The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-01-06

NATIVES OF 1NTEH1OH OF 81 MATRA.
land and who are jealous of the ma
tons prestige, are strongly opposed to
the plan.
What the outcome uff e.tba agitation
will be is uncertain, but the history lof
some of the other European nations
in the matter of colonial possessions
would point the wisdom Of selling |
while such course Is possible. Spain,
through pride, held on to her colonies
WnIl9 Ia G;IIs.Is 11Sx catalogues, ss1Is ~
last lost them, when she might have
sold them years before for goodly
sum. And since her islands were
wrested from her the prosperity of the
nation has revived amazingly. Portu- /
gal would be able to get rid of a large
portion Of her navy debt, which is sap |
ping her vitality and obstructing pros
perity, had she accepted the Oilers
made by England, France and Ger
many, as we'll as by the late Cecil
I Rhodes, for the purchase of her i'm
| mense territories in Africa. Should
international complications arise in
the east Holland might lose her large
possessions there, and Japanis power
which must be reckoned with, and in
event of her emerging victorious from
her present struggle the possibility of
her turning covetous eyes towards the
Dutch East Indies commands consider
alton.
The little government of Holland,
with her 12,648 square miles of terri
tory and population of a little over
100000 people, owns over $4,000
square miles of colonial territory, and
governs over 35,OOO,OOO people. In the
east she has the splendid and rich
islands of Java and Madura, the island
of Sumatra, with it's turbulent natives
the island of Celebes, the Moluccas
Bali and Lombok, and numerous 9TH
ers Of lesser size and Importance. II
was in 1902 that the Dutch created
their East India company, and this
powerful organization conquered sue
ceSsively the islands now held by Hol-
land and ruled them during nearly two
centuries. The company's charter was
surrendered in 1898 since which time
the mother country has governed
these possessions.
At the beginning of the seventeenth
century, commerce and Holland were
simply synonymous. It's morsel Of ter.
ritory was but the wharf to which the
republic was occasionally moored; its
home was in every ocean and over all
the world. Nowhere had there ever
existed before so large proportion OF
population that was essentially mari
time. They were born sailors-men
and women alike-and numerous were
the children who had never set foot
on the shore. At this time the repub-
lie had three times as many ships and
sailors as any nation of the world.
Great stimulus was given to the for
e1gn trade OF the Netherlands by the
publication of Linschoten,s works. This
Dutch traveller spent IL years in India
and visited all of tie islands of the
east, and his accounts of the peoples
and countries which came under his
observation served to arouse an inter-
est which had its fruit in a rapidly
growing commerce. At first this trade
was in the hands Of independent COM
panies, and 1t soon became apparent
that the Portuguese and Spaniards
could never be driven out of their COM
mercial strongholds IN the east, ex-
cept by the concentration Of the
strength and wealth of thsse independ-
ent companies. The Universal East
India company was therefore chartered
by the government, and 1t entered ac-
lively in the fight for the eastern trade.
The island of Balixa. small island