By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
HEN representatives of the Iro
quois Indians, the French, the
British and the Americans Join
together in the "Four-Nation
celebration” at Niagara Falls,
N. Y., during the first week In
September, they will do more
than celebrate the fact that the
restoration of Old Fort Niagara,
after more than seven years'
labor and the expenditure of
half a million dollars. Is now
* complete. For one of the high
lights of the celebrntion will be the unveiling'^at
the fort of a new monument to the Rush-Bagot
treaty under which the Oanadian-American fron
tier of 3,000 miles has remained unfortified for
116 years. Thus in a period of world unrest, of
smoldering hatreds and suspicions, and of In
creasing armaments both on land and sea, this
monument will staud as a symbol of the fact
that two nations can live In amity side by side
without having a boundary line bristling with
concrete and steel for either defensive or offen
sive purposes.
It Is especially appropriate that such a monu
ment should be erected at Fort Niagara, for It
was a focal point for nearly 150 years of almost
endless conflict, first between the French and the
British, later between the British and the Amer
icans and in both cases with Indian allies play
ing a secondary but nonetheless important part.
Then after this century and a half of warfare
came the century of peace that still prevails.
Old Fort Niagara Is not only one of the most
historic posts on American soil but In one re
spect It Is unique. %a a part of the modern Fort
Niagara military reservation. It Is the only
United States army post over which fly foreign
flags. It has two of these which memorialize
the nations and the periods In history during
which they held this post—the triple fleur de 11s
of Louis XIV and Great Britain's Union Jack ot
1759 with Its two crosses. Above and between
these two flags Is the Star Spangled Banner,
but It Is one that seems strangely unftfmlllar to
Americans of today who visit the fort For II
has, 15 stars and 15 stripes, the reason being
that It Is the American flag of 1796 when there
were only 15 states In the Union.
The history of Fort Niagara goes back to 1678
when the French explorer, La Salle, realizing
the strategic value of a fort where the Niagara
river flows Into Lake Ontario to control this
gateway to the West, built there a crude wooden
fortification to which he gave the name of Fort
Conti. Like his ship, the GrlfTon, the fprt was
burned within a year after its building through
the negligence or treachery of the sergeant and
the men whom La Salle left In charge.
A decade later the struggle between France
and Great Britain for mastery of the fur trade
and control of the Interior of North America was
under way and In 1687 the Marquis de Nonvllle,
governor-general of New France, reported that
“the fur trade will be lost If the English occupy
Niagara." So he asked the French government
for “two good battalions and the funds necessary
to sustain the movement and occupy the post.”
These were supplied him and within three days
there rose a timber stockade with four bastions
wnlcn Dore tne omciai name oi r ori L»e .wmme
but which was commonly called Fort Niagara, a
name that has persisted to this day.
Fort De Nonvllle was destined to have the
same fate as Fort Conti. Garrisoned by 100 men,
all but 12 of them fell victims to the rigors of
winter and the ravages of the scurvy, so that
the fort was abandoned after 11 months. Noth
ing more was done toward holding possession of
this vitally Important spot until 1724 when the
Marquis de Vaudreuil, then governor-general of
New France, alarmed by the threat of the Brit
ish trading post at Oswego, decided to build an
other fort at Niagara. Submitting his plans to
Louis XIV, Vaudreuil did not wait for the king’s
approval before beginning operations. Even more
important than the French king’s sanction of
the project was that of the Iroquois Indians,
the powerful Five Nations who held the balance
of power between their French and English
neighbors. They were none too friendly toward
the French because of various armed clashes In
the past antf,„they were pretty likely jo look
with suspicion upon the establishment of a per
manent post on their lands.
