Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, June 5, 1910, Page 18

i e Davr Roort o GovErvrtent Hovss — (ALcuTTA ALCUTTA ~(Special Correspond- ence of The Bee.)—I am in Cal- cvtta, the eastern gateway of the empire of Indla, the front doorstep of the: home of one- \Mifth of mankind. 1t is a turbu- lent tirth and is lkely to stir up the world. The British have kept this country dead quiet for the last fifty years. They have Inclosed it in a network of railroads, watered its deserts with irrigating canals, lowered its taxes and made two blades of grass grow where one grew before. They liave brought order* out of chaos and peace out of dlscord. They have begun to make men out of those who, when they took hold of the country a few generationy ago, were but little bettor than beasts. They have given them schools and stirred them up to think and plan for themselves, and now tho Indians are ready to bite the hands that have helped them. This is one phase of the great unrest which 1 have come to describe. i The World of India. Do you know what India is? The coun- try appals me, it Is so big, so varled, and, vithal, %0 strange. 1f you could litt Hin- dustanup and lay 1t upon North America, with one end at Seattle, it would reach as far east as Montreal and its lower apex would be wedged into the Panama canal. From north to south India is as long as from the mlddle of Hudson bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and from east %o west it measures 2,500 miles. The land is one of extremes. The Hima- layas on the north are covered with per- petual snows, and the icy wastes about Mount Everest are colder than the frozen chambers of the Buddhist hell. The plains below lie In the tropics, and they are some- times as hot as the burning deserts of Australla, where Mark Twain says they foed the hens ice to keep them from laying bolled egss. India is the wettest land upon earth and the driest. It has provinces, such as Bika- ner, where it does not raln for thirteen months in succession and other places where it pours all the time. There are lo- calities in the Himalayas where six feet of water have been known to fall in the space of twelve months. The country is one of great deserts and mighty rivers, of solls which have been cultivated since thé dawn of history and of wastes which the plow of man has never turned. Physically speaking, it is & world. —— ky People Swarm. It is also a world from the standpoint of humanity. It is one of the most crowded parts of the globe. It has three times as many people as (he United States and farming localitles where there are more than one man to the acre. Altogether India has more towns and villages than there are people in Boston, Baltimore or St. Louls, and it has cities of large size the names of which we hardly know. The greater Calcutta, including the suburbs and nearby towns, 1s as large as greater Chicago. Bombay is bigger than Boston, and Madras equals Cleveland in sise. The population s rapidly growing. It has increased 60,000,000 within the i.st thirty years, and s now 300,000,000 all told. India is not like China, in that it is made up of one race of the same color and fea- tures, with the same language, religion and customs. 1t is composed of a score of nationalities and of so many religions apd castes that they can hardly be numbered. There are tribes here which logk like our American Indians, others which resemble Chinese, scattering places where the people have blue eyes and brown hair, and many localities where their skins are as black as & negro's. There are more races in Hindustan than on the continent of Europe, and as to tongues there are sgmething like 700 different dialects, and languages are spoken by millions which are not under- stood by the others, e A Land of Many Gods As to religions, Indla has more strange §ods than any continent upon earth. There is no place where the faith of the people ®o varies and none where man's bellef means more to himself and his family, The religions are so strange that a book as big as a $4 Bible might be written about them and not tell it all. India has 200,000,000 Hindoos divided up into castes, many of which number millions. It has more Mo- hammedans than the sultan of Turkey has subjects, and about 9,000,000 Buddhists, In addition to this there are several mil- lion Sikhs, more than 1,000,000 Jains and in the neighborhood of 100,000 Parsees, who be- lieve In the faith of Zoroaster worshiping tife. There are among the