OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 209, 28 May 1908, Page 9

OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

0 JAPANESE AND HINDUS. ALASKA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION. (I'HOJI ODII SPECIAL COJtRESPONDENT. 1 Tho fleet continues to occupy a great dea of public attention in all the coast states and tho cities ivhcro tho vessels como to anchor vio with each other in lavish entertainment. At this season cf the year tho flowers aro in fullest bloom, and flower festival! make, a' feature of all tho fetes. Ono has to como to California to seo roses, in-then most perfect form, and a flower festival ii really a .sight never to ho forgotten. Tin Japanese war talk has subsided—which show: that a. fleet of efficient fighting vessels is ai excpllent argument after all. In May, tin fleet reaches; San- Francisco, and • tho pro gramme for its reception becomes at once ai honour to the navies, and a dedication o: the new city—lor San Francisco is practically rebuilt, with scars enough,'.however,'to re mind one of its terrible experience with oartli quako and fire. • • Olio, feature of the voyage .of tho fleet ha: been tho romarkiiblo success of wireless tele graphy. A telegram from tho fleet oif till coast of Mexico was received by tho Navj Department -tot its station at; Pensacbla Florida, oil tho Atlantic Coast. In this casi the wireless impulses were obliged to travcrsi tho Gulf of Mexico, then cross bverland thi State of Texas, part of Mexico, and agaii several hundred miles of ocean. ■ Sanitation at Panama. Colonel Gorgas, who. has in charge tho sanitation of the Panama Canal zone, has beer asked by Ecuador; - to' come : and' clean uj Guayaquil. This is a sign that the Panam.Canal may do more than furnish' a npw traeh route to tho world. ; It has already ,'arousee the wonder of South America at the jwssibili tic-s of .sanitation, and i its use in this direc tion will bo as important as in ; tho way o; commerce. When tho United States start-ex to administer affairs in Cuba, after thi Spanish .war, tit found yellow fever in pos session of tho island; Yellow fever had.beei a scourge in the tropics for three centuries and was at that 1 time as great a'medical mys tery as it, ever was.- ■" The Government, ap pointed a medical'commission to study con ditions .and doviso'a remedy for the scourge This.commission solved the. riddle of mosquito transmission of : th6 : yellow; fever: ;It fount that'the. tropics could bo made as safo t< live in 'as the' teniperatp zone. Tho systeir of sanitation' devised for Cuba has, been ap plied to ...Panama, and. this morp than aiiy thing else,has' roado the digging of the Cana possible.' - Tho French failed, rat by ■ reasoi of engineering difficulties, but of.the climate Now tho Sguth American;: countries have woke; up fact, that it is .possible t< clean ;up any tropical regiou, and kill off "yet low fever, malaria, and .buboiiic plague, « tliat. white people .'can live' thero in and comfort. S6uth America knows that t< develop her imhiensp.resources',, she 1 musi make herself -a* possible place. of : residence for foreigners; with foreign capital; The-in-dications: tiro' thkV-South'America is going ~t< "clean up." 'If she.'do.es it'will bo owing fx the object lesson of Panama,'.ariel so indirectlj the .world is benefited much . was expected! V v? The Japs at Honolulu. vThe word has' como. to tho. mainland thai Independence; Hall, one ,of the historic building's in Honolulu, in which years ago. the sentiment .'which led- to annexation; with the States was festered, has been •..converted intt a Japanese theatre! This is only ono ol many indications ,o'f the steady advance the brown men aro- making in Hawaii.; . It is only a matter of time .when drastic measures will havo to bo 'taken to protect tho natives from -the aggression; of tlie Japs. '"An-Ex-clusion Bill has been introduced at-Washing-ton. covering tlie Cpast: States, tho' assertior there, being made. that California is ;threatened, 1 in many sections by tho -danger,' aiready close to Hawaii—that - bf ] actual. domination' by the subjects of tho Mikado. Hinduism in California. I havo-been ; studying the question of: the Hindu invasion- of tho Coast' States',. anc will bo able to.present-some facts at a latci date... .Exclusion sentiment : : concerns onlj the labouring classes, and;not the/educatec and missionary types, r. Hinduism -,iS quite a "fad" on the coast, -and recently! tlioSan Francisco Vedanta .Society, fbunded' by-.- the Ramakrishna. Missionpf Calcutta; India, .dcelicated ; a .Hindu temple, tho first...of- ; its.-:kiric in' 'America.'_»; ,The; : structuro' is: unique, l , eni : bracing striking, -points- of soveral of the world's famous , bjuldings, such ao tho, : Tai Mahal of : Agra, temples ;of Benares, .the Shiva-Mandirs of Bengal, the temple gardens of ..Calcutta', and even of European castles, The' Society must be extensive; hut just.whal the effect'of tho of Vcdantism i; I;havo not beon,ablo:-to .calculate. Bigness on.the Coast. \, ' , M , -Size-is'.everything .to/ a Califernian, -and as a matter'of'fact -there., are-."many tilings .on the coast that "can--bo" described only' in superlative terms. In travelling' over the State - recently I passed' the ; largest lemon orchard in- tho- world, and likewise',' tlic largest olive - .orchard. . How many - other "largest 1 things", there are would be diflicuJJ to say. -V i visited a' pigeon . "ranch,"-' in .which , we're. one hundred and twenty-five: thousand 'pigeons—easily 'the' largest'-,'in the world.; /- Petaluma boasts of theXlargest heii ranches to bo -found anywhere, and-as for wheat fields and red-wood 'trpes and rose; gardens one would certainly travel a'Mong way to; find their equals. Anel now Tacoma; in the State?-of Washington, proposes ~to oreet the . largest building -under ono root ever conceived. '.The Imperial Buildingavill stand oh the edge of a high bluff, overlooking Puget Sound. ..It will be twenty-four stories in height,, and.will cover' a ;total ground area of .more than forty-eight acres. ' The top. floor will, bo a hotel,,; and 'tho floors below Will .be .-occupied-by Shops 'and stores of. all kinds, with manufactories , on the lower floors. Street car lilies -will'"'run through - the - building at different levels, and four continental railroads ■ will enter ■ it. Tacoma has'a population .of. only. 100,000, but it manages to'do some big things once in a while. - ~ The Aiaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Seattle,-iu the'.State--of .Washington, ''is to contain the Exposition planned to cover the field; of : the great. North-west and the Pacific. The United States Senate passed a Bill appropriating noarly a million; dollars for tlio Exposition. : The principal use of t'li'p money of the Government will bo to make an exhibit of tho products.of Alaska. When it was proposed years ago to purchase Alaska from Russiafor seven and more millions- ftf dollars, it was thought by many eminent .in affairs of State to be a very foolish tiling. Senator Seward was one- of tho approving Senators, and made a most remarkable speech in favour of thoi bill of : purchase: In this, speech he said: "The Pacific Ocean; its shores, islands, and the vast region beyond will ; become the chief theatre of cveiits in the world's great hereafter." In speaking upon the present bill, Senator Piles said"No man will deny' the wisdom of Senator Seward's prophecy concerning tlio futuro of the Pacific Ocean... Thero is hardly' an important European Power that -does not occupy ono or more 'of'its. islands, not for tho purpose of benefiting the-natives, but for ,the purpose of promoting its commerce in tho most fruitful field 011 earth to-day Lt is tho purpose of .'this Exposition to bring togethor; the .people and products froni Alaska, the Canadian Yukon, Western Canada, tlie /jslnnels of the Pacific, tho Orient, the AVest Coasts of South and Central America and of Mexico. The elate of opening-is fixed for-next year.- . -