e breeding of ostriches, "the birds
with the golden feathers." Ask any man who raises these ungainly birds
and he will tell you that with luck they are far better than the
proverbial goose who laid the eighteen-karat eggs. The combination of
F's--femininity, fashion and feathers--has been productive of many
fortunes. The business is inclined to be fickle because it depends upon
the female temperament. The ostrich feather, however, is always more or
less in fashion. With the outbreak of the war there was a tremendous
slump in feathers, which was keenly felt in South Africa. With peace,
the plume again became the thing and the drooping industry expanded with
get-rich-quick proportions.

Port Elizabeth in the Cape Colony is the center of the ostrich feather
trade. It is the only place in the world, I believe, devoted entirely to
plumage. Not long before I arrived in South Africa L85,000 of
feathers were disposed of there in three days. It is no uncommon thing
for a pound of prime plumes to fetch L100. The demand has become
so keen that 350,000 ostriches in the Union can scarcely keep pace with
it. Before the war there were more than 800,000 of these birds but the
depression in feathers coupled with drought, flood and other causes,
thinned out the ranks. It takes three years for an ostrich chick to
become a feather producer.

America has a considerable part in shaping the ostrich feather market.
As with diamonds, we are the largest consumers. You can go to Port
Elizabeth any day and find a group of Yankees industriously bidding
against each other. On one occasion two New York buyers started a
competition that led to an eleven weeks orgy that registered a total net
sale of more than L100,000 of feathers. They are still talking
about it down there.

South Africa has not only expanded in output but her area is also
enlarged. The Peace Conference gave her the mandate for German
South-West Africa, which was the first section of the vanished Teutonic
Empire in Africa. It occupies more than a quarter of the whole area of
the continent south of the Zambesi River. While the word "mandate" as
construed by the peace sharks at Paris is supposed to mean the amiable
stewardship of a country, it really amounts to nothing more or less than
an actual and benevolent assimilation. This assimilation is very much
like the paternal interest that holding companies in the good old Wall
Street days felt for small and competitive concerns. In oth