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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1908)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 22, 1903. CAPE i BT FRANK O. CARPENTER CAPB TOyN! How shall I describe It? It U the biggest city of South Africa, and It has nothing In common with this savage black continent. Its buildings and Its people are all Euro peans. The town Is as bright as a button and as clean as a pin. It lfes right on the Atlantic, washing Its feet In Table Bay. Behind and above It the two mighty rocky formations known as Table mountain and the Lion's Head. They are bedded In green and they shut out the half desert lands which fade away Into the great Karoo, farther north. Table Mountain. Table mountain Is rightly so called. .It Is a mighty block of rock which rises almost stralghc up behind the town to a height more than six times that of the Washington monument, cutting the sky line with a Jagged horizontal front two miles in length. If you could take one of the highest of our Allegheny Mountains, slice off its top so that It looks like a table and plant It down behind Eoston you might have about the effect that Table moun tain has at the city of the cape. The mountain sides would need to be cut so as to be almost precipitous, and Its top should be as regular as though the gods of nature had smoothed It off with a knife. Standing In Boston, there would be times when the whole great Table rock would be clear and clean-cut. At other times It would be lost In the mist, and again low. over-v.-ir,r rloudi would rest upon It and fall down over the sides like a tablecloth. Table mountain is 3300 feet high. One side of It Is such that tt can be climbed In three hours, and In that space of time you can reach one of the finest Tiews in the world. The mighty "Southern ocean stretches beyond you at the front and at the right and the left. Tou can almost follow with your :ye the course of Bartholomew Plax. when he discovered the Cape of Good Hope. That was six years before Co flumbua started out to find the new world, and the ocean below us was then so rough that he named that point Ithe Cape of Storms. It was along the I same track that Vaaco da Gama went I on around the continent to India a I few years later, skirting Cape Agulhaa, I the southernmost point of the African I continent, which lies down there a I little off to the left. Cape Town is" Just under you. so ' close that you can toss a rock into Hs ' streets, and beyond It Is Table Bay. the great port of entry tor the whole tf South Africa. Dlax and Da Gama : had ships of less than 100 tons, the ! mighty steamers which are floating down there at the wharf each run i high Into the thousands of tons and '. more than 2000 of them leave and call every year. Ships with a tonnage ag gregatlng more than 10.000.000 went In 'end out of that port within the last ,12 months, and this has become one of the great water gates of the world. The harbor looks small from the top of the mountain, but It has more than two miles of quays, which can accom modate vessels drawing SO feet. It Is sheltered by a break-water 60 feet long, and Its larger division. Victoria basin, covers S acres. Looking along the quays yon can see the electrio cranes, and back of them the ware bouses, which can store 70,000 tons of cargo at one time, and at the reser voirs, which hold mountains of coal. Among the ships are boats from East and West Africa, from London and Ham burg, and great liners on their way to Australia and India. There are the mail steamers of the Vnlon Castle Company, wht-ii carry not only passengers, and express, but the vast treasures which are always flowing out of the diamond and gold mine of thte great vault. Now turn your eyes from the harbor to the great hill which lies across the ravine from where we are standing. That Is the Lion s Head, which forms another part of the background of the horseshoe val ley surrounding the bay. That peak Is almost as high as Table Mountain and the electric car which you can see whii- aing along at its feet, looking pygmy like in the distance, will give you one of the finest streetcar rides of the world. You can take It In the heart of Ope Ton and wind your way around the bay back through the valley between Table .Mountain and Lion's Head to the city with brautiful views in sight all the way. The Capital of South Africa. But let us go down and take a walk through this capital oi soutn Ainca. Cape Town is the gate to this end of the continent and for more than 0 years it has been the chief door through which tn whites have gone In and out. It baa now in the neighborhood of .O0O peo ple