The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-11-07
Especial Cor responsiveness

Contrasts.
Especial Correspondence.l
VANCOUVER, Oct. 27.-This town is
alive with that strange energy peculiar
to edge of civilization towns when they
have reached or are reaching to the apex
of their prosperity 1t is the terminus
of the Canadian Pacific railroad. In it
are electric cars. horse cars, finely lit
and well paved streets, rigorous police
system, tramps and other evidences Of
I'm de steele civilization Surrounding
1T are great mountains, their heads Gov
cred with eternal snow At it's foot is
bay in which lie ships from all parts OF
the world. Tanned sailors of every ma
tionality lounge upon the wharves or
along the streets or loaf and yarn all
day in the cheap groggeries Of which
there are already quite nUrnber-an-
other evidence of in de siecleism. Boxes
Of tea, lumber and all manners Of mer-
chandise are piled high upon the
Wharves, for business is brisk. Mer-
chants and real estate men talk as to
the booming of the country over tho bad
whisky that is sold at the brilliant,
gaudy bars. En- PEASANT, this is the land
of bad whisky
The dude. that tender, girly, girIy
It ism quite up to It's Partisan or New
York prototype, but then 1T is getting
along rapidly.
I was here in Vancouver once before.
But that was eight or nine years ago.
i came over the Pacific from Yokohama
in bark that was laden with tea. At
that time Vancouver was only rough
looking settlement. The railroad had
not as yet made it its terminus, and
things looked generally disgruntled-
Great stumps of trees and underbrush
blocked up the intended streets. Along
with other laborers helped to dig them
up or blast them out with dynamite.
They paid rs 81 q day.
The climate of British Columbia
along the coast line is soft and golden
in the summer time, just as it is in Cal
ifornia- In the winter it rains almost
steadily for five months. In the inte-
rior, however, the climate IS very diff
ferent. There it is frightfully hot in
summer, and in winter the thermometer
often registers 60 degrees below zero.
This is fine game country. In the
dark forests are to be found cougars,
grizzlies, elks and other big game But
only hunters of experience and stout
hearts may venture through the lonely
ravines The amateur and well got
and pore over the hunting articles that
appear IN the magazines. This might
indeed be called the land of the noun
tain and the food. Great falls and
rapids hurtle through gloomy canyons.
There are mighty flowing rivers. gla-
ciers that have reflected the sun for
countless centuries and rugged torn
mountains, with heads pillaring into
the heavens 1t is also rich in gold and
silver and lumber, but a frowning in
accessibility guards these treasures.
And it is a beautiful land, but IN its
beauty there is a something forbidding
covering it-a darkness, a silence, a
strange, vast silence
On the coast live the Siwash Indians.
Hardly any one lives in tho interior be-
cause of its extremes Of heat and cold.
These Indians fish and hunt in the sum
mer and sleep and eat IN the winter.
They daily with toll as little and as
coyly as possible They were a simple,
contented lot before civilization blessed
them. At present they are depraved and
rapidly dying out I hope people won't
think I'm cynical in speaking in this
manner about the blessings of civiliza-
ton. but it is a fact we'll known to trav-
eIers, and to that rara avis, the honest
statesman, that savage nations or tribes
are harmed by even friendly contact
with a civilized power. Why this oc-
ours would puzzle the wits of Plato to
explain. Possibly it is because civilized
whisky is too rich for savage blood.
To show you that these Indians are
not such a bad lot If left alone viii
tell you of a custom that is in vogue
among them. This custom is for an IN
dian to spend all the wealth he has
amassed during his lifetime IN giving
a great feast and presents to his friends
and neighbors and even to strangers
that may happen along. 1t is called
giving q potlatch The giver Of it has
his reward by being honored as good
and generous man. The more potlatches
the more honor. A man beggars himself
so that his friends viii think well Of
him. Think of it It is the ambition Of
all these Indians to become wealthy so
that they may give to Others-an am
bition Of which the grand Christ would
have approved Imagine such an aanbi-