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THE SOUTH AMERICANS

Arch of Liberty — Caracas

THE

SOUTH AMERICANS

THE STORY OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS THEIR CHARACTERISTICS, PROGRESS AND TENDENCIES; WITH SPECIAL REFER- ENCE TO THEIR COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES

By

ALBERT HALE, A. B., M. D.

Member of the Geographical Society of Rio de Janeiro

INDIANAPOLIS

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

October

ftOBERT DRUMMOND COMPANY, PRINTERS, NEW YORK

TO

SECRETARY ELIHU ROOT

One great American statesman of recent years who has understood the Latin temperament, and whose visit to South America has given him sympathy for its people, and aroused in them sympathy for us, this book is respectfully dedicated.

PREFACE

The book has been written with a North American pen, but I have looked through South American eyes while writing it, and I think that twenty-five years of intimate association with Latin America, and extended residence there, as well as travel over much of those countries and other parts of the civilized world, give me authority to speak. If I can arouse sympathy for our neighbors, and appreciation for the senti- ment and idealism which is as much alive in them as it is in us, I shall be content.

Whatever repetitions may be noticed are intentional and serve to call attention to facts or conditions needing emphasis.

I have purposely used the term ' ' Yankee " ; it is a dignified word in both Spanish and Portuguese, and is the only single word exactly carrying the idea of a citizen of the English- speaking republic of North America. It should not be offen- sive to any one who happens to have been born in the New England States, or to any one who happens to have been born elsewhere.

Particular attention has been given to the East Andean republics, because within their larger areas must take place the great industrial advances of the century, but the argument of the book applies to South America as a whole.

To The Reader Magazine I am indebted for the oppor- tunity of making some of the studies of later years, and to the International Bureau of American Republics in Wash- ington I wish to express my thanks for their uniform courtesy, as well as my admiration for the completeness of the infor- mation obtainable through them.

CONTENTS

CHAFTBR

I Introduction ....

II A Traveler's Notes .

III Geography of Argentina .

IV History of Argentina

V The Government of Argentina .

VI The People and Present Conditions of

VII Geography of Uruguay

VIII History of Uruguay

IX The Government of Uruguay

X The People and Present Conditions of

XI Geography of Brazil

XII History of Brazil

XIII The Government of Brazil

XIV The People and Present Conditions of XV Geography of Venezuela

XVI History of Venezuela

XVII The Government of Venezuela .

XVIII The People and Present Conditions of

XIX The South American Situation .

XX The Monroe Doctrine

Argentina

Uruguay

Brazil

ENEZUELA

FAGS I

'3 87 96

1 12

1 29 149

153 161

168

181

189 Z04

222

243 250

263

276

288

324

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Arch of Liberty — Caracas ....

Mountain Scene and Tunnel on Cordova Railway

Traveling in South America .

"Oriental" Beauties . ,

Fifteenth-of-November Square

Avenida Mayo — Buenos Aires

Avenida Central — Rio de Janeiro

Children at Play — Montevideo

Street in Montevideo

Emblem of Peace — Andean Pass

A South American Belle .

In the Suburbs — Caracas .

Vargas Hospital — Caracas

Military College — Chile

House of Congress — Sandago

Map of Argentina and Uruguay

Wheat Stack in Argentina

Traveling in South America .

Falls of Iguazu — Misiones in Argendna

FACE PAGE

Frontispiece 16

>7 17 26-

27 27 48 48

49 64

65 65 78

79 86

90

9>

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS— Co«//«:^^^

Federal Building — Buenos Aires

Avenida Alvear — Buenos Aires

A Crap Game — Argentine Cowboys

Race-Course at Buenos Aires .

Street Scene in Mendoza — Argentina

Public Advertising — Argentina

Public Advertising — Rio

A Country Village — Uruguay

A Country Village — Brazil

Park Scene — Montevideo

Branding Cattle in Uruguay .

