Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1908)
TITE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, DECEMBER , 20, 1903. . ' . U'; ' i'vf-Tf jiff? I':. ' & J - !. ' AND CQTTOjfcl ' '.....V.-.' .- .I" " ... hK'-r,iihi lift A "'X. :l PLANTATIONS? Lrrr- -'V"' ' . ., ' . if -Ylrf; .7 ; f - W ; . i MADE .PROFIT- J? V' J f v " ' f if HI ; if&- :; ; ": h united hfE' tiS-&- r J BY FRANK G. CARPENTER. XCLE SAM should kcrp hi eye I I "kinnl a. to the developments go- ' hig on In West Afrlra. That part of the world ia practically unknown to uk. and stll! Its trade is growing like a sreen bay tree. All alonR the coast, from Senegambla to German Southwest Africa, railroads are buildinar. experimental plan tations are beinflr set out. and here and there mines of various kinds have been discovered. Away down near the Cape, !n the German possessions, there is a place ca!ld Otavi. where valuable depos its of copper are now being mined. The ere in slcht is said to be 300.000 tons, and it is- claimed that it can be produced o as to net J19.oon.000 clear profit. Por tuguese West Africa has copper, iron, petroleum and salt, and its oils and uphalt til Ids are now being worked by a British syndicate. I have already writ ten of the (treat Katanga concession, which King Leopold of Belgium Is work ing in connection with the English on the watershed between the Zambesi and the Congo. This is to be reached by a railroad 1 20 miles long through Portu guese West Africa to the Congo Free -State. It will open up larger copper de posits than any ever discovered, and will flood the world with that metal and with tin. The tin mines run through a range of hills 150 miles long, and the cop per mountains are something like 300 miles in length. An extension of the Cape to Cairo road has just been pro jected to this great mining region, and within a short time It will probably be a beehive of industry There are valuable minerals in the northern part of the Congo Free State, and the French Congo contains gold, cop per and Iron. Gold has been recently found In the Kamerun. belonging to the Germans, which lies just to the north, and a little beyond that Is .the famous Gold Const, on the Gulf of Guinea, from which the English got the name of their J5 gold pieces. The mines there have been worked for generations, and they are still turning out considerable. The ourput Is now something like J4.0on.000 a year, which is 40 times the product .r 19ol. In 19H6 :i7.0u) ounces of gold were taken out. and there has been a steady increase in the product for more than five years. At present both .quartx and placer mining are going on. and large crushing mills have been installed. West Africa" r Railroads. As to the railroad development. It em braces the whole coast of the continent. The Germans have several large projects tinder way in Southwest Africa. They have alreadv built a line 237 miles long from Swakopmund. their port, near Wal fish Bhv, to Great Windhoek, the capi tal; and they have made arrangements for a railroad BuO miles Ion? to go from Swakopmund to Otavl and the copper mines. This road will probably some lay be connected with the Cape to Cairo line running northward from Cape Town to the Zambesi; and. in that case, it will shorten the distance between Eng land and Unlaw a vo by 1S00 miles. The I-oblto Pay railroad has already b-en constructed for a hundred miles or SAY. next time I se signs of another bank panic comin' on, I'm goin' to lease the 3?th floor of the Singer buildin". move the riiyslcal Culture ftudk down there, and prepare to save the country at 1)0 per cent advance on usual rates. Phew I'm gettin' rested up a little now, but for two or three weks there, while our friend Plerp. was dealln out the six)t!iln syrup with one hand and rhakin' things down witli the other, I was workln" overtime. How was that? Why. It's like th1 Tiie Bickernocker Trust Company has a directors' meetin that lasts until 3 A. M.. and they've got through aecusin' ach other, and laid the whole blame on tiie janitor, and voted that he ought to h sent up for life, tliere's a lot of nice, portly, fur lined old gents tiiat looks as If they'd been doin" duty on the poison viuad. Besides dancin' the slack wire all night, they've been stokin' on black coffee and Carolina perfectos, and it naturally leaves "em In bad shape. Some goes to their specialists, others tries a Russian steam, and the rest of 'cm pikes for Shorty ilcCabc's. And. say. they're apt to be a peevish lot about then. Why. once I had a dozen here at a time, and no one of 'em would p-ak to nioro'n three of the others. Seems there'd been