The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1919-06-05

VIZ IIS CIV Va 90
lies has rsawakened interest In
that far-of country. It Is not
such an insignificant dot floating Loose
somewhere near the equator, when one
stops a minute to think 1t over, writes
Adachi Kinnosuke, In the New York
Tribune.
Siam is bigger. than Japan proper
I mean the country is. She has $4,000
square miles of territory. And the
insular Japan proper Is not quite
148,000 square miles in rea Siam is
only 1880 square miles smaller than
Germany herself.
As to the number of the people in
Siam, she herself was not any ~too;clear
until 1910. In November of that year
fairly accurate figures were obtained
as censns figures go-and published.
The number given was S,149,4S7. 1t In
Guided m For years the serious
trouble with the Siarnese census fig
ures had been a startling fact-more
or less true in political United States
and political Japan-that to them
women were no people at all.
Globe trotters who grace Siam with
their unwelcome presence are apt to
get away with the impression that the
City of Bangkok is something more
thanaall Slam. They have claimed In
their printed books that one-ninth OF
the entire population of the kingdom
lived in the capital city; that there is
no other capital of the world-savei
perhaps. London-which had such on
exaggerated proportion Of a country's
population centered In n city.
For once there is something back OF
this impression. One-ninth Of the total
population of Siam2 Well, not quite
But not far from the mark, for Bang.
kok had In 1914 more than 628,60O In.
habitants, which is something more
than one-thirteenth of the entire popus
lation Of the kingdom.
How lite Slaves Were Freed.
When King Chulalongkorn / ascend
ed the throne Of Siam he was a young
man, and the Institution Of slavery II
the country was a hoary thing. Re
hgion had sanctified It; tradition hat
ossified 1t. Slavery in Siam was In thu
utter depth of %depravlty. That was bad
enough. |
+. But there was another thing which
was In a much more impossible deptl
of degradation than slavery itself. j
was the incredibly selfish and benlght
ed attitude Of the wealthy and thu
privileged class which owned tn,
slaves. Apparently the young king wal
powerless: he could not do a single
solitary thing save through the coop
Grafton and assistance of this selfsam'
privileged class, which surrounded
him on all sides. Compared to thu
Siamese king, President Lincoln hat
the freedom of action Of q Rocky Noun
tsin eagle.
And yet--and yet, the Siarnese kin,
did the work. The year 1905 saw bot
the Siamese born to slavery and thos'
who had sold themselves into bendag'
walk out into the world and life al
ASee as any other mortals. And tina
| is not the most remarkable chapter 0
the remarkable story, either.
For under the Siamese ling Their
was not SO much as a hint Of q civi
war! Another thing still more remark
able even than this, is that all thi
work was done by an Oriental p6ten
tate-born and bred out yonder In tn
atmosphere, amid traditions, ideal
and culture which the Christian nntf
sionaries travel thousands Of miles t
destroy and to reform.
Resources Are Considerable.
People who laugh over the news 0
Slams entry into the world wa
and ~conjure up the visions Of hunnbl
huts stuck up on piles or on pontoon
along the muddy banks of the Menan
of the households weaving their way
up and down her innumerable canal
or of the stately towers of Bangkok
public buildings, palaces and temple
rivaling a sunset sky with their many
colored tiles-they do not know quit
as much as they might. Siam is nc
altogether a bit of picturesque scener,
In the fiscal year of 1915-1916, she eS
ported more than 1,25c 600 tons of rio
valued at more than $32. 449.000-ye'
she is as solid as all that and thi
must mean something In the days whe
food-slmple, primitive n~onfancift
food is the most fashionable topic {
conversations in all the chancellories {
all the great powers of the earth.
To be sure Siam cannot make muc
impression on the war finance Of I'll
entente allies. Her revenue for I'll
fiscal year 1861 Is estimated a
s26.6p2,0o0; the entire amount does M