Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-29
TO CARRY OUR GRAIN
Unique Gathering Of Ocean Tramps
in American Ports.
FROM EVERY QUARTER OF TEE GLOBE
The Crews Are Queer Medley of
Many NationaIities.
GENES ON SHIPBOARD


never since transatlantic freightage be-
gan. have such large quantities of grain
been carried abroad as will sail this fall to
| feed hungry Europe. Any craft that floats
| is good enough to carry grain this year.
| The shippers and supercargoes, who are
| ever on the scent for business, and range
| from South Africa to Hong Kong in their
| hayward courses. are now gathering to the
| American ports as flies swarm in a candy
shop.
| Twice this fall-once in plain sight of the
Coney Island excursion boats-I have seen
| crews of Lascars eating their queer for
eign-looking meals. squatted fiat on the
| decks of tramp steamers hailing from In
dian ports.
| The Lascars were sitting in circle with
| a bowl of rice in the center, on the deck.
| They dip the rice out with their hands,
| tilt their heads back and throw in-that is
| the crude Lascar of commerce does So
| though some have learned to eat with
| spoons by the time they get to New York.
| Lascars for sailors and Cinnamon for
| stewards is the rule on Indian tramps.. The
little celestials are simply perfect cabin
servants. and 1t costs little to feed them
| they too live mostly upon rice.
Upon the same steamer one will Off
| GERS eating meat and vegetables with
| knives and forks, Lascar sailors eating rice
| pilot with their bare hands, Chinese stew
| ards hourishing their chop sticks, and per-
| haps a few Hindoos in group apart, who
| for reasons of caste must dine separately.
Strange Medley of Nations.
| 1t is a strange mixture of races and re-
ligions that gathers the water front to
help feed Europe with Yankee grain. There
| have been seen this year Hindoo Moham-
| medans and Lascars of the same belief
| prostrating tn emselves toward Mecca in
| the ports of Philadelphia and Baltimore,
| as well as New York. There are Buddhists
| and Confucians-if that is the correct word
| the cook of his craft was MahdiSt from
! the Soudan-a man from what has been
| the most inaccessible spot on this earth for
| the last fifteen years.
! This MahdiSt believes that the true be-
levers are invulnerable by Christian bull
| lets.
| But many of the Mahdists have been
wounded by the Egyptians" argued the
teasing engineer one day.
True, . kwageh. but they must have
been bad men, or the Prophet would not
| have let them be hurt
| invaluable Is such faith At any rate
| this zealot of the Soudan is a good sea
cook. In his youth he probably never saw
| ram, Tor there are whole regions in the
| Soudan where 1t never falls but he has
| seen water enough since
| For the rest, the medley of nations on
| the wharves is always confusing enough,
| the Norwegians and Dutch cheerily hob
/ AAODDiAS Win DIlliSu ana SDanlarOS and
! Portygees' of all Europeans rank
| next 10 Lascars at the bottom of the scale
| Transferring the Grain.
| The lighters which take the grain from
the big elevators are ugly hulks enough.
MT only for harbor use. They snuggle up
| to the big elevators which dip their tubular
| processes deep into the lighters bodies,
| anu suck away like mosquitoes until all the
] grain is drawn up. The probosces are Ell
| lptlcai tubes which are thrust down into
the grain. and "eat it up" with an endless
beit oil disks of metal showing it up the
| tube.
The grain goes up. 5000 bushels an hour,
| 10 the hopper. and thence travels to the
| weighing box Here it is always found
| nShter than when It started from the nest
| having dried out on the way. Endless are
| the squa bibles between buyer and seller over
| this difference.
| From the Weighing box to the hold of the
| tramp steamer the grain travels on other
| endless belts. Shovels and human muscle
have little to do with this part OF the pro-
| cess of feeding Europe.
| Loading the Ships.
Pretty nearly all steamships nowadays
| have their hulks divided INTO sections; and
grain ships must be 50 divided. The grain
must be put evenly into the sections, and
one must not be too far ahead Of another
! in the loading; otherwise the ship will be
| HoSSeu, OF warped out OF her shape. The
| work OF trimming the wheat is very hard,
and the men who do it must wear wet
| sponges over their mouths, Or perhaps wet
ted rags laid across their faces. Even then
the dust frequently makes them ill.
When all is done the ship sails away with
| an ever-lurking danger under matches The
wheat may heat" especially if it is at all
| damp when loaded. and slowly smoldering
| set the ship on fire by spontaneous COM
| bustion. Only one form of cargo is more
| dangerous. and that is cotton. Transat-
| lantic steamships that bid for heavy pas
| senger traffic are obliged to carry no cotton
| If they wish to command high prices for
| cabins. There are no such restrictions as
to wheat; but the captain Of every steamer
carrying it is ready. day or night, at a mo-
| ments notice, to flood any one of his COM
| partments to save the rest of the ship.
These some of the dangers run by the
| queer little dark men of the far east, and
| the big blonde Scandinavians and all the
| rest of the congress Of nations who gather
| at the loading Of the motley tramp fleet
| that Is saving Europe from the grip of
| hunger.
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