The Sunday Oregonian., February 09, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 8, Image 50

TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAJf, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY. 9, 1908.
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IHAVK just had a long talk with Mr.
Frederick J. Jackson, the acting Gov
ernor and Commander-in-Chief of
this big territory which John Bull owns
In the heart of Eaft Africa. Mr. Jack
son came out , here to hunt biff game
about 3 years ago, and he has been
on the ground from that time to this.
He has long been employed by the Brit
ish government in the administration of
L'ganda and of the protectorate of East
Africa, and he Is now Lieutenant-Governor
and in the absence of Colonel Sadler,
the acting Governor of the country.
The Newest '.England.
Before I go farther, let me give you
eomo idea of this wonderful territory
which the British ire opening up 'in the
heart of the black continent. Iti is -tn"e
now.est England, a land 'which, has only
had a life of about 12 years as' a colonial
possession, 'and which, six years ago,
was as inaccessible as most parts of the
valley of the Congo. Today, the Uganda
Railroad crosses it from oue sid to the
other, . wagon roads have been cut
through the various provinces, and a
new empire, which is to be largely In
habited by white men, seems to be at
Its beginning.
The East Africa prote.torate Is for the
most part prairie. It Is a great plateau
as high as Denver, which extends In one
sweep for 3W0 miles across the country
and which rises almost straight up at
fcJO or 300 miles back from the Indian
Ocean. On the north .he plateau drops
down to the deserts of Abysninia and
Bomaliland; on the west it slopes gently
to Victoria Nyanza. and on the south,
maintaining its height, it is lost in Ger
man East Africa. Right through the
middle of the plateau is a mlgRty ditch
known -as the Ureat Rift Valley, which
contains five or six big lakes, and about
It and on its edges rise the volcanoes of
Kilimanjaro, Mount Elgon and Mount
Kenia.
This country altogether is bigger than
New England, added to Xew York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and
Maryland. It has a population of 4,000.
000 natives, most of whom ten years
ago were warring with one- another.
Some of the tribes made their living by
preying upon their neighbors. Slavery
was veverywhere common and one of
the great slave routes to the coast was
not far from the line where the Uganda
railway now runs'.
Today all these evils have been done
away with. The warlike tribes have
been conquered, and they are turning
their attention to 6tock raising and
farming. Slavery has been practically
abolished and peace prevails everywhere.
The. whole country is now kept in good
order by only about 1800 police and less
than 20u0 English and East Indian sol
diers. 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 the most of the plateau will be
settled.
A White Man's Country.
There is no doubt but that white men
can live here. The children I see are rosy
with health, and the farmers claim that,
. with care, they are as well as they were
when back home in England. There are
some Europeans here who have had Mielr
homes on the highlands for over 12 years
and they report that the climate is
healthy and invigorating. They are able
to work out of doors from 6 until 10
o'clock in the morning, and from S to 6
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 midday
and one should not go out without his
head is well protected. The heat here is
dry. The nights are usually cool and a
blanket is needed. At any altitude above
SU00 feet lee may be found in the early
morning, and this notwithstanding we are
almost on the equator. Nearer the coast
the land drops and the climate is tropical.
Kor 200 miles back from the Indian Ocean
there are practically no white, settlers,
except at Mombasa, and it Is only on this
OF COTTON
CLOTHING- OF
high plateau that they are as yet at
tempting to live.
The Governor Talks.
But let me continue my description in
the words of the man who gowrns the
country. My conversation took place in
a long blue iron roofed building known as
the commissioner's office, situated on the
hill above Nairobi. I had asked as to
British East Africa's future. Mr. Jackson
k-eplied:
"It is all problematical. We 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 you?"
"We do not know. We can geU some
Idea from the taxes, for most of the prov
inces have to pay so much per hut. In
other places the natives have been hardly
subdued, and of no province have we an
accurate census. The number has "been
estimated at from two to four millions,
but I believe It is nearer to five millions,
and possibly more."
The Xative Tribes.
"Give me some idea of the character of
these natives, your excellency," said I.