Distant View of Cerro — Montevideo

Plaza Independencia — Montevideo

Theater Solis — Montevideo .

A Country Railway Station — Uruguay

Traveling in South America .

Map of South America — Brazil

Italian Coffee Gatherers — Brazil

North American Engineering in Brazil

The Country — Brazil .

Statue of Emperor Dom Pedro II — Rio

A Relic of Slave Days — Brazil

Wealthy Fazendero — Brazil .

Y. M. C. A. Building— Rio

FACE PAGE 114

126 127 140 141 141 156 156

>57 170

170

171

176

177 '■11 180

184 184 185 194

195

•95 206

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS— 0«//«z/^^

The Army — Brazil

"Garden of Light" — Sab Paulo

Bronze Gateway to Old Palace — Rio

Portuguese Library — Rio

Office of jfornal do Commercio — Rio

Protestant Episcopal Church — Rio Grande

A Street in Porto Alegre

Botafogo Crescent — Rio de Janeiro .

Sugar Loaf and Harbor — Rio

Map of Venezuela

The Old in Venezuela .

The New in Venezuela

Harbor at Puerto Cabello

Military College Above Railway Station — Caracas

Traveling in South America .

Bolivar Square — Caracas

House of Congress — Caracas

Harbor at La Guavra

American Eagle at Puerto Cabello .

Market Place — Caracas

A Tavern in Venezuela

Waiting .....

Statue of BoHvar — Valencia .

FACE P4GE

207 216

217

217 226

227 227 238

239 242

244

245

252

253 264 264 265

272

273

273 284

THE SOUTH AMERICANS

THE SOUTH AMERICANS CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The settlement of North America was begun with the love of liberty, that of South America with the search for gold. This is the characteristic difiference between North America and Latin America.

Certain critical investigators claim that the ear- liest settlements on our soil were actuated by noth- ing more than the hope of commercial success and that the London Company in Virginia was planted by Smith with that end in view. They claim also that the Plymouth accident in 1620 did not imply a liberty for others to dififer radically from Puritan ideas, and that the Pilgrims escaped from Euro- pean oppression to establish a conscience of their own rather than to extend freedom to those who might hold contrary opinions. They emphasize, too, the fact that neither in New England nor in Virginia did a religious zeal blind the colonists to the material advantages to be derived from thrust- ing the Indians before their expanding ambitions;

2 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

that our ancestral politicians — North and South — were not always statesmen ; that the colonists knew the trick of driving a sharp bargain; that there grew up in the colonies an aristocracy whose foun- dations were built upon wealth quite as much as upon manners, morals or character.

Be this as it may, no cynic can dispel the deep- rooted conviction within us that the gospel of human liberty was always the surviving guide to action. However much the North American col- onists erred in wisdom or sinned in conduct toward their neighbor, this gospel of human freedom was never quite forgotten. It is part of our inalienable inheritance from a Teutonic ancestry that was nourished on it before Columbus drew his first breath; it is the torch that has never been wholly extinguished since the days of Magna Charta; and it is the beacon which we must pass on to posterity if we hope to do them justice.

No softening paraphrase of the historian can modify the fact that South America \vas discovered and conquered by an unbridled lust for gold. Whether it was the aggressions of the English on the Spanish Main, or of the Dutch and French near the Amazon, or of the Portuguese in Brazil, or of the Spanish on the Rio de la Plata, in Chile, Peru or Panama, practically the only motive actu- ating the colonists there was the desire to exploit or to despoil the territories they discovered, and with their booty to hurry back to Europe, there to enroll

RACIAL CONTRASTS 3

themselves among the rich and to become part of an idle aristocracy. The tender-heartedness of the saintly Las Casas only throws into greater contrast the cruelty of his companions; the educational crudities of the Jesuits in South Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina merely accentuate the harsh meth- ods they employed to obtain a material conquest over the aborigines; and the documents of the In- quisition show to what length the Church, when it was well paid for it, supported the ferocities in Peru and Mexico. Only a few isolated examples of Franciscans in Guatemala and California hint at what results a true spiritual religion could ac- complish, when unfettered by a passion which would sacrifice anything to reach its material end. To the Latin mind, home and liberty were words of an unknown tongue.