Fortunately for Vaudreuil, a French trader
* named Louis de Joncalre, who had been adopted
“ Into the Seneca tribe of the Five Nations, had a
trading post at the foot of Niagara gorge and
the governor-general made use of Joncalre to
accomplish his purpose. Various stories have
been told of how the French tricked the Iroquois
Into giving their consent to the building of a
fort at Niagara, but the more believable one Is
that It was accomplished through Joncalre, who
asked and obtained permission from the Indians
to substitute a “stone house” for his trading
shed, of bark and logs.
Under a broad Interpretation of the permis
sion given to Joncalre, the French transferred
the site of the post from the foot of the gorge
to the bluff at the mouth of the river overlooking
Lake Ontario, but they scrupulously observed
the letter of the agreement by building a “stone
ho&ae’’—the plain, straight-walled, rectangular
structure later called “The Castle” which stands
there today. The plans for It were drawn by
the French engineer Chausaegras de Lery, who
1. Flag day at Old
Fort Niagara when
honor* are paid to
three historic flag*—
the triple golden
Fleur de Li* of La
Salle, who founded
the fort In 1678
(left); the Union
Jack of 1759, the
Ml I I I ■ II
wrested It from the French (right); and
the 15-starred and 16-striped American na
tional emblem of 1796, when the victorious
colonies received the fort under the Treaty
of Paris (center).
2. French names carved In the dungeon
of "The Castle."
3. An airplane view of the reconstructed
fort.
4. "The Castle" and the famous Lombardy
poplars. ~
5. Fort Niagara In 1759. From Captain
Pouchot’s map In the British Museum and
other sources. —
4-— »
designed a structure with thick walls well cal
culated to withstand the fire of any cannon that
could ever be dragged through thg wilderness to
be used against the fort Incidentally De Lery’s
original plans were discovered In the French
archives by the late-Dr. Frank H. Severance of
Buffalo nearly two centuries later and they have
been used In the restoration work which has
recently been completed.
Work on the fort began In 1725 and when the
French king’s belated permission for Vaudreull
to build such a post arrived (In 1720), It was well
under way. Because of the difficulty of supply
ing the builders with stone and timber, the work
dragged along slowly and the fort was not com
pleted until late In 1727.
For the next three decades Fort Niagara was
an Important link In the chain of forts which
the French were building to control the Interior
of North America. At the outbreak of the French
and Indian war, when France and England came
to grips In their last struggle for mastery of the
continent. Fort Niagara became one of the chief
objectives of the British. The first plans for the
expedition of the Ill-fated Braddock contemplated
his capture of Niagara after he had successfully
reduced Fort Duquesne but the disnster which
overtook him on the Monongahela changed all
that. Meanwhile the French engineer Pouchot
was strengthening Fort Niagara and by 1759 It
was the last Important outpost held by the
French.
Accordingly, General Amherst, British com
mander-in-chief, sent General Prldeaux with a
force of 5,000 men, more than half of them
New York provincials, and 000 Indians under
the renowned Sir William Johnson to lay siege
to Niagara. Pouchot had only 500 men, but even
with this small force he held out successfully
for awhile against the blundering siege tactics
of Prldeaux. A relief force of Indians and cour
ier du bois from the Ohio country was sent to
his aid, but Sir William Johnson did to them
what the French and Indians had done to Brad
dock. On July 24, 1759, Pouchot had to give up
the struggle and the French lilies were lowered
over Fort Niagara and the British flag run up
In its place.
For the next 40 years the fort was an Impor
tant trading center for the British and played a
leading role In colonial frontier history. After
the end or the Pontiac conspiracy more than
2,500 Indians gathered there at the Invitation of
Sli William Johnson, Indian agent for His
Majesty, the king of England, and the result of
the council was the cession by the Indians to
the British of a tract of land four miles wide on
either side of the river and reaching from Lake
Erie to Lake Ontario.