"They are of many tribes, each having
Its own character and customs. Among
them are the Masai, a pastoral people
who deal altogether with cattle. The
Masai are noted for their warlike pro
pensities, and in the past their children
were trained up to be warriors. Then
there are the Wakikuyn, who have agri
cultural tendencies. They have small
farms and are Industrious. They live all
about here, and you will go through their
country on your wray to Lake Victoria.
In addition 1hare are the Nandi and many
other natives who are both farmers and
stockraisers.
Altogether these people are in a low
state of civilization. Indeed, it is almost
impossible to conceive how far down an
the scale of th'o world's progress they are.
They have practically no wants. A strip
of cotton cloth suffices for the clothing
of a man and he can earn enough for his
food in a very short time. Before we can
do much with these people we must make
them have wants and give them the de
sire for accumulation. We must begin
right at the bottom, and it will be a long
time before we can turn them into con
sumers of foreign 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 an
other. They are intelligent and many of
them will work to get money."
East Africa for White Men.
"How about your white settlers? Will
this country ever be inhabited by Cau
casians?" "That, again, is difficult to say," re
plied the conservative Governor. "We
have a few European settlers already,
but whether we can make this colony
a second South Africa remains to be
Been. I have lived here for over 20
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 equator, 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
d,on't think any settler should come to
East Africa without he has as much
as $3000, reckoning the amount of your
money. He should have enough to buy
his land, stock It, build his house, and
then have something to go on. He
should not start out with a very small
tract. Much of the grazing lands are
now being divided up into tracts of
5000 acres, and we are selling tracts
of 10O0 acres at 68 cents per acre. If
a man takes the first thousand and
pays for It, the other 4000 are held for
Ml . If ' .' f I'iiSassr J i'
him subject to 'certain improvements
and developments upon the first thous
and. A,fter these are completed he
may buy the remaining tract at the
price per acre of the first thousand
acres." v
Big. Landowners.
"I understand much of your land is
being taken up in large holdings."
"That is 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 5000
acres each. If the land is for grazing
the larger area is desirable. If it is
for grain farming or dairying. It is bet
ter that it should! be small. As to our
large landholders, the British East Af
rica Company owns about 500 square
miles. Lord Delaware has about 100,-
000 acres and Lord Hlndlip a little less.
There are a number of settlers who
have 20,000 acres or more."
: Insects by Millions.
"How about your ranching possibilities?
1 understand that your stockgrowers ex
pect to found a great meat industry here
which will crowd our Chicago packers out
of the markets of England."
"I do not think there is room for alarm
about that matter as yet," replied the
official. "This country is just in the
making, and .we know practically nothing
about It. We realize that we' have some
of the. richest grasses of . the world.-
grasses which have supported vast herds
of game, and upon which cattle, sheep,
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. So far our experiments
with cattle are turning out well, and we
know that we can produce excellent beef
and good butter. We hope to find our
first market for our meats and dairy pro
ducts in South Africa, and later on to
ship such things to Europe. The creating
tf an industry-- 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 gone far
enough as yet to be able to predict what
we can do."
Fiber Plants and Minerals.
"What' other possibilities have you?"
I asked.
"I think we may eventually be able to
raise coffee, and we are already exploit
ing certain libers which grow well be
tween here and the coast. . The plant
which produces the Sansivera fiber is
indigenous to this 'country, and it 1s
being exploited by Americans who are
working not far from the station of Vol,
about 100 miles inland from the Indian
Ocean. I have no doubt we can raise
sisal hemp, and know that we can grow
ramie without cultivation.
"As to minerals, a- great deal of pros
pecting has already been done, but the
results have not been satisfactory. We
know ' that we have gold, silver and
copper, but the deposits so far discov
ered have not been valuable enough to
pay- for their mining. This whole country
is volcanic. .We lie here In a basin sur
rounded by volcanoes. We have Mount
Kenia on the north, Kilimanjaro on the
south and Mount Elgon away off to the
northwest. The eruptions of these moun
tains have been comparatively recent, and
some believe that they have buried the
precious metals so deep down In the
earth that we shall never get at them."
A Land of Forests.
"How about your timber?"
"We have fine forests, containing both
hard and soft woods, and among them a
great deal of cedar such as is used for
making cigar boxes and lead pencils. The
most of such wood, however, Is Inland
and at a long distance from streams upon
which It could be floated down to the sea.
