The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-05-27
BY William Jennings Bryan.
Copyright 1906, by Joseph 3. Bow
50 Copyright in Great Britain
g...- All Rights Reserved.


se0psr'sh cop pypS i IN efs osfp Britain
ALL Rights Reserved.
- ALCUTTA, India.-Burma is an
"a other country which was added
~ to our list after leaving home,
from the inha bitants Of India, and as
it is one of the strongholds Of Budd-
hism we turned aside to visit 1t en-
route from Ceylon to Calcutta. On the
map it occupies a part of the east side
of the first Of the three great PENN
sulas that stretch down from Asia to
the Indian ocean, and IS separated
from India proper by the Bay OF pen
gal Its principal stream is the Ira
waddy, famed in story for the magn!h-
cent Scenery along its course, and for
the fertile valley thru which it passes
on its way to the sea.
Rangoon, the seaport Of Burma, IS
situated some twenty miles 1nland
upon a river of the same name, and
has a harbor quite different from those
at Singapore and Colombo: At those
places the passengers on the incoming
and outgoing steamers amuse them
selves by tossing silver coins into the
transparent waters and watching the
sdivefs catch them before they can
reach the bottom, but at Rangoon the
MATER is 50 muddy that diver would
nave difficulty in finding an electric
Iight. The depth of the water, too, is
Insufficient, except when the tide IS
high. :.
+ But the city of Rangoon is substan-
A;allv built and has number Of line
business blocks and excellent publlc
buildings. A municipal hospital now
An course of construction surrpasses
Ranything which we have seen IN 1ne
east. The park system at Rangoon IS
Nerv attractive, and one sees the we'll
Ao-do element of the city fully repre-
scented there in the early evening. The
koads about Rangoon are good, but not
Eeoual TO those Of Ceylon and Java.
have already spoken Of the Java roads,
land those Of Ceylon are not behlnd
hhem. No one can see these vel
sgraded, well-drained. and oeautlrulLi ny
Shaded highways without having his
interest in good roads quickened.
At Rangoon we saw the elephants at
swork in lumber yard, and they did not
mttract anything like the attention
from the natives that "Jumbo' and
t4he "Baby ELEPHANT did in the
hUnited States during my boyhood
Aavs. It is not necessary here for the
head of the family to take his wife and
Eall the children to the circus in order
that the younger members of the fam,
Hly NAV catch glimpse OF one OF
Hhese ungainly beasts.
In Burma the elephant is simply an
levervday beast of burden and earns his
Hood as faithfully as the horse or the
lox, We saw three at work IN the lum,
ber ward which we visited, the oldest. OF
which is more than threescore years
and ten and has labored industriously
FOR moro than fifty years. A native
rides upon his back and directs him by
word, sometimes emphasized by an
iron pointed stick, and the huge fellow
lifts, pushes and twists the logs about
with almost human intelligence. The
elephant has an eve for neatneSs, and
bne would hardly believe from hearsay
with what regularity and carefulness
he works, moving from one end of the
log to the other until it is in exactly
the right place. In lifting he uses his
tusks, kneeling when his work requires
it. In carrying large blocks of wood
he uses both tusks and trunk. Some
times the elephant pushes heavy log
along the ground with one of his fore
feet, walking on the other three, but
generally the logs are drawn by a
chain attached to broad breast strap.
An 1S-year- old elephant, working in the
same yard, was thus drawing heavy
ttimbers and went about his work un-
complainingly 50 long as he was per-
mitted to draw one at time, but when
two Of the timbers were fastened to-
1gether, he raised his voice in pathetic
lament which grew even more touching
when he received pointed suggestion
iSrom his driver. These trumpetings
were really terrifying to stranger, but
did not seem to alarm the Burmese.