a wholesale round up of directors the night before, two or three presidents had resigned by request. nd there'd been a lot of talk about John Doe proceedin's. "You. sir." says one. glarin' at another, "would hypothecate your immortal soul If you had a chance!" "Perhaps, sir." says the other: "but It would be my own soul, and I can name persons who " "Ah. ring off!" says I. "This ain't th grand Jury room. Cut all that out and get busy peelin' off for a game of stock ball!" Ever watch that kind of sport? It's a little warmln' up stunt we used to prac tice in trainin" quarters. I gives 'em each a number and throws a basket ball into the middle of the gym. floor. Then whefi t calls out "No. 7," the gent who an swers to that has to grab the ball and try to soak some one with H. If he misses, lie scrabbles after it and has another try. The feller he hits Is it. Lively! Say. inside of three minutes I has that whole grouchy bunch hoppln' nd dodgln' around, laughin' and pumn", fttln" behind each other, rollin' on the , FINANCIAL so Inland from the Atlantic and there are now several thousand laborers work ing uoon it. This road will be over 1000 miles long, and It will be made after the usual South African fashions. Its gauge Is three feet six inches, and the rails weigh 60 pounds to the yard. The ties are to be of steel, on account -of the white ants which eat everything wooden; they will weigh 70 pounds each. All tiie bridges are standardized, and the roll ing stock is the same as that used In Rhodesia. Some of the engines are being built in Kngland, but the heaviest ones are to be supplies by the Swiss and the Germans. By the time this road reaches the con per mlnes the Cape to Cairo extensions will be there, and the route to South Africa will probably change, as far as fast travel Is concerned. Passengers will be taken to Loblto Bay. and will thence go by rail to the Transvaal, and espe cially to- all parts of Rhodesia. There will probably be an extension to Lake Tanganyika, and we shall have a line across the southern part of the conti nent. There is no doubt of the comple tion of the Iobito Bay road. The com pany which is interested in it is the one which owns the copper mines: and- there are tens of millions of dollars I might say billions of dollars of minerals await ing Its traffic possibilities. The Railroads of the :ongo. The Lobito Bay railroad will be largely controlled by the Kongo Free State. The King of Belgium and Ills associates own a majority of the stock In the great cop per concession, and they will see that it la operated in the Interests of Belgium's colony. It will probably be connected with other roads which will open to trade the navigable tributaries of the Upper Congo, and will form a part of the ex tensive railway system which has been projected for that country. Few people realize what Is going on as to railroad building in ' the Congo Free State. The Congo River Is as long as the distance from New York to San Fran cisco, and two of its tributaries are each almost as long as from the mouth of the Hudson to the Great Salt Lake. The navigable waterways of the system it etretched out In one line would reach from New York to Singapore, or half way around the globe.' and they are so many that there is not a Boot-In' the whole Congo basin, which is 80 miles distance from navigable waterways. The biggest European steamers now go tip the Congo 100 miles from its mouth to Matadt. At that point there i a railroad 250 miles long, which climbs past the rap- Ids to Stanleypool. This road has been in operation for a number of years, vvithln a short time a second gap on the river has been remedied by building a line just above Stanleypool 90 miles long, and a third line is projected of 200 miles far above that. The line is near the Hell's Gate cataract and between Send we and Bull. Another railway Is projected which will cross the Lower Congo to the copper mines, and others are to connect the Con go with the Mediterranean through the French lines proposed for the Sahara des ert, and with the Sudan system by a railway from the Uelle River to the Nile. Speaking of the Uelle region, this is in the northern part of the country ap- are now Keveral thousand laborers work- Jt X.T i - - I' ' ' U i ''I II" ' . rf t" Aid TRANSACTION IN WHICH PftOFESSOK SHORTY floor, and enjoyin themselves likg 10-year-olds. "I'gh!" grunts old Fatwad. as the ball takes him In the middle of his meat safe. Bang! goes Mr. Tenpercent. makin' a sharp turn and losin' his balance. "Sliake It up there!" says I. "Keep the ball movin'! Slum him, now! Slam him, old Side whiskers!" Say, I