Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-30

these ships will soon call at Tutuila in
stead.
Tutuila, which is the largest OF our
Islands In the Samoans. has the best har-
Dor In the southern Pacific, and 1t Is not i'm
probable that II may become the principal
island OF this part Of the world. For a long
time the Samoan group was under the pro-
lection Of England, Germany and the United
States, but the Germans so acted that we
narrowly escaped having a war with them,
and then Great Britain agreed that the
group should be divided between us and
the Germans. And we got the best Of the
bargain.
What really may in time become VALUABLE
property are the German possessions in
New Guine aud in the Bismarck archipel-
ago, lying Just east of It. New Guinea is an
enormous island and the Germans have the
southeastern end OF It. They have lands
thore one-third as large as the whole Ger
man empire. The soil is good for farming
and the mountains are said to contain gold
and other minerals. There are good har-
bors along the northern coast and about
these the are now setting out
sugar plantations. They are experimenting
with cotton. and hope that this country. in
connection with their possessions in South
Africa, may eventually supply their fac
tories. They can hire labor at about 5
cents a day and at this rate 1t is hard to
see how we can compete when we must pay
from rs cents to 81 a day.
German New Guinea has rolling plains
covered with rich grasses. 1t is a good
horse and cattle country and altogether It
is said to be a land of promise.
American Queen of Neu Pommern.
The richest woman in all the German pos
sessions in the Pacific is an American. She
lives on the island OF Neu Pommern in the
Bismarck archipelago and she has six
times as many acres as any of the indi-
yiduaI Germans. She has a plantation there
which contains l20, 900 acres. She has long
stretches Of sea beach which are rich in
pearl shells and pearl oysters, and she
ships shells by the hundreds OF tons. One
Of her cotton plantations contains $4,000
acres, and upon it are employed fifty Euro
peans and hundreds OF natives. She has
other lands on the islands nearby and alto
gether she is very rich. She is a trader as
we'll as a farmer and her ships go from
island to island buying copra, pearl shells
and beche de mer and selling bright colored
calicoes, American axes, knives and to-
bacco, together with crackers, canned meats
and chewing gum. She was the first to In
troduce American chewing gum into the
islands. The natives have acquired the
habit and | am told that even the New
Guinea girls now chew gum.
This woman's name is Mrs. Emma f.
Forsythe. She is the daughter Of one OF
our American consuls to the Samoan
islands who married the daughter OF a
Samoan CHIEF. She was well educated and
when about IS married an Englishman who
soon died and left her a widow. This was
about thirty or more years ago and Mrs.
Forsythe, who received a small property
from her husbands estate, concluded to In
vest 1t in trading in different parts Of the
South seas. She bought her ships in San
Francisco and sent them from island to
island. making something Of a speciality OF
the New Guinea trade She saw that there
was money in the business and developed
It. As she grew richer she bought land and
set out plantations OF cocoanuts and copra
She had ~onderful business ability and