Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, February 27, 1910, Page 16

THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: FEBRUARY 27, 1910. :f v Ty CLUB HOUSE AT SIGNAPORE. (Copyright, 1910, by Frank G. Carpenter.) APORE, 1910.—(Special Corre- onde of The Dee)—T Malay peninsula offers llve opportunities for one may perhaps drop down There are forty-four this little island, whieh ome big as some Texas farms, Theodors (here are fourteen varleties Roosevelt and his son Kermit. pclson bags under their Its jungles are infested with roots of thelr teeth. tigers, and the Singapore government is now offering rewards of $50 each for every full grown tiger killed, and $15 aplece for tiger cats. Just outside the city are tracts of dense vegetation in which such beasts are sometimes shot. They swim the old channel north of the island, coming out of the Jahore jungles and now and then pick up a Malay baby for breakfast. Just the other day the young sultan of Jahore, who Is a great sportsman, killed a big tiger. It is the nineteenth he has shot since reaching manhood. As lie showed its claws, which he had cut off as a trophy, ho was asked If he expected to bag his twentleth. He replied “I most certalnly shall it bag me. In a_visit to Jahore I saw the tracks of Kind co lates the skin on each side that it seems to have put on the rame time it angry cat, and if attacked it to a %istance CT six sonous fluld which, or a sore, means sure death. snake that the jugglers all east use to show thelr skill. it with impunity, makes a or charm it. he does not Other day a traveler who that the cobra's poison extracted, and offered glands 1s not and which tongues or The worst, 1s the cobra, which spits venom. Ths Ma- layans tell me there is no cure for its bite. When attacked It erects the body and di- of the head so a hood nolse wiil elght feet a pai- it it touches the eye It Is over the far They handle laying it on the ground and playing upon a flute, which seems to They also wrap cobras around thelr naked necks and fondle them was one of these Hindoo jugglers made a 'bet S from the of snakes half as of these carry at the perhaps, At like an throw this The watching had been “THE JUNGLES ABOUT SIGNAPORE ARE INFESTED WITH TIGERS® ¥ “you Well, in confine in who are Boing, cal ery [T have been tigers. Now T want to tell you that been twenty-five years in India and in all that time I have never seen “But perhaps you didn’t look for tigers," ce sald the hunter, “'And perhaps you falled to 100k for mis- sionaries, " there Malaysia Korea, and the himselt to see them if he have already written about their Korea and- China. in Siam, and thosg of the Protestants alone India ha have something like 8,000 Sunday and there are almost 400,000 pupils in their ordinary day schools. missions, vhere, last year in India alone being over 2,000,000 There are something like %0 mission hos- pitals in Asia, Africa and Oceanica, altogether there is a Protestant Christian talking all day afout T have Ing set out, and somethng like 200,000 acres of groves have already been established. Some of the companics have pald dividends of as high as 30 per cent, while 50 per t 1s by no means uncommon. The plants used are those which producs the Para rubber, the trees coming into bearlng at their fifth or sixth year. They are then tapped, and if carefully bled will continue to produce for many years. a tiger." rejoined the dominte. missionaries down here and ia Chica, Japan and globe-trotter who does not to the ports cannot fail keeps his eyes open. 1 in much are Land this same r part of our pe r comes. pepper estates in Malaysia Sumatra over the way. In fact, try was desired by Ingland on a count of its shipments of pepper. Planta- tlons were acquired by some London com- missioner: nded that more and more pepper They knew so little about how pepper grows that they asked thelr agents to see that the natives planted more white pepper in tho future, as their customers preferred that to black pepper. Now every one who knows anything about t Pepper, ts from that the There and in this coun- gion work They are doing more than professing 1,000,000 natives Christlanity. They schools who dem As to medl- they are doing great good the number of patlents treated and & tiger In the mud not far from this man's palace. It had prowled through the city during the preceding night and had played around a sawmill, walking through the dust In front of the then qulet buzzsaw. & kit The Tiger Island. The word Singapore comes from two native terms meaning “Lion City,” It should be called “Tiger City.” for in the past the Island upon which it stands has been the lair of these beasts and It is sald that as many as 300 natives have been devoured by thém in one year. The animals came here first at about the time the col- ony was founded and some years ago one ‘was discovered choking to death in the fishing nets