At the outbreak of the Revolution Niagara
became the haven for hundreds of Tories who
were forced to flee from their homes, and It was
also the base of operations for young Walter
Butler and his Rangers and Indians who wrote
their names In red on the map of New Fork and
Pennsylvania. Although several expeditions
against the fort were planned by the Americana,
none of them ever developed and the British
held the post until the close of the war—far
beyond It, ta fact For It was not until August
11, 1796, that the British garrison crossed the
Niagara river to Canada, the Union Jack low
ered from the flagstaff and Old Glory given to
the breeze In Its place.
An American garrison was maintained there
and the Interval between the Revolution and the
War of 1812 was one of pleasant social Inter
course between the officers and their families
at the American Fort Niagara and the British
Fort George (now Queenstown, Ont.). In De
cember, 1813, the British captured Fort Niagara
and held it until the close of the war, but by
the Treaty of Ghent It was restored to the
United States and since that time It has been
under the American flag. Although a garrison
was’ maintained there for awhile after that, the
signing of the Rush-Bagot treaty In 1818 marked
the end of the military career of Fort Niagara.
In the years that followed, the historic old
fort fell Into a gradual decline. The waters of
Lake Ontario, washing against the sea wall, be
gan td undermine It and much of the wall fell
into the lake. Then "The Castle” began to settle
and It became apparent that It, too, would soon
disappear. Then the Old Fort Niagara associa
tion. composed of representatives of various pa
triotic and civic organizations of the Niagara
Frontier country, came Into being. It secured
appropriations from congress for restoration of
the old fort and that restoration, under the di
rection of the War department, has gone for
ward steadily since that time. ^
Today, from the moated "Porte des Cinq Na
tions,” straddling the entrance, to the British
block-house which is its northeastern corner, the
old fort stands precisely as it was at the stage
of Its most advanced physical development
Twenty-pounders frown again from Its barbettes
and wattled redoubts; imperisbably reconstructed
near the famous Lombardy poplars on the parade
ground Is the 18-foot cross Father Pierre MUet
raised In 1688; the hot-shot oven from which
heroic Fanny Doyle snatched her Incandescent
cannonballs Is once more In operating condition;
the primitive lifting mechanism of Its draw
bridge has been recommissioned; the 30-man
beds In the ancient French barracks are ready
for exhausted soldiery; the armed French castle,
fort within a fort, has been restored In detail,
from its subterranean dungeons, grotesque with
the chipped names of military and political pri
soners, to Its Interior well, stocked trade room
and covered gun-deck on the roof.
And on the rampart which tops the sea wall
on the Lake Ontario Bide, there will be unveiled
during the celebration In September the Impos
ing sandstone monument to the Rush-Bagot
treaty. Two months ago this site was the scene
of a dramatic ceremony. In the crypt of this
memorial were placed the bones of a number of
“Unknown Warriors" which had been unearthed
during the reconstruction work. Whether they
were the remains of French, British or American
soldiers or Indian warriors no one could tell.
But they found a common grave there and over
them were held burial rites by a Tuscarora In
dian chief, a Catholic priest and an Episcopal
clergyman. Enemies they were once, perhaps, dur
ing a century of warfare which centered around
Old Fort Niagara, but now their dust mingles
In a sepulchre beneath a monument dedicated
to a century of friendly nmghborllness and to
future centuries of peace.
• br WMUrn mwipMW v»im.
Howe About:
Honesty •
A Firm Foundation
Soldiers of Fortune
©. Ball Syndloate.—WNU Service.
By ED HOWE
I HAVE never occupied official po
sition of any kind; I have al
ways been an humble follower, for
gotten except when leaders are
considering an additional tax
schedule, a. new drive, or other
foray.
But If appointed chief of police I
should have fewer street parades. I
seldom go downtown without find
ing a street roped off for another
parade, and thus suffer annoyance
and delay.