and l one of the fine little cities of the world. Laia out as iu.. u " in avenues running from Table Mountain to the sea aad crossed by other street at rv right angles, its old Boer buildings are gradually disappearing and it has now shops and streets which would do credit to the largest cities of the United States. It has a poKtofflce structure which sur passes In else that of any American city of twice its population, and lis Parliament Houses are perhaps the finest buildings In Africa. They were erected some yearn ago at a cost of more than itnrmonn Thev are of the renaissance They are of the renaissance . style, with porticos upheld by Corinthian columns and are surrounded by beauti ful gardens, in which a marble statue of Queen Victoria stands at the front. Each of the houses has a noor spate as that of the House of Commons in hnm land and the building contains a throne room, showing the allegiance of the coun try to the Kir.. The Parliament which meets here is that oi mire '.'" - thi. vst territory, comprising f-. , .. ti, lamia notith of the Trans vaal, including Klmberley and Us dia monds and al the cruel sneep tle-trrowlng. frult-ratelng and ostrich farming parts of this continent. Business In South Africa. Cape Town is largely the business capital of South Africa. It has tne headquarters of all the big banks and of the chief exporting and Importing firms. Alderley street. w v thoroughfare. Is lined with big business blocks, and there is a wholesale section which has many fine buildings. During my stay nere i navo nau with ome of the leading nnanciois . to the financial conditions of this part of the world. Business Is still bad and It has been so since tne now wai. recent panic and expression i.i United States have seriously the diamond mines and have led to the a,.tv of thousands of hands. There are many other men out of employ ment and not a few of the business men are mortgaged up to their eyes. It seems to me that times cannot but continue bad In South Africa for a good while to come. Just before the war the conditions were excellent, and dur ing It prospentv reignen m here are naturally as optimistic as we are and they have all the push and en ergy of a people developing a new country. When times are good they borrow all the money they can and bet on the future. Before the war much of their business was done on credit, but conditions were then comparatively fixed and they could reiy on mu"s their bills. As long as the struggle continued England's purse-strings were opened and money flowed like water. Business was boomed to correspond with the new conditions. Many build ings were erected In all tne cities, ana especially in Cape Town. Durban and Johannesburg. New ships were brought Into the carrying trade, new institu tions of all kinds created, and wages and expenses, already high, were enor mously Increased. Then the war ended and the soldiers left. The money flood was succeeded by a money drought, and the creditors began to ask for the payment of their bills. This caused failures In all departments of trade, the tide of Immigration turned the other way and thousands were thrown out of work. At the same time stores and houses became vacant, the prices of property began to drop, and the' com petition for tenants brought down the rents. This situation has almost steadily continued since the war and the country is now getting down to a hardpan basis. It will probably Improve later on, but Just now Its condition is bad. South Africa's Big Banks. PinUnf here la not the same as in t United States. With us every little town has its individual bank, and there are hundreds of small institutions op erating with capitals of $50,000 and upward. Here all the moeny is handled by a half doxen great banks, with branches reachlns to all narts of South Africa. These big banks report to each other, and. although competitors, work largely In harmony. If a man's credit la bad It soon becomes generally known, and if one bank drops him he has little hopes from the others Am th tent of the banking. I have before me some reports of the big Institutions. The Standard Bank of South Africa Is now doing a Dusiness ui something like $160,000,000 per annum on a capital of less than S. 000.000. It iff. . I MM f ft Ml "r. 4f -a I has about $100. 