don't stop to ask who they are down on Broad street, or how much call money they can put on the market, or whetlier they ve bu sted a bank or a bank's busted them. When I sizes 'em up here in the studio it's only by the baggy eyes and the extra weight around the belt line. To me they're Just so many speci mens of high livin' and hard worryin". and I puts each one through the course of sprouts that I think will do lum the most good. But the toughest proposition I had to tackle was my old reg'lar Pyramid Gor don. Maybe you've been keepin' posted on some of tne stunts he's been doln lately. That's more'n I have. I've been too busy with other things to follow a skyrocket like liim. All I know is that he's been At his old games swappin' this stock for that, hockin' one thing to buy another, and pumpin' his bank accounts so full of hot air it's a wonder some of them green goods exchanges didn't lose their roofs. That's why he ain't showed up here for so long. And when he does come it ain't to Join any class. Not him! He'd be mobbed. He waits until I can give him a clear shop, and then he slips around here in his car. "Well. Shorty," say he. as Swifty helps him out of the leopard skin ulster, "I'm a little out of condition again, you see." I'd been blind if I couldn't. His eyes look as if he'd been burnin' brush Tor a week; his cheeks might have been dusted with flour, for all the color there was In 'em; and when he opens his mouth to talk that Belgian block Jaw of his has a quiver to It that tells of nerves worn down to a wire edge. But I don't let on. "Ob, you ain't quite ready for the scrap heap yet, Mr. Gordon," says I. "Come In for a little emergency repairs. eh?" That's it. Shorty." says he. "And lor heaven's sake do what you can for me between now and 10 o'clock tonight!' "Likely to have a hard day tomorrow, are you?" says I. "Tomorrow!" says he. shuttln' his teeth , 1YMH t: I . . - Ml 1 .... .. . 4 v& a proachlng the Nile watershed, and until recently all transportation there has been by porters. Within the past year or so the government has been making roads and putting on motor cars and traction engines. There Is to be one road from the Congo to the Nile, which will be 600 miles long, and motor cars built espe cially for It are now being constructed at Liege. In addition to them very service able traction engines carrying cars each holding several tons of goods have been made, and these will be used for heavy freight The Belgians are also training the African elephant as a beast of bur den. They first tried the Asiatic ele phants, thinking the African beasts In tractable. The Asiatic elephants died, and about three years ago the work of training the African elephant ,was begnn. Twenty-eight elephants have already been domesticated, and they are now car rying bricks and timber for railway con struction. ' The Gnlnea Coast Roads. Golny northward along1 the Gulf of Guinea, a number of other Important rail ways have been projected, and some are already under construction In the Kame run the Victoria Llssoko road has been extended as far as Soppo. a distance of 22 miles, and another railway Is building. In Togoland, also belonging to the Ger mans, there is one railway 26 miles long, extending from Lome to Little Popo, and In French Guinea, a railway which Is to run from- Konakry on the Niger has been opened as far as Kindia. This is about S3 miles Inland. The road will meet the Niger at Kouroussa, and will have a big traffic. The French have also built two important railways in Dahomey, one of which is 140 miles long. Another goes along the Lagos frontier. They are ex tending both lines. They also propose to construct a track inland from the Ivory coast, and they have Important railways In operation In Senegal. To Open Tp Xigerla, The English have some railroads in their colonies Upon the Gulf of Guinea! There is one I'M miles long, which goes from Iagos to Ibadw.n. This has Just been extended to Oshoirbo, which Is 63 hard. "Let's forget tomorrow. Put me in shape for tonight." Well, I looks him over, pokes him some with my finger in the soft places, and then gets my ear down over his left hand vest pocket. "First off I want to hear how the blood pump's workin'," says L "Oh, hang the heart!" says he. "I don't want don't want to know anything about that don't dare." "I do, though, says I. countin the thumps. "It's doln' ragtime, all right, but I guess It sin't goin' to run down right away. Come on." One good thing about Pyramid Gordon Is that whatever he does, he goes in neck or nothin. If I toss him a tennis ball and tell him he's got to bounce it 50 times