• • •
The president of a big New York
bonding company writes me:
"The following is a quotation
from your last Issue: ‘I do not be
lieve the people can be cured of
their natural dishonesty, but still
have hope they can be taught hon
esty Is the best policy, if we teach
it as Industriously as we have long
been teaching some of our untrue
doctrines.’ . . . The experience of
this company In paying dishonesty
losses forty years convinces me
that what Is needed in this world
Is the teaching of honesty rather
than preaching of It. Our preach
ing has resulted In honesty being
regarded as a ‘goody-goody* doc
trine, to be eulogized by Sunday
school teachers and - the i public
schools up to the fourth (reader.
No real effort Is made to Ijmpress
yuuug people wim me pn^aioii
benefit to be derived from honesty
as an asset. Anyone can acquire
It, and It will prove an Inexhausti
ble resource throughout life. Dis
honesty starts when the Individual
determines upon a course he knows
Is wrong; but the Impression is not
deep enough to hold him—he has
not been sufficiently taught. If
children were' sufficiently taught
honesty from the beginning, and
continuously, it would not be so
easy for men and women to depnrt
from honest ways, and get Into the
trouble dishonesty always brings.
I hope you will elaborate on this
theme In subsequent Issues.”
I am regarded as a tiresome scold
by a good many because I have al
ready elaborated on the theme In
many previous Issues. I believe we
should teach honesty Is the best
policy as persistently and continu
ously as we tench the Christian re
ligion.
Honesty Is not a “goody-goody”
or Sunday school doctrine; It Is the
soundest article In the philosophy
of experience. Good conduct Is the
surest and safest method of -Insur
ing success and comfort In life.
Good conduct pays; and It Is easier
In the long run than bad conduct.
I have taught this all my life,
and shall teach It hereafter.
• • •
A country or a man may progress
too rapidly. It was overprogress
that caused Ivar Kreuger, head of
the Swedish match trust, to com
mit suicide, and leave behind the
record of a scoundrel.
It was overprogress on the part
of the United States that brought
us to the present great difficulties.
Progress Is one of the best princi
ples, but the details roust be at
tended to with the old details of
caution and common sense. If the
foundation Is not built on solid
rock, there will be a toppling.
Somewhere In the hymn book
or Bible there Is a line about the
sure foundation. One must have
It In everything. If he hopes to get
along as comfortably and safely as
is possible. V
* * •
The stories of Soldiers of For
tune, as they appear In the newspa
pers and magazines exaggerated by
other soldiers of fortune, make
good reading; In my vagrant hours
I sometimes read them myself.
A notable Soldier of Fortune has
Just died, missing the average goal
of three score and ten by thirty
years. He was In college when the
war broke out, and made high
grades in the football squad. Also,
he sang In the glee club, and played
In the band, but his grades In legit
imate studies were low.
Of course, he promptly enlisted,
and I marvel that a man wounded
so frequently and seriously, was
able, after the armistice, to perform
such feats of exploration as he dis
played In climbing mountains, fol
lowing rare specimens of animals
In Tibet and Africa, and engaging
In revolutions In South America.
He hoped to fly across the Atlantic
and thus appear In the movies, but
at thirty-eight he was found dead;
whether by his own hand, or at the
hand of one of his fellow adven
turers, is not known.
Still, I prefer the story of Thom
as A. Edison, and humbler men,
who have striven In the more use
ful. If less exciting, fields of en
deavor.
• • •
I do not love life as ardently as
some say they do, but possibly few
have become more accustomed to
It than I am at seventy-nine. . . .
The things I shall dislike to give
up are becoming fewer every year;
still, I suppose I shall finally hate
to go.
• • •
1 never say I have studied life;
only that I have lived It I do not
study anything, I experience It as
one of my natural necessities.
Sources 9^Chocolate
■ •^—■—11 Mil.ir—1 r iMMrrwir mw
Cacao Boana Aro Cloanodby Shuffling Foot In Brazil.
Br*r>*red by National Geographic Society.
Waahlngton, D. C.-WNO Service.
DO YOU like hot chocolate
candy? Chocolate cake? Or
chocolate -Ice cream sodas?