000,000 worth of deposits and its prolits are 1600.000 and upward per year. During a great part of Its existence it has paid as much as 18 per cent, and it is now paying 16, notwith standing 'the hard times. Another big institution is the Bank of Africa, which has a capital of J5.OUO.00O. This bank has deposits of J30,O0O,00O or ts5.O0O.OiiO. and its assets and liabilities - . " - ' r ripnriii were cut to 10 per cent. prospect of going down still lower. The Natal Bank, which does business chiefly in Natal and the Transvaal, lias a cap ital of only JL'.oOO.OOO. but Its deposits amount to something like $19,000,000 or $3t.XiO,0OO. and it pays about 12 per cent. The National Bank of South Africa, with a capital of over $5,000,000, has de posits of $S,O00.0ii0 and pays 8 per cent, while the African Banking Corporation has running accounts of from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 on a capital of $2,000,000, and pays 6 per cent dividends. Nearly all of these banki have had a considerable re duction of deposits, during the past two years, and their stoCKS nave luueu la value. A Country Inflated. When It Is remembered that South Africa is largely a desert and that It has. all told, only about l.ooo.ouo wnite people, the wonder is that it can support such banks at all. It seems to me that business of all kinds Is much overdons. The steamship lines are too many, the railroads too expensive and the cities too big for the populations. This Is especial ly so sonslderlng that the products of these 1,000.000 whites are almost altogether owned In Europe, and the profits of their labor are spent there. The diamond mines and gold mines are owned abroad. They are worked by cheap native and Chinese labor, and the country lacks the means of prosperity of the great produc ing regions of the United States. Indeed, the Boers claim mat ooum ainca uum h far better off if It had less gold and diamonds and went more Into agriculture. They think that a higher wage rate would benefit its Industries, causing more ot the money to be spent at home. Cape Colony. In manv respects Cape Colony is better on- than the Transvaal, the Orange Free State and other provinces of South Africa. It is given up to farming ana stocK rais ing and is ' a land of mixed industries. The colony Is one of the largest of the British possessions of tnts part ot tne continent. It is 600 miles long and MM or 500 miles wide, being more tnan lour times the sire of either New York or Pennsylvania. It is twice as big as Great Britain or Ireland, and. including Bechuanaland, which was annexed some years ago. It Is bigger tnan xexas or any country m Europe, wun trie et-ei-tion of Russia. Cape Colony Is the oldest part of South Africa and Is by far the best settled. It has almost as many white people as Bos ton, and Its colored population numbers almost as many as there are souls In Chicago. There are many good-sized towns. This place, with its suburbs, has ax.0u0; Klmberley has about 35,000. and Port Elizabeth 33.000 or more. Wood stock has 39.000: Grahamstown, 14,000, and East London. 25.000. There are towns of from 5000 to 10.000 scattered here and there over the country, and there are many thriving farming .communities. The Farms of the Cape. , In coming here from the Transvaal I rode for a day through the Orange River Colony and from there across Cape Col ony to the Cape of Good Hope. The land is all high and dry and the most of it has a climate in which a white man can work. The Orange River Colony Is about as big as the State of New York and Its population of whites is not half as large as that of Buffalo. The coun try Is mostly a grassy plain, fading out here and there Into desert Considera ble stock is grazed near the railway. I saw droves of cattle, a few Sheep and now and then a herd of Angora goats. Most of the territory has been practically Inaccessible until within the past ten years. As to Cape Colony, its northern por tion is of much the same nature. The land drops in mighty steps known as the Karoos. The upper Karoo at the north ranges In altitude from 3000 to 6000 feet. 1 - win w WW y V if i k I J. I Ian I -t'A r . - It is almost a desert and drouths are 1 frequent. Below this is what is known as the Great Karoo, consisting of rolling plains rising gradually to a height of about 4000 feet. This country is covered with a sort of sheep bush, upon which the cattle, goats and sheep feed. It is dry and healthy and Is fitted for stock raising. Still further south about the Cape and west of here back of the ocean is a large area devoted not only to stock, but to grain and fruit raising. Back of the Cape of Good Hope are large vine yards, which produce something like 10,000,000 gallons of wine and 1,500,000 gal lons of brandy every year. They raise peaches, apricots, apples and pears and ship fruit in cold storage to London and the United States. A great part of Cape Colony is well grassed and there Is considerable stock farming. The average ranch contains about 3000 acres and upward, land of that kind selling for $2 or $3 per acre. The grass is thin and it is estimated that every head of cattle will need from 10 to 20 acres' and every sheep one or two acres. In the Karoo even more land will be required. At present the colony has about 12,000, 000 sheep. 