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BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
HAVK you ever heard of Nairobi?
It Js the metropolis of tlits far
away colony, and the place which
the Knglish think la to be one of the
grreatest cities of Africa. They are .al
ready speaking of it as a Chicago in
embryo, and are prophesying that it
will have a vast white population.
The town Is not half a dozen years old.
Three years ago it had hardly a house.
Today streets have been laid out over
an area about ten miles in circumfer
ence; hundreds of buildings of tin,
wood and ftone have been erected and
the place has almost 15,000 Inhabi
tants. Nairobi Hea .in the very heart of
British Kast Africa. It is little more
than half way inland from the coast
on the road to Lake Victoria, and, as
the crow flies, about 100 miles from
Mount Kenia, which kisses the clouds
at an altitude of 18.000 or 19,000 feet,
off to the northward. I can see Mount
Kenia from here on a bright day, and
ome distance down the railroad, when
the sun is- just right, one can get a
glimpse of the two peaks of Kiliman
jaro, which lies to the southeast, in
the German possessions, a distance of
150 miles or more. Nairobi itself is
Just about as high as Denver, and,
like it, is situated at the western end
of Rreat plains which rise to an al
titude of 5000 or more feet above the
Ira. They, are so high that the equa
torial sun is conquered by the alti
tude, and white men can live and work
tipon them the year round. The coun
try Is, in fact, a white man's country,
nd with care people of our race can
thrive upon thousands of square miles
of it.
I struck these plains after a 20
touts' ride from the Indian Ocean by
Railroad. They make me think of our
R'est as it was 50 years ago, and I
Joubt not in time they will be settled
by ranchers and farmers Just as is the
western part of the United States to
day. This country is- an empire in its
undeveloped possibilities, and the Eng
lish do right in putting a high value
ipou it. But I shall write more of
that in the future.
A City Built or Till.
This letter is to be devoted to the
tin ' town of Nairobi. I should say
Kalvanlzed iron, for that is the chief
building material., There are no saw
mills or planing mills here worthy of
mentioning, the forests have not been
exploited, and about the only lumber
available is that which is brought from
our country and Norway and landed
t Mombasa, The ocean freight rates
are heavy, and in addition there is
the cost of b'ringing the lumber here
hy railroad. As a result the most of
the buildings are of galvanized iron,
"which comes here in sheets from Eng
land and Belgium. Almost all the
buildings are of iron, which is put up
Just as it cornea from the factory, giv
ing the whole town, a silver gray
color. The postoffice Is of iron, the
depot has an iron roof, and the same
Js true of the Governor's offices. Many
of the houses have iron ceilings and
Iron walls, and the chief retail busi
ness section is ' a collection of one
ptory iron booths, open at the front, in
which Hindoos stand or sit surrounded
by their goods.
My hotel is half iron. The govern
ment treasury nearby, consisting of a
shed not more than 15 feet square, is
of tin nd has a tin roof. I could
.chop it to pieces with a butcher knife;
find the only sign of safety about it
is the negro policeman who, gun in
baud, stands outside guarding the door.
The oftico of the larfd surveyor is of
tin, and so are the police headquarters
and the house in which the supreme
court Is held. The more fancy dwell
ings are now being painted, and some
stone and brick buildings are rising.
Iargel.v Cow Pastures.
1 The Nairobi of today is largely cow
pastures. It is a city of mngniticent dis
tances. Kvery place of importance seems
several miles from any other place of the
same character, and the patches between
are often grazing ground. The houses
are of one and two stories, and they are
Scattered along wide streets which run
for an indefinite distance out into the
prairie. The chief ways of Retting about
are on foot, on horseback or in Jinrikshas.
the latter being by far the most popular.
The Jinrikshas are much like those used
In Japan, save that they are larger .and
wider. I am told they are made in Amer
ica. They are pushed and pulled by black
Africans, two to each vehicle. One man
goes In the shafts and the other pushes
behind. They are clad In a single cotton
cloth which flHps back and forth as they
run. exposing their nakedness. The streets
are unpaved and they are frequently
masses of dust. Along many of them
eucalyptus trees have been planted. These
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 2, I90S.