aborigives of the backwoods nature worshipers known as Anhnists, to the number of 8,000,000 and more. They belleve in spirits and witch- craft and offer bloody sacrifices to their devil-like gods, There aro also 18,000 Jews and 3,000,000 Christians of various sects. It surprises me to find so many Christans in India. They are mostly Roman Catholics and Nestorians, although there are Metho- dists, Baptl Presbyterians and other branches of the Protestant faith. I see that Bishop Thoburn says that there are now about 1,000,000 native Protestant Christlans and that the Christian population has in- creased #0000 in the space of ten years. Our missionaries are alive and they are doing great good. it A City of Palaces, Calculta 15 one of the ehief seals of the TS AR unrest. I do not wonder at it. Thers is no place where the difference of condi- tions 1y more pronounced. These Hindoos are among the poorest peoples on earth, Among them are millions who always go to bed hungry, and in the slums here are peo- pie who count theilr bites to see whether they will have enough for the morning. At the same time Calcutta has its fashionable residence quarters, the homes of the Brit- ish, where money flows like the Ganges and- fortunes are spent.In one season I wish I could show you the better parts of Calcutta. It Is a city of palaces, with immense parks and wide open spaces. It covers about as much ground as Chicago in proportion To its size, running along the Hooghly with the great suburb on the op- posite bank. The city has lakes and lawns, botanical and zoological gardens, and a public park known as the Malden, which runs through the fashionable quarter. At the beginning of this is the palace of th. viceroy, & mansion as snowy as newly slacked lime, and several miles beyond it, at the opposite end, is the big house of the lieutenant general of Bengal. Both are surrounded by beautiful grounds, and the latter has a banyan tree surpassed only by that in the zoological park of which, per- haps, you have heard. The Maiden is bordered with club houses and mansions. The most fashionable homes of Calcutta look out upon it and it forms the soclal heart of the city. It has & race track with a two-mile course in which now and then polo matches are played, and also tennis courts and grounds for cricket and golf. The band always plays there of an evening and the people come forth and drive about in handsome turnouts. The viceroy and Lady Minto may sometimes be seen in their carrlages with treir retinue and with native soldiers as outriders. There are other officlals and also rajabhs with coachmen and footmen in livery. There are Europeans, Parsees and many Eurasians: Every one rides in his carriage and every carriage has its liv- eried coachmen and footmen. The coach- man is usually a bearded man with turban and gown; he is always barefooted. The footman either stands on the step behind the carrlage or squats down there and holds on. The latter position is precarious, and 1 often wonder why the man is not jolted out in going over a gutter or rut in the 'road. In addition to such turnouts there are many automoblles. There are 800 in the city and the most I have seen are touring cars which at home would cost several thousand dollars apiece and which &0 like the wind. Do you wonder that the hungry Hindoo whose lean shanks have to fly to get out of the way is mad when he contrasts his condition with that of the man in the car? g The Paluces and the Black Hole. He feels the same when he compares his hovel to the mansions on the Maiden and the big government bulldings of the British officials. The mansion where Lord Minto holds forth is of about the same age as the White House at Washington. 1t is far more magnificent and its surroundings have ten times the style. West of it is the town hall, a Doric bullding which was finished under the instructions of this viceroy's grandfather in 1813, and near that the mag- nificent bulldings of the high courts, which compare in size with those of our govern- ment departments at Washington. Another fine structure s the postoffice, which faces the lake in Dalhousle Square. I went through it today, and as I came out I stopped at the corner and read on a tablet the following: The marble tablet below placed here by Lord Curzon, viceroy and governor general of India, in 1w, to ‘mark the site of the prison in Old Fort William, known as tne Black Hole, in which 146 British inhabitants of Cal- cutta were confined on the night