7.000.000 goats, 2,000.000 fcattle and 500,000 horses and mules. The farm ers tell me that there Is some money In horseralsing, as the country does not raise enough for its own needs. The mar ket price of draft horses Is now $100 and upward. The chief stock now grown here are sheep and goats. The climate and feed make excellent wool, and the mohair is especially good. The country is now ex porting something like $10,000,000 worth of wool annually, and its mohair brings the highest prices. I am told that there are . S.OilO.OOO Angora goats in the colony, and that good ones are selling lor upward ot $5 apiece. As to the eheep, they remind me of THOUGH THE LARGEST CITY IT HAiS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THE iePAVAGE BLA.CKL CONTINENT n thnB of Australia. . They are Merinos, hir-h were broueht here centuries ago from Spain and which formed the start of the Australian stock. There is also a common Cane sheep which thrives well. The farms are largely in the Karoo. The shiwn a.re usually kept in large flocks, single farmers havlne as many as 10,000 each. Cashing Up. Washington Star. "Have you ever played poker with your son-in-law?" "Only once," answered Mr. Cumrox. "It wasn't very satisfactory." "Did he win?" "No, he lost. But It merely resulted In my having to write him a check so that he could indorse it over to me. The Goblin. Willie got so frightened That he was stiff and stark In the middle of the night. When it was still and dark. H thought he saw a goblin A-standing, white and tall. Over in the closet Up against the wall. Yes, there it stood a-leanlng. As though tt meant to stay Till the night should wearily Go and give place to day. ' And Willie, crouched 'neath covers, Let out his voice and cried, A-ealling to his mother. 1 Who came to his bedside. r "What Is it, sonT" asked mamma. Seeing Willie ail afright; And then -she got the matches And -quickly made a light. . Ah. the closet door was open. And there against the wall Was one of Willie's nightgowns A-hanglng that was all. News Without Daily Happenings as They the' Professor's Dream Is UNIVERSITY professor recently delivered a lecture on "Non-Exaggerative Journalism." He pre A dicted the arrival, sooner or later, of an age of absolute Journalistic veracity. when news would be presented wiioliy without decorative effects." Hereto are appended a few Items of the kind that will appear (maybe) when the of absolute Journalistic veracity swings along: Report of a Suicide Case. The body of a young woman was re moved from the river at the foot of 309th street by the harbor police yesterday aft ernoon. Pinned to her dress was a note stating that she purposed committing suicide, signed Edith G. Wannaquit. The young woman was aooui io of age. She was not at an Deaumui. She was, in tact, nonceaoiy yia.ui. feature. Her fingers were not coverea wuu magnificent diamonds. She wore no rings at all.- Her ciotning waa oi m most Inexpensive material. There Is no mystery whatever con nected with the case, nor have the police authorities the slightest idea that, she was the victim of foul play. It is deemed positive from her appear ance that she did not belong to some distinguished family of this community. The young woman simply had -become tired of living and she Jumped Into the river that Is all. The case is wholly lacking in any element or feature of a sensational character. The names of the Wannaquit family appear In the city di rectory, but no inquiries were made of any members of the family, the case not being deemed of sufficient Importance. Report of an Ocean Wreck. Seven sailors of the brigantine Scuttle, Halifax to St. Kitts, Cuttahole- cap- i whlh was wrecked 675 miles south east of the Azores on September 4, were brought into this port yesteraay on n Turhinsky, the Turbinsky hav ing picked the castaways up three days out on her run from Lisbon to this port. The rescued sailors were not gaunt and emaciated. In fact, they were fat. sleek and chipper. They suffered no hardships after sheer ing off from their aoomea omp. loft the Scuttle in the longboat, which they had amply provisioned and watered for a month's cruise. They were adrift In the longboat only four days, during which time the sea was perfectly calm and the wealth balmy and beautiful. They bad all they wanted to " a rtHnk. and they did not suffer tt. n-htest inconvenience, for they knew very well