And yet we should not allow ourselves to think that we are altogether virtuous, nor that the Latin races are altogether vicious. If we are practical and progressive, if we recognize the gain to the human race by modern industry and commerce, if we have the skill and energy and knowledge to make two blades of grass to grow where one grew before, they have a poetry, a sprightliness of imagination which we lack; if we are solid and rationally hospitable, they are cordial and sponta- neously hospitable, and they have preserved a kindliness in their social intercourse which we might well emulate. If the Anglo-Saxon idea of

4 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

the home is one that seems to come closest to the ideal, we should not forget that certain phases of the home life in southern Europe and South Amer- ica are very sweet, commendable and worthy of admiration and emulation. If our restlessness of spirit leads us to the assumption of new duties and to an expansion of interests which exhaust our energies and foster discontent with present condi- tions, their lack of it, which we are apt to call lazi- ness or indolence, helps to preserve the poetry of life, and often tends to a peace and happiness for which we sigh.

If on the one hand the essence of our life is that of intellectual and personal liberty, and if the prin- ciple of our government is "the greatest good to the greatest number," it must be confessed that within recent years we have allowed our ideals to become dimmed by a material greed which has aroused the suspicion of all the world and made us the target for attacks by those who accuse us of falsity of word and disingenuousness of purpose. We are not free from the taint of Machiavellian- ism.

If, on the other hand, the history of South Amer- ica shows an almost constant stain of bloodshed for material gain alone, we must not forget that some of the most heroic efforts ever made for liberty are written large across that history. Bolivar, Sucre, Sarmiento and Constant are names not to be ig- nored. Their revolutions are not always ridicu-

MORAL CONTRASTS 5

lous ; they are sometimes no worse than our election riots; sometimes they are due to the selfish ambi- tions of spoils politicians who would oust from offices those equally selfish politicians who happen to have secured them; and sometimes they are re- volts with a sincere purpose, directed against a dictator who denied the people a pure government or violated his constitutional oath. Good is often the outcome.

We have not much to boast of in the way of superiority, either morally or commercially. Al- though the average North American business man is faithful to his obligations, so also is the average South American, as the credit system of English and German exporters bears steady witness. In the main our moral standards are higher, even if we do not live up to them, but their business dealings are honorable and fair. In the domestic virtues they are equal to us, and their sacredness of family ties is unsurpassed. The women of the upper classes are as good wives and mothers, according to their light, as women in other parts of the world; they have a horror of divorce, partly because it is anti-Catholic, and partly because it is contrary to their conception of the marriage sacrament. Among the lower classes illegitimacy is common; but if we give credence to the disclosures of the working-people in our large industrial centers, the lack of illegitimate children does not by any means imply purity. There is a vital distinction between

6 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

morality and virtue, and the problem with us is the same as it is with them, except that the Latin American man has no conception of chastity.

On one point our inheritance of revolt from the Roman Catholic church has made us superior to them. We, as a people, have what we style a New England conscience, or what with more dignity should be called a moral sense; this is eminently self-sustaining in all our struggles for improvement and reform. A moral sense has never been more than feebly developed in South America, and where it makes itself felt it has become a force ar- tistic or ethical rather than religious or moral.

