CLASS OF 1929
Tidings from half-way round the worldwhich tell of the fortunes of that adventurousand far-wandered one, Supe Lockwood:
Aboard S. S. Melchion Treub February 9, 1930.
Dear Bill: When a fellow is riding across the equator it's natural that his mind should wander to much cooler places. Right now I'm somewhere north of the island of Banka in the Dutch East Indies, about an hour's run from the equator, heading for my new home townSingapore. Exactly a year ago I was in Hanover and Carnival was just getting underway. Hanover, snow, cool breezeswow, it doesn't seem possible!
You said in a copy of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE which I got out here a couple of months late that I was going to Batavia as a "government inspector" and that you'd like to know more about the expedition. Well, to begin with, I'm not a government inspector exactly, although I work for the government and am doing considerable inspecting on my own hook. No, the real reason I've landed out here in the tropics is that I'm mighty interested in foreign trade and consequently landed a job with the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in their trade promotion work. The big aim of that work is to be of service to the American exporter by placing him in touch with potential buyers of his goods, and reporting to him through Washington about the marketing conditions in the area to which we are assigned. I'm in the Middle Asia area, which, with our headquarters in Singapore and an office in Batavia, Java, covers British Malaysia, the Dutch East Indies, Indo-China, and Siam. The trade commissioner in charge of the whole area is a Dartmouth man, Don Bliss '20. I'm going to be—or, better, I'm supposed to be—assisting him in the Singapore office.
Right now I'm returning from a nifty month in the Java office. Java's one marvelously beautiful country, and a mighty far cry from the Hollywood Java. You don't see any wild animals running around. As a matter of fact there are 35,000,000 natives living on the island, and they turn out, under Dutch control, a very important share of the world's production of sugar, rubber, tobacco, and other tropical products.
In Batavia I got a taste of the real life of Riley. A Standard Oil man, our Batavia trade commissioner, and myself lived together in an apartment. For the three of us we had our own native cook, two "boys" to serve and look after our things, and two maids to do our washing, etc. Everything you want done can be accomplished by merely letting out a bellow, "Boy"! Outside of the house it's the same, too. I made a big faux -pas by stooping to pick up a tennis ball the first time I played, and on the golf course you get two caddies for the sum total of 18 cents gold a round. This living half way round the world from home has its drawbacks, but it's a lot of fun, too.
Well, Bill, if you hear of any of the gang coming out to this part of the world wish you'd tell them to look me up in Singapore. A '29 face would sure be one welcomed surprise out here. Here's .hoping you're hitting 'em good and hard at Harvard Law. Guess the rest of us are only playing compared to you fellows in Cambridge.
One distant Wah-Hoo-Wah for '29! Supe Lockwood Room 7 A—Ocean Building Singapore, S. S.
Secretary, 114 Pleasant St., Arlington, Mass
