The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-19
ANACONDA NEWS.
4 VISITOR FROM CEYL0N
". L. Tissera a Native Tea Mer-
chant in Anaconda.
HE TAtKS'OF HIS COUNTRY
Was a Worlds Fair Commissioner and
He Gave Up a Civil Service APP
pointment to Become an
= American Citizen.

v. L. Tissera, a native of Ceylon, was
a visitor in Anaconda yesterday. Mr..
Tissera is very dark and might at first
glance be taken for an African, but
upon closer inspection it is noticed that
his features are fine, his lips thin and
his hair straight, and he resembles more
closely a Japanese than an African,
though he is darker than the members
of the former race. He is very finely
educated and speaks English fiuently,
correctly and without the slightest ac-
cent. He was one of the C~eylonese COM
missioners to the worlds fair and mas
remained in this country ever since. He
said last night that he was the only
native of his country that had ever
come to the United States, taken a grip
in his hand and gone out upon the road
selling goods. p
Mr.. Tiesera is a tea merchant. His
parents own a tea plantation in Ceylon
and he started in business in Chicago
selling the product of his parents
farms. His business has, however, in
creased so largely that his. agents now
buy tea in his home country and he sells
that to meet the demand for this quail
ity of goods. Altogether Mr.. Tissera
has been, in the United States five years
and he is a thorough American at heart.
1t Is a pleasure to hear him express his
opinion of our government and its In
situations, and he seems to think that
no one who has been born under the
glorious stars and stripes can appreciate
thoroughly al that the United states
form of government guarantees to its
citizens. He became attached to this
country soon after he arrived and says
that this fall at the congressional cleo
ton he will cast his first vote. Il IN
not" he said. taking much interest IN
politics. but tcan say that l am a BIZ
metallist."
He said that the suspension of the
coinage of silver by the Indian mints
was little short of a crime 1t was
largely responsible for the terrible fam
inc in India over a year ago and also
for the loss of a large part of the ~
600, 900 lives that resulted from that fam
inc. When asked how the demonetiza-
ton of silver had anything to do with
the famine he explained that the drought
found the poor with only a few coppers
as their worldly possessions. Had they
had more money and had they not been
so improvident they would have put in
larger crops; there would have been
more acres under cultivation, so that
I'm spite of the drought more would have
been grown than was the case.
Mr.. Tissera was born in Colombo, the
capital of Ceylon, but is well acquainted
with all portions of the island. He was
in the British civil service when he came
to this country, being connected with
the railroad department. An appoint
ment in the civil service is for life and
he had brilliant prospects of advance
ment before him, but he gave up all
these in order to become a citizen or
the United States n he thinks he
made a good exchange.
Asked about the British government
in Ceylon, Mr.. Tissera said the English
have governed Ceylon for 100 years.
During that time much progress has
been made. The Ceylonese have a rep
resentative government; that is to say,
they have native members in their par
lament. The one great improvement
that he hopes to see carried out is that
of free education, as we have 1t in this
country. England, he says, has received
credit for having done much for Ceylon,
but it should not be forgotten that Cey-
lon had done a good deal for England.
Ceylon has been an immense market
for the goods she has manufactured.
and the tea and other products of Cey-
lon have in the past nearly all found
their way to British ports and the.c COM
MERGE has greatly enriched England.
As a native, Mr.. Tissera is opposed to
any further European accessions In
Asia. He wants to see the government
of Ceylon more liberal than it is, but he
SAYS on no account do they want Rus
sian ascendancy. He would, though.
now, IL. at home, be a strong advocate
of reforms in his home government. The
Ceylonese are mostly Buddhist. They
are a tranquil people and do not believe
in eating flesh or shedding blood, but
Mr.. Tissera intimated that should an
attempt be made to Cypress them any
more than they are now oppressed they
would fight for their liberty.
In Ceylon, he says. caste makes just
two c~lasses-the very rich and the very
poor. There is no middle class. The
rich are we'll educated and speak En-
glish and other languages, but the poor
speak only their native tongue. They
are wretchedly paid. s cents a day in
our money being the average days
wage. hat is the reason, he says, that
this country could never compete with
CeylSn in growing tea. There are por-
tions of North Carolina fitted for tea
ground and some tea is grown there
but owing to the high price of wages
paid in the United States, as compared
with all the other tea producing coun.
tries, competition is out of the question,
Mr.. Tissera showed the Standard re-
porter some of the samples of his tea
One little box contained tea valued al
s1.93 a pound. 1t was soft, silky-lookine
stuff. every leaf rolled up and shining
NTH a macmillan gloss thai noOa of the