The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-06-03

South Africa for the production of these
things. employing about $500 hands. There
are also breweries, 16 dis tilleries, 6S prime
ing and bookbinding establishments, with
116S hands; 70 iron foundries, with 800
hands; $50 carpenters, with 1900 hands;
35 furniture makers, with $50 hands. 81
ice plants, with 400 hands; II soap and
candle works, with 100 hands; 81 brick
yards and potteries, with S97 hands; II
manufacturing jewellers. with n hands.
In Natal there are also 80 sugar mills,
Is aerated water manufacturers, 8 tan
neries, 4 tea factories, l woollen factory,
2 iron foundries, tile factories and l
bacon curing establishment.
Hitherto the American exporters has
contented himself with looking after
South African trade in a desultory man
ner. He has sold through British repre-
sentatives or by means of catalogues All
that Is being changed. Some of the larg-
est makers of machinery now have per-
manent representatives in Cape Town.
A well known American life insurance
company owns the finest building in Cape
Town.
Trading with natives is lucrative and
incidentally full of happenings that are
decidedly funny Any one can sell any
thing to a native, providing the colorings
are sufficiently gorgeous. Place before
his glitterng eyes an array of second
hand British army coats, red in color
and beautifully adorned with bright brass
buttons, and he will pledge his very soul
to obtain one of them. The writer has
seen such articles bring 's25 apiece, al
though the original cost in London was
less than so cents.
Cheap jewelry, spangles, discarded the
atrfcal costumes-anything to appeal to
the savage taste, will attract the native.
And his trade is not to be desplsed, for
besides paying more than the white man
he pays cash. For months he will work
patiently and faithfully denying himself
even the necessities of life-if at the end
of that period he can indulge his particu-
lar craving, be it for knife or a razor, or
what not.
AS for the whites, their tastes are like
ours. The summers are very hot, so thin
clothing is required The winter weather
is bitter cold at times, especially on the
high plateaus, SO overcoats and even furs
are in demand. AS for dwellings, and fur
niture, even the Beers have acquired edu-
Gated tastes in these respects. Formerly
the Boer or Uitlander was contented with
a house made of either dried mud or cor
rugated iron bolted together. Now both
want modern, up-to-date dwellings, fur
nished in fine style. Lumber for all pur-
poses is scarce but only woods that can
bear intense heat should be exported. As
to furniture that used in cottages of light
but solid make, is best adapted for South
African uses.
Good Hotels Are Wanted.
And that recalls the demand for good
hotels in all parts of the country. Guide
books and travelling agencies will inform
you that first class hostelries are plentiful
neither are telling the truth. South Afri-
can hotels are terribly bad The accom-
modations are wretched, the food is worse
and the attendance vlle-and all at fancy
prices The first one to establish a real
hotel, on American lines, in South Africa,
will make a fortune. He will not have
to advertise, either, for the mere announce
ment of the existence of a real hotel will
cause a stampede in his direction.
Another line in which American inge-
nuity could find profitable outlet is in the
sanitation of every inland and many of
the seacoast settlements. johannesburg
and Pretoria have absolutely no sewerage
systems. In the former sewage IS put
in huge tanks on wheels and carted come
seven or eight miles out of town, where
it is permitted to pollute the atmosphere.
This is a fruitful source of disease. In
Pretoria ID is even worse. There the water
used for drinking purposes runs in open
troughs along the cutters of the streets.
The writer has seen a native wash his
body in one of these troughs, the while a
white woman was drawing water for cook
ing use a few hundred feet fur her DOWN.
In all settlements the systems of sewer
age and of water mains is most prim tive,
and live American contractor should find
no difficulty in doing profitable business.
But the writer would not advise any one
without ample capital to venture to South
Africa. There is no alluvial mining to
make the poor man rich, and all the mines
are in the hands of companies with thous-
ands of millions of capital. They employ
white labor only to plan and oversee. The
native doing the actual work at Sc a
month. In addition he gets quantity of
mealie Qndian corn) daily and half pound
of meat on Sundays. AS for employment
in other pursuits-there Is practically no
opportunity for the white man. Wages are
not commensurate to the cost of living.
To-day there are hundreds of capable
white men out of work, and when peace is
declared Industries will not revive with
sufficient rapidity 10 warrant an Ameri-
can rush for employment.
IL, however, the prospective emigrant
has capital, say $4,000 or more, he can
find many good chances for investment.
Let him go to Cape Town unbiased and
unhampered; let him settle down in some
moderate priced clearinghouse for few
months; let him look about, and then,
when he knows something of the land
and of the peoples. let him go into busi-
ness in conservative way. Three enter
prises which have the promise of finan-
cial success, II properly managed are the
raising of tea. coffee and tobacco. The
two former are yet in their Infancy as
far as South Africa is concerned. but
already the few planters are receiving