Evening star., 1901-11-09
The Chief Commercial City OF
25,000,000 People.
HAS AUTOMOBILES and BICYCLES
How Indigo May Be Raised in the
Philippines.
VISIT TO \ NORMAL SCHOOL
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
copyright 1901, by Frank G. Carpenter@


Copyright. 1901, by Frank G. Carpenter@
SOERBAIA, Java.
Have you ever heard of soerbaia? 1t is
the chief commercial city of this island of
2J,0g90G0 people. 1t is situated as far east
from Batavia as New York is from CleVe-
land and is connected by railroad with all
parts Of Java. l came to it on the gov
. ernmcnt line which crosses the island from
west to east, and my whole journey was
through rich plantations of coffee, tea, to-
bacco. sugar, indigo and rice There were
villages in sight all the way; the people
fairly swarmed, and got some idea of the
enormous population of this Dutch colony.
The New York of Java.
Soerbaia is the New York of Java 1t is
It's principal seaport and it has the Ilost
trade. The city has 10000 inhabitants,
and of these only 1900 are Europeans. Still,
these Europeans live far better than their
brothers of Europe. Many of them are rich
and their homes are palaces.
The streets of Soerbaia wide and
shaded with magnificent trees. They are
paved with asphalt and beautifully lighted
In the residence parts every house has a
large lawn about it, with palm trees and
flowers and well-kept walks. The grounds
about the better homes are as large as
those of Euclid avenue and they are equal
iy well kept Some of the houses are of
vast extent. They are of one story, but
the rooms are large and the ceilings very
high. Most Of the houses have yerandas
rooted with red tiles, which are upheld by
white marble pillars. Many of them are
hoored with marble, and marble forms
the floors of most of the porches. Tue town
has electric lights. Every well-to-do man
has telephone and all the modern con-
yeniences.
Bicycles and Automobiles.
came here to investigate the chances
for American trade. There is a good oper-
ing for our bicycles and also for auto
mobiles. There are many American BIZ
cycles used in Java. see our leading
makes In every town. Here in Soerbatd
the bicycles are taxed and there is number
fastened to the back of the seat OF every
wheel I noticed one the other day which
bore the figures 2OO2 SO l judge there must
be more than two thousand in the city.
These people want good thing, and are
accustomed to paying high prices.
1t seems strange to have to get out OF the
way of an automobile in Java. but / was
nearly run down by one the other night
The driver was a young Dutchman who
was out with his sweetheart taking the
air. His hand which should have been ON
the lever about the waist of his in
amOrata, and he was oblivious to globe
trotters and every one else.
All kinds of carriages are used here.
see English dog carts, victorias and lam
daus. The rich Dutchmen drive about IN
fine style. and many of the native chiefs
and mobiles have magnificent turnouts. The
ordinary vehicle is the Sado or doS-a-doS,
q sort of a little dogcart drawn by pony,
in which the driver sits in front and the
passengers behind facing the rear. These
are the cabs of Batavia, Soerbaia and the
other cities. although there are larger
vehicles for hire. No one thinks of walk
ing in this hot climate. and in the cooler
parts of the day the roads are full of car
riages. private and public. There are native
cOachmen and footmen in livery, and ac-
cording TO law, each coachman has TO have
a whistle TO warn others to keep out Of his
way. He carries this in his mouth and
toOts once or twice at every block
Chances for American Cott0ns.
Our cotton factories should send agents
TO Java to study the patterns and goods
needed by the people. Java imports from
SGoOGo,Oo0 to SS0.GU,000 worth of stuff
every year. and Il large amount of his is
cotton. England sells $s,G10,0oO worth of
piece goods to Java annually. and Germany
and Holland have a large share of the
trade. About S-np.rO worth of machinery
are brought in froDl England every year,
and an almost equal amount of iron. 1t
used to be that the Dutch monopolized
everything. but IT present difference is
made between Dutch and foreign imports
and the tariff is low
TIE chief American goods now sold are
carpenters tools and Sc wing machines. A
cheap variety of hand sewing machines Is
common and American axes are everywhere
In demand There are no American oottons
or prints to speak of. and these should be
the chief feature OF our trade.
How the Dutch Treat Travellers.
i don't think cur commercial travellers
would have any trouble in entering Java.
The cUstum officers are lenient- y drum
uler wso brought some samples of silver
plated ware to Batavia not lcu- ago was
allowed TO open his stuff in the custom
house and sell there lie was cha fged duty
only on the articles scla. and he used the
governrasn Mt Office store. There is
good opening here for American watches
and clocks. and for all kinds of American
knickknacks andnotiUns. The distance is too
great for flour and perisha bic products. and
the frtights are high. At present every
thing comes via Europe and the Suez canal
and this may still be the route after the
opening Of the Nicaragua canal, as the
Suez route will probably be the cooler.
Java's Big Sugar Plantations.
A vast deal of machinery of all kinds is
used in JIva. and it Will pay our export
ers to send their agents to work the
various factories. Th.re are sugar mills
here which have the finess OF modern ma
chinery. single machines running high into
the thousands of dollars. At present most
of such machinery GENES from Germany
or England, whereas il should come from
the United States. for the United States
takes great part of Java's sugar product
We took last year $4,000, ,U1) worth OF su-
gar from, This mort of Soerbata aiors i a,,f, SUI
our total imports of sugar last year from
Java amounted 10 S2I 000.000
Java is now producing about billion and
half pounds of sugar every year, and it's
plantations are among the richest of the
world The cultivation is along scientific
lines The fields are trenched to a great
depth and are otherwise cultivated more
carefully perhaps than in any other part of
the world, with the single exception of
the Hawaiian Islands They are planted
by cutting the cane into short lengths and
sticking IL upright in the ground In some
places the seed plants are raised on
me highlands and the cuttings carried to
the iowlands for planting. This is on ac-
COUNT OF disease which has recently af-
fected the cane of the lowlands
In the Cane FieIds.
Sugar grows luxuriantiy here The cane
AeIds are a very thicket through which Ii