off the shore facing the main- land. He had started to swim the channel and got caught in the nets, As I sat in the Singapore club the other night one of the English officials told me how a man-eating tiger recently, slaugh- tered a Malayan, his wife and five chll- dren, leaving only the sixth, a little boy, who related the story. This family was living on the edges of the jungle not far from the channel in a hut covered with thatoh. The tiger sneaked up and sprang upon the roof. He scratched open a large hole and the Malayans within as they looked up and saw him were so frightened that they were unable to move. They were huddled together just under him and be- fore they recovered their senses he sprang down and struck the father with his right paw and brained him. He then proceeded to kill the other members of the family with the exception of the boy above re- ferred to, who was lying in a bunk raised high above the floor and thus escaped discovery. The boy says the tiger first killed his father, mother and the four children, leaving his little sister, a baby of 8 years. After he had killed the first: he begarh playing with their bodies, watching the little girl as a cat does a mouse. 1 she attempted to creep away he would walit untll she had moved just outside the length of his paw when he would reach over and drag her close to him. He would then go on playing with the dead’ bodies, sucking the blood and taking a bite now and then until the child attempted to move, when the same proceeding was re-enacted. This lasted untll the little girl expired of fright and exhaustion. The tiger then bit her In the back of the neck and sucked her blood. After a long time he finished his feast and walked out of the hut, leaving the boy, overhead undisturbod. Sl Land of Snakes, As for me I am more afrald of the anakes than the tigers. The latter are cowardly beasts, and will attack one only in the dark or when they can sneak up i behind and catch him off guard. The snakes are so many that one Is llable to step upon them as he goes through the Jungle, or, it he sleeps in a native hut, to prove this by handling the cobra himself. He grabbed hold of it and the snake sank its fangs into his arm. He died within a few hours. A cobra was recently found in a bath room where a little baby was playing. It 4aid not offer to injure the child, and seemed inclined to play with it, and It was only when the other people came in that it elevated its head, swelled out its hood and began to spit. The other day three of these snakes were found at one time ,in the buth room of a villa near here. Among the other snakes are pythons, twenty or more feet in length. They are not dangerous, and out In the country the natives domesticate them and use them as rat catchers in the place of house cats. One twenty feet long was recently captured In a Buddhist temple outside Singapore, The government is now paying $ apiece for dead snakes of fourteen feet and up- ward, and from that down to 00 cents ror the smaller varieties. FRE U Civilized Singapore. Stories like those I have just told seem strange in connectlon with the island of Singapore, which is perhaps the richest trade center of its kind. It fs the great half-way station around the world, the chief city at the crossways of the hemls spheres and our southern gateway to the Philippine islands. It has a harbor which cost millions, and today something like $300,000,000 worth of merchandise comes an- nually into it. It is the seventh harbor of the world In tonnage and seventh in the number of vessels which call. There are fifty-two different steamer lines which stop at Singapore, and the Knglish govern- ment Is now investing something like $20,000- 000 to make new docks and to Improve this as a naval base. Singapore is one of the most important of the commercial ports of the far east. It is the ganglionic nerve center, or rather shipping center, for the archipelago of the Dutch East Indies, for Siam and, as far as the eastern trade is concerned, for Asla for the pushing of American trade, and we are fortunate just now in having an ex- perienced, active and up-to-date consul general. I refer to Mr. James T. Du Bols, who did such excellent service as consul to Leipsiz and other parts of Germany and who saved the government millions of dol- lars by exposing the corrupt lace under- valuations while he was consul general to Switzerland. Mr. Du Bois belleves that our trade in this part of the world can be largely in- creased, and ho suggests that if an Ameri- can bazaar were established here by some of our big exporting houses, with branches scattered throughout the peninsula, it would be of great value. He tells me that the balance of trade is now much against us. We buy about $20,000,000 worth of tin, hides, gambler and other things of the Straits Settlements, and sell something ‘GONSUL GENERAL AND MRS.DU B0O1S like $2,000000 worth