The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-23
BY WILLIAM THORP,
Copyright, 1903, by William Thorp.

K.C.LE. He was born at Bonn, in
Germany, the son of professor of phi
losophy; and was educated at COpen-
hagen, Gottingen and Bonn UNIVERSE
ties.
From childhood he showed a re-
markable love for forest lore and ami
! NAL life, and those were the studies
which he pursued most keenly in his
more mature years. When he was
still a young man, he was famous
throughout Germany for his intimate
knowledge of the ways of wild ami
mails and of the social life of the
the woods and the forests. Long be-
fore the modern nature study became
popular he was "facile princeps" in
the craft.
The Indian government heard of
him and secured his services when the
preservation and extension of India's
| forests became a burning question. He
| was made inspector general of forests
in India in 1864, and held the post for
nineteen years. He is now living in
| retirement at Bonn.
Sir Dietrich Brands is one of the
| worlds really great men who is I'M
known except to those with whom he
has come into contact officially in In
dia. At least, he is unknown under his
own proper name; but he is known
and admired by millions Of people as
Muller" in Kipling's enthralling
story, In the Rukh." Kipling knew
him well in India, and has painted his
| portrait to the life.
The gigantic German who was the
head of the Woods and Forests OF all
India, Head Ranger from Burma to
! Bombay" he says, had a habit of
] fitting bat-like without warning from
! one place to another, and turning up
exactly where he was least looked for.
His theory was that sudden visitatons,
/ the discovery of shortcomings and
word of-mouth upbraiding of a subor-
dinate were infinitely better than the
| slow processes of orrespondence-a
| thing in after years to be counted
| against a forest officers record
GAS he explained it: If 1 only talk
| to my boys like a Dutch uncle. dey
say, 1T was only dot damned old
Muller" and dey do better next time.
| But If my fat head clerk he write
| and say dot Muller, der inspector gen.
eral, fail to understand and is much
| annoyed, first dot does no good, be-
| cause l am not dere, and, second, der
| fool dot comes after me he may say
to my best boys: "Look here, you
hat been winged by NV predecessor"
I tell you der big brass hat pizness
| does not make der trees grow"
over the campfire in the depths Of
the "rukh," the wise old German tells
one of his subordinate foresters:
| II went into headquarters to
make up my rebOrt last month. l hat
| written half-ho! holland der rest
hat leaved to my CLERKS and come out
for a walk. Der government is mad
about dose reborts. l dold der Vice.
| roy so at Simla.
IF / find you, Osborne, sitting in
your bungalow und Matching reborts
| to be about der plantations instead of
| riding der plantations, l will dransfer
| you to der middle of der Bikaneer
| Desert to refOrest him. l am sick of
reborts .und chewing paper when we
should do our work"
Other Germans In EngIand's Service.
Another German scientist who has
| risen to distinction in the, British serv-
ice is Sir Ferdinand Won Mueller. K.
| c. M. G.. He has been the head of the
| Botanical Department in the colony
| of Victoria since 1852, having attained
| that high position at the early age of
| 81. He was born and educated in Ger
| many, and is a baron of the Kingdom
| of Wurtemberg. as well as British
knight.
There are many distinguished nom
| British administrators in nearly all of
| Englands colonies who hold high pc-
sitions and titles of honor; but they
| which they serve, and therefore can
hardly be reckoned among England's
foreign rulers. Sir Virgile Max, K. C.
NJ c., a prominent member of the
| Legislative Council of Mauritius, and
Sir Salvatore Naudi, Maltese judge
and legislator of note, are good types
| of this class of administrator. still
better type was the late Sir Conrad
Reeves, the mulatto newsboy of Bar
bados, who became chief justice of
that colony and was knighted by the
Queen.
The Rise of n MuIattO.
He sold newspapers in the streets
so theoretically that he attracted the
attention of the newspaper proprie-
tors, who gave him a chance as re-
| porter He worked hard and became
editor, studied law at nights. saved
money went to England, and was
admitted to the bar at the Middle
Temple. Then he returned to Bar
bados and set up in practice as bar
rister
At first he had a hard struggle. Peo-
pie who had known him as a ragged
urchin in the streets did not care ia
; | entrust him with the Strengthening OF
their legal difficulties. But he per-
servered, and conducted his cases sc
brilliantly that he was soon the lead
ing local barrister.
He went into politics and strenu-
, ously attacked the shortcomings OF
the government. Nevertheless, the
government recognized his ability by
making him attorney general. That
was an unheard of honor for a colored
man at this time--twenty years ago
and it provoked a good deal of criti-
, cism. The government retorted by
, making him chief justice as soon as
there was a vacancy, thereby breaking
a favorite rule in British administra-
ton which DEGREES that no native of a
British crown colony should be d
Judge in that colony. The mulatto OBJ
tanned an office denied to hundreds OF
+. distinguished white barristers all over
the British Empire.
! One of the well-known Legislators
of Cape Colony, the Hon. Frederic
Schermbaucker, is a German. He was
born near Frankfort-on-the- Main, and
served in the BaTarian army before he
emigrated to South Africa. He has
never been naturalized, but that fact
does not seem to interfere with his
political career under the British flag
! And so the tale might go on indeh-
: nitely. Whatever part of the British
Empire the traveller visits he finds for
eigners among England's best SER
wants and rulers, and often as not
they still owe technical allegiance to
; the flag under which they were born.
for Domeeffe or