At present, our timber resources are prac
tically Inaccessible by railroad. This is
especially the case with the forests of
the Kenia province, which contain' very
fine woods."
$50,000 for Hunting Licenses.
"How about your game? Is this coun
try to continue to be the chief game pre
serve of the world?"
"That question I am .'not able to an
swer. We charge, you know, for the
right to shoot, and we took in about
10,000 for such licenses last year. That
is about J50.000 of your money, but the
game is so- numerous that the animals
killed have made no vlBible diminution
in the supply.
?1 doubt whether there is a place on
earth where there are so many kinds of
game as In British East Africa," the
commissioner continued. "We have vast
herds of antelopes, gnu and other wild
animals. We have so many zebras that
they have- become a serious trouble to
the farmers and stockmen. They move
about In herds of hundreds and some
times of thousands. They are easily
frightened, and,- If they become panic
stricken, will go off on the gallop, rush
ing against the wire fences about the
farms and breaking them- down. They
will run right into barbed wire with such
force as to tear It from the staples and
crack off the .posts. At present we have
great game preserves where no shooting
can be done. This is the case along the
railroad; and the animals seems to know
It .and make that one of their chief graz
ing grounds."
"How about lions?"
"We have plenty of them," was the re
ply, "but the hunters look upon lion
shooting as the best of sport, 'and many J
of the savage beasts are killed every' I
year. The same Is true of the rhinoceros
and the hippipotamus, which are found
In many parts of East Africa."
. A Land of Coffee.
Speaking of the possibilities of Britishi
East Africa, it may be one of the coffea
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 Ghost. I rode out on horseback
yesterday 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 galvanized iron cot
tages of English settlers. As I rode on
I saw many humped cattle grazing in
the pastures. The grass Is everywhere
tall and thick, and the red soil, although
not much cultivated as yet, seems rich.
Arriving at the plan'tation, I was met
by Father Tom Burke and walked with
him through his coffee plantation. It
covers altogether something like 15
acres, and has now more than 8000
trees in full bearing. The yield is
good, and the plantation is now sup
plying 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 season is long and berries have
to be picked many times. I saw blos
soms and green and ripe berries on the
same tree. In one place the natives
were picking, at another they were hoe
ing the plants, and in a third place they
were pulping the berries In a pulper
turned by hand. The trees seem thrlf-1
ty. Father Burke says that the 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 coffee planta
tion nearby of 30,000 trees, and I am
tlld that there is a fair prospect of a
cotisiderable coffee industry springing
up.
Where Men Work for Mvkel a Day.
While on this plantation I saw many
half-naked negroes at work in the
fields. They were Wakikuyus, and
were really fine-looking fellows. They
were clearing new ground, chopping
down ' the weeds with mattocks and
digging up the soil and turning it over.
The sweat 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 33 cents, and this
means just about 33 cents a week, or
less than 5 cents for a day of 10 hours.
I suggested to 'the reverend father that
the pay was small, but he said that the
How to Break Strangle Hold of Land Speculators
i Caustic Comment on Existing Evils by the Secretary of the Oregon Tax Reform Association.
N A RECENT issue of The Oregonlan
appears a communication addressed to
the Oregon Tax Reform Association,
I
by B. E. Nickerson, which is amusing
reading to that wicked aggregation of
conspirators against the peace and pros
perity of the timber trust,,ywhose welfare
most of the people In Oregon are not par
ticularly interested in advancing and over
whose troubles. In case of the proposed
amendment becoming the organic law of
Oregon, this association is not losing any
sleep. The receiver of stolen goods will
undoubtedly be compelled to return to
the public domain many, sections it has
aided to swindle Uncle Sam out of with
subornation of perjury, and other crimes
to which It has been accessory before and
after the fact.
