35053668-Empire-of-the-Soul-Paul-William-Roberts

‘EUROPEANS ARE COMING TO MY COUNTRY NOW’
King Edward, the German Emperor and Crown Princes, the
Kaiser, Emperor Francis [sic] Joseph etc. etc.
The king of palmists seems to have run into problems, however.
Two weeks later he was posting an advertisement billing himself as
‘The World’s Most Famous MODERN PROPHET,’ and
announcing in bold type ‘REDUCED FEES REDUCED.’
The article didn’t say if Dr. Perin had glimpsed any signs of the
atrocious world war shortly to start when he read the German
kaiser’s hand in 1912. And still the Taj faced pockets of hostility
from the British-controlled establishment. On October 31, 1912,
the hotel’s manager wrote the Times a letter pointing out that press
articles about an outbreak of cholera were grossly misleading. They
had caused a scare and ‘naturally affected very considerably the
business of the Hotel by deterring many visitors from coming to it
and driving away residents there from.’ The letter detailed the facts,
politely showing how greatly they differed from press accounts.
British attitudes to anything beyond their own shores are still
frequently condescending. In the colonies, this seems to have been
an even greater problem. In his Diary of an Indian Tour, from 1905, a
certain G. A. Mathews virtually defines the term grudging praise:
The Taj Hotel is on such a scale of magnificence and luxury
that at first it rather took one’s breath away. There is no other
hotel in India which will bear comparison with it, as it is in a
rank of its own; but fine and handsome a structure as it
undoubtedly is, there is a certain want of comfort about it which
does not recommend itself to my taste. All the floors are composed
of crazy china, which is all very well for ornamental purposes
and breakfast tables, but when one has to tread upon it barefooted,
one’s admiration is apt to ooze out of the soles of one’s
feet, to adopt a vulgarism.
He bemoans such inconveniences as the positioning of venetian
blinds, and the difficulties of entering the mosquito net around his
bed. China floors, besides being cooling during the hot months, are
easily disinfected and cleaned. In 1905, foot rot was a serious and
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