Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 13, 1901, Page 19

January 13, 1901, The decline aof the tropical regions of America has of late years been a fruitful topic of discusston. Well provided as the public has been with statistics as to the condition of those once favored countries, says the New York Tribune, no one who has not seen with his eyes the present state of affairs can fully realize the change. In a land where nature is so prodigal that al- | most the casual thrusting of a branch into the earth insures a tree, desolation and poverty are everywhere found. The reason is plain enough; it is only the remedy that has remained the problem. The products of the tropics are fruits, and the exportation of these involves a greater risk and a larger knowledge of the subject than has been at . the command of these countries. On every . side there Is a waste of food fairly madden- ing to the student of economlics; but how to utillze this superabundance, how to con- vey it in proper shape to the millions who - win only a bare sustenance from over- ' worked soils in other countries, is the great and hitherto unsolved problem. The solution now suggested is one which has the sanction of Australia, and this means more than appears on the surface ' Whether it be because Australla has fewer 4 " lives to care for and finds them more precious, or because the authorities have less to do, cannot be now debated; but the ¢ fact is that Australians are not permitted to polson themselves with adulterated food, ' as is the glorious privilege of free citizens in this country. The government watches with a never sleeping eyve the food which sup- plies the tables of the people. When, there- ,fore, the Australian government indorses a process and gives it medals galore it means that science has set her seal on it. The system of frult preservation which is now belng introduced into the West Indles and Central America has for some years heen successfully tried in the countries of Aus- tralasia. A Stmple Process, The new system is one of evaporation, ~but the process differs from others in that it is quickly done and finsures absolute cleanliness. The frult and vegetables are not dried on the ground for days together, like figs, prunes and similar preserves. Five or six hours is all that {s required to \ change fresh fruit into an article which will keep for months and years, and still preserve the original flavor—in some cases actually improve it. It {s not, however, 80 much the mechanical process as the effect on the tropics which interests the ordinary observer, and it is in this direc- tion that it s at present being developed. There is no fruit in the world so easy and cheap to raise as the banana, or whish contains more nutriment and can be served in a greater variety of ways. Yet there is “to0 fruit which is so carelessly exported and the general value of which s so little understood. The banana is the main oh- jeet of attack under the new evaporation system. The exporting companies use only the largest bananas, and every year thou- sands and thousands of bunches rot on the plantations in the tropies. The new evap- oration process takes these smaller bananas and makes them Into a dozen dAifferent marketable commodities. There {s banana flour, to begin with, a delicacy which is used for the making of cakes, fritters and ®he like. There is banana prepared as a substitute (an excellent one) for citron and raisins in fruit cake. Tt also makes a de- lightful preserve not unlike and quite as delicate as figs and prunes. Banana butter is another product; this is a sort of jam, which is not unknown in tropical coun- tries as a great delicacy rather difMeult to make by the old-fashioned process, All these products can now he marketed at a small cost. The machinery is not elaborate and the original cost of the fruit is almost othing. Tt s estimated that the banana butter, for instance, can be put on the European market and sold there at less than half the price of any native condi- ment. To the poor of Burope, whose st of delicacies 1s so limited, this will be no small blessing, Tried on the The banana is not the only tropical fruft which is being treated by the new process. ; ’(\ny one who has lived in tropieal coun- tries knows that the negroes who are not on the track of civilization make from the cassava a kind of flour which {s extremely wholesome and cheap. This fs also hl’!nk put up far exportation The extremely nutritious okra (the value of which s fully | reallzed in the troples, where it J¢ con- stantly used as food for invallds) is being prepared in quantities for exportation, In its canned form the okra necessarily falls 4 fo retain all its value as a food, but the | evaporated vegetable has heen proved by analysis to contaln all the nutriment. The man who makes okra soup a standard food } among the poor of any country is hestow- ing a permanent henefit. Sweot potato flour is also made for exportation The British government is just now un- gually keen as to the condition of its v vt Indian possessions. As long as fruit is the chief product of those countries and as long as old methods of exportation pre- »vall <o long will the decline of the West Indies continue. Once save the enormous waste by finding a market for the innumer- { le products of the south and the islands "' 11 regain their old prestige. The gov- uuarnmom of Jamaica has been interested In the evaporation question and a favorable tecome seems probable. In Central Amer- Banana, THE New System of Fruit Preservation fea the process is now fully appreciated, From Santa Tomas, Guatemala, the British army Is now receiving supplies of evapor- ated food. The republics of Central Amer- fca have all {ndorsed the process and are beginning to experiment on their own ac- count. From a trade point of view the in- novation s important. Fruit authorities think that it s likely to revolutionize the tropical fruit trade. Be this it may, there is great interest in watching the at- tempt