Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 10, 1901, Page 17

\, rom AMERICAN COTTON FACTORS SHOULD STUDY THE PATTERNS OF JAVA. (Copyright, 1901, by Frank G. Carpenter.) OERBATA, Java Correspondence Have you ever Oct. T7.~(Speeial of The Bee.) heard of Soerbaia? It is the chief commercial city of this island of 25,000,000 people is situated as far east from Batavia as New York to Cleveland and is con nected by railroad with all pagts of Java. I came to it on the government line, which crosses the island from west to east, and my whole journ y was thro 1 rich planta- tions of coffee, tea, tobacco, sugar, indigo and rice. There were villages in sight all the way; the people fairly swarmed and 1 got some jdea of the cnormous population of this Dutch colony. The New York of Jaen. Soerbala is the New York of Java It is its principal scaport and it has the most trade, The city has 120,060 inhabitants, and of these only 7,000 are Europeans Still, those Europcans live far better than their brothers of Europe Many of them are rich and their homes are palaces, The streets of Soerbaia are wide and shaded with magnificent trees. They are paved with asphalt and beautifully lighted. In the residence parts every has a large lawn about it, with palm trees and flowers and well kept walks. The grounds about the better homes large as thoge of Euclid avenue and they are equally well kept. Some of the houses are of vast extent. The are of one story, but the rooms are large and the ceilings very high. house are as Most of the houses have verandas roofed with red tiles, which are upheld by white marble pillars, Many of them are floored with marole and marble forms the floors of most of the porches. The town has elec- tric lights, Every well-to-do man has a telephone and all the modern conveniences Bicycles and Automobiles, I came here to investigate the chances for American trade. There is a good open- ing for our bicycles and also for auto- mobiles. There are many American bl- cycles used in Java. 1 our leading makes In every town. Here in Soerbala the bicycles are taxed and there is a num- ber fastened to the back of the scat of every gee wheel. I noticed one the other day which bore the figurcs 2,002, so I judge there must be more than 2,000 in th it I'h people want a good thing and are accustomed e paying high prices It scems strange to have to get out of the way of an automobile in Java, but T wa nearly run down by one the other night The driver was a young Dutchman who was out with his sweetheart taking the air, His hand, which should have been on the lever, was about the waist of his in- morata, and he was oblivious to globe ,’:mu-w and every one else All kinds of carriages are used here 1 see English dog carts torias and lan- daus. The rich Dutchmen drive about in fine style, and many cof the native chiefs and nobles have magnificent turnouts, The ordinary vehicle is the sado or dos-a-dos a sort of a little dogcart drawn by a pony in which the driver sits in front and the passengers behind facing the rear Theso are the cabs of Batavia, Soerbala and th» other cities, although there are larger vehicles for hire. No one thinks of walk ing in this hot climate, and in the cooler parts of the day the roads are full of car- New*York of Java a Bustling City riages, private and public. There are native oachmen and footmen in ltvery, and, ac- ording to law, each coachman has to have a whistle to warn ot to keep out of his way. He carrie this in his mouth anl toots once or twice at every block. Chances for American Cottons, Our cotton factories should send agents to Java to study the patterns and goods needs by the people Java imports from $60,000,000 to $80,000,000 worth of stuft every year, and a large amount of this is cotton Engl sells $8,000,000 worth of plece goods to Java anuually, and Germany and Holland have a large share \bout §500,000 worth of machinery is brought in from England every year and an almost equal amount of iron. It used to of the trade be that the Dutch monopolized everything but at present no difference is made be tween Duteh and foreign imports and the tariff is low The chief American goods now sold are carpenters’ tool ind sewing machines. A cheap variety of hand sewing machines is common and American axes are everywhere in demand. There are no American cottons or prints to speak of, and these should be the chicf feature of our trade. How the Dat nt Travelers, I don't think our commercial travelers would have any trouble in entering Java The customs officers are lenient A drum mer who brought some samples of silver plated ware to Batavia not long ago was allowed to open his stuff in the custom house and sell there He was charged duty only on the articles sold, and he uscd the government office as a store, There is v good opening here for American watches and clocks and for all kinds of American knickknacks and notions. The distance is too great for flour and perishable products and the freights are high At present everything comes via Europe and the Suez canal, and this may still be the route after the opening of the Nicaragua canal, as the Suez route will probably be the cooler, Java's Big Sugnr Plantat A vast deal of machinery of all kinds is used in Java, and it will pay our exporters to send their agents to work the various factories. There are sugar mills here which have the finest of modern machinery, single machines running high into the thou- sands of dollars At present most of such mwachinery comes from Germany or Eng- land, whereas it should come from the United