without missin', he'll give that job Just as much attention as If he was tryin' to bunko some one out of a rail road. You can handle a man like that, and do him some good. Well, Swifty and I had been workin' him along easy, until he was breathln' deep and his mind was havin' a rest, when I'm called out into the front office to answer the door. What I finds waitln' for me is one of these big well-fed. chuckle-jawed young chaps, same's you see pictured in the magazines and cloth ing ads. reg'lar open stock pattern. He's wearfn' a frock coat of the latest mode, chamois skin gloves, and emokin' a gold tipped cigarette while he gazes at him self approvln' in the mirror. "For correct afternoon wear, ee Plate No. 17," thinks I, half out loud. "Eh? Beg pardon," he says. "Oh, it's alive, is ltf says I. "Well, what back draft blew you In here, and what's It all about? Hurry up,' son; this is my busy hour!" But there's no rushin that kind. He gives me one of them "How dare you, air?" looks, screws the Joss stick into his mouth, fishes a card out of a pigskin case, and settles back to see what'U hap pen. "Mr. Frlsbie Otis Beala, representing the Gold Brick National Bank," is something like what I reads on the card. Thanks, Frlsbie," says I. "I'll keep this to stick up over the wasnstand. Drummln up trade, are you?" "I was told I could find Mr. Gordon here," says he, real chilly. . "Well, go out and forget about it for about an hour," says I. "By that time I miles farther, and It will be built on from there into Northern Nigeria to connect with one of the most important roads in Africa, which is now being constructed. Northern Nigeria Is almost as large as Texas, and it has more than 7,000.000 peo ple. A great part of It is high and healthy, and It promises to be one of the richest lands of West Africa. Its Inhab itants are more like the Egyptians or Al gerians than the gulf negroes. They are Mohammedans, and are noted for their thrift and Intelligence. In the past these people have been supplied almost entirely by the caravans which cross the Sahara. Their chief town la Kano, the terminus of the' trad routes from Tripoli and the Upper Niger, which in olden times had caravan connection with the ocean, with the Mediterranean, and with the Red Sea. This road, which is now building, will make It possible to take goods to Kano by steam. It Is to begin at the town of Baro, the highest navigable point' on the Niger, and to extend from there 400 miles eastward to Kano. When this road is built all the supplies for Northern Nigeria will be sent to the Gulf of Guinea up the Niger and Inland by rail, and this caravan trade will be destroyed as far as crossing the Sahara Is concerned. This will be a great blow to the countries along the Mediterranean. A loan for this Nigerian railway ias already been authorized by the British government, and I understand that the line is to be pushed with all possible speed. The track Is to be of a 40-inch guage, and Is to be completed within four years. The cost Is estimated at about $7, 000.000 or tS.000,000, andt it will be met by bonds raised on Southern Nlgerta, the in terest of which will be guaranteed by the government. As to dividends, the road will hardly pay much for some time to come. It will greatly develop the country, however, and It Is advocated by the au thorities as a military necessity. A Big Trans-African Une. These rich lands of Nigeria form an Im portant link In another big scheme which Is to join the Mediterranean countries with both East and West Africa. This Is to combine a railroad across the Sa hara, to be built by the French, with one ihuslness'll be over for the day, and you can come again tomorrow." "My dear fellow " he begins. "Quit It. Frisble! You ain't at the club," says I. "And run along! Mr. Gor don can't see you now." "Oh, yes he can." says he. He's got to, or " and Frisbie shrugs his shoulders like a stage detective. "Meanin' that this is a case of trouble?" says I. "Precisely, says he. "All rigt." says I. "Taice another good long look at yourself in the glass while I put it up to Pyramid." Mr. Gordon, he's costumed in a striped swlmmin jersey, cotton runnin' breeches, and a pair of tennis shoes; and him and Swifty Joe is bangin" the handball at the rate of SO strokes a minute. "Time out!" says I. "There's a vice president of a bank out front there, Mr. Gordon. Snail I run him down" the stairs? ' "What bank?" says he. grabbin a towel. I hands him the card. He takes one peek at it, and then he laughs. But It wa'nt a real hearty laugh. It's one of the kind that don't get past the front teeth you know like a bulldog laughs when you try to get a bone away from him. "I'll have to see what he wants," says Gordon, so I chucks a bath robe on him and he steps to the door. "That you, Frisble?" says he. 