet ice may be found In the early morning, and this notwithstand ing we are almost on the equator. Nearer the coast the land drops and the climate Is tropical. For two hundred miles back from the Indian ocean there are prac tically no white settlers, except at Mom M and It Is only on this high plateau Vi 'at they are as yet attempting te live. t'ut let me continue my description in the words of the man who governs the country. My conversation took place in a long, blue. Iron-roofed building known as the commissioner's office, situated on the bill above Nairobi. I had asked as to British East Africa's future. Mr. Jack eon replied: "It Is all problematical. Wi have an enormous territory and millions of peo ple. We have not yet prospected the ter ritory, nor have we dealt long enough with the natives to know what we can do with the people. We have really no Idea as yet as to just what our resources) are, and as to the labor we can secure to ex ploit them." "How many Inhabitants have your "We do not knew. We can get some Idea from the taxes, for most of the provinces have te pay so much per but. In other places the native have been hardly subdued, and of no province have we acourate census. The number has been estimated at from two te four noil lions, but I believe it Is nearer five mil lions, and possibly more. "Civ me some Ids of the character at t million happenings going to make up the sum of dally life on this old earth, which, except for the chronlcllngs of the dally press, might never have happened so far as a large part of the public Is concerned? Blink the fact as one will, the press, peddler of truths at a penny a thousand. Is the major fsctor, not alone in public knowledge, but, as a result, in the advance of civilization Itself. There are, unfortunately, always har bingers of disaster. Prophets of this cause are not entirely without honor In their own communities, for a certain respectful attention attaches to him who predicts hard times, backing his argument with rea son however fallacious. So naturally there have not lacked, as there will never lack, croakers who prophesied hard times for almost any reason under the sun. While the prophets of evil raised their voices the country waa never in so prosperous a condition. Suddenly, toward the end of October, disaster became imminent In spite of all the signs of prosperity. Financial Institutions tottered, the money center of the country became demoralized almost in a night. An Infection to stimulate this condition seized thousands. Banks were besieged. The panic spread throughout the country. The financial centers of the world were Involved. Ruin stared millions in the face. Yet one month after this the whole situation was referred to as "the late financial flurry." There was no real basis for the panla, and yet the publlo seemed to demand panic. How then was the terrifying situation ameliorated and the country saved from a financial wreck of tremendous propor tions T Not by a knowledge of the condi tions, for the publlo had that and threw It to the winds. A simple declaration of fear oa the part of a score of depositors was enough to start a run on any bank. Institutions were toppling on every hand, not because of unsoundness, but because of the Inability of any bank to liquidate all its liabilities on a moment's notice. And yet where millions talked of ruin, and fought madly for deposits in October and November, the aame millions In Deoember spoke lightly of the late financial (lurry. How waa this salvatjon worked T Simply by the Iteration and reiterations of the true conditions, In the light of which a panla was unwarranted. And by whom was the truth hammered hotneT By the American press. There was no other agency to do It. There Is no other agency so powerful In disseminating the truth. At the first crash the news jMiera realised that conditions did . not Xls trsKs ei nit "ctnoTi Emxsns (Attn y, PERSISTENT. AMMLUaan. " 9 " - , , " u ' " rnroin mm. tCIStU t IM). NOTED ACTRESS aiUSHEBSELfiTfJ"--'- ir i vT !i TWO MEN SHOT IN STATE HOUSE l Horn. I I au rwwi oruafTi. tlB I01E fOI iusuiij WINIIUUNI I '. CLOSE THE DOORS OP Thf trxr- : unwycDP pivn r.-r. wnnivi.no OH 1,1 ;z )" - -.... S."JZmJ. dilute in tut r,h... '. .iT "T,i".'" :- ........ ,w iiitniui,;.;.--. ... . -.i": ar sfits ! MWriott arrui inifu rf ...l "''I hM m.m. " mm wJ CiWMW , ma muu. eminent HT' -' HIM "K IUIUIS M LU I i III nt I T. Clrv tank n n '.. - "T7 r1" I ' ; Mil aw ' " vauoi iMisine&s SOLVENT BAN. unpni lAjrt t nixun swt m raurT tu nn im .1 CALL I Z" "' . I ' "" " 1 I 'anfo qf Banks Ar. aha IJ-.--2 and Situation Brirhtens tie s the Mmn Thu s Responsible tor the Trouble All Open tuna Ina Stringency U Si n Sichi - i:"rr.i..T ,K . .r.t r u 1 reatrai Oovernroenl lo ful SJO.OOflooft ai i r. .... "iuii o vircuiauon lo Aid Business Activity Cek3" Wj" - ?i.?S0.