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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1908)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 13, 1903. I1 I TS ) u LW"! '.'- "J.HJ.JIJ!!.! JlUfi1 7 a f KIO MARKET WHIGH GOULD BE ... ;i V JEyZSjerjOAAr JZSTlSZKr&orr-SlB C?crZEXZjrfr& GCK&&JtZJX&4r'r BT FRANK G. CARPENTER. rHE United States Conirress ha re cently refused to subsidize a. steam ship line from New York to Cape Town, and Uncle Sam seems asleep to the possibilities or South African trade. During the past ten months I have been traveling through the various colonies. The people are alive to the value of American goods. A big wedge has al ready been Inserted, and a few sledge hammer blows Will split our way Into this part of the continent. Few people realize the enormous wealth whlrh Is bottled up in the Trans vaal and Cape Colony. This steamship on which I am going from Cape Town to England Is one of 12.000 tons, and It be longs to a fleet of 20 or more. There are several large German lines which send regular steamers around Africa, and there are many vessels from Scotland and England, which ply regularly up and down the east and west coasts. The Saxon Is one . of the fast mail chips and It is now loaded with treasures. Down in its vaults there are packages of rough diamonds worth $5,000,000, and great yellow gold bricks whose value Is J25.0OO.OO0 and more. In the hold there are ostrich feathers marked for London worth over $1,000,000, and we have in addition a cargo of sheep's wool. Angora. mohair and great bales of cowsklns and goatskins. South Africa's Big Trade. But this Is only one ship and others are leaving every few days. The ex jorts of South Africa are now running at something like $375,000,000 a year, and the imports are over $250,000,000, making a total carrying trade of more than $625, 000,000. All of this goes in Kuropean ves sels, and the greater part of the freight Is paid to the Germans and British. The goods are sent to Europe, and many are then transshipped to the United States. We are the best customers for the dia monds and the ostrich feathers, and many of the skins And their way to our tanneries. An American Bank Needed. 1 Jlt V il HMM11I a if 5J -t r,.s? ....... I , a , . : Viniwtisi!.'!!"- A ytsrA-.. US 11 iii. 7i -1 h it We should have steamships and banks of our own through which to do our busi ness without paying toll to London. As it Is now tb banks of South Africa are operated with British capital and they are all yielding big dividends. The Smadard Bank of South Africa pays 17 per cent and the Natal Bank made a clear profit of $500,000 last year on a capital of $2,500,000. About the lowest Interest in Johannesburg is 8 per cent, and one-eighth of 1 per 'cent more Is charged on remittances abroad. There are several thousand American citizens living and doing business in South Af rica, and an American Bank of Johannes burg with $5,000,000 capital ought to be able to pay a dividend the lirst year. Our Trade With South Africa. I believe that our trade with South Af rica could be greatly increased. At the time of the war It ran up as high as HjS.OOO.WO per annum, and is now some thing like $18,000,000 more. In 19u( it was almost $30,000,000, and there Is a prospect of a considerable increase. The country Is now having hard times, but there are signs of improvement and at present the various colonies are purchasing a quar ter of a billion dollars' worth of foreign goods every year. The Transvaar Is tak ing almost $90,000,000, Natal buys $15,000, 000. Orange River colonies $18,000,000 and Cape Colony $90,000,000 and more. American goods are popular In South Africa. Our foodstuffs are found every where. I saw California fruit, Alaska salmon and Ohio oatmeal on sale in Salisbury, Rhodesia. I ate Chicago canned beef at Victoria Falls on the Zambesi and rode in an American buggy about Kimberley. Daring my stay at the diamond mines Mr. Alpheus1 Williams, the manager of the De Beers syndicate, showed me a telegram stating that 150 brood mares end four asses had just been shipped to him from the United States. He says the American mule is largely used in South Africa and that he bas now about 2uu0 of them, which came from Missouri, employed In the mines. American mules are used in Johannesburg. I saw them in Zanzibar, and they are gradually tramping their way Into Rhodesia A great many were brought here at the time of the war and they proved so good that more are wanted. Mr. Williams ex pects to breed mules on the diamond company farms near Kimberley. His asses, by the time they arrive at Cape Town, will cost him $1000 apiece, and the 100 brood mares will cost altogether about $.0n0. I find American machinery used in nearly all of the South African mines. Baldwln-Westlnghouse .electric locomo tives drag the blue ground containing the diamonds out of the great pipes at Kimberley, and American pumps keep the mines dry. While walking through the works one of the American managers showed me an engine used for pump ing which had a gear wheel 30 feet in diameter. "That engine," said he, "has the big gest wheel of the kind in the world. It was designed by a well-known American engineer named Seymour, when he was In Africa, and the plans and specifica tions weru ??ni iu kSiiuyfcuu oc iu., wie celebrated engine-builders, of England. J They thought the Job too big for them, and we then forwarded tlia plans to Frazer & Chalmers, of the United States. They made the wheel for us, and It works like a charm." In the Transvaal gold mines a great part of the machinery comes from the United State. The Rand bought $15,- OOO.OfiOO