Nairobi,
British East Africa, to Be Boomed
Like An American City
JSZAZRQBI 37IATI0I7. "THESE I OUTERS 4JZJS WAZTIZIG- TO CARBJT
&ry jBjl&ga&e, tvhich jlies xzst tlr. out. "
have grown rapidly, and the roads are
now shaded by their .dreary foliage, the
leaves of which hang down as though
they were mourning.
Among tiic Black Africans..
T have given the total population of
Nairobi as 35.000. I doubt whether it has
1000 whites. Of the remainder, about
one-third are Kast Indians and the others
are the queerest Africans you can im
agine. I speak of them first because they
are everywhere, you stumble over them
on the street; they" wait upon you in the
hotels; they carry burdens for you, and
they ciog your footsteps when you go
outside town. Many of the natives wear
dirty, greasy cloths, not more than a yard
wide and two yards long. They hang
them about their shoulders and let them
fall down on eac.i side, so that they flap
this way and that in the breeze. Some
wear breechcloths and some do not, and
not a few are bare to he waist. In the
early morning when the air is still sharp
many of these people are clad in red
flannel blankets, and they go stalking
along with their legs bare to the thigh. I
have already spoken of the ear plugs.
Some have the'holes in the lobes of their
ears so stretched that I can put rdy fist
through them. The loops are so long that
when a man takes out his ear plug he
hangs the-loop of skin over the top of his
ear to prevent it catching-onto something
and tearing. The loop looks just like a
leather strap about as wide as one's little
finger nail. I have handled many of them,
twisting them this way and that to be
sure they are genuine.
I see a squib in the Globe Trotter, a
newspaper of Nairobi, which fits the na
tive costume here. It, is: "A London
tailor says that any gentleman can be
clad for 25 ($1S). The native gentle
man of Nairobi can be fully clad for 2
annas (about cents), including .the
smell."
This African smell Is everywhere, it
loads- the market places, and I verily
think it might be chopped up into blocks
and sold as a new kind of phosphates.
The natives cover themselves with hair
oil and body grease, and the combination
of this when it turns rancid and of the
natural effluvia which exhales from their
persons is indescribable. Others. of the
natives smear their faces with a mixture
of grease and red clay; they cover their
hair with the same material, so that
they look more like copper Indians than
Afncans.
These Africans do all the hard work of
Nairobi. They are hewers of wood and
drawers of water. I see scores of them
loaded with iron and brass jewelry of
various kinds, carrying baskets of dirt
on their heads, loads of wood on their
backs and pushing and pulling carts and
wagons through the streets. The most of
my trips from one place to another are
made in two-wheeled carts hauled by na
tives so clad.
The Kast
Indian Traders.
I find the retail business of Nairobi
done by East Indians. ThU was also the
case at Mombasa, and I am told it is so
in every settlement on this part of the
continent. The Hindoos have made their
way along every traveled route, and their
little stores may be found in every large
African village. They have trading sta
tions upon Lakes Victoria and Tangan,
tika.. They arj very enterprising, and as
hey live upon almost nothing they can
-.Iidersell the whites. They handle cotton
of bright colors and of the most gorgeous
patterns. They sell wire for Jewelrv and
Hi sorts of knicknacks that the African
wants. They deal also in European goods,
and one can buy. of them almost anything
from a needle to a sewing machine. Here
in Nairobi there is one long street which
ucvoiea 10 tne Hindoo market. The i
i.:a .e an open at the front, and the
men squat in them, with their gay goods
Piled about them. These Indians dress
in a quaint costume not unlike that of the
English clergyman who wears a long
black coak buttoned up to the thrat. The
only difference is that the Hindoo's trou
sers may be of brig .t-colored calico, cut
Ve,VL t,8t1,t- and his head may be covered
with, a flat skull cap of velvet, embroi
dered in gold. Moreover, his feet are
usually bare.
The White Population.
This is a British city, notwithstanding
its African and Asiatic inhabitants: and
the ruling class are the English. They
are divided up into" castes, almost as
much as are the East Indians. The Gov
ernment officials rank at the head. They
are the swells of the town. They dress
well and spend a great deal of time out
of office hours playing tennis and golf,
which, strange to say, have already been
introduced into this part of the black
continent. They also ride about on horse
back and in carriages, and upon very low
salaries manage to make a good show.