It is true the Oregon Tax Reform Asso
ciation proposed openly and above board,
but without any "reading between the
lines" ' whatever, to exempt all manufac
turing plants from taxation. The entire
assessed value of all the manufacturing
plants in Oregon does not equal what
-some ordinary towns In Rhode Island or
Pennsylvania can exhibit. -What such
cities as Baltimore, Md.; Birmingham,
Ala., and scores of others have found to
be to their Interest to do Is Certainly to
the interest of Oregon to do exempt man
ufacturing plants from taxation. Wher
ever it has been tried it has directly and
indirectly brought more taxable property
into the state than it has exempted. Pop
ulation makes land values. Population
makes markets. Manufacturing establish
ments bring population. Oregon should be
(and whenever Its people go about it in
the right way will be) a manufacturing
state. It has the natural opportunities,
climate, water power, harbors and hun
dreds of miles of navigable rivers that
cannot be monopolized by transportation
combines without the active consent of Its
people. The present amount of capital in
Oregon devoted to manufacturing enter
prises is small and will remain relatively
so as long as Its tax. laws are hostile to
that form of Investment.
Owing to monopoly prices for sites,
sparse population and long hauls to con
sumers, the manufacturer In Oregon is
not obtaining the return on his capital
that he can obtain elsewhere. If we want
fewer windows in houses we can reduce
them rapidly by taxing them specially, as
France does. If we -want the people to
have plenty of light, we will not tax them
either directly, as in France, or indirectly,
as In Oregon, but exempt them altogether,
as in New Zealand. For that reason, be
lieving, that the' people of Oregon were
progressive and shrewd enough to realize
that the exemption of manufacturing
plants would add to- the taxable property
of the state enormous values, this asso
ciation incorporated the part Brother
Nickerson objects to so strenuously. He
is out of date in such sections of the civ
ilized world as Manitoba, New Zealand,
New South Wales, ana several of the
largest and most prosperous cities devoted
to manufacturing in these United States.
We hope he will soon be in Oregon.
Yes, yeB, if this abominable nightmare
of Increasing the taxes about 20 per cent
on land values goes Into effect It will no
doubt cause large quantities of land
timber, stone, mineral, agricultural, city
and tide lands to go on the market. It
will Induce more subdividing of the large
tracts now open to . capital and labor
at all the traffic will bear. And the traf
fic will not then bear so much. Does the
gentleman from the sylvan shades of
TVATrVE
natives could not earn more than that
sum, and that even at those wages it
was difficult to keep them at worTc.
1' hear this same statement made
' everywhere. The English people here
think that the native Africans are wFell
enough paid at the rate of a half-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
the black man and ask why he should
be paid more. Think of It. ye American
Vernonia imagine that those farmers
from the Middle "West, who he gays are
being Induced to settle on some of those
subdivided tracts, will hold back because
the houses, fences, livestock and ma
chinery pn their farms will pay no tax?
How Is It then that from these very
states the very class of people he wants
here are going by the tens of thousands
to Manitoba, a country far Inferior to
this in natural and climatic advantages?
In Manitoba a farmer would bo consid
ered insane who wanted to tax "all
wealth."
Farmers for 12 years have paid the same
tax on improved farms as the unimproved
tract beside them paid, and no tax on
their Improvements, stock, tools, etc. Win
nipeg collects no personal property tax,
yet has increased from 40.000 to 125.000 in
five years. Perhaps friend Nickerson
should carry the light of Oregon's con
fused attempt to tax everything in sight
(with most singular failure to do so,
however), to these benighted heathen,
over 100,000 of whom were once American
citizens paying taxes on every chicken
and calf, plank and square of paint on
their Kansas, Nebraska or Iowa farms.
Why did they prefer Manitoba to Ore
gon? Simply because Manitoba believes
In giving the farmers a square deal and
not taxing him for every stroke of work
he does.
W cannot take time to teach Mr.
Nickerson definition of economic terms.
The producers of Oregon, however, now
support the different forms of public
service which we call government, and
they also support the land speculator.
The latter does nothing for Oregon when
simply a speculator. The producer gets
nothing and gives all. From the appli
cation of labor and capital to land comes
all wealth, including that of the speculat
or.. When taxes aA placed directly on
the product of labor and capital Jt ham
pers prductlon and exchange, tending in
proportion to the burden to strangle
production. But when taxes are placed
on land values It cannot restrict the pro
duction of land. Land is not produced.
