The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-02-27
truth than poetry in the suggestion con-
tanned In this verse of Kipling:

tanned in this verse of Kipling:
Take me somewhere east of Suez
Where the best is like the worst.
Where there amt no Ten Commandments,
And you've not to raise thirst"
At the same time there are churches
and cnapels everywhere and as many good
people as bad. We have an American
Methodist mission here with 80 of our
own citizens in charge as teachers and
preachers. l have found thriving Amer
lean missions in every Asiatic country l
have visited; and big Christian work.
supported by our people, is going on in
Burma and India.
This question of missions and the uni
versatility of human depravity reminds me
Of story / heard here illustrating that
one finds what he looks for. The story
might be called 1.-THE Missionary Verses
the Tiger" The incident occurred on a
steamer going up the Bay of Bengal. A
clustering boastful Englishman on board
was blowing about his feats of hunting
in Hindustan. He monopoized the con-
versation and told thrilling stories of his
experiences with the wild beasts Of the
Jungle, and especially of his many adj
ventures with tigers. At one point Ia .le
conversation quiet, refined man in black
happened to remark that he also had been
in India and engaged in missionary work
there. Upon this the hunter blurted forth
with sneer:
a missionary in India! Why. man, I
have been six months in India and l
never saw missionary
"Well. as to that" rejoined the other,
you have been talking all day about
tigers. Now l want to tell you that l
have been % years in India and In all
that time I have never seen tiger
But perhaps you didn't look for tigers, y"
said the hunter.
And perhaps you failed to look for
missionaries" rejoined the dominic.
Well, there are missionaries down here
in Malaysia and in China, Japan and
Corea, and the globetrotter who does not
confine himself to the ports cannot fail
to see them if he keeps his eyes OPEN
have already written about their work
in Corea and China. They are doing
much in Siam, and those of the protest
ants alone in India have more than
million natives who are processing Chris
tianity They have something like SOOO
Sunday schools going, and there are al
most 100000 pupils in their ordinary da3
schools AS to medical missions, they
are doing great good everywhere IN.
number of patients treated last year in
India alone being over 100000 There are
something like 900 mission hospitals In
Asia, Africa and Oceanica, and altogether
there is a Protestant Christian popula-
ton among those of the worlds nations
we consider as heathens of more than
100000.
Fortunes In Rubber
The enormous demand for rubber for
automobile tires, bicycle tires and other
things bids fair to enrich this part of the
world The jungle is being cut down and
covered with rubber plants. The Sultan
OF Johore has just sold his rubber crop
at over 81 a pound, and his plantations
have yielded two pounds to the tree. l
am told he has 100 trees to the acre ana
that he owns thousands of acres. At this
rate his profit is over $500 an acre per
tannum.
II this is true, it is no wonder that cap
ital is pouring into Singapore for rubber
Investments Scores of plantations are
being set out, and something like 10000
acres of groves have already been estab-
lished Some of the companies have paid
dividends of as high as 800 per cent, whiie
50 per cent is by no means uncommon.
The plants used are those which produce
the Para rubber the trees coming into
bearing at their fifth or sixth year. They
are then tapped, and if carefully bled viii
continue to produce for many years.
The Lands of Pepper
Ii is from this same region that the
greater part of our pepper comes. There
are pepper estates in Malaysia and In
Sumatra over the way. In fact, this
country was first desired by England on
account of its shipments of pepper. Plan
tations were acquired by some London
commissioners, who demanded that more
and more pepper be sent. They knew so
little about how pepper grows that they
asked their agents to see that the natives
planted more white pepper In the future.
as their customers preferred that to black
pepper. Now every one who knows any
thing about pepper knows that the white
pepper and black pepper come from the
same bushes and that white pepper Is
merely black pepper we'll ripened.
Shortly after that letter came the
amount of silver belonging to the COM
pany In the Singapore office was short,
and in writing about it to London the
agent, presuming on the ignorance Of the
people there. said that the deficiency was
due to the ravages of the white ants.
With their next shipment the London
commissioners sent basket of files. and
when the agent wrote asking what they
were for, the reply was that they were to
sharpen the teeth OF those ants.
The exporters here say that there is
still money in pepper, but that for the
time the profits Sc the rubber industry