worth of new engines, drills and other machines In 1905. and a 'great deal of it was sent from New York to South ampton and thence down to Capetown. All of the diamond drills used are made in America. No mine is started until the ground has been tested by a "bore-hole" drilled through a thousand feet or more of rock. This drilling is done with a disk studded with rough diamonds, which cuts its way downward with a rotary motion, carrying the core In its interior. Tho drill is raised from time to tlms and the core is 'examined for indications of gold. So far there are no British drills at work on the Rand, and these drills, which each cost from $3000 to $25,u00, are all bought from us. It used to be that we sold great quan tities of picks, shovels end underground rails to the miners. This market has been largely captured by Sheffield and Birmingham, as has also that of the compressed air drills used to make holes for the blasting. Of late years the Germans have been gradually working their mining machin ery into the Rand. They have their egents at Johannesburg, and they a even investing in mining stock, hoping to be able to Influence the various com panies in favor of German machinery. We still have the lead in rock drills and rock breakers, and as . a rule our engines seem best fitted to get out the gold. Railroad Materials. Within the next few years there prom ises to be a big opening here for rail road materials. New lines have been projected and are building In many parts of the continent. The Cape to Cairo road, which has already been extended to Cape town, is now to be pushed on to the copper mines of the Belgian Kongo, and another branch will soon be built to Lake Tanganyika, the Loblto Bay road, which is building from Angola, on the Atlantic, to the Kongo Free State, will be about 1200 miles long, and so far only about 200 mnes of it have been completed. There Is a new road building In Nyassaland, and the Germans are extending their trunk line from Bar ea Salaam toward Lake Tanganyika. Bridges are needed for all these roads, and the United States ought to furnish them. During my stay In Uganda I went over the 27 "nig viaducts which we shipped there and put up. They are as solid as when they were built, and American railroad materials and bridges have thereby acquired a good reputation. In the Sudan I saw Baldwin locomotives car rying the traffic on the new road from the Red Sea to the Sudan, and there are some American, cars in use in South Africa. The prejudice is strongly in favor of English-built locomotives, but the quickness with which supplies can be fur nished from the United States is a great point in favor of American orders. As to lumber for the roads In the way of ties, etc., much of that is now shipped from the United States. In and about the Kimberley mines there are 150 miles of track laid with American rails and the ties are of California redwood exported from San Francisco. A great deal of Oregon pis cornea to South Africa, and all the water used in Capetown flows through Iron pipes made in the United States. I find Uncle Sam In evidence on the African farms. His agricultural imple ments are in use from the Zambesi to Cape Agulhas, and his farm wagons are to be seen on the highlands of British East Africa and Uganda. The first wag ons were brought into that region from Wisconsin by an American millionaire named McMillan, who has a 20,000-acre ranch near Nalrohl. They worked well that ' other planters have Imported them, and they are now the most com mon wagon of that part of the world. In Rhodesia many Illinois plows are used, and In Cape Colony I saw our threshing machines and mowers and reapers. The Canadians are competin with us as to harvesting machinery an itsYlS:'-anr.wVir''1W . ,, ...timj; , Jt . ' V ' ' . - - t, '. . ,;r ' "i ' j. ' .. -' - i :.:. 1 ? f TOM JOHNSON TOO j I ! . POOR TO LIVE IN I j MANSION OR OWN j "l ' 4fv ' AUTOMOBILE CLEVELAND. O., Dec 12. ! - V I t (SpeciaL) Tom - Johnson, Mayor ' V ' I of Cleveland, was one of the first 5 ' t x 1 I , ! of the rich men of this city to . ft - 3 I buy and automobile. He has bad S1 . . , WHi v I J i ' a good many of them. Now he i , . " , " v j " announces that he has lost all Ig' t " I i his money while fighting for J-, u fc, ""s.-"" . v T I cent fares and has been compelled II ' - ' , 7; 'I 1 1 to give up his motor cars and i II j -' . - ;. - . I '' even his fine mansion. The man- II - i . -4&S-. .vJ ti,'-' --;--- - ' J sion fortunately, is in the name of lit ' s -' " ' '', 11 Mrs. Johnson so It will not be 1 1 ' II ; - . . . ...7. . ;. .. .., J . - j il lost; but Mr.. Johnson does not II - ' '- -:V-v "- .'' t ' 'ft V - : feel that he can afford to live I I j ? t '' -? --' , . ' -w I in It. Anyone who knows Mr. " I I . S''Xv " 1 Johnson's resourcefulness will J-l - " fr J':. , : -. . . .v. -f -; .