Evening star., 1898-09-29
Dawson City Probably the Largest
Mining Camp in America.
HIGH PRICES And Few PAYING CLAIMS
Industrial Conditions of Haiti Re-
ported.
Their STATE P A P E r S

ing camp in America, is built on a bog or
swamp and contains a shifting population
which now numbers about 20 600. Forty
thousand prospectors have passed through
here from the White and Chiikoot passes.
Most of them had a years provisions.
Hundreds are going away daily, not being
able to stay long on account OF the cost OF
living. dinner costs $3.50 and breakfast
and lunch $50. Lodging Is 1.5o per night
in bunk and hotel charges $3.50 for
bed per night.
THE price of property in the business To-
cality is enormous. A lot of convenient
size upon the main street cannot be had
under $40 600. Lots in bog off Main street
bring from 50 900 to $4,000. To rent log
cabin costs $500 per month. With the ex-
ception of the warehouses, the theaters,
dance halls. saloons and gambling houses
are about the only establishments which
can afford these terms. Along the river
ground leased from the authorities brings
SO per front foot per month. This, with
the 10 per cent royalty charged on the
gross output yields a very large revenue
TN prevailing price of labor is 81 per
hour, but there are so many idle hands
waiting for employment that the supply
exceeds the demand. and may bring the
price down. Still there is the greatest ac-
tivity in the erection of large buildings and
warehouses.
Most of the prospectors who are coming
to Dawson City leave for camps in United
States territory, since, apart from the coun-
try in the immediate vicinity of Dawson
which has all been staked off this is the
most promising field But even here. out
of more than 5000 placer claims and 1000
bench claims, only 2Co have thus far paid
to work. great many have not Yet been
prospected and will have to be given up to
the crown, because one condition of the
grant is that every person having a claim
must work it continuously for three months
nrh "a Ninety d3ES' labor $40 a IaV
is a good deal to risk upon one claim and
a good many who cannot afford it will sur
render them. The creek claims have been
reduced In size from 500 to $50 feet.
Last Years Output.
Estimates of last years output range
from $S,0Co,ooo to S12,o000o0 Work has
largely been confined to Bonanza and Ell
dorado creeks. Dominion. Sulphur and Eu-
reko creeks viii be opened up next winter,
they promise good results. One cannot
prospect in summer. as the pits which are
dug then fill with water. 1t is by the
merest chance that one may strike a rich
claim. No poor man should sell out and
come here. Organized companies with cap
ital viii do much better, as they can hire
work much more cheaply than Individuals
In later report, dated August "a, Consul
McCoOk further emphasizes the distress
among the prospectors in and around DaW-
son City. and strongly advises no one to
Join in the hunt for gold unless he has at
least enough provisions to last over win
ter. and enough money in bank to take him
home if he is unsuccessful. The consul
says he is appealed to daily by men who
have no money and cannot get work, and
he advises such of them able to
travel to go to St. Michaels, where. he is
informed the government is arranging to
take care of them by putting them in COM
municat;on with friends in the United
States
Industrial Conditions in Haiti.
Consul Livingston at Cane Haitien has
made a report to the State Department in
regard to industrial conditions in Haiti, in
which he says:
THE successful prosecution and final
suits Of the late war with Spain have made
a profound impression unon the more
thoughtful element of the Haitian people.
Europeans residing here have been endeav
orng to persuade them to seek closer affili-
atons with the United States. But this
advice. coming from quarters whose inter
est in Haiti is simply what they can get
out of the country. does not appeal to the
natives as strongly as it otherwise might,
although the majority of the Haitians are
intense partisans of the United States
The industrial depression of Haiti has
reached such critical point that the coun-
Try must soon become a prey to internal
descriptions, or to the European government
which may have the greatest claim upon it.
Tha currency has become so deprecated as
to be wen nigh worthless, and its daily
fluctuations; seem the result of caprice
Aimrsr all business enterprises are either
bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy.
Business is at standstill. and no one
either native OF foreigner, Is able to see any
way out of the difficulty. Such is the con-
hition o. country with a soil the fertility
OF which probably surpasses that of any
other in the world. Everything grows with
out effort. There are. dyewoods and cabinet
woods in aDundance-even virgin forests of
mahogany and other hardwoods-and the
ttNtr oil III
to be considerable.
Il believe n tour of the island. with a
view of making a thorough inquiry into ;Ss
industrial condition embracing the princi-
pal settlements of the interior as well as
the cities along the coast would reveal a
held ripe for the investment of American
capital Ny suggestion woull be to visit all
the important coast towns examine into
business methods. ana conditions and make
inquiries of rative and foreign business men
ana neiShboring planters, both as to pres-
cnt condltions and future possibilities. I
am told that the people of the interior are
a SIMPLE and industrious peasantry but
are making rC headway owing to the alb
sence of modem improved methods and i'm
Dieme nts
Il feel sure that such an Investigation if
acted cr in good faith. would result ir. i'm
ln2nse gooG to the Island of Haiti be sides
securing field for American capitaI and
commerce y
Complications in China
ii
Department upon the Belgian enterprise in
China United States Consul Morris at
Ghent, attributes to the concession secured
by Belgium for railroad from Pekiu to
Han kau the recent complications which
have led to EIglands prott st. 1t ppears in
MIR. Morriss report that Belgium was Sc
lected by China as neutral alton to re-
celve this concession, other nations with
interests there having entered into a con-
test for the privilege, it being realized that
the new line was of no little strategic i'm
rnrtauce, The Belgian syndicate, however
Immediately turned to the French capital-
lists for funds, while the Russo-C Chinese
Bank was to act as financial agent. Sub
sequent GeN elopments would tend to show
that the greater portion of the money has
been VIII be subscribed by Russian cap
itai.sts and the balance in great part by
the French.
Here is the occasion of England's protest.
says the consul.
Americans Drink Good Tea.
In report to the State Department upon
the Formosa tea trade United States Con-
sui Johnson, al Annoy, after showing that
the great tea trade al that center was
saved to the United States from absolute