(X So. W tnd m, IUc- sointmcy m ih,tawn Stm-. I HOME) TTPICAL WESTERN NEWSPATER COMMENT "A TREMKNDOU8 RBSPOJWIBILITT, iOUa m atf XiLU Tltai UAhJkleMl' fAl.l.I ATiVai Of f Ait ICS." UONE8TLT eifULc of the Providence Journal that every de positor In a Rhode Island bank or trust company should refrain from excited with drawal of his money at a time when the chief trouble of these Institutions is in ob taining cash. Keep away from the banlts yourself and advise foolish or Ignorant persons who do not understand the situa tion to do the same." Side by side with this advice appeared the headlines: "Day of Stress. Foolls;i Panic Public Confidence Increases as Facts Overcome Rumor." Throughout the country the method was the same. In St. Louis, for example, the St. Louis Republic confined itself to edi torial advice and placed Its news stories away from the first page, simply to avoid undue excitement. In Boston the papers preached the truth from the houuetops to the benefit of the community. At the end of the most difficult week the Globe advised its readers that money previously wtihdrawn was being redi-poelted. A Vital factor, but without press how many would have known it, or how far would it have operated to relieve the situation? In the same city the Boston Herald on December 2, in a story entitled "Work Again for Thousands," gave a detailed list of the various New England factories and manu facturing Interests again In operation, which could not but assist tremendously In the restoration of publlo confidence. In New York the bltuutlon was set forth day after day In Its true light, and as the situation did not warrant the panic com mon senso won. The Journal, in simple words of truthful advice, made obvious the obvious. Under the heading, "A Word to the Thoughtless," It summed up the sit uation, hammered home the truth. In the following language: "To the wine no word is necessary. Men of knowledge understand full well that the country wus never more prosperous, and that a panic In the midst of such unexam pled Industrial and commercial activity as this nation has recently enjoyed and still enjoys is grotesque absurdity. "The reasoning of those persons who are now participating In runs upon perfectly solvent banking Institutions Is on a par with that of thosu citizens who think they need have no concern about the conduct of government because they merely pay rent. "The Informed man knows that those who pay rent are as much taxpayers as those who own the houses In which they live. Their concern with government la equally as great as that of the property owner. "Likewise the man who draws money from a perfectly solvent bank In such a time as this, Instead of protecting himself, may be promoting his own undoing. "Credit is the life blood of business.' If banks fall, business will totter. If bust- (Continued on Page FourJ grass is everywhere tall and thick, and the red soil, although not much cultivated as yet, seems rich. Arriving at the plantation, I was met by Father Tom Burke and walked with him through his coffee plantations. It cov ers altogether something like fifteen acres, and has now more than 8,000 trees In full bearing. The yield is good and the planta tion Is now supplying not only the town of Nairobi with all the coffee It needs, but it Is shipping several tons every year to Europe. Father Burke tells me that the coffee trees begin to bear at a year and a half, and that they are In full bearing within about four years. The ripening sea son Is long and the berries have to be picked many times. I saw blossoms and green and ripe berries on the same tree. In one place the natives were picking-, at another they were hoeing the plants, and in a third place they were pulping the ber ries In a pulper turned by hand. The trees seem thrifty. Father Burke says that th young plants grow easily, and that where the birds carry the berries away and drop the seeds the plants will sprout up of themselves. There is a ooffee plantation nearby of 30,000 trees, and I am told that there la a fair prospect of a considerable coffee Industry springing up. Men Work for Nickel m Day, While on the plantation I saw many half naked negroes at work in the fields. They were Waklkuyus, and were really fine looking fellows. They were clearing new ground, chopping down the weeds with mattecks and digging up the soil and turn ing It over. The sweajl stood In beads upon their brows and bare backs and it also ran down their bare legs. I asked the father as to their wages and was told that they each received four rupees a month. A rupee Is S3 cents, and this means Jut about S3 cents a wijok or less than b cents for a day of ten hours. I suggested to the rev erend father that the pay was small, but he said that the natives coild not earn more than that sum and that even at those wages It was difficult to keep them at work. I hear this same statement made every where. The English people here think that the native Africans are well enough paid at the rate of half a cent per hour or a rupee per month. If you protest they will say that that sum Is sufficient to supply all the wants of a black man and ask why he should be paid more. Think of it, ye. American tollers who belong to our labor unions. Think of t cents a day for carry ing bricks or stone.' for chopping up ground under the eyes of a taskmaster, or for trotting along through the grass, hour after hour, with a load of (0 pounds on your head I Think of It, and you may $rt an Idea how the English white man h Is carrying the black man's burden I Indeed, as the Japanese say. tt Is to taught FRANK a OARPENTKU.
