Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 131, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1910 — KINGDOM OF SIAM. [ARTICLE]

KINGDOM OF SIAM.

Some of the Leading Feature* of the Baniern Monarchy. ' ' Already our trade with Siam has reached nearly $500,000 yearly, fourfifths of which Is in exports thereto. The population is about 6,000,000, classified as Siamese, 2,000,000; Laos, 2,000,000; Chinese, 1,000,000; Malays, 1,000,000. This Is exclusive of the people living in that part of the country which was recently ceded to Great Brtain for addition to its Malay States possessions. Siam is an Independent kingdom, with a present area of 183,000 square miles. Its integrity is guaranteed under an Anglo-French agreement executed in 1896. The minerals of the country are gold, which is extensively diffused and of tolerable purity; abundant tin, iron, copper and lead, and wrought on a large scale by the Chinese, especially the two first; zinq and antimony are also found, as well as sapphires, the oriental ruby and the orinetal topaz. The chief vegetable porducts are rice and maize, the usual tropical farinaceous roots, sweet potatoes, cocoa and areca palms. Cocoa oil is extensively exported. Siam is the most celebrated country in the east for the abundance and quality of its fruits — the mango, pomegranate, guava and pineapple, for instance. Sugar cane is extensively cultivated. Black pepper, tobacco and cotton of several sorts are largely produced. Excellent teak timber abounds in the forests of upper Siam and is used for the building of junks and temples, besides being exported, together with sappan wood. The country has a most extensive trade, both inland and coastwise, as well as a foreign trade of $30,000,000 a year, about equally divided between exports and imports. Rice is the leading export. The foreign trade is chiefly with Hongkong, British India, Great Britain, the United States, Germany and France. The imports are principally textiles, iron and steel goods, earthen and glass ware, hardware and cutlery, opium and sugar. More than 500 foreign ships enter the port of Bangkok annually. The Siamese are temperate and abstemious, by no revengeful, obedient to the laws, and Btrongly attached by their domestic ties. The government of Siam is that of a hereditary, absolute monarchy; but the king can nominate a successor other than his eldest son. The ministers of foreign affairs, state, interior. Justice, war, finance, public instruction and public works form an advisory cabinet. There is also a legislative council,. whose duty it is to revise, amend and complete the legislation of the country. Since 1851 the kings of Slam have been men of enlightenment. The present king, Chulalongkorn, vitlted Europe in 1897 and 19087 British and other machinery of various kinds has been introduced of recent years. Europeans are employed in various capacities, and many young Siamese are sent to Europe to make personal acquaintance with western civilization.