of the 20th, June 1766, and from which' only twenty-three came out allve. The pavement marks the exact dimen slons of the' prison and near it is an obe- lisk erected by one of the survivor The Black Hole is a monument of one of the most terrible tragedies of the Unrest of India 10 years ago. The nabob, or native ruler, ordered the Incarceration of thése victims and then drank himselt off to slecp. The 146 British who were thrown in were largely officlals. They were driven at the point of the sword into a dungeon twenty fect square. It was in the heat of the tropical summer, and the airholes were small. In a short time they gasped for breath. They cried for mercy and tried 1o break down the door. Then they offered bribes to their jallers, but the only answer was that the nabob was asleep, and he would be angry if awakened. The dying then fought for places at the windows, and raved and prayed and swore, while their Jallers held lights at the bars and laughed. When the day broke, the nabob, having slept off his spell, ordered the door to be opened. Of the 146 all but twenty-three were dead, and the living were 8o far gobe that they were barely able to stagger from the charnel house. Today that tragedy is remembered with horror. ! And still how closely the sublime tramples upon the heels of the ridiculous! Only last week & traveler was talking with the viceroy about the sights of Calcutta, when his ex- cellency asked him if he had seen the fa- mous Black Hole. “Indeed, I have,’ plied the visitor. “I am lving in i, was room 1% at the Grand hotel” v ~ this spot was It THE T can sympathize with that visitor, for 1 live in the same hotel. It is said to be the best tn town, but it has numerous black holes, Just now it Is crowded, and it is almost impossible to get rooms. An American admiral who came here last week failed to do 30, and had to go to a cheap boarding house, where he is now living. I got in only by cabling In advance from Burma. There are several big hotels in Calcutta. They are rambling three-story buildings, which ‘cover acres, and have all sorts of inconvenlences. My room, for In- stance, Is locked with a padlock which snaps with a spring. There s only one key to the padlock, and when I left this after- ©oon the key remained' inside thé room. I could not get it until I reported to the manager, and the servants:then had to climb up the walls and through the window o open the door. I have an elettric bell, supposedly to call the hotel servants. I have rung it again and again, and one day 1 propped my umbrella against the button and left it there for an hour. I could hear the bell ringing, but there Was no response. S0 In self-defense I have had to hire a per- ®onal servant of my own to lie on the floor outside the door at night, and to wait upon me during the daytime. I am paying him Jjust 38 cents a day, and he feeds himself. Hiring a Servant. 1 hired this servant two days after I landed in Calcutta. Indeed, I was forced to do so, not only on account of my need of him, but rather of his need for me. The moment our ship came to anchor in 0st UrFicE. "OUTSIDE THIS WaS THE DLACK the harbor m score of would-be servants rushed aboard and attached themselves to the passengers.. Of these two settled upon me as their prey, and each deter- mined to outdo the other. I supposed them servants of the Grand hotel, and handed over my bag. As soon as I was settled each claimed that he had brought my bag- Bage, and that this was an implied agree- ment to take him as my boy. Both had sheaves of letters of introduction, and each. seemed equally good. One was. & straights durk-faced Hindoo of thirty, and the other' a turbanned Mohammedan of forty or so. The Hindoo's name was Nund Lal, and the follower of the prophet called himself Wall Moharhned. I took a day to decide, dur- ing which time each dogged my foot- steps. I could mot ask for anything, but both jumped to get it, and when I at- tempted to slip out to inquire about them I found both on guard, ready to follow me. 1f 1 asked the hours of meals the two unswered in concert, and if I wanted hot water they started on the dead run to get it. Indeed, I have been much in the same position as the man, who was adopted by a dog, except that I was adopted by two dogs, and both stuck to me. I have settled the matter by paying Nund Lal $L.00 and by appointing Wall Mohammed my valet. S From Hurma to India. I came here from Rangoon on a Brit- ish India steamer. The ship was one of 3,000 