to give to dwellers in the compara- tively unproductive north some of the blessings of the prodigal south. Short Stories Well Told “It isn't safe to be funny these days unless one labels one's jokes,” said a wo- man who went abroad this past summer to a Washington Post man. “You know I've always rather fancied myself as a wit, and as TUCKED BODICE—TUCKS EDGED WITH WHITE SILK. on the steamer coming home I really let myself out. Everybody was a bit scasick, and I—well, even I had times when | thought I'd rather own an automobile than any kind of a yacht. One day we all fore- gathered on deck and talked about what we'd gone through—you know how peopln do on shipboard. ! was talking in my clev- erest vein with an English family. “‘I'm like a famous iady,” 1 chortled gaily. ‘I'll be extremely glad to set foot on terra cotta again.' ““That evening the mother of the English family took me aside. ‘“‘My dear,’ said she, ‘I'm so much older than you that I'm sure I may make so bold as to tell you something, and 1 want you to take it in the spirit in which it is meant. You said this morning you'd be glad to set foot on terra cotta again. I thought I'd just call your attention to the thing so you won't make the same mistake again. It isn't terra cotta; it's terra firma.' " — %, “The Congressman's Wife,”” in her letters to the Saturday Evening Post, tells many good stories. Here is one of them: Finally, these men got around to the. re- cent visit of ex-President Harrison to Washington. ‘‘General Harrison,” said Senator P—, “is one of the strongest, soundest, ablest men we have ever had in public life. He has always been reserved and is rather handi- capped by an unresponsive, cold manner. Why, I remember—" and here the senator began to chuckle to himself, and the whole table leaned forward full of expectation. The senator went on: ““When Harrison was in the senate he al- ways used to bring his luncheon to the! committee room. He carried it in his coat pocket and would eat it while he went on with his work. One day when he got it out as usual from his pocket we saw him look it all over ruefully, and it did look rather flat and dubious. He finally remarked to | us that he guessed he must have sat on it accidentally. One of his colleagues, one who had recently been ignored by Harrison, spoke up impulsively: ‘Well, by Jove, Har- | rison, it you've sat on it I'll bet you a six- pence it 18 frozen solid;’ and of course a shout went up from the whole committee."” ““How did he take it?'" asked I, when the merriment had died away. “Oh," returned the senator, “he joined in the laugh. It was too good a one on him and he had to unbend.” ing himself with medicine he was leaving In all good humor, when he bethought him self of the physician's fee. “How much will it be?” he inquired. ““The debt was paid long ago,” said the doctor, who knew and liked his writings; it is you who are still the creditor.” Whitman thanked him and went out. Another patient, a woman, bad taken his place when he returned. He put his two great hands on the table oppo site his medical adviser-he had not stopped knock or announce himself and said hat, sir, 1 call poetry The woman was scandalized by his abrupt appearance and demeanor and asked, as soon as the writer had gone for the second time: “Is the gentleman finsane?" But, learning his identity, she wished she had asked for his autograph B “Colonel,” the fair girl asked, “what was the closest call you ever had?" The handsome soldier thoughtful for a moment, relates the Chicago Times Herald, and then replied “I was at Fort Laramie, several years ago. I was in command of the forces ther at the time. Some of the officers hud friends visiting them from the east, most of them being women who had come out west to get a glimpse of real frontier life | Well, we got word from one of the agencic that the redskins were acting nd it | was feared that there would be a terrible | massacre unless the soldiers were hurricd | looked wly ILLUSTRATED BEE. forward to settle matters. “It happened that my horse had stum | bled a few days before and fallen upon my | left foot, hurting it so that I was unable to get around except on crutches. 1 hated to remain behind when there was trouble | anywhere, but it was simply out of the question for me to try to do any campaign ing, with my foot all done up in bandages 80 I was forced to let the boys go ahead without me. Our force at the fort was un usually small, for which reason every mai except myself was sent forward deal with the Indians."” He paused, and she, in agony of suspens cried out: “‘Oh, colonel! And while all the rest were away the Indians came swarming aroun the fort and you, single-handed and alon had to hold them at bay. Oh, how did yo ever do it? How heroic! And how lon was it before—" ‘“No,”” he interrupted, *“it wasn't that “You sece, there were two grass wildows among those visitors from the east, and for three days 1 was the only soldier around the fort.” to R — A wearied Clevelander stepped from a train at Pittsburg the other morning at an early hour and rushed into the depot lunch room to get breakfast, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He was extremely tired from a long ride, and consequently not in the best of moods. “What do you want?"” snarled one of the waiter girls. She had a got-up-too-soon expression on her face and spoke savagely “A little courteous treatment,” responded the traveler. “We don’t keep it here,"” rejoined the girl, “I thought so,” was the laconic reply of the Clevelander. “Give me some regulai eggs." “We only keep fresh eggs,” replied the girl. “Everything fresh around here?" queried the Clevelander. ““Yes,” she hissed through her teeth “I thought so,” the traveler replied. As the traveler ate his breakfast in silence he wondered who had the best of the skirmish From the look on the girl's face, she, too was pondering over the same question Brewed and Bottled at Home, Metz Beer For the Home Trade. 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