'Ts it about those securities?" Frlsbie says It Is. "What's the ultimatum?" says Pyra mid. "Before closing time today, sir," says Frisbie. "Today!" snarls Gordon. "Why. the .blasted hyenas, they said Never mind. Wait a minute, Frlsbie." He shuts the gym. door and' puts his back against it, holdin' his chin In one hand and workin" up a washboard brow In no time at all. "If this Is a case where I can throw you a life-belt, Mr. Gordon," says I, "why, just" "It isn't," says he, "unless yon happen to have (100,000 worth of negotiable paper handy." "Oh, Lulu!" says I. "I pass. Can't you scare it up from some of your friends by telephone?" "Telephone!" he snorts. "You've got to have both knees oft " your man's chest and choke it out of him these days." With that he starts padn' up and down to be made by the Germans, goina; through the Kameruns to the Gulf. of Guinea, and branch lines extending east and west from these two. The French part of the road may be built southward to Timbuctoo, or, what Is more probable, go to the southeast and strike Kano. I went over the first 400 miles or so of this road. It now extends from Oran along: the border between Morocco and Algeria to Colomb Bechar, In the heart of the desert. I also saw the railway which leads from Eastern Algeria down to Bisk ra. In the Sahara. It is more probable that the latter road will be extended than the former, and I understand the survey from Bislcra to Lake Chad has been made. The road will go to the oasis of Waxgla and thence up the Ichargar valley. It will cross the Amadsror range of mountains at an altitude about that of the AUeghenies, and will thence make Its way to Kuka, on Lake Chadi The cost of construction Is estimated at about $16,000 per kilometer. From Kuka the Germans are expected to take the road down through the Kameruns to the At lantic, and there will probably be an ex tension westward to Kano to connect with the Nigerian line above spoken of, and also other branches which might con nect with the roads of the Congo. Timbuctoo has always seemed one of the most Inaccessible parts of the world. It will surprise many to know that it can now be reached by steam. The French have built a railway from Kayes to the Niger, a distance of 343 miles, and they have also . a road connecting St. Louis and Dakar. One can go by steamer from St. Louis to Kayes, and on the vessels of the Niger from there to within a few miles of Timbuctoo. The time is com TO JO, Ms CABE the room. hl3 fists bunched In the bath robe pockets, and his eyes etarln' straight ahead at nothin'. Ever see that side of a money squeeze? Well, It ain't cheer ful to watch. There was Pyramid Gor don, wlvo'd been jumpin' around frisky for an hour w-ithout leaklrr" much of any; and now the round drops was pushin' out on his noble brow like he was tryin' to lift a ton dead weight. For four or five minutes he wanders around aimless. He picks up a wooden dumb bell and puts it down. He pulls out a chest weight and lets it go. Last he fetches up in front of a little wall cab inet where Swifty keeps his hair oil and such Ocnickknacks. and begins openin and shuttln' the door, absent minded like. All of a sudden he grabs something oft" the top siielf. "Here! What are these?" he sings out. "Why," says I, "them's cigarette cou pons that Swifty's been savin' up. He's plannln' on gettin' either a safety razor or a mandolin; butr " "Swifty," he breaks in. "will you lend me these for a day or so?" "Sure thing." says Swifty, "only" "Oh, you shall have them back," says Pyramid. "Bring me my coat, will you?" Course, Swifty and I stands around with our moutlus open, to see what comes next: but all he does is stow them giddy lookin premium promises into a stock envelope, seal her up. scribble a few notes on the outside, and then go out to Frisble. In a minute he's back and the handball game is goin' on just as if nothin' had happened. AH he says to me is to listen for the phone and let him know If he's wanted. There's no call, though. We works on Pyramid until 6 o'clock and by the time he's through with the needle spray and the alcohol rub he's lookin' ten years younger and says that for the first time in a month he feels like he could tackle a real square meal. 