Then you’ll be Interested In the
news that science la waging a de
termined fight to save the famous
cacao plantations of Trinidad, an
Island In the West Indies, from a
destructive plant disease.
Trinidad is one of the principal
sources of the bean which furnishes
"the makings” for a hot beverage
surpassed In world Importance only
by cofTee and tea, as well as for
candies, sweetmeats, etc.
Chocolate was a gift to man’s pal
ate from the western hemisphere.
Like tobacco, the potato, and a num
ber of other plant products, It was
taken back to Europe by explorers
soon after Columbus opened the
road to the new world, and launched
on the way that has led to wdrld
markets.
In trade circles today three terms
are used: chocolate, cocoa and ca
cao. The tropical tree which Is the
source of chocolate Is called the ca
cao. In Its leathery, cucumberllke
fruit are cacao pods which contain
cacao beans. But when the beans
are roasted and ground, and much
of the fat Is pressed out, the re
maining brown substance (ground
to a dry powder). Is cocoa. If the
fat Is not pressed out, the darker
substance is chocolate.
Credit for the manufacture of
chocolate from the hidden seed of
an unprepossessing fruit belongs to
the original Inhabitants of Mexico.
In 1510, when Hernando Cortez In
vaded that country, he discovered
that the cacao tree was widely cul
tivated. The natives had concoct
ed a drink called "chocolatl” or
“cacabuatl,’’ from which have come
the names "chocolate’’ and ‘‘cocoa.’’
Frothing pitchers of chocolate were
served by Montezuma when he en
tertained Cortez.
Long in us* in Mexico.
Students of American native cus
toms have estimated that the drink
was In use 1,000 years before the
arrival of Europeans. According
to Mexican mythology, the seed of
the cacao tree was carried from a
New world version of the Garden
of Eden Into Mexico by Quetzal
coatl. God of Air. The fruit. It
Is related, was a favorite food of
the gods. The great Swedish bot
anist Linnaeus, christened the fruit
theobroma cacao, meaning In Greek
"Food of the Gods.”
Cacao was used as a means of
barter and the payment of tribute
by the Aztecs and Mayans. A man's
wealth was often Judged by the
number- of cacao beans he pos
sessed. In Mexico a good slave could
be purchased for 100 beans.
Its highly concentrated food
value, low cost of production, and
numerous uses, have stimulated ca
cao cultivation to such an extent
that now It Is grown In practically
all tropical countries. The wet
tropical areas of the West African
colonies of Great Britain and Port
ugal, and the South and Central
Americas are especially well suited
to the cultivation of the trees.
The Introduction of the cacao tree
In Africa has resulted In a remark
able growth of the Industry and eco
nomic development of the continent.
The Gold coast has taken first place
away from Brazil In the world's
production of cacao. What were
once trackless and useless African
Jungles, Inhabited only by savage
bush men and wild animals,, today
are cacao plantations.
America Largest Consumer.
As an International commodity,
the cacao bean has grown In Impor
tance to such an extent that the
United States alone, In 1933, Import
ed 474,270,000 pounds, valued at
318,739,000. The United States Is by
far the largest consumer, cacao
ranking sixteenth In value on our
list of Imports. Germany, Great
Britain and the Netherlands follow
in the order named.
For many years the Spaniards of
South America and some of the
West Indies monopolized the cacao
industry. Chocolate was Introduced
Into Spain by Cortes and his con
qulstadores about the beginning of
the Sixteenth century, but the proc
ess of chocolate manufacture was
kept a secret for almost 100 years.
In 1606 an Italian discovered the
method of preparation. Shortly aft
erwards, monks and travelers
spread the news throughout Europe.