States, for the United States takes a great part of Java's sugar product. We took last year $§15,000,000 worth of sugar from this port of Socrbaia alone, and our total imports of sugar last year from Java amounted to $27,000,000. Java is now producing about a billfon and a half pounds of sugar every year plantations among the and its of the are richest world. The cultivation is along scientific lines, The fields are trenched to a great depth and are otherwise cultivated more carefully perhaps than in any other part of the world, with the single exception of the Hawaiian islands They are planted by cutting the cane in short lengihs and sticking it upright into the ground In some places the sced plants raised on the highlands and the cuttings carr.ed to the lowlands for planting. This is on account of a disease which has recently affected the cane of the lowlands. the Cane Flelds, Sugar grows luxuriantly here. The cane fields are a very thicket, through which it is almost impossible to go. The cane is full of juice and contains a large percentage of sugar, I'or a time a great part of the prod- uct was raised on the government planta ticns, but about ten years ago such culti- vation was stopped, Now all sugar is raised on lands leased from the govern- ment and on private esraves. The govern- ment estates have steadily decreased and in 1808 there were less than 200 of them. Many ot the large sugar factories werc developed through the culture system. The government advanced money to colonists to build sugar mills, agreeing that the natives of the districts where the mills were built should be forced to grow enough sugar cane to keep the mills going. One-fifth of the land was planted in sugar cane and every native had to give one day's labor a week to tend the crop I'be mill owner agreed to sell one-third of his product to the government at a low fixed rate, thus paying back the money advanced to him Holland made an enormous profit out of this busine receiving for years a reveni of more than $5,000,000 annually from ar sale It insisted that all plans for factori shi be submitted to the gov ernment engineers for approval and the re sult is that making sugar is carried on as scientifically here as at any place in the wor The low wages and the machinery reduce the cost of the product to a mini mum. As it {g now they make refined sugar for about $£1.60 gold a picul, or for a little more than 1 cent per pound Our sugar lands in the Philippines ar managed after the most wasteful methods Nevertheless the planters make money It the Agricultural department can establigh experimental stations and factories it ecan probably show the sugar men how to in crease their profits tenfold. 1 ino o the Philippi I should think that indigo could be grown at a profit on almost every one of the Philippine island The indigo plants are found in several of the provinees of Luzon and a small amount 15 grown in the north ern part of that island. Here in Java there are vast plantations devoted to this crop and T am told that they pay very well Some of the planters rent their lands of the natives and others have estates leased from the Dutch government. The best indigo is grown in the central part of the island. 1 saw a number of plantations on my way from Solo to Soerbata. They looked for all the world like plantations of ragweed grown in regular rows. The indigo comes from the leaves, which are picked off three times a year and put in vats of water to ferment Enough water is put in to just cover the leaves. Within a short time the blue color ing matter or juice goes out into the water, and after a while the water turns a yellow- ish green. It is now drawn off and allowed to soak into powdered chalk, which, when dried, becomes the indigo of commerce The best indigo has a fine purple blue color and it should have a sort of a copper gloss Ho So far I have not discovered trades unfons Millions Working nt 1 Cent in Java, and the contrast between wages here and in Australia is painful. It is diffi- cult to find a man in Australla and New 1land who is not making $2 or more for eight hours' work. Here there are millions who are glad to get 20 cents for ten hours’ work. It is only in the cities that the men receive as much this. In the moun- tainous regions of the Preanger 1 saw men and women laboring for less than a cent an hour, and in the tea plantations the regu- lar wages are 7 day for six hours’ work., On the railways the trackmen get 14 cents, gold, a day, and on the government farms they receive less. Here in Soerbala some common laborers get 16 cents a day, and this is considered high wages. as cents 1 am told that a man can live on 4 gulden, 1 about $1.60, per month, and the man who gets from $2 to $5 a month has all he wants and money to burn The result is that with all the low wages there is Iittle poverty in Java The people everywhere look fat and healthy They respect them gelves, and, on the whole, are, 1 think, happy They spend all they make and de light in gay clothing In some regions they wear the craziest patterns of brown, red and yellow calicoes The men wear calico pantaloons, a sort of divided skirt, which has zigzag stripes, looking as though it had been struck by lightning, Many of the patterns are beautiful. They are the invention of the people, the work of print- ing them being done by hand and in some cases the design being sketched out of the kead of the designer. The English and Ger- mans have copled these patterns, even to their faults, and are shipping in printed cottons in vast quantities The