of flour, ofls, machin- ery, drugs and tobacco in return. This reglon Is steadily growing In trade and importance, and the English and Germans are nursing thelr commerce and pushing their "goods in’ all possible ways. There is no doubt but that we should use Singa-, pore as a centey from which to work not only the surrounding islands and the main- land, but India and the far east as well. This is especlally so since Singapore lles right on the main road te the Philippines and vessels from the eastern United States could call here on their way. G John Bull's Rich Colony. Indeed, it might pay our officials to study this colony with a ¥iew to the de- velopment of our Aslatic island posses- slons. The English seem able to tote the white man’'s burden botter than any other Caucaslans. They took hold of this island over ninety years ago, when it was a jungle, and they have now made one part of it the most important commerclal cen- ter of the far east. They haye cut down much of the tropleal vegetation and have reduced it to profitable farms.. They havo built up on the shores of the island,one of the finest cities of Asia. Sinapore has 200,000 or 300,000 people. It has big business blocks of several stories, with high cell- ings, double walls and wide galleries, on account of the heat. It Is a city of enor- mous hotels, which are lighted by elec- tricity and cooled by electrio fans. It has numerous banks with millions of capital, and alsa churches, librarles, museums and sehools. The white population, all told, numbers only about 5,000, the remainder being Asfa- tics of varlous kinds. But these 5000 are the lords of creation and many of them live in magnificent villas surrounded by botanical gardens of the trees and plants of the tropics. by How it is Governed. The administration of the colony s in the hands of a governor, alded by an ex- Y eoutive councll, and thers fs a little legls- lature which makes the laws. There aro Chinese in both couneil and legislature, and altogether the governiignt is something of a democracy, Singapore has its own mu- nicipal body, some of whose members are elected by the taxpayers and some ap- pointed by the governor. The present governor of the island fs Sir John Anderson, who is also high com- missioner for the federated Malay states and for the British colonies in Borneo. He 1s a Scotchman, who was a member of the Bering sea arbitration staff in London, vears ago, and who has held various other important offices. The governor of Singapore receives a good salary and he lives like a lord. His palace here is finer than the White House and he maintains a court somewhat similar to that of the viceroy of India. He gives a great ball upon the king's birthday, and to this everybody who is nybody gets an invitation. Indeed, it is sald that every one who s not in jail at the time is in- vited. These whites of Singapore are fond of soclety, They remind me of an old college friend who attended every funeral within ten miles of his home. When asked why, he sald, “I always like to go to gather- ings.” That is the way with these Singa- pore people. They like gatherings, and they have clubs of all kinds to bring ther- selves into company. Some are for sport- ing, rowing, cricket and lawn tennis, and others are devoted to art, reading and education. There fs a magnificent club house at the end of a wide stretch of lawn just next the harbor, and a country club three miles inland, at which dances and theatricals are frequently given. There are many pienics and outings of varfous kinds. The city is seml-intellectual. T mean as far as whites are concerned. The Raffles public library contains 16,000 volumes, and has also & museum relating to the Straits Settlements. The city has four English newspapers, two Chinese dailies, a Malay weekly and two other journals published fn Fast Tndlan dlalects. Altogether, the town is wide awake, and, I regret to say, in many respects wide open. Of the latter Jfeature, however, you must come here Yourself to learn. gyl Missionary and the Tiger. And speaking of the wide openness of Singapore, such conditions are to be found without much searching in every center of the far east, There is more truth than poetry in the suggestion contained in this verse of Kipling: ake me somewhere east of Suez Where the best is like the worst, Where there ain’'t no Ten Commahdments, And a man can raise a thirst.” At the same time there are churches and chapels everywhere and as many good people as bad. We have an American Methodist Episcopal mission here with thirty of our own citizens in charge as teachers and preachers. I have found thriving American misslons in every Aslatle country 1 have visited; and a big Christian work, supported by our people, is going on in Burma and Indla. This question of missions and the uni- versality of human depravity reminds me of a story I heard here {llustrating that one finds