The Seventeenth and Eighteenth
centuries found the popularity of the
drink steadily Increasing. Cocoa
houses were established In England,
as well as on the continent
Chocolate, however, was a luxury
which only the rich could afford, foi
it sold for as much as $5 a pound,
Today good chocolate can be pur
chased for a few cents a pound, and
Is consumed In one form or anothet
by millions of people the world over
Modern methods of cocoa and
chocolate manufacture differ little
from those used by primitive peo
ple centuries ago. In Mexico the
natives roasted the beans and then
ground them between two warm flat
stones until a fine paste was ob
tained. This was sometimes mixed
with maize (corn) and flavored with
vanilla and spices. The paste was
molded Into forms desired and al
lowed to cool. Modern preparation
of the commodity Is more scientific
and thorough, but the principal
steps taken are much the same.
Cocoa butter Is an Important by
product of the cacao T>ean, which
contains 50 per cent fats. The but
ter, removed by crushing the beans
under hydraulic pressure, is exten
sively used In confectionery, and In
pharmaceutical preparations. Al
most every household has some
commodity that contains this vege
table fat. Cocoa butter Is an In
gredient of many soaps, pomades,
perfumes, ointments, plasters, and
cosmetics.
The Gold coast colony In Africa
la normally the world's largest pro
ducer of cacao. In one recent year
the colony shipped 54,000 tons of ca
cao, valued at $10,000,000, to the
United States.
While the Gold coast no longer
puts Its trust in gold, cacao has dis
placed the metal only within the
last few years. For 400 years gold
was the hope that glittered for white
men on the Gold coast. Gold mines
built the railroad to Seccondee for
which Takoradl Is the port In
1024 gold shipments renched more
than $4,000,000, but the mines
seem to b«f nearing exhaustion. A
geological survey of the Gold coast
colony in 1015 revealed other min
erals which may themselves relegate
gold to the backgound. Manga
nese and bauxite are Important ex
ports. The first is used in ateel
making and the second for alum
inum.
Big industry in Brazil.
in the state of Bahia in Brazil are
about 80,000,000 cacao trees; this
fruit has been grown here for about
150 years, and a tiny railway serves
the heart of the great cacao region.
It hauls more tons of freight per
mile than any other railway line In
South America.
Leaving the Coastal plain and en
tering the foothills, one sees the
cacao plantations In long shaded
groves. Among bigger, protecting
trees the small cacao trees are
planted, thus sheltered from sun and
wind. Twist off a green fruit, break
It open and taste the whitish seeds;
the flavor Is like watermelon. Bare
foot men and women split the pods,
empty the seeds on a wide platform,
and tread them free of pulp and
pith. They call this "Dancing the
Cacao."
The seeds are dried by stirring
them In a big flat bln. A wide roof,
set on wheels, Is at band, to be
hastily hauled over the bln If It
rains. Turning a dark brown when
dried, and tasting of unsweetened
chocolate when ripe, the beans are
packed In bags and sent to Europe
and the United States. In 30 years
Bahia's export has risen from 150,
000 to 1,200,000 bags a year. Brazil
drinks very little chocolate, but
much coffee.
Near a station named “Lava Pes,"
or “Wash Your Feet," the visitor
may stop to watch a long file of um
brella ants. Each carries a leaf as If
It were an umbrella. Many ants are up
In a tree, biting off bits of leaf and
dropping them to other ants wait
ing on the ground. This-line of
marching ants Is often a mile or
more long. The ants carry the
leaves to their underground home,
and store them. On the leaves a
fungus forms, and this the Insects
eat
Further up the line one crosses a
small stream running among cacao
covered hills. Long chutes made of
boards run down the hillsides to the
water’s edge. Down these chutes na
tives slide fresh cacao beans, which
empty Into waiting dugout canoes.
Although cacao has been grown
here for so long, the methods of har- _
vesting It are still primitive, for hu
man labor is cheap.
White men find life here hard, be
cause of so many Insects and ma
laria. Bugs are a plague; horned
tumble-bugs more than seven Inches
long—larger than many kinds of
birds, snails weighing half a pound,
and the far de lance and other bad
snakes.