Allied to them are the sportsmen and the
noble visitors from abroad. We have a.
scattering element of Dukes, Lords and
second sons of noble families who have
come out here to invest or to hunt big
game. They are usually men of meahs,
for the prices of large tracts of land are
high and it alao costs considerable money
to fit out a game-shooting expedition. In
addition there are land speculators, who
are chiefly young men from England or
in the Very Hart of
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South Africa. They dress in riding
clothes, hlg helmet hats and top boots.
They dash about the country on ponies,
and are especially in evidence around the
bars of the hotels. There are but few
white women here. Several of the gov
rnment officials have their wives "with
them., and now ' and then a titled lady
comes out to hunt with her friends. I
have met three women who have them
selves shot lions.
Nairobi . has English doctors, dentists
and lawyers. It has one photographer
and two firms which advertise them
selves as Safari outfitters. These men
supply you with tents, provisions and
other things for shooting trips, and they
will give you porters who will carry
your stuff and chase the lions out of
the jungles so that you may get a shot
at them.' .
Nairobi Xewspaperl
It seems strange to have newspapers
away out litre under the shadow of
Mount Kenia, within a half day's ride
on horseback of lion and rhinoceros
hunting. Nevertheless. Nairobi has three
weeklies.' They are all banking on the
future of the tcwnand all. claim to be
prosperous. They are good-sized Journals,
selling for from 2 to J annas, or from 4
to 6 cents each. They have regular tele
grams from the Reuter Agency, which
gives them the lig news of the world,
and they furnish .full reports of the local'
cricket, polo, tennis and golf matches.
This week's Star reports the meeting of
the East African Turf Club, and in the
Life Insurance as a Prudent Investment
Experience of a Man Who Has Been in the Business More Than 30 Years. '' '
POLLOWING is an address by C.
Sherman before the members of
w.
the
Life Underwriters' Association of
Ore-
gon at their recent annual banquet:
There are those who contend that life
Insurance should! be for "protection only"
and should be entirely divorced .from in
vestment. It was originally of that char
acter, but after some years it was found
that the insured himself needed protec
tion against the probability of . -want In
his old age, and the modern idea of life
insurance, as developed through the re
quirements and lessons of actual experi
ence, have so closely Interwoven the two
principles that they go not hand in hand,
but as the strongest members of the same
body. "
It is manifestly the duty of all to pro
vide for those dependent upon them; It
is universally conceded that it is the
part of wisdom to make such provision
through life insurance, which guarantees
the continuance of the protection " even
though death occurs. This is a most
sacred obligation, and it is a noble call
ing that undertakes the mission of car
rying it out.
Observation has shown that the Indi
vidual has another obligation, an obli
gation none the less sacred because it is
to himself, and that he needs protection
of his own old age, protection against'
himself. The average old man is a poor
man. He may have been prosperous at
some time in his career, but late in life
he finds, his resources decreasing and his
necessities for care and attention Increas
ing. Close students of human nature
found that this condition arose largely
from the fact that the old man was the
last to discover his faculties were on
the decline, and, before he would admit
it, the gains and success of former and
' s Tffjw -t'-L I . S ".-"f ; i
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Globe Trotter I see the story of a cricket
match which was held last Saturday be
tween the government clerks and the
townspeople. . As to the advertisements,
the most of them come ' from the. local
merchants and some are, odd to, an ex
treme. One in the Globe Trotter of to
day, is signed by a well-known American
circus company, and states that it wants
to buy a white rhinoceros, a giant hog,
some wild dogs and a while tailed mon
goose 'and bongo. Another advertisement
is that of the Homestead-Dairy, showing
the improvements mad along farming
lines, and others state that certain mer
chants will outfit hunters for shooting.
There are many land seals advrtised,
and also machinery; Amei-ican wagons
and all sorts of agricultural implements.