They are superior to us in one respect. Un- doubtedly the sense of beauty, the appreciation of what is artistic, is far more highly developed with South Americans than with us. It is hard to find in their countries ugliness in extended form. Utili- tarianism, such as characterizes our activities, is but a flickering factor in their life; admiration for northern ways and customs is spreading, but as a race or nation they can not sacrifice their artistic tastes to such an extent as to tolerate ugliness, even if thereby a material gain is efifected. Growing out of this is another condition in which we must acknowledge our inferiority. I mean the admir- able condition of their municipal affairs. Their cities, as instances of urban life, are much better than ours. The Spaniards and Portuguese, follow- ing their innate love of beauty, always selected for

ARTISTIC CONTRASTS 7

settlements sites that can not be surpassed for their natural attractions. The City of Mexico, Panama, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, even Montevideo, bear witness to this; but when their cities became more than mere temporary stations for shipment or com- merce, when, within the last generation, a growing population demanded a municipal expansion, this popular love for harmony and beauty was never violated. To-day the cities of South America are pleasing and inviting to the eye. The contrast be- tween them and our own cities, both as to location, use of natural advantages and financial organiza- tion, shows against us very unfavorably.

Of course this does not signify that the purely house-building and housekeeping conditions have kept pace with what we call modern conveniences; the comforts that are the standard for our modern daily life, though they may be found, on the Eng- lish patterns, in Rio or Buenos Aires, are not usu- ally to be found in South America; the habits which we consider necessary do not inhere in their people and can no more be forced upon them than upon the East Indian. Their ideas of comfort are their own, but as a rule they pay great attention to water supply and street sanitation, even in remote towns.

Their two great points of inferiority are material development and public education. Where they have vast unexplored tracts of land, fertile and fat, waiting only for human activity to produce food

8 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

for millions, they have neglected their duty to man- kind and left the soil untouched; whereas we, with restless energy and even extravagance, have eagerly utilized our open spaces, and have so yielded to this impulse that we have pushed ourselves into the position of one of the foremost nations of the earth, and occupied, within little more than a century, an area equal to that of Brazil. The development of our educational system is the result of our intel- lectual and moral ambitions, and while it may not be perfect, it arouses the admiration of the world and is undoubtedly the foundation stone of our democracy. Education in South America means almost entirely culture for the upper, the aristo- cratic class, and superficially imparted elements for the lower laboring class.

And lastly, w^here we often come together is on the plane of political corruption comprised in the shameful but expressive term of graft. That we are better than our ancestors is possibly true, but that we are better than our neighbors will be a difficult task to prove. Corruption has been the birth-mark of Latin politics since the Christian era; it is nearly as prevalent to-day as it was when Ferdinand drove out the Moor, but it is not worse to-day than it is with us. The saving factor in our government is our natural morality — the simple honesty among the people, and our genuine, deep-rooted, but some- times forgotten respect for law. Crimes we commit with startling frequency, but we are glad when the

PROGRESS 9

law is enforced and we hope to see it obeyed. In South America there is the redeeming fact that political graft satisfies itself by a charge of two or twenty times the cost of the work done, but they usually insist that the work be done honestly and according to the best obtainable specifications. The codified laws are, however, far above the heads of the common people ; they may be afraid of the law, but they do not understand it; it is artificial and often transgresses their instincts. And moreover, they have not what I have called a moral sense. Yet any accusations of corruption which may be laid at their doors can, with equal justice, in the light of our recent investigations, be laid at ours. A few offices in our own national government — president, cabinet members and supreme court judges — are surely impeccable, but the same can not be said of every country in South America.

Are there, then, any factors which are tending to modify these evident dififerences? I am sure that there are. The adoption of steam and electricity is generalizing ideas and habits, so that an im- provement in one part of the world is soon appre- ciated, understood and adopted in another part; we accept European advances in physical and men- tal comforts and luxuries, and the South American, with increasing momentum, is accepting those which come both from Europe and from us. Even the lower classes are no longer isolated. But be- yond that is the newer fact that they are absorbing

lo THE SOUTH AMERICANS

some of the same blood that we have, and that on to their Latin stock is engrafting a vigorous branch of Northernism. They are no longer purely Iberian or Lusitanian. The invasion of outsiders is not go- ing on so rapidly as it did w^ith us, but it is un- deniably evident, and not many generations will be needed before a vigorous mixed race will push into the background the pure-blooded Latin who can not stand the pace. This migration and inter- mingling has two great causes: the desire to escape into a republican form of government, and the age-old impulse to make use of virgin land.