that they were in the path of steamers and that they were sure n. Consequently-they had no story whatever to tell concerning the terrors of the deep. Report Of Railroad Wreck. Two local trains on the Buggville di vision of the K. & S railroad met In a head-on collision at noon. Just outside the city ltalu. Nobody was killed or even hurt there fore there were no shrieks of th. wounded and dying. , emDtv. and the engl neers and firemen of the two trains all Jumped, alighting saieiy in T i-li. ih track. No ambulancei T needed The trains, while they Zt?e cnpfetely smashed, did not catch fTrl and thus kdd to the horror of the situation, for there was no horror of any kind in the situation. .vi. train cleared away the de bris inside an hour or so, and traffic was resumed as usual. Report of a Tidal Ware. tj.i swept the entire Atlantic coast from Portland to Key West yes terday afternoon. , It was not the largest tidal wave ever known on this coast by any manner ui "!.-'4lvs. : v , , . is the Trimmings Will Be Chronicled When, Kealized. means. There have been plenty of big ger tidal waves on the Atlantic coast within the memory of tens of thousands of men now living. It is said that some damage was done by the tidal wave, but the figures are not here given for the reason that it is be lieved that the figures are grossly ex aggerated. Report of a Debut. Miss Minnie Gittabundle, youngest daughter of Mr. Didd Gittabundle, tne manufacturer or aeroplane sunanes, iuu, her coming-out party at her father's home last evening. A considerable party of young people was present, but did not include the rep resentatives of 'the ultra-fashionable younger set for the reason that the Gitta bundles do not belong to that set. They were all well-behaved young per sons, however, and conducted themselves throughout the evening with commend able propriety. Miss Gittabundle wore the conventional simple white frock with which debutante garb themselves for the coming-out party. She is not at all a pretty girl, being de cidedly angular and somewhat awkward, like her elder sisters. There is, besides, a noticeable redness about the debutante Miss Gittabundle's nose, due probably to lack of exercise and to an excessive indul gence in bonbons, which detracts consid erably from her appearance. In addition her mouth is'quite too large and the freckles on her nose were very much in evidence under the strong light In which she stood while receiving her guests. Miss Gittabundle is said, however, de spite her obvious plainness, to be quite an agreeable young person. She has no ac complishments worth mentioning. The decorations of the Gittabundle home for the occasion were lavish and pleasing in spots, though decidedly garish as a whole. An expensive orchestra ren dered indifferent music throughout the evening. Nobody has the slightest expec tation that the youngest of the Misses Gittabundle will figure as the belle of the season. Report of a Horsewhipping. Mrs. I. V. Skinskln, the wife of the furrier, yesterday disgraced herself and humiliated her family and everybody con nected with her by horsewhipping a young clerk employed in her husband's store. She rounded the young man up in a doorway on Main street, and drawing a rawhide from the folds of her cloak laid It upon her victim's countenance with the greatest brutality. When the woman was arrested and taken to No. 1 station she claimed that the young man had attempted to flirt with her. This Is not believed by anybody who is acquainted with the young man. He is known to hundreds of persons in this city as a thoroughly decent and self-respecting young fellow, the sole support of his widowed mother and three young sisters. He doesn't belong to the goody goody class, but he is too square a man to be guilty of any such foolishness as that im puted to him by the woman who took it upon herself to horsewhip him. He is even believed in thoroughly by Mr. Skinskln, the woman's husband, and he will remain in Mr. Skinskin's employ, with the guarantee that he shall not again be bothered by Mrs. Skinskln. It is understood that Mrs. Skinskln is to be Immediately examined by a commis sion In lunacy. We do not print her por trait In the paper for the reason that It is not deemed probable that any of our readers would care to see a portrait of her. Mme. Sadie Wernheart began an en gagement at the Standard Theater last evening, her opening play being "lYou Frou." This is not Mme. Wernheart's final tour of the United States. She expects to come over here and get the money every 'few years for a long period yet to come. She told our representative so yesterday afternoon, and she ought to k- . s,:!!i.'5 ;