One of these newspapers of Nairobi is
edited by an American. It is known as
the Globe Trotter, and has a good circu
lation. The editor's name is David Gar
rick Longworth, but I am not sure that
he is a- relative of the President's son-in-law,
'He- is ' certainly enterprising, and
partakes of our President's character in
his love for wild game. He came out
hre originally to buy lions, giraffes and
rhinoceroses for Bainum & Bailey's cir
cus, and. he still takes a' whack-at the
wild beasts during the intervals of his
editorial.' writings. Mr. Longworth has
done some newspaper work in the United
States, and was editing a newspaper at
Cairo, Egypt, Just before he came here.
Another paper of note is the Star of
East Africa. This is owned by Mr.- Low,
the brother of A. Maurice Low, the well-
more vigorous years were turned to loss,
defeat and often, ultimate failure. '
Just here' It was discovered that a
small portion of the proceeds of the
active years put where they should
not be endangered by ordinary business
vicissitudes would provide a self-maintenance
fund for the Individual, a
sacred trust for the care of persons
J in old age. What form of institution
could better undertake this new trust
than the ones already so well discharg
ing the old onesT And so the life in
surance companies undertook to com
bine the protection of the home against
the death of the one upon which it
depended, and to guarantee to that one
provision for his advanced years.
I have had four matured policies on
my life two 20-year endowments and
two limited payment life policies and
I can say they have been the most
satisfactory inve'stments I ever made.
When they were taken, I considered
them sure Investments, but did not be
lieve the money would begin to net
me as much as other Investments that
I gave my personal attention to., but,
alas! it may be simply a late admission
that I was not very smart, yet the fact
remains that the money intrusted to
the life insurance companies has paid
me better, far better, than the average
of money I handled myself.
With the money paid into my endow
ment policies, I have had always the
protection in case of death; with the
money I have handled myself, I have
had the pleasure of doing business and
of now looking: back and seeing the
many mistakes I have made. My ex
perience is almost the universal exper
ience and, where the Individual- thinks
Iris own an exceptional case, it is very
apt to be that he cannot yet make the
personal application, and it will likely
be made very clear to htm later in life.
You may occasionally talk with a man
who will tell you he thinks endowment
insurance an excellent thing for the av
J7T X&E
TJZE XRADEHS .
11VI
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known Washington correspondent of the
Boston Olobe and London magazines. The
Star is very American in its methods, and
it delights in sensations. Last week . it
published .a supplement consisting of a
pamphlet of 64 pages, on the outside of
which was printed In large type tne
words, "What tho British government Is
doing lor Tirltish East Africa." Upon
opening. , the pamphlet the other pages
were found to be blank.
Hotels in Africa.
Nairobi has three hotels, the Norfolk,
the Stanley and he Masonic, and the ac
commodations in them are comfortable.
I am stopping at the Norfolk at the upper
end of the town. It is .a low one-story
building, with a wide porch in front,
separated from the dirt street by a picket
fence, and shaded by eucalyptus trees
through whk-h the wind seems to be-ever
sighing and moaning. The charges are
$3.33 a day, including meals, but I have
to have my own servant to make my 'bed
and tend to my errands. I have a room
at tho back with a tine view of the stable,
and a German sportsman next door, wh
has a little cub lion about as big as a
Newfoundland dog. tied in a box outside
his window. During part : of the dav
he lets the baby lion out, and ties him
by a rope to one of the pillars ofr, the
porch. The animal seems harmless,: but
his teeth are nuarp. and he is entirely too
playful to suit me. Besides It .roars at
night. . ' ,
The horses here are fairly good, 'but
the charges for them are high. Whan I
erage man and will volunteer a list of
1ils friends whom he is sure would ba
greatly benefited by "that form of " In-;
vestment, but he cannot make the appli
cation to hipiself. X'n th$ opinion of his
friends, however, he may head the list
of those who. In' their opinion, shbuii'
make such a provlsian.
It is a wise arrangement (list precludes
the possibility of our seeing into the fu
ture; ail ' through ' our ' lives we are
buoyed up by hope and anticipation that
success will surely come, that nest year,
or at furthest year - after next.: things
will lie much easier; but. time flies along
and the years find us much .the , same
and statistics and experience prove, that
unless we have, intrusted some of our
surplus to the care of wiser men, we
will have little at the end.
