New Britain herald., 1929-06-07
SIAM PROGRESSING
 AT A RAPID PACE
Hls Air Nll lM xost 0hef
 4odern XofM Deyic6

SsSAo VI tAo 0s@ssS~D2 -Soesss~f Phya Prakit Kolasastra. who has been inspecting tHe United States postal system. reports communica- ton systems we'll advanced in his native land.
 Slams air mail system has oper- ated successfully for six years. Tele- graph offices number 472, and 556 offices serve every city and rural center. Wireless service handles messages to foreign countries.
 Siam, one of the last nations on earth where a king is an absolute monarch, outsteps some European colonies that are her neighbors in the march of progress, according to . summary of recent geographic changes in the land of the white elephant. prepared by the National Geographic Society.
 Good and Rad American Visitors
 Two kinds of American visitors. one good. one bad. figure promi- nently in the kingdoms new pros rerity. Francis Bowes Sayre, the late President Wilson's son-in-la v, and Dr. Hugh NJ. Smith. former Commissioner of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. are staunch aids to Siam. The former headed a commission which secured treaties from foreign nations that removed extraterrito- rial and lifted tariff restrictions; Dr. Smith now directs the development of Slams fishery resources.
 Tho YnW-o1oAy1,n mi oviran %,jSif0F is the lovely but malicious Florida weed" The blue water hyacinth of Florida, brought to the East Indies ss a flower. has become a curse. Because the Queen of Siam brought the first specimens for her garden from Java it is called Java weed, but out in the country where it creates a national problem by clog xinE the irrigation canals it has earned the name, blue devil"
 Siam, jungles. heavy rainfall. are three ideas closely associated. Why, then, must Siam build irrigation dams and canals? The answer is that the jungles are in the moun- tainous borderlands: the central uCitd PAdlh lCSClNCc oH lAihoAo 10IA@ fall. Because the Siamese grow rice, they must have wealth of water; hence, irrigation. The Pra- aak project. with q barrage type dam, completed in 1924, serves 4SS,- 900 acres. The subhan project, scheduled for early completion. will have three times the Prasak capa- nj nthnr nut ,ArL nnAor way or have been planned.
 Railroads show equal promise. Siam, by its position, is natural railroad center of the worlds den- sest population area. Bangkok. the capital. and Siamese metropolis, is the inevitable major railroad junc- ton for all south and east Asia. Karachi, India. to Vladivostok. si- beria, is . 6.000-mile railroad dream for which Siam prepares. About two-thirds of the trackage is com- plete. The vital branch line. Bang kok to Singapore, 11sS miles long, has been finished and puts Siam within three days travel of the great port Eastern siamese iines reach the lnd6- Chinese border at two points. The northeast line is within eas reach 10 of Burma. Siam waits for these next door colonies to catch up with her progress.
 A hint of the importance to Siam of her railroads all built since1 s93, is contained in the recent report of an American agricultural expert. T was told" he writes, 'that train load of rice goes south daily for ex- port to Malava and the Dutch East Indies"
 Come Live fn a Palace in Siam
 Come live in a palace. Siam invites the torrist. The state rail- way sy4em operates hotels as we'll as trains. The royal suites of it's Phya Thai hotel at Bangkok are. in- deed. royal suites. having been oc- cupied by royalty before the palace was given to the railroad system by the king. And there is a royal rrice attached. Royal suite No. ?, excluding food. can be engaged for 120 ticals q tical is equivalant to ~ cents) per day.
 An error! It should be 120 bahts. not ticals. In swiftly changing Siam. there are no more ticals. The ttcal was convicted of being a for eign word of Siam. Baht is pure eiamese. One silver baht supplants one banished tical.
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