There are three principles of government polity: The completely republican, such as we represent and such as is, constitutionally at least, represented by the independent nations of the western hemi- sphere; the limited monarchy, of which Great Britain is the constitutional type and Germany the military and bureaucratic type; and the autocratic monarchy, of which Russia is the chief example. These will be examined later, but it must be re- marked at the outset that the genius of each is at work in constructing South America.

Of equal importance is that phase of modern expansion in which the land question plays an all- powerful part. With the areas of China, Japan and India overcrowded; with the mutterings of what we call the Eastern peril, it is easy to observe that, besides Africa, uncertain areas of Australia, and the newer fields of western Canada, there is no

LOCAL DIFFERENCES iT

other continent capable of offering virgin soils to the exuberant and rapidly growing discontented dwellers in the Old World, except South America.

On the western slope of the Andes are Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, which may be called the mountain republics. Their chief in- dustries will be those, such as mining, in which is demanded a minimum of human and a maximum of machine labor. They have untilled fertile land, but not enough to draw great immigration, and it is to a noticeable extent already occupied by native races who were impressed by the stamp of the Spanish conqueror, although there is so much ab- original blood that they can by no means be com- pared to an Old World peasantry. These countries on the Pacific Ocean offer no attraction for the European statesman who dreams of an American sphere of influence; they are isolated by the lofty Andes, by thousands of miles of water; but they will soon be made easily approachable to us by the completion of the Panama Canal, so that they will develop along American lines with eagerness, if we treat them fairly.

These facts we must recognize. We must shake off the sentimentalism which has colored our deal- ings with the rest of the world, and learn, by an impartial study of the question, in which direction our best interests lie. If we barken to one voice, we must be content to restrict our energies to our own country and admit no outside interests except

12 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

those which are necessary to protect our commerce and our countrymen in foreign lands. But if we listen to another voice, we can not longer be deaf to what is said to be our duty, and to what the whisperings of coming events interpret to be our manifest destiny — to become the suzerain of the western continent. But there is still a middle course which, in the judgment of many, South Americans among others, is proper and wisest to adopt. We wish to lead a victorious army of republics, but we have not always selected the heartiest way of leading. At times we have offered true aid and support, but quite as often we have offered patron- age instead of sympathy; we have scolded when we might have advised, and of late years we have shown an ignorance of our neighbors which is worse than indifference.

For three quarters of a century we have stood be- tween the South American republics and the un- scrupulous or even justifiable aggression of Eu- rope, but we can not much longer occupy that position. We must make our influence felt in a clearer way than that which has until now been satisfactory to them and to us; we must give a dis- tinct form to the motive which inspires us. To doi this we must learn more about our neighbors, their ambitions and their prospects, and above all we must give clear and vital significance to the Mon- roe Doctrine.

CHAPTER TWO

A traveler's notes

Passports are almost never required In Brazil, Uruguay or Argentina, but it is advisable to carry one in the pocket for identification, or in case of confusion.

It must be remembered, in crossing the Line, that our winter is summer in Brazil and Argen- tina, and our summer their winter. Except in the extreme south of Argentina, however, there is no fear of snow or frost, nor, excepting a few coast towns in Brazil, of excessive heat, so that over the ordinary routes of travel the summer will com- pare with our northern June, and the winter with our clear October. Within the tropics — that is, in Brazil as far south as Sao Paulo and even farther south along the coast — the lightest clothing may be worn, and should be provided. If light woolen or flannel is endurable, such underwear may be worn, but my own experience confirms that of sea- soned residents in the tropics, that woolen is not always healthful. The best rule to follow is that of personal comfort; wear what seems to promote physical well-being, regardless of theories. On the