tons, with English officers and Hin- doo saflore and wa taew The cabinet stew- ards were durk-faced, heavy-bearded men of forty, who wore black velvet caps, white gowns, which reached to their kaees and tight white cotton drawers below which their black bare feet showed. The dinner walters wore white Bengalese hats with bands of blue ribbon, and their gowns were belted in at the waist with blue ropes as | More: THAN Y2 OF THE. PropucT GOES 10 THE, ONiTED érng thiok s my weist.' It was hot wif the way up the Bay 'of Bengal, and the afr of the salon was kept cool by a punkah, a long screen 80 hung from the ceiling that it could be drawn back and forth. A black Malay did the work jerking the rope twelve pulls with one hand and then changing and making twelve pulls with the other. The dishes were washed in a bucket on deck, Some Choice Selections from the Story Teller’s Pack Why He Wouldn't Shoot. DEPUTATION of three soldiers onee came to the late Dr. Lueger to make some kind of a request in thoir behalf. The burgomaster of Vienna turned to one of the soldlers with the following in- quiry: “What would you de If the kalser commanded you to shoot the burgomaster?"’ “I would shoot him,” said the soldier. “So'_exclaimed Dr. Lueger, “and what s your religion?” “I am a Protestant.” Dr. Lueger spoke to the second soldier. “What would you do if the kalser com- manded you to shoot fhe burgomaster?” “Then I would shoot him,” said the sol- dier. “And what is your religion?" “I am a €atholic.’ The burgomaster turned to the third sol- Qler. w3 “Would yoii have shot me if the kaiser commanded you to do so?" No,” sald the soldier. “And what is your religion? “1 am a Jew,” he answered. What!” exclaimed the burgomaster. Do you not know that 1 am the greatest anti- Semite in Austria? Tell me, why would you not have shot me?" Because I have no rifle; I am the drum- mer of the regiment."»—Jewish Chronicle. A Contession. Lord Kitchener had determined ‘to avoid all public funetious during his trip across the country. He yielded, however, to the In- sistent demand that he attend a banquet in honor of Rear Admiral Sebree in San I'ran- cisco. In & modest after-dianer speech he praised the career of the admiral. Because It was a naval banquet the talk naturally: turned to the sea and sallors. *'sallor: as a class,” sald Lord Kiteh- ener, “have & very keén sense of humor, I remember a story of a sallor Just back from & six months' crulse. The young man had bm‘euneur-ung his return to land all evening in various public houses. Eme ing from the last bar, a little unsteady but very jovial, he danced along the street waving a bottle of stout. ** ‘For & sailor,’ he sald to his companions, 4t Is disgraceful what I am golpg to say, but it is the truth—I have a horror of water,' "—8an Francisco Call. i i They Do It. “The teacher of one of the classes in a school in the suburbs of Cleveland had been training her puplls in anticipation of @ visit from the school commissioner,” sald George 8. Wells of Fittsburg at the Shoream. VAt last be came in and the classes were called out to show their at- lainments. *The arithmetic class was the first called, and ln order to make & good lmpression the teacher put the first question to Johnny Smith? the star phpil. “Johnny, if coal is selling at $ a ton 4nd you pay the coal dealer §24, how many tons of coal will he bring you? ‘Three, was the prompt reply Johnny. “Ihe teacher, much embarrassed, ‘Why, Johnny, that isn't right. Oh, 1 know it ain't, but anyhow.' "'—Washington Post. The Touch Effective. “The young wife of a Philadelphia man, who is not especially sweet-tempered, one day approached her lord, touching the mat- ter uf $100 or 50, sald George ¥. Bender of Philadelphia. *'I'd like to let you have it, began the husband, ‘but the fact is, 1 haven't that amount to spare, inasmuch as 1 must take up a note for 3200 this after- noon.' *'Oh, very well, James,' said the wife with calmness. ‘If you think the man who holds the note can make things any hotter for you than I can, why do as you say.' She gut the money."