The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-06

The peninsula had no such r~eady-made adj
vantages as nature bestowed on the archi-
pelago. Its agricultural product was rice,
grown in quantities barely sufficient to feed
the inhabitants. Only a small proportion
of the land ever knew cultivation. and the
Astounding jungle and swamp barred APP
prOach 10 much of it. Railways and roads
have virtually created a territory of vast
fertility, to be enriched further by irriga-
ticn, until, quite apart from the mines,
products are assured from the states as
varied and bountiful as may be had in any
tropical region. Experiments nave not yet
tested the capabilities of the peninsula III
tobacco and hemp, nor is it imposed that
the peninsula will develop these staples
of wealth as has the archipelago, but in
coffee. tea, cinchona, pepper, rubber and
various fruits the OUTLOOK is promising.
There are undoubted possibilities in sugar,
and inspection of the forests has encour-
aged the hope that in this line may be
developed one of the most important indus
tries in the states.
Discrimination to undertake ordinary labor
characterizes the MaIays here, as else
where. Some of them have become we'll
TODD through the accident of ownership
- $500 80 ONAANAAF AAAAAAAI SA4AA091 h1lS
glad TO rent for mining. and to pay we'll for
it. Chinese furnish nearly all the miners
as well as the operators. They have sue
ceeded, employing primitive methods, where
Europeans have failed, and mining prom
ises to remain in their hands. That ac-
counts for the great increase in the Chinese
population, from 1884, coo in 1891 to 3O3. 900 in
1901 In Perak and Selangor, the great tin
nrn1l1ain0 states rha CHfH4n1
the Malays by $4,000. Malay population,
however, has advanced from go, 900 in 1891
to 319, 900 in 1901, and the increase has been
uniformly distributed among the states,
more so than has that OF the Chinese. The
total population of the states has reached
something more than $4,000, an increase of
61.55 per cent in ten years. 1t may not be
that the Malay Increase originated wholly
within the states, for the comfortable con-
ditions there have doubtless attracted Ma
lay immigration from neighboring districts.
But the birth rate has been noticeably
large, rejecting general happiness, a sat
isfying prosperity and wholesome living.
MALAY MADE COMMENTED.
What federation has done for the Malay
must be measured by standards of govern
ment. While commerce and industry are of
course, depedent upon orderly rule, the
Malay. contributed so little to either of
these lines that the contentment which ne
manifests is TO be traced to causes bearing
only remotely upon pecuniary considera-
tons. Mr.. Preacher, in discussing this ques-
ton. says that the reply to it is that pro-
lection has given to the Malay security for
life and property unknown before to the
common people, when wives, daughters and
property were at the mercy of the a~ristoc-
racy; it has given him a permanent title to
his land; it has established for him means
or communication by road and rail; it has
opened for him a local market for his
labor and his produce; it offers him free
education for his children. free hospital
treatment and medicines when sick, and
banks where he can deposit at interest his
small earnings; it has abolished slavery and
piracy, and practically put an end to the
scOurges of smallpox and cholera; it has
helped TO drain and irrigate the padi fields,
contributed TO the cost of mosques, opened