13

14 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

steamer, as it nears the equator, white outer gar- ments are the fashion, and may be worn so long as the sun shines; after sunset and for dinner, black clothes are put on by cabin passengers. A hint may be given about diet; the temptation within the tropics is to eat too much, especially of both fruit and meat. The hotel proprietor, who has probably had European training and has catered particu- larly to English and German travelers, assumes that everybody will require heavy meats at least twice a day, and therefore breakfast (from eleven to twelve) and dinner will each have two or more courses of meat. Not to be led astray by the abun- dance provided, nor by the assumption that because it is provided is therefore a proof that it is neces- sary, but to partake sparingly, will save the stranger many a digestive misadventure. Tropical fruits are so numerous and by their novelty so al- luring, that each must discover for himself how much can be eaten without disaster.

To go up the Amazon, the Booth line of steam- ers from New York, carrying the mails, may be taken, but to reach other parts of Brazil, and Ar- gentina or Uruguay, there are two routes. One, most direct, is by an English or German line of steamers with semi-monthly sailings, which makes the voyage to Rio de Janeiro in sixteen days. All the boats are comfortable and safe, but in the transatlantic sense of the word they are only cargo vessels, offering no luxuries and but the merest

TO BUENOS AIRES 15

comforts for such a long voyage. The other route, indirect but pleasanter, is to go first to Europe, where, at Southampton, there is a choice of fre- quent English, French or German steamers, of most modern, commodious and splendid equip- ment, with better cabin accommodations and more cosmopolitan companions. On the New York serv- ice passengers for Buenos Aires tranship at Rio (sometimes at Santos), while the steamers from Europe, touching at Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Santos, continue the passage to Monte- video and Buenos Aires, so that the passenger has no change till he arrives at the end of his sea jour- ney. On all trips into Latin America the passenger must declare, when he purchases his ticket, how many pieces of baggage are carried; the number is entered in the invoice, and the same number of pieces must be produced when disembarking. It is advisable therefore not to disarrange the original scheme of impedimenta, in order to escape petty annoyances in a foreign custom-house.

In going to South America to reside perma- nently, it is better to take no furniture or household goods, in fact nothing except personal clothing, as duties and charges for conveyance are exorbitant.

Excepting at Santos and Buenos Aires, where the steamer ties to a dock, passengers and baggage are landed by boats and lighters which come out to the steamer lying at anchor some distance away from shore. The ticket does not obligate the com-

i6 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

pany to place the passenger on land ; he must there- fore pay extra for this transportation. What would happen if the passenger demanded to be placed on shore and refused to go into his own pocket for this additional cost, I do not know; I never met one who had the nerve to try. The company surely would not carry him beyond his destination, but they might carry him gratis on a lighter.

BRAZIL

No matter which route is selected, almost all steamers make the first stop at Recife. This is the correct name for what is generally called the city of Pernambuco, but Pernambuco is really the name of the Brazilian state, and its use should be restricted to this application. Recife is so called because of the narrow reef {recife in Portuguese means reef) that lines this coast for hundreds of miles. Steamers, unless they draw less than twenty- three feet of water and are to be detained here for longer than a few hours, do not go within the reef, but lie at anchor about a mile outside the natural harbor behind it, in deep water. Recife is a hot, sugary seaport, which, from the anchorage, pre- sents a fresh and attractive picture, inviting to the traveler who has been two weeks at sea out of sight of land. It may seem hazardous to the inexperi- enced to enter the boat at the steamer's side, be- cause there is always a heavy swell running, in

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RECIFE 17

which the boats bob up and down in a very insecure manner, even though they are large and have from six to ten oars. There is really no danger, nor did I hear of any accident.