—Philadelphia Times. from sald, they do it, my dear,’ A Persistent Caller, “I lunched with Winston Churchill in London,” said & journalist, “during his re- markable campaign. This brilllant young cabinet minister, with his American blood through his mother and his ducal blood through his father, praised American jour- nalists. “He gave me an example of our perse- ance. Not less than forty“seven Amerl- can correspondents called on him at the Board of Trade offices for an interview one week on the American tariff, and none of them had sufficiently guod dentials he refused to see them. Finally a correspondent came with & letter from Mr, Lloyd-George, and him Mr. Churchill saw gladly. ‘Do you know,' he said man, ‘that 1 have refused seven of your compatriots subject ?” *“*I ought to know it,' the correspondent answered, ‘for I'm the whole forty- seven.' "—Philadelphia Bulletin ve as cre- to the young tp wee foriy- on this very The wife of a clergyman of a certain sub- urban parish was mending clofies the other day when a visitor was announced. The hostess went on with her sewing, for the caller was a well-known parishoner. After awhile ihe visitor glanced toward the sew- ing table and exclaimed; 'Why, there are some buttons exactly like some my husband had on his last winter suit. They are an odd kind of but- ton, t0o. Where did you get them?” The clergyman’'s wife smiled rogulshly, *In the collection basket,” she answered, quietly, *I found a good many of the same kind. I am saving them up for possible use.” Baltimore American. —o— Worse Than Pessimism. Andrew Carnegle, at a dinner in Wash- ington, deplored the world's excessive armaments. “All these billions wasted on battleships,” he sald, “‘are declared to do good in pro- viding work, in creating prosperity. That Is a shallow and false optimism. “That, In fact, reminds we of the man who said, when his wages were cut down: “‘Well, there's one comfort When I'm lald up sick 1 won't lose as mwch money as 1 used t it Free Pre Speaker to Cann: praised \ at a dinner in Washing- a Washington physician Che doctor has a neat way,” he sald, hitting off a case.” “There was a Kentuckian—{rom the blue reglon, you know—who called to be treated for & red nose \ ‘Doctuh,’ the Kentuckian shall 1 take, sub, to remove th mah nose? “ “Take meals,” the Globe-Democrat, “ot grass said, ‘what redness of nothing — especially between doctor answered."—St. Louls In Mour Robert Goelet, during the Basler parade, in Fifth avenue, stood in conversation with a group of friends, when a lady in a beau- tiful gown passed ‘Why, there goes Mrs. X,” said a young matron. ‘““She was gray last year, and now her hair is as black as jet!" Mr. Goelet, buttoning his smart coat, with a smile: “Well she has recently be- come & morn- answered know, a widow. you Hooster with lleady Wit. Billy Stecher, a well known horseman and politician, who lives at Riverside, N. J., told a little story at the Turngemeinde hall at that place the other evening which demon- strates that you can't back a real estate boomer into & corner and.keep him there Some time ago, Billy said, & friend of his went to Callforila on & joy jaunt, and hardly had his hoofs landed on the station platform of one of the towns in the south- ern section of the state before & real estate boomer began to chirp to him about the beauty of the earth, the glory of the clouds and the health-giving ingredients of the ozone. On the latter he was particularly strong, and told how @cctors who had gone out there had starved to death, while the undertakers were compelled Lo §row oranges to supply their daily bread For two hours the California man pumped it into the easterner, and in the meantime the New Jersey party noticed that the real estate boomer had just about as sneezy a <old in the head as one could collide with in the height of hay fever time. “The climate may be all right,” remarked the easterner, as the boomer was starting on the third hour, “but it doesn't appear to agree with you.” “You bet it does,” replied the boomer. “What is the matter with me?” “How about that Cold in your head?” asked the easterner, “That was my own darn carelessness,’ was the ready rejoinder of the boomer. *I was walking along the road and thought- lessly stopped too quickly under a palm tree. The sudden change from sunshine to shade was too much for me. Philadelphia Tele- graph. Heroines In ate Crewn. Wonlen bave succeeded in passing them- selves off as man afrequetly, but, far as 1s known, there have been but two women pirates—Anne Bonney and Mary Reuad— who were captured something over a century ago In the Carribean sea, charged with having “piratical intentions.” It was not known at the the time that they were not men, and accordingly they were sen- tenced to meet death in the manner gener- ally meted out to gentlemen of thefr pro- fession, when they confesed their sex and they were in due course