'There's a nice, quiet chophouse around on Sixth avenue," says I, "where you can get your money's worth." "Won't do," says he, short and sharp. "If you know where they have the most mirrors, the loudest music, the flashiest crowd. Shorty, just lead the way. We've got to hit it up hard tonight, and you're in on this." "That beln' the case," says I, "we'll give the new lobster palace a try. But first I've got to ring up Sadie." I was Just tellln' Sadie how I wouldn't , paratively short and the expense incon- siderable. . Timbuctoo 'itself has dwindled. It used to be one of the chief trading stations on the southern side' of the Sahara, and caravans of thousands of camels from Morocco and Algeria came there every year. Today the most of the goods go by this steam route, andi the camel trade amounts to but little. Timbuctoo is now not even a mission center, and' the old song has lost its meaning. Tou may re member it: . I would 1 were a rassowarr In the wilds of Timbuctoo! Wouldn't I eat a missionary. Skin and bones and h3mn book, too? Educating the Natives. On the other hand, mission work is in creasing In West Africa. The churches were never so strong nor the converts more numerous. The various govern ments have assumed their part of the white man's burden and are Introducing schools at the principal centers'. It is five years since the French adopt ed a uniform system of education for their West African colonies, and they now have 10,000 native children who are receiving elementary Instruction, and of these 3000 are girls. Their expenditure on negro education there last year was a quarter of a million dollars. They have schools at all the towns of Sene gal; at Dakar there Is a technical school, and at St. Louis a normal training "col lege, where Interpreters and minor of ficials are taught. There are also schools In Dahomey and, French Guinea. The German), are beginning to educate the natives at 'Togoland, and they have established a .government school or so In the Kameruns. There are 16,000 children in the mission schools of the latter coun try, and 3000 In the mission schools of German Southwest Africa. As to the Congo Free State, it has now K mission stations, with a little under 600 missionaries, of whom 244 are Catho lics and the remainder Protestants. The missionaries co-operate with the gov ernment, as far as education Is con cerned, and the latter has formed three agricultural colonies, where negro chil dren are taught. In the Portuguese possessions, not withstanding the outrages which have been perpetrated on the natives in the : way of slavery and forced labor, there 1 TrTT' BY rKUKD AS IIITEHMEDIATOIi be up to the Perzazzer until late, when she breaks in and says she's Just on the point to handin' me the same news. "It's Ethel, you know," says she. "That young man of her's has asked her to go to dinner with him, and as they're all alone I'll have to be their chaperon." "Good!" says I. ""Give 'em a chance, though, Sadie. Don't forget that you was young once yourself. I expect I should have known who Ethel was, and all about her young man; but Sadie promotes so many of them enter prises that I loses track of some. On the way over to dinner I touches up Mr. Gordon about Frisble. He'd got me some curious, that chap had. "Kind of young to be runnin' a bank, ain't he?" says 1. "Yes," said Pyramid, "but fully old enough to be running for one. That's what he's doing messenger." "Him!" says I. "Why, I Judged from the get up and the side he carries, that" "He does that on 12 a week," says Pyra mid. "I know because I put him into that bank father an old friend of mine. Nice boy Frisble. Cost $10,000 to have him flunk in his first freshman year. He was half way through the second term when old man Beals petered out a,nd left him without a wnite bean to his name. Now he has as a working capital an old aunt who boards him for nothing, a set of tastes that go with a $1,000,000 income, and the sense of a jack rabbit that's Frlsbie."' "Well, he had me goin', all right," says I. "I thought he was lined with it. But here we are,. How does this strike your fancy aa a food parlor? Don't it look like a place where they make the lob sters unbelt?" There was no mistakin that, either all marble, frescos and stained glass, and mirrors, and electric light effects. It's one of the newest and giddiest joints along Whisky Sign row, one of the kind where you don't want to carry a healthy appetite unless you've got a Pittsburg pocketbook. There's a glass staircase with real water runnin' down inside, ice statuary cut fresh every day and a hard workin' orchestra sportin- more goia braid than a convention of drum majors. You And it all In the bill, too. But it seems to suit Gordon's state of mind. He flips a tenspot towards the floor manager, calls for a corner table under the palms, and