The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-12-27


TIME Federated Malay states,
on Asia's southernmost penin-
sula, have been literally
snatched from an all-covering
wild vegetation. Where once the
choking jungle crowded men back,
jungle so thick that man swimming
in stream could hardly land because
vines and plants Rugged so close to
the waters edge-broad fields have
now been cleared, and Malaga plan
tations are among the richest in the
world.
Forty-five years ago few para rub
Der plants struggled out of Brazil
fruited here. Today, three-fourths of
the worlds rubber comes from this
region. And in this magic develop
ment Americans have played lead.
ing role.
This Malay peninsula, stretching
hundreds of miles from the Siamese
frontier down toward the equator,
forms a vast humid region of dense
forests of jungle, wild elephants,
snakes, and naked people, rice fields,
rubber plantations, and tin mines.
Few American tourists see it; those
visiting tie Orient usually turn back
at Hongkong or Manila, and the aver
age traveller from Europe goes no far
ther than Egypt or the Holy Land.
Only the round-the-world tripper sees
Malaga, and he usually gets a glimpse
only of Singapore or Penang during
his few hours ashore while his ship
is cOaling.
There is governmental mixture In
this region. Singapore, built on a tiny
green isle Of the same name, which
lies just off the end of the peninsula
and nearly on the equator, is the cap
ital of the British crown colony COM
monty called the Straits Settlements
This colony embraces the Province of
Wellesley, the bindings and Malacca
on the mainland, and the islands of
Penang and Singapore.
The Federated Malay states, on the
peninsula and adjoining the Straits
Settlements, comprise the States of
Perak, Selangor, Pahang, and Negri
Sembilan. Kuala Lumpur is the cap
ital.
Just opposite Singapore, on the
mainland, is the Independent native
state of Johore, which has it's own
sultan and government, but which is
under British protection. The British
governor of Singapore Is also high
commissioner for the Federated Malay
states and Brunei, and British agent
for north Borneo and Sarawak, thus
linking up British possessions and
spheres Of influence in all Malaga and
establishing close contact, through one
man, with the colonial office in Lon
don.
Many Races There.
"The Melting Pot of ASIA" they call
this prolific, potent peninsula, because
of the babel of races, colors, and
castles which it's wealth of rubber and
tin has drawn to 1t. But in all this
Industrial army of Europeans, Chinese,
Japanese, Tamils, Hindus, and assOrt-
ed South Sea Islanders, the Chinese
are the most numerous and powerful.
The Malay himself is too lazy even
to be good fisherman. He grows a
little rice, few coconuts, and nets
the fish he needs; but nature is so
kind that it is said one hours effort
a day will support him and his family.
1t is the Chinaman who is the tin
miner, the farmer, shopkeeper, artisan.
contractor, and financier. The Tamil
and the Hindu add to the stock of
local labor and own small farms and
herds, but the many millionaires made
in Malaga have mostly been Chinese.
The palatial homes of the rich Chinese
bosses in Singapore and Penang, in
contrast with the miserable shacks Of
the natives, afford proof enough of the
singular commercial superiority Of the
yellow race.
Here indeed, Chinese immigration
has worked a modern miracle in the
magic reclamation of this once reek-
ing, fever-cursed, jungle-grown wilder
ness. The Chinese it was who first
braved the poisonous darts of the lurk-
ing savage, the perils of tigers and
reptiles, the flames of fever, and the
danger of dysentery, to conquer these
jungles and dig the tin that put Ma
laya on the map of the trading world.
Chinese say that tin grows" and they
use the divining rod to locate it.
Singapore is both a great trading
center and fortress Of the Far East.
e 1t is a shining example of how Great
Britain has "muddled"-as the British
themselves put it-into possession Of
some of the worlds most important
strategic gateways. Singapore is an is
land 81 miles long by IA wide, and
just misses being the southernmost
point of the continent of Asia by a
half-mile water channel. 1t is at the
funnel point of the Strait Of Malacca.
How Raffles Made Singapore.
Little more than a hundred years
ago the island, owned by the sultan
of Johore on the nearby mainland, was
a deserted jungle save for little fish,
ing village. Ships in the China trade
passed it by as they passed many an
other jungle shore; the only ports OF
call in that region of the world were
those on the Dutch islands of Sumatra
and Java. But these ports took big
toll, in fees, and Sir Stamford Rafiies'
an official of the East India company,