punished less se- verely. The woman Bonney was the daughter of a arolina planter, who had disowned her by reaton of her marriage with a sallor. Even at that time Anne had a predilection for man's attire, Inasmuch at the hour of her elopement she employed it for the purpose of evading her angry parent. Kventually she shipped with her husband and shared In his piratical adventures. Among her shipmates, who were ignorant of her sex and also of her relation to the captain, Anne attained a reputation for courage Now, curious as it may the sifp whereon this female pirate practiced the arts of the freebooter was one day boarded by several strangers, among them another lady pirate of the name of Mary Read It followed that the woman became fast friends, though at first each was ignorant of the sex of the other. The dis- covery that each was a woman came about through the declaration on the part of Mary of & romantic attachment for the Bonney person. Shortly after the two women met they be- came widows, and naturally enough cast thelr lots together In & buccaneer crew. Both were admired for the ‘courage they evinced In thelr unusual calling, and both were greatly loved by their seamen. Mary Read was an expert swordswoman and fought more than one duel. She dled in prison. Anne Bonney was in due time re- stored 10 her falmly —iarper's Weekly, seem, i OURSE—"~ 3 2 the plates being' swabbed off with e®rust on the end of the stick, and Wiped by & Malay as dirty as the Indian, who did the cooking. We were several days on the Bay of Bengal. The water was indigo until we reached the mouths of the Ganges. Theso extend for & hundred miles up and down the coast and they vomit forth so much silt that it turns the ocean to gruel. I took a bath when we reached the pilot brig, about a hundred miles from Cal- cutta, and upon draining the tub my foot- prints were as plain in the mud as those which frightened Robinson Crusoe on his desert fsland. The siit of the Ganges 1s as great as that of the Nile. It is said to be five times as much as that of the Mississippi and Missourl, amounting.to hundreds of mil- jons of tons every year. It builds up great bars along the shore and makes the work of piloting the ships dangerous to an ex- treme. My, A High-Pald Monopoly. The pilots of Calcutta are a close cor- poration. There are only fifty-two of them and they monopolize the Ganges, or, rather, the Hooghly, for it is on the Hooghly branch of the deita that the ships go up to the city. The trade of the river amounts to more than $100,000,000 a year, and there is a procession of boats always going up and coming down. The men receive various wages, the best getting as high as $0 per month. To belong to this assoclation one must have a first mate's certificate and must have passed through his appren ticeship, He spends five years at low wages learning the river, and then graduates in the full rank of pilot. The Hooghly cannot Le navigated at night and the ships go in with the tides. As the latter rise there which reaches as much as seven feet, so that the ks are great. is often a bore M te. As we coasted the shores of the Hooghly we passed jungles infested with tigers, The land is low and malarious and wild beasts roam it at will. A little further up the houses begin and palm trees are frequent The population grows more and more dense, and of mighty jute mills the stream tall volumes into the enormous brick rough bagging for Calcutta ships vast to the United cotton crop 18 baled in banks of the Hooghly. A few years ago we were taking more than 60 per cent of the product and today the thousands of Hindoos wnl.m’ this fiber are dependent upon us for thelr wages. There arc two score jute mills in India the jute annually produced is worth about $50,00,000. There are cotton tactories here and theré between the jute weaving establishments und mills of this kind line the Hooghly all the way to Cal- cutta The stream is filled with shipping. Ocean steamers heavily loaded are going in and out with the tide. The trade of Calcutta is worth hundreds of millions and a large part of the commerce of the empire passes this way. Jts total foreign trade shathe greatest of any country of Asla, thi " ports and exports now amounting to mgore than $1,200,000,000 and growing more every, yeur, FRANK G. CARPENTER. , | then comes a region smokestagks vomit black and them are sky near where the d 1s made of Jute of our structure all mank quantities and cloth made Les, much the e now and