Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-11-12

| ALNUT SIS.
the nursery rhyme of Ten Little Indians,
| only two are left
AS the anchor was dropped the rail wa
crowded with passengers going into costa
sizes over the scenery. This display of sen
tirnent on the part of the English consiste
in exclamations Of "Chawming, l ar
suawr," emanating from faces as placid a
platters of cold butter. With high mount
| aims in the background the city of La
Palmas. with its white houses and mar
row streets stretched from the edge of tn
4 azure blue bay up the mountain side to tn
foot Of the grim Spanish fort. 1t hovere,
above the peaceful scene in unmarried dig
nifty. An Englishman who has large coal
| Ing interests there, said to me:
CoalinE Mt Las PaImas.
tits a pity you Americans did not ge
| these islands instead of the Philippines
These are much more valuable. They ar
the source of an enormous revenue. Th,
inhabitants are Spaniards who wouldn'
care rap who owned the islands so lon.
as they could be as lazy as they are"
We lay there all day coaling. The harbo
was crowded with ships. On an average O
40 steamers a month are said to coal a
Las Palmas alone. This coal comes from
Cardiff. Wales. The Royal West India
mail steamers. the South American steam
ers. West African, Cape Town, Natal. anG
intermediate steamers, besides ''tramps'
from ports in all parts of the world use
this as coaling and watering port. The
proverbfal Spanish character is exhibited
in the management of these islands as
elsewhere. A breakwater to protect the
port has only recently been completed. En-
glish capital did it. The Spaniards had
been putting it off until next year" Now
English capital owns the warehouses and
coaling equipments. Although 1,JO0 miles
farther away. the coal on board the steam
ers costs less than a shilling more per ton
than 1t does in London. This is due, most
ly, Was told. TO the great difference in
the cost of labor at these two ports. To
coal steamer appears to be about as
hard work, from physical standpoint, as
Is possible to imagine. The Spaniards at
Las Palmas toiled all day slowing 500 tons
In the bunkers of our steamer for the en-
ticing sum of 80 cents per man.
Incidence and SquaIOr Rule.
To the American believing that on the
workingman rests the stability and pros
perity- of his country. the condition of the
laborfng class at the Canaries does not
cause many regrets that these islands are
not now an artery flowing with revenue
into the United States treasury. They
would also serve as veins polluting the life
OF the republic with impurities of social
conditions that, it certainly appears. could
not be cleansed as long as Spanish DISPOSE
ton and the climatic conditions remain as
they now are. American manhood could
scarcely appreciate condition where hu-
man beings. heads of families. barefooted
and in rags, work twelve hours for 30
cents. singing and laughing, while a bully
ing foreman curses and yeils at them.
There Is absolutely nothing congruous be-
tween them and republican form of gov
ernment. They appear to have no idea
of any responsibility in life Their fathers
for generations were just like them.
For blocks and blocks one can walk
along the narrow streets of Las Palmas
and see in the open doors of the one story
houses, naked children, goats and dogs
sprawling about on the baked mud floors,
while the head of the house, in flowing
yellow. blue or red sash, few bits of vivid
colored ribbons tied picturesquely about
his clothing, lounges in the doorway,
singing and laughing as some pretty
senorita passes along on a donkey, or
cursing violently in the next breath as one
OF his own progeny scrambles over his
Spain "Milks" the islands.
The land holding class of Spaniards cares
as little for his impoverished countrymen
as he does for his donkey Some single
fruit Plantations, I was told, clear over
$4,000 year. Not one cent of this sum is
kept In the island to improve it. 1t goes
10 Spain, where the landholder consumes
It IN luxury. The annual export of tropical
and semi-tropical fruits from the islands
IS enormous. A few places In Spain are
the only evidences of its prosperous reye-
nue.. Thousands Of Spaniards live in the
Stands in apparent contentment and happi- |
ness with not IS head invested in house
hold furniture. There are two large hotels |
n Las Paimas. winter resorts for English
men, owned, like the few other evidences \
of enterprise, by the English themselves. |
AS If wages were not small enough. the |
'Tlcials tax everything, even tram tickets |
dill posters and tickets to bull fights.
Vas told by several that Spain actually
ost money on the war revenue stamps
she printed for the islands Letters were |
aXed. The patriotic Spaniards ceased |
writing.
All day long the ship swarmed with
spanish merchants who rowed out to it, or
more correctly, were rowed out to it by I
mall boys. !. did not see one of this class
II Spanfards who exerted himself In the
east. save in wild and picturesque gesticu-
ations with his hands and arms. as he
'rdered about the boys who carried his
'roduce and rowed his boat They had |
limost everything to sell from punches of |
'ananas to green parrots and needlework
including cigars. melons, fans and canary
'irds. The officers of the steamer notified
he passengers of the peculiar business
qualifications of these venders SO that the
ourists were prepared and no sales were
losed until the innocent and polite looking
Don had gradually cut his price from 100
o 500 per cent below his original cost
rice" and still made profit that warmed
ne cookies of his brigand's heart.
Diving for Pennies.
But there is one industry which flour.
shes at Las Palmas with the arrival of
ach steamer laden with passengers eager
or any diversion from the monotony of
cean travel. Shortly after the medical Of
Ger of the port, with much dignity and +
ong drawn out display of official import
nee, had passed upon the ships papers
nd admitted her past quarantine, several
core OF boys from to II years old in
ow boats swarmed about the ship and in
twinkling We're as devoid of those inven-
ions for the protection of excessively cuI-
waited modesty as when they first arrived
4 the world. Then their musical chatter
or pennies began and kept up until the
hadows of the mountains curtained the
ay in darkness.
"Senioretta- penny. Mistaire. penny"
hey cried. motioning to the crystal blue
epths of the. bay. An officer threw a
ig English penny into the water Like