The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-06-09
FIRST
The Contamination Of a Long.
Delayed Project.
After Fourteen Years of Anxiety the
King Has the Pleasure of Seeing
the Realization OF His
Fondest Hope.

JIM Acpe'
That Is an interesting announce
ment, recently made. that within a
few weeks the king of Siam has per-
sonally opened to traffic the first rail-
road in his d~ominions, connecting the
capital, Bangkok, with the port of
Paknam, at the mouth of Menam
river. On this occasion, it is also made
known, his majesty delivered a speech
in which he referred with eloquent en-
thusiasm to the progress which his
country is now making in what are
cOnventionally called the arts of civ
ilization. This railroad is not nearly
SO great o SO important as many
others in many parts of the world.
Yet, according to the New York Trib-
une, there is scarcely another so rich
ly invested with picturesque interest
or so suggestive in it's proximate con-
trast of high civilization against prim-
tive simplicity. The very idea of a
railroad in Siam seems homogeneous.
True, the capital city of hat country
has for years enjoyed such modern
improvements as street cars, electric
lights, passenger elevators, telephones
and newspapers. Yet they all have an
exotic air. They seem like curiosities
on exhibition. All around them lies
the world of centuries ago. In no
other oriental country that has so
much como into contact with Europe
n America is conservatism SO marked
and persistent as in the land of the
white elephant. The ancient
and customs still flourish intact. The
Old-timc ceremonials, endless process
siOns, innumerable umbrellas on dis
play are still observed. The over
Whelming mass of the people are *
actly as they were hundreds of years
ago. Probably the chief explanation
Of this lies in the nature of the people
themselves. They are the p~ersonifica-
ton of e~asy-gOing.
Some thirteen or fourteen years ago
the king decided that it would be well
to nave some railroads built in Siam.
Accordingly he engaged a number of
European engineers to survey routes
and prepare plans and estimates. The
advance of the French in Tonquin, on
his eastern borders, fastened him, for
he was persuaded that a railroad syS-
tenn would be a potent aid to defense
against invasion. But rivalry between
foreign spectators caused much delay.
1t was nearly two years ago that the
work was actually begun, the king per-
sonally turning the first sod. The cere-
mOny on that occasion was picturesque
and impressive, especially in its curl
Gus mingling of oriental and occi-
dental There was q great
crowd present, including the king and
his ministers. There were many for
eigners, looking practical and bust
ness-like, and a host of curious, happy
go-lucky natives. There was much
dignity and Formally about it all, as
was fitting. But there was also a great
deal OF ease and informality. The min
lister of public works, a prince with an
unpronounccable name, began the pro-
gramIne by reading an address to the
king. This done, his majesty made a
speech, o~stensibly in reply to the min
lister, but really addressed to the gen
eral as~semblage. He spoke easily and
eloquently, dwelling upon the great
ness of the country and the progress
already made in the arts Of modern
civilization, and then pOrtraying with
entirely unwarrantable enthusiasm
the great advantages that would re-
suit from the building of this railroad
and of other roads which in the near
future would be connected with it.
These formalities concluded, the king
took a spade in his hands and stepped
forward to where a w~heelbarrOw
was standing. It was a spade of the
most improved New England pattern,
but the blade was made Of silver, pre-
sumably solid, and the handle was
composed of a solid shaft of ivory.
The wheelbarrow also was of Amer
lean design, but was made of ebony
and silver. His majesty thrust the sill
yer blade of the spade into the ground,
energetically pressing it to its full
depth with his royal foot, and then
lifted a gOodly spadeful of soil and de-
posted it in the w~heelbarrOw. Then
the crown prince came forward, a
handsome and amiable young gentle
man who had recently celebrated his
coming of age with characteristic
Siamese rites. He took up the handles
of the wheelbarrow and trundled it
along a carpeted pathway, twenty-five
or thirty yards, and then dumped the
spadeful of earth which it contained
upon the ground. The king, the royal
family, the minister of public works
and a number of notable guests fol-
lowed him as he wheeled the barrow
and looked with earnest interest at the
spadeful of clods as he turned them
out upon the ground. Then four state
Iy and solemn Brahmin priests, in their
sacredotal robes, stepped forward and
c~-;~1yloI roNn 4hn o1NIS n foyv lrNnS
of holy water which they took from a
vase of solid gold. Finally a brass
band, composed of native musicians,
played the Siamese national anthem,
and the ceremony was concluded.
But the king and his august followers
had scarcely left the spot before the
contractors took possession of it, and
their workmen were busily engaged
with hundreds of spades and wheel
barrows proceeding with the actual