The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-13

ing generally usurious. It may be said to their credit. however, that as Shy locks the Arabs can surpass them. The superiority of the Arab in this respect has given rise to the saying amongsthe natives that the sChinanran leaves a na- tive nothing but a sarong, while an Arab strips him bare. Many Chinamen have grown rich and have permanently identified themselves with the country. and of these many have discarded the queue entirely, while others have re- tained 1t ir a diminutive form, little wisp of hair growing from spot not much bigger thar a dollar and length ened out with silk thread.
 Apropos of the Chinese agitation against our exclusion act, it is inter esting to know that the Chinese born in Java presented petition to the Governor General a few years ago ask ing for the restriction of the further immigration of Chinese coolies. The petition was not granted, but the lead CT of the movement so aroused the wrath of the coolies that they called upon him in a body and pelted his house with mud.
 In all of the Malay states the opium vice is turned to account by the ruf- CTS. In some places the sale of opium is a Government monopoly, while in
 
 bidder. In North Borneo there Is a district called Sarawak owned and rul- ed by an Englishman who Is known as Rajah Brooke When we were pass ing through Singapore I noticed in a morning paper an advertisement where in the Sarawak government asked for bids for three years lease of the opium farm" gambling farm and "arrack farm" (arrack is the native name for intoxicating liquor.) In all of the archipelago the vices of the people seem to be as remunerative to the Government as their virtues, and was reminded of the Chinese official at Peking who jokingly informed me that he had a selfish reason for opposing the boycott of American goods because it would deprive him of American cig- arettes, of which he was very fond.
 The Dutch traders followed the .Por- tuRese into the East Indies and in time supplanted them. Holland then char tered the East India Trading Company and Amsterdam became the spice center from which all Europe drew its sup plies The Dutch Trading Company was manned by a thrifty crew, and it was not long before they conceived of mo- nopolizing the worlds spoce market, and they accomplished this by destroy ing groves and prohibiting competition by treaty with the natives They were also charged with destroying spice oy the ton in Amsterdam in order to main tain the price. One apologist for this almost universally condemned practice of the Dutch says:
 When the Dutch established their influence in these seas and relieved the natives from their Portugese oppress- ors they saw that the easiest way to repay themselves was to get this spice trade into their own hands. For this purpose they adopted the wise principle of concentrating the culture of these valuable products in those spots or which they could have complete con trol. To do this effectually 1t was nee sary to abolish the culture and trade in all other places, which they succeeded in doing by treaty with the native rul- CTS These agreed to have all the spice trees in their possession destroyed They gave up large though fluctuating revenues, but they gained in return a fixed subsidy, freedom from the con stant attacks and harsh oppression Of the Portugese. and continuance of their regal power and exclusive au- thority over their own subjects. which IS maintained in all islands except Ter nate to this day. It is no doubt sup posed by most Englishmen, who have