The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-10
Where Rice Is King
BY FRANK c. CARPENTER.

distance of 1000 miles or more, for less
than a dollar. and by the mail steamers
they can come here from Calcutta for
about Ga cents. In other words the pas
sage costs them about one-twelfth cent
mile, at which rate one could go from
New York to Washington for less than
a quarter and from the Atlantic to the
Mississippi for about a dollar.
The Burman does not like to work. He
1esplses money: and when he gets little
ahead he acquires merit by giving 1t out
in charity, establishing a drinking foun-
tain or putting a plate of gold on some
Buddhist shrine. The Hndoos, who work
TOR almost nothing at home, can earn
as much as S. a month here, and the
land seems an Ell Dorado to them. AS 1t
Is now more than half of the population
of Rangoon Is East Indian and there are
thousands of Hindoos in every large town.
The invasion is not confined to the labor
ing classes There are many Indian mer-
CHAINS and Chit les, or Indian bankers.
The latter do about all the loaning to
the individual farmers. They lend at
from 25 to 40 per cent a year to the
Burmese, taking mortgages on their
crops. The laws here are such that the
TIindoos cannot own land; but the crops
can be mortgaged, and the Chitty puts
his agent on the farms to see that he
gets his loan out of the sales.
!
ers imaginable. Our ideal of the pro-
fession is a fat, sleek, well-dressed man
who looks prosperous and has the finest
house IT. the town. The ordinary dress
of the Hindoo banker would not cost an
American dollar, and he lives in a howell
His black skin is bare, with the excep-
tlon Of a rag of thin cotton around the
loins. and a calico jacket which ends at
the waist. His shaved black head Is often
free of fllrban althonph mi
have ashes smeared over parts of 1t to
show his caste or religion. The entities
come from near Madras. Their only idea
Is to make money breed, and they save
every cent Some of them are quite
wealthy, all are said to be honest and
their word is accepted by the banks for
largo sums. Some start in Rangoon as
clerks at s12 month. They will live
on one third that amount and loan the
rest out at interest. When they have
accumulated 10000 rupees or so, they go
back home and live economically on the
interest of their holdings thereafter.
OUTSIDE the Hindoos the most of the
banking is done by the British, who have
four large banks in Ragoon. These are
the Hongkong and Shanghai bank, the
Chartered Bank of India, Australia and
China, the National Bank of India and
the Bank of the Netherlands. All these
do general barking and exchange bust
ness, their interest rates varying ac-
cording to the season of the year. They
gee from 10 to II per cent, receiving the
most at the planting and harvesting Of
the crops.
The trade here is almost altogether
in the hands of Great Britain. The
officials protect the British merchants
and favor them where possible, al
though the Germans japanese, Bel
CLANS and French try to compete.
AS to our trade, 1t Is small usually
amounting to less than million dol
lars year, and consisting mostly of
machines, canned goods and kerosene
oil. Within the past year or so we
have established a consulate at Ran
COON, and the man in charge, Mr.. e.
A. Wakefield, is doing much to push
American trade. He thinks we should
have a direct steamship line from here
to New York and also better banking
connections, as well as a wholesale
depot which should keep our leading
exports in stock The total imports of
the country now amount to something
lige 600 per annum, of which
Great Britain supplies more than 55 per
cent.
Among the American goods sold are
tools, pipe fittings, axes. typewriters
and sewing machines. The Burmese of
the better classes wear some American
shoes, and they are beginning to eat
canned goods and condensed milk
They are fond of milk, but their own
cows are used chiefly as draft animals.
They are importing butter, and not
few spread the condensed milk on
bread in its place.
America should have a good trade in
Burma. Our missionaries have done
more for the people in the way of edu-
cation and civilization than have those
of any other country. About the first
Christian work done was that of the
American Baptists, who sent the Rev.
Adoniram Judson here in 1913. Jud-
son made the first Burmese dictionary
and grammar and he translated the
Bible into the vernacular. He remained
here when all other foreigners fled at
the time of the first troubles with Eng
land, and later, during the British
Burmese war. was thrown into prison
and almost starved. The story of his
sufferings is one of the most affecting
in missionary history. He kept at the
work, however, and did much after the
British took possession of lower Burma,
dying in 1850 while on a sea voyage
home for his health
Since then the Baptist mission here
has steadily increased That branch
of American Professionalism seems to
have chosen Burma as its special field
and it Is now spending almost quar-
ter of million dollars per annum upon
It, 1t has a large number of mission
aries, over 500 native churches and
about 10000 communicates. 1t Is car
rying on a numbers of girls and boys
scho ols, and the Baptist college at
Rangoon, which has more than 1900
students, Is about the most advanced
educational institution in the country.
1t is recognized by the British govern
ment and is affiliated with the Univer-
sity of Calcutta. Nearly all of the stu
dents are native Burmese and many
are Christians. The institution is
largely self-supoprting. The students
pay for their board and tuition and
not a few work their way through.
Recently manual training school has
been added, and the course is such that
the graduates are given the degree of
B. A.
The American MethodiHts have Il
mission here. which was established
about 80 years ago. They are doing
con siderable work in lower Burme and
have numerous schools. The Ameri-
can Baptist Mission Press is one of
the largest and most fiourlshing of its
kind. 1t publishes Bibles, tracts, re-
ligious newspapers and many educa-
tional works
The British government is doing
much to educate the Burmese. 1t is
establishing schools of all kinds from
kindergartens to colleges and ii has
now more than 5000 public sch ools viii
about 100000 pupils on the rolls. In
addition there are almost as many
pupils in other sch ools. over 10000 of
the schools being carried on outside the
government.