home- made articles bring high prices, but the imitations sell for a fair profit on the cost of manufacturing To introduce American prints it might he well for our factories to obtain the original designs and copy them Juva's New Ofl Filelds, I passcd through Java' castward., They the north coast new oil fields on are situated not One lies near my way far from THE ORDINARY VEHICLE USED IN JAVA LUXURIANT GROWTH O Soerbaia and the other not far from Ba tavia, the two being several hundrod miles apart None of the oil so far gotten s equal to that from the United States, and 1t is now selling for about 20 cents less per casge. The Standard Oil company has th bulk of the trade here. It has its agencies at Batavia, Samarang and Soerbaia, and it brings in oil by the shipload. The oil | bought by the Chinese middlemen, who sell it to the native merchants, who peddle it out in small quantitics. In the market the average measure is a tin cup about the siz of a claret glass, and the usual purchas would not more than fill an egg shell. The oil ig sold on a very close margin, costing about 18 cents a gallon The Chinese u ¢ oil largely in their trade with the natives exchanging it for rice and other articles liow the Dut nte Ja During my stay in Java 1 have looked into the methods which the Dutch are em ploying to edu-ate the natives. They have quite as big a job as we have in the Philip pines, and so far they are hardly at th beginning, For years th “did not educate at all, but they are now establishing native chools and in time hope to make change in the 25,000,000 people under their government. 1 travees from Batavia to Djokjakarta with one of the gchool examin- ers, a man who has been teaching here for twenty-five years, and who is now employed in the High school at Batavia. He tells me that the government has its department of education, with a minister in the cabinet of the governor general and that the au thorities are doing all they can to advance the natives They are training teachers right along in tne native schools and they expect that in time the whole population will read and write. There are now High schools at Batavia, Socrbala and Samarang There are five colleges for the training of native school- masters and more than 1,000 schools of a lower order, with 125,000 pupils. There are some private schools taught by mis sionaries, and also schools of a mechanical and industrial order All told, however, there are not more than 200,000 children in some 1S THE S0DO, SUGAR CANE IN JAVA school and this in a population of 25,000,000 is very few. We have just sent a shipload of teacher to the Philippines on an understanding that they are to be paid from $70 to $100 a month, The Duteh pay their teachors much better, especially those of higher rank. The school examiner I have referred to told me that his salary was $200 4 month in gol He said that primary teacher received from $50 to $220 per month, with house rent, and high school teachers from §180 to $300 per moenth, while school directors or uperintendents get from §210 to $100 per month. In wddition to this the teachers have a year's vacation on half pay at the close of every ten yean ervice and a free trip to Europe and back. After ecrving twenty years every teacher has the right to retire on a pension amounting to 16 per cent of his salary at the time of leaving The school work is not so hard in Java as in the Philippine The hours are shorter In Batavia they are from 8 a. m to 1 p. m, and as o rule teachers expect to put in about twenty-four hours per week The instruction in the schools 1s glven in the Duteh language and it is required that all children appear there in Buropean clothes whether they be FEuropeans, Javan ese or Chinese A Vinit to n Nov During my stay at Bandong I was taken by the government sceretary, Mr. 1. Meer teng, through the school We firet went to the normal school for native teachers It 18 held in a colleetion of Greek buildings surrounded by large ground At the back there is a gymnasium and about it an acre of campus. Entrance to the school is by competitive examination the appleants coming from the schools below In this college only boys were taken. They enter at the age of 12 or more years and graduate three years thereafter. They spend a year under the superintendence of a Dutch teacher, after which they may manage a school for themselves, The hoys are pald from the time of entrance to the college, recelving $5 or $6 per month, which 1s enough to elothe them and gl them pending money The studies include the higher branche taught In our public school They ha geography, algebra, chemistry and physi ology. They must also learn the Malay and Javiane la e 1 vell ns the Duteh They are taught to draw and paint and they are in hort glver hat would b in the United e I visited the cla o id heard the tudents recite Thye 1 juite a vell a our bo ind are equall igen In o geography class 1 ed o Loy 1o go to the map and put his finger on New York, He did 80 at ance I asked h h he coul t to San I'ran o from that point He replied that he would e the United States by railrond and outlined the rout with hi finger although there was no rallroad marked upon the map. 1 referred to the war between the English and Boers nd he ook another map and deseribed for me the territory of the Trangvaal, and in response to my question pointed out the Nile and located Cairo and Khartoum I found boys equally bright in every class and was told by the director that they howed fully as much intelligence as the Kuropean children. FRANK G. CARPENTER,