orders things as reckless as if this was to be the last meal he'd ever have. ' are 52 government schools and also mu nicipal and private schools with about 2T)00 pupils. Some Big Possibilities. All of these West African colonics hav-i big possibilities, and the European na tions to whom they belong are investi gating them. In nearly every one cot ton Is being planted, and in some the experiments are successful. Nigeria, fur Instance, expects to be shipping 100.K bales to Europe by 1910, and. so far, the ' growth of the cotton crop hTls b:cn as rapid there as it was at the start in the United States. I understand thut it took our cotton belt ten years after the first crop was planted to reach a product of 100,000 bales, and that l.iVVi. 000 bales was only attained at the end of 35 years. Cotton was first planted lit Nigeria in 1901 and the crop has- doubled each year since then. It is only recently that any attempt lias been ma-ie to raise it in Northern Nigeria, but experi mental stations have now been started there and steam ginneries are to be in troduced. This movement is backed by the British Cotton-Growing Association, which has a capital of a million and a quarter dollars, and which Is pushlnar -aeotton planting on both sides of tho black continent. The German." have es tablished cotton plantations in their east ern and western African possessions. I understand they are doing well in Tncn land and the Kameruns, and I know th:it they are raising some cotton on the highlands about Victoria, for I saw tho bales loaded on the ships when I navi gated that lake. . Rubber and Mahogany. An equally great interest is exhibit ed in the timber products of the several col onics. The rubber Industry is beinij pushed everywhere and nearly every na tion Is setting cut rubber plantations. The French have planted 10.000.0u0 rub ber vines in Lower Guinea and Da homey, and they plan to set out a hair million more trees every year. Tho Ger mans are planting rubber and so arc tho English. I have been much interested in the ma hogany resources. A great deal of th:if. wood is now being exported from Ni geria. Something like !HX ' logs were shipped from Lagos last year, and alto gether about 7000 logs, containing over 4,000.000 feet, were then sent away by tlm English. Considerable Is shipped from the Ivory coast and from other locali ties. Washington, D. C, December 12. JEWELL WW. "Gee!" says I, lookin' over the hunch of leadm' ladles that was fioiitiu' in, "this is a congregation of hot ones, eh? I didn't know there was so many Anna Helds and Lillian Russells at large. Get next to that one with the Maiden Lane exhibit around her neck. Ain't that a string of Koh-i-nors for you! Say. if I was her I'd take out some plate glass in surance. Yes? No?" Say. It's worth lettin' some one else pay the price just to get, a view of Mich things once in a while. I guess Pyra mid was gettin' as much fun out. of it I was at that, only he says less. An. I then, his mind is some occupied guessin' how the chicken wishbone come to st Into the terrapin stew. We'd got tho best of four lillijrreo. dishes that had cost enough to keep a. long shoreman's family in corned beef for a year, when I catches a glimpse of some familiar millinery on exhibition over b. -hind a marble post. "Wat oh!" says I, stretchin'out my neck. "Ulanied if that don't look like Sadie. Why, sure it is! And that must be yes, that's dear little Ethel with her; and there's Why. say. Mr. Gordon, isn't that our young friend Frisbie that we seen this afternoon?" Pyramid he takes a peek. "That is Frisbie," says he. "Tchick!" says I. "P.cckonin' from that 12 per you was speakin about. I should guess that Frisbie w-as bein' let in for at least a month's wages tonight." "Hm-m-m!" says Mr. Gordon, clcarin' his throat. "I wonder where that young Say, I'd like a word witli him." They was some suprised to see us, all around, specially Frisbie. He'd just been handed the bill and had his roll out. Say. it was a nice, corpulent lookin' wad, to": not green money, either, but yellow all the way through and big boys a bundlo of centuries. Mr. Gordon eyes it a min ute, and then he eyes Frisbie. And ris bie Is took with such a sudden chill his teeth almost keeps time with the tump-tiddy-um-tum music that the hand was playln'. Sadie see right away that some thing's up. She breaks off her chinnin' to me and wants to know what's wrong. 'Little business deal that Mr. Gordon and Frisbie's mixed up in, that s all. says I. "Maybe you could spare him a minute." "Don't keep him long, says Sadie. We didn't. Mr. Gordon don't say a word Concluded on Page 6