August 1, 1917. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



631 



What I Saw In the Philippines — II. 



By the Editor of The India Rubber World. 



Kobe and Away-The Inland Sea and the Yellow Sea-Some Chinese Characteristics-Mr. Chang-Earlier Meetings with This Remarkable 

 Oriental-His Corona Corona Experiment-1 Meet Him Again in Shanghai-His Description of Tu Chung Rubber-He Elucidates H« Plan for Tu 

 Chung Plantations in the United States-An Astounding Scheme for Bring:ng About a Second "Rubber Boom." 



IT is a long journey from New York to Manila, but one broken 

 by several interesting way stations. In midwinter the stop 

 in the Hawaiian summer land is very grateful, but after that 

 it is distinctly cold. Indeed, sailing from Vancouver, and of 

 course taking the extreme Northern circle to save miles, it is 

 frigid at first, then cold, 

 and finally off Formosa 

 chilly and then warm. 



Our stop in Kobe was 

 brief, cold and uninter- 

 esting. Incidentally, as 

 small pox was raging in 

 Osaka, all on board were 

 vaccinated. The voyage 

 through the Inland Sea 

 was dreary, snow squalls 

 and chilly winds being 

 the rule. And when we 

 ran out into the Yellow 

 Sea, it was not much bet- 

 ter, as everything was 

 blotted out by a bitterly 

 cold, dense fog. We had 

 a lot of Chinamen aboard, steerage passengers, and as first 



in the richest of Chinese costumes, suave, observing and pos- 

 sessed of a serene dignity that was most impressive. Withal 

 he possessed the keenest sense of humor mingled with a toler- 

 ance that bespoke the thinker and philosopher. The brusque 

 Englishman, the egotistical German, and the thin-skinned, some- 

 what boastful American, 

 all interested and often 

 patently amused him. 



I found him a veritable 

 encyclopedia of informa- 

 tion concerning affairs in 

 the Far East. He knew 

 rubber thoroughly ; gutta 

 percha seemed an inherit- 

 ance : he confessed that 

 his family for years had 

 been financially interested 

 in trading for it in the 

 Philippines, in Borneo 

 and Java. He knew all 

 of the gutta grades in 

 Singapore and was the 

 The Chinese Bank, ."Shanghai. first to give me an ac- 



curate description of the Dyera costulata that produces Pon- 



class passengers many Americans, Standard Oil men, and others 

 resident in Shanghai. As we neared their home port they talked 

 China very informingly and quite enthusiastically. 



I wonder why we look with such tolerant contempt upon the 

 Chinaman ? A few hundred years with Bryan as our Confucius 

 and our population grown to 600,000,000 would see the Ameri- 

 cans just the same type 

 of non-resistant, much- 

 enduring creatures, and 

 possibly wearing pig tails 

 by decree of some auto- 

 cratic boss. I doubt, 

 however, if we ever were 

 as universally honest as 

 they. 



I have always liked the 

 Chinese, they are so 

 bland, cheerful and fatal- 

 istic. They also are past 

 masters in the art of 

 minding their own af- 

 fairs. A steamer friend 

 went with me down to 

 the steerage to see the 

 Fan-tan, Chuck-a-!uck, 

 and other games. He 

 was an adept at pigeon 

 English and he spoke thus to one husky Chinaman. 



"Sposee Jap man come chop- chop makee fight?" 



"No blong my pigeon, blong soldier pigeon. Him makee fight," 

 was his contented reply. 



I was eager to see Shanghai again, partly because the city 

 interested me and more because I wanted again to meet Mr. 

 Chang. I first met him on a P. & O. boat in 1904 voyaging 

 from Ceylon to Singapore. He was a big, fine-looking man clad 



deposits of mi 



tianak. 



I shall never forget the clever way in which he turned the 

 tables on a young chap who guyed and patronized him by 

 turns. After winking to the rest of us, the American told o£ 

 the discovery of a geological freak in Yellowstone Park— two 

 lineral rubber and sulphur: of their mixture by 

 volcanic action, and of 

 the product being forced 

 up through a geyser in 

 the form of tubing hun- 

 dreds of miles in length. 

 And this was but one of 

 many which he thought 

 Chang swallowed. 



One day, however, 

 Chang handed him a ci- 

 gar, saying : 



"From the shape and 

 the box you will think 

 them Corona Coronas. 

 They are, however, more 

 costly. The Corona costs 

 one dollar, Mexican, each. 

 These cost me twenty 

 dollars each. Smoke up 



and ?ive me vour opinion 

 Unu.ai.ixg at Shanghai. ^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^,. 



The guyer settled down to full enjoyment of his priceless 

 cigar, apparently reveling in delicious aroma, praising the ex- 

 quisite texture of the wrapper, expounding upon the sensuous 

 sedative effect of — ■ 



"Some years ago," Chang broke in, "I brought home some 

 seeds of the common American weed known as Mullein and 

 propagated them. The leaves were rather coarse at first, but 

 by cultivation I have arrived at a very much finer texture. 



