Evening star., 1894-02-16
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS.

Seoas VI age ana stoop-shouldered His face
Is scanned with the wear OF time but In its
FEATURES as plain to be read as an open
book. is the fact that he is a business man
or saeacity. holiness and long experience
Mr. Yates is the senior member of the firm
Of Yates & Porterfield OF New York. who
since 1854 have run a line Of freight steam
ers from that port to Liberia II any man
knows the African republic oe the west
coast MI. Yates is the man. He is the
Libertan consul to the United States and
lives at Plainfield,N. j., when NOT M his
t New YORK desk. which. by the by. is many
hours day. He came to Washington
thursday morning and slipped out again
at IL o clock last night. His wealth is esti-
mated at anything between ten and twenty
the corridors of the National last night
eVioently anxious to be gone. YES" he
said' IN high-ptched and somewhat peev-
ish voice. I know all about Liberia. What
90 you know about it? 1t has an area of
oOoOO0 square miles, one third of which is
arabic. The rest is timber land and mouu-
taihs. Some of the ground will grow ANY,
s. .iiis. anu some OF IT is SO poor that you
Goulon raise row On forty acres of It
IL s population is 10000: and very few of
the people are white OF these people Is
ooo are American neg coes. They came
mostly from Arkansas. Georgia and South
Narolha, put every part of the south is
represented The remainder are natives
Inc products are coffee, palm oil gum
copalba ivory. woods that are used for
oyeihS the finest siiken fabrics and picka-
ninnies. Despite the latter. population is
not increasing. 1t is about at a standstfll
Inc country Is developing slowly OF course
~ ~ mas much improved since the United
states took hold of ii in 1890. 1t grew a good
deal after the close of our civil war, but il
lacks much of being a first rank power
even IN 1874. The temperature is remark
aoie. spring, summer, autumn and winter
the thermometer ranges from 50 to So de-
srees fanrenheit in the daytime, never
higher and never lower. Liberia is but
eight degrees north of the equator, and
tnere is not much room for variation There
is always a land breeze or a sea breeze a-d
the nights are cool. The college at Mon
rovla Is doing well. The country mas six
missionaries, who devote most of their time
TO the natives, the American blacks being
OF course. already Christianized. We carry
In our ships about 10 emigrants a year
You can see for yourself that the outpour-
ing TOE is not heavy enough to seriously
deplete the southern plantations Some
times western editor having nothing bet
ter to do. gets Historically funny, says that
our business is to carry rum and mission
aries. L feel grateful but you can say for
me that not drop OF rum or any other
tntoxicant has ever been carried to Africa
In one of my ships. We take such emf
vegetable products OF the country. notably
the Libertan coffee, which is the finest in
the world. So fine is il that the British
government has made many efforts to grow
II
with little success. 1t has also been tried in
Brazil. but failure has followed there also.
You may say for me. too." said MI. Yates
rising from the chair into which he had
dropped. that while 1t Is a part OF my busi-
ness to transport African emigrants from
the United States TO Africa | tell them to
stay at home. They are never satisfied over
there They are miserable The self-ex-
patriated negro suffers with nostalgia as
keenly as Laplander Let him stay where
he is. 1 don't want his money. This may
shock some of my southern friends who
want to get rid of him SO badly even
though they have no idea of how they
would get along without him, but it is a
matter OF my own knowledge, and is hon.
estly stated"
Registered at the Ebbitt is Mrs. Ira d.
sankey of Brooklyn. She has come to
washington to see how the sweet singer of
israel whose name she bears is prosper
ing with his revival work. She is seem
ingiy not over thirty years old. OF fair skin
and with plenty of soft brown hair The
face is placid and kindly and there Is some
thlng IN II which bespeaks the minister's
vile, although she carries herself with the
ar OF me Travelled woman OF the world. and
dresses quietly but with extreme elegance
surrounded last night by congratulatory
tr1ends and newspaper men was Senator
elect McLaurin from Mississippi He Is a
southerner, looks the southerner and, con-
sequently. puts up at the Metropolitan. He
talked freely and with that rare tact which
enables a man to use a great MANY words
without saying anything. Upon the subject
as to whether he would or would not vote
for the confirmation Of Mr.. Peckham he
was as dumb as an oyster with the laryn-
gifts.
For some days the hotels Of Washington
have shown little variety in the character
OF their guests. The usual quota of COM
nercial travellers and sightseers are on
hand, or course, but the others are all man.
utacturers or miners or large producers Of
one kind or another. They are brought by
the transference of the tariff bill to the
senate end of the Capitol, and are all en-
gagged in last desperate rally to get what
they want themselves, whether anybody
else gets anything or not. Iron men, coal
men, cloth men, boot and shoe men. ali
sorts and conditions OF rich men are on the
ground. In their rooms. in the parlors and
In the dining halls talk upon this. that or
the other schedule falls upon the ear and
around the cigar stands and above the long
mahogany counters In the Easements ar
Euments that are suiphuric turn the air
blue.
Mr.. Edward B. Bartlett, now at the Eb-
bitt. is a fair sample OF what horse-sense
honesty and industry may DO In America.
He is in the neighborhood of fifty, and
would be picked out for a man Of strong
mentality in any company. Not many
years ago he was managing editor and
literary director OF junk shop in New
York. and had a very big one at that He
conceived the idea OF organizing a vast
warehoUsing company. seeing the need of
such a thing, and went to work. Today he
Is president of the Empire Warehouse Com
pany of New York, possibly the largest
concern Of its kind in the world employs
hundreds Of men, handles millions of dol
lars worth of property yearly and will die
enormously rich. He is indefatigably in
dustrious, and a sound and pleasant talker
THE COMMISSIONERS, CAIIrRs