what he looks for. ~The story might be entitied “The Missionary versus the Tiger.” The incident occurred on & steamer going up the Bay of Bengal. A blustering, boastful Englishman on board was blowing about his feats of hunting in Hindustan. He monopolized the conversa- tlon and told thrilling storles of his ex- periences with the wild beasts of the jungle, and especially of his many adven- tures with tigers. At one point in the conversation & quiet, refined man in black happened to remark that he also had been in Indla and engaged in missionary work there. Upon this the hunter blurted forth with & sneer: “A missionary In Indla! have been six months in saw a missionary ell, a8 to that,” Why, man, I India and I rejoined the other, population among those of the world's na- tions we consider as heathens of more than 6,000,000 Pl % Fortunes in Rubber. The enormous demand for rubber for au- tomobile tires, bicycle tires and other things bids fair to enrich this part of the world. The jungle is being cut down and covered with rubber plants. The sultan of Johore has just sold his rubber crop at over §2 a pound, and his plantations have ylelded two pounds to the tree. I am told he has 160 trees to the acre and that he owns thousands of acres. At this rate his profit is over $6,400 an acre per annum. If this is true, it is no wonder that cap- ital {s pouring into Singapore for rubber investments. Scores of plantations are be- pepper knows that the white pepper and black pepper come from the same bushes and that white pepper is merely black pep- per well ripensd. Shortly after that letter cames the amount of silver belonging to the company in the Singapore office was short, and in writing about it to London the agent, pre- suming on the ignorance of the people there, said that the deficiency was due to the ravages of the white ants. With their next shipment the London commissioners ment a basket of flles, and when the n;l‘( wrote asking what they were for, the reply was that they were to sharpen the teeth of those ants. The exporters here say that there s still money In pepper, but that for the time the profits of the rubber Industry surpas those of all other farming. FRANK G. CARPENTER. Quaint Features of Life Fathers Will Be Fathers. KANSAS man complains that since his daughter has taken music lessons, which he paid for, she insists upon playing B¥] only classical stutt, relates Suc- cess, When he comes home tunetired and asks her for a little tune, he gets nothing but musical gymnastics, The whole feminine part of the community, he thinks, is In a conspiracy to uplift him, and he doesn't want to be uplifted. It is just like father to make a com- plaint like that. Father never did take kindly to culture. He sits disconsolate in the drafty kitchen, while daughter's Browning circle meets in the front rvom. It is mother's idea entirely that he put on an uncomfortable collar in the even- Ing and hear a misolonary lecture on Borneo. Father's taste for musio stops short at “Suwanee River,” and he knows almost nothing about the minor poets and the pre-Raphaelites. His art ideas are de- rived fromi the fllustrated Sunday supple- ment; he will not sit in a Louis XVI chalr, and he cares not a whit for the pottery of the anclent Chaldeans. Shirt sieeves and carpet slippers are his conception of cor- rect evening dress for gentleme There is little hope that anything per- manent can ever be done fath When the millennium comes, he whl stiil be found reading the newspapers, smoking up the window curtains, impeding progress —and paying the rent. o $idal The “Singing Do, In S8ammy, a handsome collle, owned by Ludwig Carlson of 64 Montgomery avenue, Montelalr, N. J., possesses a sclf-educated canine tenor soloist. Every morning when the bell on St. John's Eplscopal church near the dog's house, begins ringin Sammy takes up ., positlon not far from for he Tumber plant, the dog accompanies the whistle, blown at midday, and here, too, achieves perfect Jolns his voice with at 9 o'clock at forman volce was bells or the whistles, tice an accomplished c toxicated and same, the edifice and begins an accompaniment that has none of the discordance of the ordinary canine howl. which Sammy blends with the deep notes of the bell and it has been observed that the dog Is exactly in tune with the metalll sounds that come from the It is a musical volce church belf: At noon the collle makes tracks forla operated by his owner. Here which {s he always The dog also town curfew bell harmony the night. Persons who have studied the dog s say that In the beginning harsh and not attuned but devotion to prac- nd love of harmony have made him nine vocalist. Wh e Do They Get It? Maine for a long time has had state wide ‘ohibMion, but many of its people get in- arrested therefor just the Arrests for drunkenness are in fact per- his to the increasing much faster than the population, reports vears ending in 1908 they increased 45 per cent, population for terion of the sobriety of a people are often significant. records show that in twenty-five cities and towns In Maine there were 0,600 such ar- rests in 1906 and 9,6: the down-easters are drinking more rum ot a worse character or more vigilant In tak or both. At any rate the figures are not creditable to prohibition or the way it is enforced would not be so bad under a d system, the Lowell Citizen. 