It was here first. It must remain. To
tax Its values releases it from the grasp
of the idle speculator and permits labor
and capital to unite. It forces the Idler
to get off the fence and either work or
let Borne one else work. If the spot of
earth he gets out of the way from Is
useless to man at present and no one
will toil upon it, then It is equally worth
less now, and It might as well be In the
public domain first as last. What does
the speculator want with it?
The quickest way to cause the Southern
Pacific to get out of its land monopoly
business and confine its energies to the
transportation business. Is- to demon
strate by increasing the taxes on the idle
lands that It cannot expect to make as
much by holding them idle as by permit
ting producers to settle on them at nom
inal figures. The vast increase in traffic is
the return it would get ' for the lands.
Any attempt to get Congress or the Su
preme Court to release them to a hord
of smaller speculators (for the benefit of
the timber trust ultimately), will take
another generation or two.
Manufacturers will pay better wages
when they find that their men are going
to build homes and farm lands of their
own on free or low-priced tracts. It is
a mistake to suppose that all producers
in the cities work for corporations, or
that they only want a shanty and a lot
if they do.
Brother Nickerson is, a half Single Taxcr
OF THE TtfEWEST EN&ZAND
Tnners w no oeiong 10 our lauur unions.
Think of 5 cents a day for carrying
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 60 pounds
on your head! Think of it, and you
may get an Idea of how the English
white man here is carrying the black;'
man's burden! Indeed, as the Japanese
say. It is to laugh!
Nairobi, East Africa.
now. He realizes that Increased taxes
on land value's will break the. strangle
hold of the timber' land speculator. Ha
probably perceives that other kinds ot
speculative holdings in land will go the
same road at the same time. Empty lots
and brush acres never buy shirts or
theater tickets. What Oregon needs is
men and capital. If brother Nickerson1
will grope a little further he will per
ceive more light. This Association has
nothing to conceal In its proposition to
the Oregon people. Should they fall to
grasp the opportunity now before them
to deal land monopoly a solar-plexus'
blow, then we will educate and agitate
until another opportunity presents Itself,
and by that . time will be able to sweep
the state with a tax provision that Will
abolish the monopoly of God's earth in
Oregon by idlers forever.
The Misplaced Comma.
"Some lawsuits of the highest im
portance have hinged upon the right
placing of a comma," said Judge F. C.
Downing, of St. Louis.
"When I first started to practice law
a Missouri editor came, to me in a
peck of trouble to defend him against
4 threatened libel suit growing out of
faulty punctuation. He had not meant
to give some Innocent young women
the slightest offense when he wrote a
r.tory about 'two young men who went
with their girls to attend a lecture and
after they left, tho girls got drunk.
Putting that miserable . little comma
out of its right place did the work, as
it made the girls the ones who became
inebriated Instead of their escorts. I
managed by proper diplomacy and the
publication of a neat apology to stave
off the damage suits, and afterward
my editorial friend became an expert
on punctuation," r'altlmore American.
Hereditary Politics.
Nw York Sun.
George Franklin Naadham Oldershaw,
A keen-eyed youth, without a flaw.
Had reached the age of twenty-one.
And waa. In truth, hl father'a ion.
He started for the polls to vote
And. as hla breast he bravely smote.
He told his boon companions that
He thouBht he'd he a Democrat.
They asked, him why. He answered, "
Pa voted to'."
Oh,
Petrnchio Prlti Oldershaw.
A man who stood for church and law
GeorRe's father and a man all knew
To he an honest soul and true.
Proclaimed that every man should voter
It was the duty each should note.
The polls had never found him late;
He always cast his ballot straight
A Democratic one, you know.
"Pa voted so!'"
Xebucliadnezzar Oldershaw.
Without a tooth In either Jaw,
Still pot around at eighty-three
To vote "for what bad ought to be."
He. too. had Democratic views
And over them would oft enthuse. .
No wonder that he teemed to feel
So strongly polities' appeal,
For not so many years ago
"Pa voted so!"
It seems that politics ofttimes
Huns In the blood and sort o' rhymes
The past and present into one
Descends from father unto son.
I know we lean to left or right
As did the parent plant; wa ftRht
Close In the corner, where we're eaupht.
The same old light our fathers fought.
And thouah we argue and debate
Of platform and of candidate.
Some of us vote because, you know, 1
Ta voted sol"