There will probably always be poor old
men, their ranks will be recruited from
the successful men of an earlier date and
fortunate is he who has made certain
provision by means, of endowment insur
ance. I have lived personally to settle with
many men whom I. induced to take en
dowment policies. In March our com
pany will pay a 30-year endowment pol
icy wrjtten by me the first year I was in
the business, and I have yet to find the
first man that was not pleased with his
investment, or expressed other than
gratitude to me for my connection with
It.
Not long ago one of the successful
business men of this city Intimated to
us a form of policy that he would con
sider. It must mature within his ex
pectation of life and, at maturity, guar
antee him a life income; after his death
a like life income to be guaranteed his
wife. All possibility of loans, cash
surrender and extended insurance to
be eliminated from the policy, as well
as any possibility of himself or bene
ficiary hypothecating before or after,
maturity any portion of the policy.
QZZaRTEg.,
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G-OVEXZmENT ZAND OFFICE JIT JSTA1RCB1
ride out on horseback it costs me $1.65
an hour, and the carriage rates are still
more. The btst way to get about is in
the Jinrikishas. using negroes as beasts
of burden. For a long ride over the
plains horses are necessary.
As to the heavy hauling of this part of
East Africa it is mostly done by the
sacred cattle of India. I mean the clean
cut animals with great humps on their
backs. They are fine-looking and are ap
parently well-bred. Some of these beasts
are hitched to American wagons brought
out here from Wisconsin.. I saw such a
team, hauling a Kentucky plow through
the streets of Nairobi yesterday. Indeed,
I flpd ..that American goods are slowly
making their way into these wilds. Ameri
can axe. cewtng machines, and American
sowers and planters are sold by the East
Indians. The drugstores carry our patent
medicines, and every market has more or
less American cottons. The woodcutters
are using American axes, but thojr com
plain of the flat or oval holes made for
the handles. They say that a round hole
would be better, as the natives who do
the 1 wood cutting are clumsy and the
handles snap off at the ax. If round
holes were used, heavier handles could be
put in, and' the natives could make them
themselves,
A ""Railroad and Telegraph - Center.
;. Nairobi promises to become one of the
railroad centers of this part of the world,
it is. the chief station between the In
dian Ocean and Lake Victoria, and a road
is now proposed from here to Mount
Kenia. By and by that may connect with
the German road from Tauga to Kilimanjaro..,-
.The country through which the Uganda
railway goes is among the poorest In
the colony, and the Mount Kenia road
w,ill open up a rich agricultural region
After considerable negotiating, a pol
icy for $50,000 was delivered in ac
cordance with his wishes.
- This man. In the very prime of life,
at the zenith of mental and physical
activities, recognized by actual person
al observation and experience the
truth I have written, and being able
to do so, for ten- years, puts about
$0,000 a year away where neither him
self nor any other, at any time be
th inducements ever so great, may di
vert from what his present firm con
viction tells him is a wise provision.
Life insurance, as an Investment, Is just
now receiving undue criticism, because of
certain abuses foisted upon the 'business
by- unscrupulous men, but do not be dis
couraged at this; all of the disclosures,
Investigations and direct newspaper at
tacks will only serve to effect needed re
forms and prove the absolute financial
strength and security of the life Insurance
companies. Advise young men of your
acquaintance to take long term endow
ment policies, maturing at an age when
the proceeds will not likely be subjected
to the hazards of Investment in . active
business. Buy of this form of Insurance
liberal policies for yourselves, and, with
the courage of your firm convictions thus
shown, the coldest opposition will melt in
the fierce blaze of your earnest enthu
siasm. The First Skyscraper.
Broadway Magazine.
It Is little more than ' 18 years since
Bradford Le Gilbert erected the first sky
scraper at 50 Broadway, New York. It
was an 11-story building. One day, when
it was still in the skeleton stage, he
decided to climb up through the net
work of steel pillars and girders while a
gale of wind was blowing. He wished
to make some tests of the effect of the
storm on the skeleton. The people- watch.
Ing him from the sidewalk said he took
his life in his hand. They expected to
see the structure topple .and fall, burying
the hapless inventor in the ruins.