1In thirteen while from 1500 to 1908 the was only Intoxication growth of 14 per cent. Arrests re mot an infallible cri- but they For example, when In 1908 1t is clear that that the police are z them to the lockup, in the state. Tkey certainly cent license ERea v—‘J Beginning and Growth of the Brandeis Family in the City of Omaha (Continued from Page One.) new century the purpose of building an eight-story building to occupy half a block of ground and to be connected through subways with the stores on the north side of the street was announged, and much wag- ging of heads followed. But the buildings were rémoved from the new purchase and the work of construction of the big building, up to that time the heaviest contract ever let in Omaha, was commenced. It was an immense vundertaking, but it was put through most suc- cessfully. Hardly had the work on the new building got fairly stlrled before the firm of Brandeis had purchased property on the west side of Sev- enteenth street and was moving to secure its improvement. , It was this firm that took the lead in the effort to secure a first-class hotel at the corner of Seventeenth and Douglas. When that fell through other plans were set afoot, and at one time a contract with the Shu- berts was all but closed for a new theater on the cornef, The Shu- berts did not make good on their end of the bargain and the matter rested for a time. In 1908 the plan for an eight-story office building and theater to cover the half block on Douglas, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, was formulated and the Rosewater property was added to the Pundt corner. It was found impossible to buy the lot at the corner of Eighteenth street, so the building was cut down to 132x198 feet, eight stories high. This great structure is now nearing completion, the theater being ready to open and the office bullding being rushed along as fast as the untoward weather condi- tions will permit. The American Music hall, which is being built for the occupancy of William Morris, is another Brandels enterprise that adds a handsome theater to Omlhll}llll of high grade bulldings. One other great Omaba institution owes its existence to Jonas L. Brandels, and that is the Wise Memorial hospital. He was its most ardent advocate and its chlefest supporter during his lifetime, and that ¥ #s housed in a substantial and luxurious bullding, fitted with modera equipment and in every way established as a thorough and successful hospital is due to the efforts of the Brandeis family more than to any other cause. The Young Men's Christian association re- ceived directly through the firm an impetus that made it possible to erect the splendid structure now occupied by that institution. It was the sale of its lot at Sixteenth and Douglas at a fine figure to J. L. Brandels & Sons that furnished the nucleus on which the new home was built. Mr, Arthur D. Brandeis built for himself a hand- some home, expending something like $60,000 on it, where he lived until the business of the firm required that he take up his residence- in New York. He has a summer home on a farm near Florence, where he actually raises corn and other grains for market In this skeletonized way the story of this firm in Omaha is epi- tomized. It has brought back to Omaha all it took. Its prosperity has been but a part of the growth of the city and its faith in the city has been shown by its constant endeavor to grow with the city. So far as is known all the holdings of the Brandeis are in Omaha. Their businees is all centered here. And the substantial buildings that mark the progress of the firm since its real development began afford the best possible testimony of the enterprise and energy that have brought the result. Seven years ago Jonas L. Brandeis died, after having been in poor health for several years.' Not many of the newer generation among the business men of Omaha knew him, and few knew him well. His health during the last years of his life did not permit him to take a very active part in the public life of the city and for some time before his death he was all but retired from the business of which he was the head. Those who did know him, though, recall him as a kindly man, just and upright, industrious and devoted to high ideals. His philanthropy was notable, although not notorious, and he built for himself a manument of benefactions quietly done and charities with- out pomp that is most enduring. In