THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 13, 1903.
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KIO MARKET WHIGH GOULD BE
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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.
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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
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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
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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