Le Gilbert returned to earth unhurt
a victor who had given the world a new
Idea that was to revolutionize the Ameri
can citjr.
Since "then skyscrapers have become
TH2ZJ2227D O0S1J2
FORE G-ROTmi)
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which is thickly populated by tribes mors
than ordinarily industrious. The railroad
shops are here, and thu employes have a
large collection of tin cottages for their
homes. The headquarters of the railroad,
where all the chief officers stay, are one
story tin buildings, and the telegraphic
offices are connected with them.
Both railroads and telegraphs are run
by the government. The telegraphic rates
are comparatively low. Away out here in
the wilds of Africa one can send mes
sages far more cheaply than in the Unit
ed States. I can send eight words from
here to Uganda for 33 cents, and can
telegraph to London about as cheaply
as you can telegreph from New York to
San Francisco. This is so notwithstand
ing the difficulty which the linemen hs ve
to keep the wires In shape. I have
already told you how the natives steal the
wire from the poles and make bracelets,,
anklets and earrings of it. They can use
it for trading, and in some districts it
will pass as money. During the Nandl
rebellion, 40-oad miles of wire were car
ried away and never recovered, and in
one of the provinces adjoining Uganda,
above Lake Victoria, the natives are so
crazy after the copper wire there used
that it 'is almost Impossible to keep the
lines up.
Another serious danger to the telegraph
system is the big game. The giraffes
reach up and play with the brackets and
pull the wire this way and that. At
Naivasha, the hippopotami have once
or twice butted down the poles, and I
understand they have been doing con
siderable damage to the lines along the
coast near the Tana River. In tho heart
of Uganda the monkeys have a way of
swinging on the wires and twisting them
together which stops the transmission of
many messages, so that, indeed, the way
of the lineman is hard.
almost a commonplace. Higher and
higher they have soared-11. 14. 18, 20, 25,
41 or more stories piling wonder on
wonder, transforming Wall, Nassau and
Pine streets into harrow canyons be
tween, cliffs of steel and stone and
making. Trinity Church, the finest build
ing in the city half a century ago, a
mere foothill . of the great skyscraper
ranRe.
.' Then came the new idea. Just carried
to success, whici: made men doubt If
there were any limits to the height of the
skyscraper. The tower of the Singer
building, at 147' Broadway, began to scar
Into the air, piling story upon story,
until there-were 47 in all. and the lantern
that ' crowded tho steel skeleton was
fastened in place 612 feet above the sld
walk. ,
IJT Brack I'M.
. Boton Transcript.
My h'a't sits sad an" lonoaom now
WVn fo' o'clock comes 'roun.
JSn' fru Ue cabin do' I lieah
Uat happy h'a'ted soun'
Ob chllluiK lauslnn' as dey corns
A-lrlppin' down de street.
Wif school books undahneaf dey ahmi,
An" music In dey feet.
A' den I trtt-s to ifn' fogit
An' make b'lieve dat It's true,
He's coniln' fru de alteyu-ay
Wif all dm chillunn too;
Do p.-ittah ob his 11' 1 bar' feet,
kinder seems ter beah.
An' tu'ns my back dat he earn' see
Dat usly lookln' teah.
I mos kin see dat 11" I brack face
Kr Dt-epin' fru d do'.
His brinht eyes sparklin' wif delleht
Jes' kae he knows to aho'
Uat Mammy's roas'ln' possum meat.
An" taters, too, fo' htm.
An' waititi' fo' huh honey chile
Huh po" li'i' hugry Jim.
But all clem H'l' "brack feet Pas' by
A-tiamulln' on my h'a't.
' An' Jes' a sreen grabs ober dere
Am all dat I Is rot;
Den Il'r brack feet what 'longed ter m
Somehow dey coudn't stay
In dis yere cabin wif we-all.
So dey Jes' slipped erway.
Dere's music In er banjo string-.
Here's mel&dy in sons.
I Uibs tcr heah de mockin' bird
Kr clnptn' all day lonn;
But all de music In de worl
Ter me ain't half bo sweet
As dftt HOf pittah-pattah ob
A pa' ob '11' 1 brack feet.