this work he had the able as- stance and encouragement of his excellent wife, who survived his \death some time, and who kept up the work she and her husband Started, even to the end of her days. Mrs. Brandels will long be re- n-mberod as one of Omaha's real workers in the cause of humanity, It 1s related of her that, long before they came to Omaha, and when they were in really modest condition as regards the gear of the world, Mrs. Brandeis was already an active worker in charity, and from their old Wisconsin home come stories that match in kindness and true generosity at least the deeds she wrought in Omaha. The firm of J. L. Brandels & Sons survives in the person of the three sons, each of whom was admitted to the firm on attaining his majority. They are well known figures in the business world of Omaha and to some extent in the social world. But attention to the great and always growing business has precluded their entering very largely into society, no matter what their personal predilections might be. The question is frequently asked, “Who is the head of the firm now?"’ 1t can be easily answered. The firm has no ‘‘head. Among the three brothers is a taclt understanding that all ques- tions of policy or enterprise must be unanimously agreed to, the ob- jection of one being sufficient to veto the project. In a general way each retains the supervision over that department of the business given into his charge in the growing days of the firm. This means that Arthur D. Brandels 1s in charge of the dress goods and woman's wear departments, of whatever kind or aescription; Emil Brandeis hag«¢harge of the shoes and the men's clothing and furnishings and all things that come under the head of “men’s"”; and H. Hugo Bran- deis has charge of the basement and the carpets. Since the business “of the firm has attained its present extent it is not often that more than one of the brohers is present in the city at the same time. Arthur D. Brandeis resides in New York most of the time, his pres ence there being required by the interests of the firm, while the other brothers are called abroad from time to time by the business they have in charge. One or the other is always in the city, though, and has a general eye on the conduct of the great store. They vary to some extent in their personal characteristics, but have in common many tralts. Among these is one that finds its expression in the beautiful theater that will bear thelr name. It {s a love of beauty— a poetic imagination and a sense of the artistic that is not always assoclated with men immersed in business afairs that are running well above a million and a half a month. A reticence that almos{ amounts to taciturnity is another common characteristic, although this falls away when they are with those who know them well. But, perhaps the most marked of all, is their great initiative. They are not bound by the same rules that direct the course of other men. New things, new ways, new achievements attract them. The erec. tion of the great building for the Brandels store, with its many inno- vations, is but an illustration of their way of reaching out for new things. The establishment of a bank in connection with the store, that grew so big they had to give it over because they could not find time to direct it, was another. And in countless ways they have shown that they are moving always along lines of their own choos- ing, and proving that what others think are rash experiments are really safe and profitable business undertakings. It might not be out of place here to refer to another most elo quent evidence ‘ol’ the growth of the business of the Brandeis firm At the time the Boston Store burned In February, 1894, the em=" ployes of the firm numbered 175, At present, sixteen years later, the number of people carried on the pay roll of the Brandels Store fs above 1,000, and a few weeks ago, when the rush of the ing season wes at its helght, the store housed more than 1,200 work- ers. Many of these have been with the firm for years. Twenty-six heads of departmeals look after the detalls, under the general direc- tion of a superintendent, and under them the responsibility is further divided, 8o that discipline is perfect and in the highest degree efficiency is secured. Wages pald cannot be stated, but It is violating no confidence to say that the people employed by the Brandels Store receive pay far above that popularly aseribed to salesmen and ;m.l Some of the younger and less experienced of the help o as low a $7 to $9 per week, and against these are the great mass of experiended help, whose weekly pay ranges around $20 to $25, with the heads of departments and thelr assistants with salaries counted in the thousands per year. Excepting, perhaps, the Unlon Pacific Rallway company, not another Omaha institution pays out in wages to employes as large a sum monthly as does the Brandef ftore. retail buy-