The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-29

on the site Of modern Singapore. 1t was
maritime city. and its people were san
Ors- Some Of them were prlNates anu
some were honest merchants, VINO touh
the rice and silks Of China, ana trans
shipping them from the Cantonese JuhhS'
sent them on to Egypt and Ihence 70
Europe The city prospered- Dut IL
aroused the hatred of other Malay states
cessful and the Malay city OF "Slnga-
pura,' the City of the Lion, was iald
waste and utterly destroyed. ne sur
vlving inhabitants fled across the narrow
strait to the mainland, made their way
UP the west side of the peninsula ana eS-
Jabilshed the new maritime city OF NAL
acca Five centuries later the europeans
drove them away and scattered Inelr Ce-
piracy.
just ninety years ago an agent of the
Honorable East India company, return
ing from an incursiOn into the Dutch col
ony of Java evolved the notion that the
thing for England to do was TO hold the
Straits. Pinang had already been taken
from a native prince under circumstance
not at all redounding to the credit OF the
East India company. Malacca was hand
ed back to the Dutch by force Of treaty
made in Europe. Pinang commanded the
head of the straits, but what about the
So stramford Rafnes, an uneducated
clerk, but man whose character and
force suggests a strong resemblance to
that other British empire builder Of a
later day-Cecil Rhoades-founded the city
OF Singapore. There was nothing left or
the ancient Malay city but the name, the
foundation Of a fort. and a stone monu-
ment covered with inscriptions in an an
Gent and, 20 those early settlers, an I'M
known language. British engineer
broke up the monument and used the
crushed stone 10 build drain with. In
TINS act of vandalism persisted the elder
Singapore
Stamford Raffles did not have easy sail
ing with his new city. The East India
company changed its mind several times
and went so far as to propose the aban-
Comment OF the colony. But Raffles
fought for his idea. and it was not long
until an established trade justified the
predictions Of the founder The erst-
while clerk became Sir Stamford Raffles,
but he spent his last days in England
qeaIreling with his masters Of the East
India company and no man knows where
bis body lies. Yet his writings live, and
by the principles he laid down is the
British empire governed in more than one
particular
Singapore was founded in 1919. Napoleon
was then safely prisoner on St Helena.
and continental Europe was so exhausted
that the great sea-warfare which had
peen Wdged almost without interruption
for a century had come to its end. Por-
tugdl, Spain. the Netherlands. not even
France could dispute with England for
the mastery Of the seas. The use Of
- o
but the promise of the modern industrial
age was being heard.
Ninety years have passed. and now
Singapore is the eighth port in the world
liz the measure of the tonnage Of vessels
which load and unload their burdens at
It's WharveS. In 1851 the various British
possessions along the Straits OF Maiacca
were consolidated into a crown colony
under the name of Straits Settlements. -
From the ports of this colony three
fourths OF the worlds supply of tin is
shipped. The tin smelling works Of Sing
apore rank first in output in the world
and thOsa of Pinang and Province Welles-
ley come second.
The Singapore business men never tire
Of telling Of the triumph of the Straits
Settlements in a struggle with the United
states for the mastery of the tin mar
ket. An American syndicate attempted
TO corner the supply of ore and ship the
raw material to America to be smelted
The British fought the project as a bus
mess venture for a time, and then ap-
pealed to their government. The reply
was prompt and satisfactory heavy
export duty was imposed on raw tin ores
That assured the future of the Settle
ments as the chief tin supply market
since three-fOurths of the available supply
or ore Is located in the neighboring MALAY
peninsula. The Straits Settlements profits
by the minerals, the rubber and the spices
grown in Malaga, because the Malays be
ing comfortably sure of enough to eat
nave no further care.
TomOrrow-The Straits Settlements. IL
Federated Malay States.