& not doubt the prediction of his J llv ii-f , i " friends that he will soon be rid- I I . v in i ' ' ' y-yga'gf.g'asi I I inar in his own automobile aaaln. I 1 t r i i i 1: i TOM.'dJOmSOK itt AUTO, small farm tools are being now shipped to South Africa from England and Ger many. The American windmill Is in use al most everywhere. The most of southern Africa is high and dry, and pumps are r.eeded for irrigation and other things. Many of the mills come from Chicago, but some are from Indiana and else where. Cape Colony is rapidly becoming a fruitgrowing country, and It needs ma chinery for spraying ,nd handling its crops. Some of the orchards are largo enough to have narrow-gauge electric lines in them, and on many the fruit is moved to the stations by means of cars drawn by mules. Bicycles and Automobiles. South Africa is a land of the bicycle, and it is fast becoming a land of auto mobiles. Every town of Rhodesia and Central Africa which I have visited has Its bicycle riders. I saw women on bi cycles in Kampala, above Victoria Xy- anza; the government clerks use them in Nairobi, and they are to be seen every where in and about Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. There are 3000 bicycles in Kim berley and several times that number In Johannesburg. Many of the macnines are American. They sell for about the same price as in the United States, with the freight and duty added. As to automobiles, there are quite a number In Bulawayo, Kimberley, Jo hannesburg. Durban, Cape Town, and Lourenco Marquez. The French have Imported them into Madagascar and you can get public automobiles there to take you over the l ew roads which have been cut through Into the interior. There is a great demand for them in and about Jo hannesburg. The gold mines run for about 60 miles east and west of that city, and the managers need cars to give quick access to the various properties. Among the machines used are some from England, Germany, France and Italy, and a very few from the United States. The most common automobile is a runabout suitable for climbing heavy hills. The roads are rough, but fw high-speed cars are used. The prices average something like $2000, ranging from $1500 upward. I am told that there are about 800 cars In and about Johannesburg, and that something like $1,000,000 wortii of automobiles are oper ated in tae city alone. There are over 200 cars in Cape Town. The Governor Of Cape Colony owns a White steamer and several light makes of American cars are well known. There are many English and French machines in use. I found a public garage at Bulawayo, which was equipped with French vehicles, and dur ing my tour tnrough Algeria was able to hire such automobiles for all sorts of excursions. The average price per day offered was $25, but I found that the rate could be jreatly reduced by judi cious bargaining. American Electrical Goods Wanted. One of the big demands here In the near future is to be in electrical ma chinery. The Zambesi Falls, with its 25, 000,000 horsepower, is to be utilized, and the London syndicate formed to take the power to the Rand has floated enough stock to begin work. Within a short time there will be 600 miles of aluminum cable as big as your wrist running from the Zambesi River to Jo hannesburg, and all the gold mines will e using the power. This means electri cal cars underground and all sorts of electrical attachments. If the line la sue- I cessful the power will be sent out to the different parts of South Africa within the above radius, and the electrical mar ket will be enormous. At present our trade in such goods is increasing. There are now electric tramways In many of the cities of Algeria and Egypt and an extensive system Is about to be put Into Khartum. Pretoria wants electric car lines and it Intends to lay 15 miles of track In the town and its suburbs. In Johannesburg there Is a good streetcar system operated by electricity, and the same is true of Cape Town. Nearly all the deep gold mines have electric ma chinery for raising the ore, and there are electrical elevators in the big busi ness buildings of Johannesburg. Ameri can goods of this kind are considered the best, and our ledalng American firms have their agents on the ground looking up the trade. $40,000,000 for Foodstuffs. South Africa is generally considered an agricultural country. There are mil lions of acres in Rhodesia, the Trans vaal and Cape Colony which will raise hog and hominy, but so far the country does not begin to feed Itself. In H0 more than $10,000,000 worth of foodstuffs were Imported, and this included more than $1,000,000 worth of hams, about $3,000,000 worth of butter and mors than $2,000,000 worth of condensed milk. The most of the meat still comes from the United States, although our packing house products were greatly injured by the lying book known as "The Jungle" and the wide publication which our Gov ernment gave of the packing-house in vestigations. During my stay in British Central Africa I stopped with the manager of one of the mines there. As we sat at dinner one night a dish of Chicago canned beef, cooked in a stew, was brought in. As it was served the "Jungle" was referred to and I was asked whether the stories in it were true. I replied they were not, whereupon a Britisher at the table an swered: "I don't know. I can see that this dish of canned beef is all right, but the cook tells me he found a man's thumb In the one he opened up yesterday." This man afterward said he was Jok ing, and he spoke very highly of Ameri can meats, saying that the men In the wilds of Africa could not get along with out them. Everywhere I go, however, I meet with slurs on our packlng-houfe products, notwithstanding that the men who do the slurring are, the while, eat ing these meats with great gusto. En route Cape Town to Southhampton. Hla Change of Manner. Chicago News. All through the Summer his Manner was frigid Stiff as could be. Great Scott! Wasn't he rigid! Now that It's getting cool He's quite a nic man. I tell you, he's no fool, Isn't the Iceman. If ever you complained Of n! short weighing. Short the reply you gulned Freshness displaying. Now sea the goodly lump! He's a low-price man. I tell you, he's no chump. Isn't the iceman. Now that he feels the pinch He'll almost truckle. Now ha has got no cinch That he can buckle. Don't trust him. Talk la cheap. Take my advice, man. He hasn't gone to sleep. Bus t tne lc