For one person the cost is excessive, but if eight or ten make up a party and bargain — and it is necessary to bargain for everything in Brazil — the going and coming passage may be made at five milreis a person. Be sure to contract for the return, else the rowers will hold passengers on shore until additional fare is paid. Landing is easy, for once around the shelter of the lighthouse at the end of the reef, you are in still water, and can step from the boat on to a stone pier at the foot of the cus- tom-house. There is not much to do or to see in the town itself, but a few hours can be pleasantly spent wandering around the business part of the town. The influences of the earliest Dutch settlers may still be detected in the buildings, some of which are high and narrow, with peaked gables and dormer windows. The town is divided into three portions separated by lagoons, across which are substantial bridges. If time permits, a street- car ride may be taken to the inner town, along the shore to a bathing resort, and up the hill to the residence quarter. Recife has a fine church and several public buildings worth seeing. The popu- lation is given at nearly 200,000, making it the fourth in size in Brazil.

In any case, it is at Pernambuco that the stranger

i8 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

first becomes acquainted by sight, touch and smell with the dirty Brazilian paper money. It is filthy, indescribable, and often illegible; the wonder is that a first-rate government can issue such a fifth- rate currency. Caution must be observed in taking it, because there is plenty of counterfeit paper and no scruple about passing it. Gold coin does not circulate, silver is rarely seen, paper, nickel and copper fractions of the milreis (400, 300, 200, 100 reis) are the only media. The exchange varies from day to day and is posted on a bulletin in many coffee-houses, restaurants and public buildings.

At par a milreis equals twenty-seven English pence or fifty-two United States cents, and the rate is always given in pence. For example, exchange at seventeen means that the ruling rate is seven- teen pence (34 cents), and the traveler can reckon his own money at that ratio. It is well to have some English gold sovereigns, as a higher commission is charged on American gold and bank-notes.

Hotel accommodations in Recife are good, if one understands the character and custom of tropic seaport hotels; if not, they will appear meager, primitive and dirty. Luxuries such as we pay for and demand in the hotels of our larger cities, are not obtainable, but neither are they essential to Brazilian heaUh or happiness. The rooms will be dark, the beds small, and the washing facilities, ex- cept for a bowl and pitcher, somewhere outside along the corridor; but a bath can always be taken,

RECIFE 19

and there being no smoke or circulating dirt, a bath is altogether a matter of relief from heat or to refresh the body. Nobody thinks of staying in a room when not in bed. The servants will probably be men, a chambermaid being a ra7-a avis where French or English habit has not been substituted for native habit. Coffee is served in the room early in the morning, with a bit of bread, any hour the guest may select; breakfast at about eleven and dinner at six are the regular meals.

Recife is the head of a railway system radiating into the country tributary to this port. It is nearly possible to reach Bahia by overland railway, but nobody thinks of this route, because the sea trip is so much pleasanter and more comfortable. In- formation about the service on the railway, as well as of steamer communication to local points along the coast, must be obtained after the traveler has landed ; no guide-book can be trusted, since changes are so frequent and informal. It will take at least a day to find out where you want to go, and another to find out how to get there, and any efifort in these notes to circumvent local custom would be mislead- ing. The only way is to have patience and ask the hotel proprietor, who will direct the guest to the office of the railway or steamship company, where the latest news will be cheerfully imparted — as a matter of probability, however, not as a matter of definite fact.

The Great Western Railway of Brazil, control-

20 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

ling nearly one thousand miles of line, is an Eng- lish company with headquarters in London. In Recife and in the state of Pernambuco the Amer- ican first comes in contact with European interests, and learns how energetic and persistent has been the desire, both of natives and foreigners, to open the country to commerce and production. Of course, the sugar, cotton and tobacco of the state go wherever there is a demand, and the cultivation is in the hands of natives; but the business is fos- tered by Europeans, and the country would soon sink into a wilderness did not England contribute money and brains to the upbuilding of such terri- tory. The Yankee begins to see that not all the ex- pansion of later years can be credited to him, and that if he does not soon take a hand, he will find that there remain commercially but few worlds to conquer. The farther he passes down the coast, the fewer signs of our activities does he find, till in Buenos Aires he becomes smothered under the British flag.

Steamers try to arrive at Recife in the morning and to leave in the afternoon in order to bring them to Bahia, 387 miles to the south and west, early on the second morning. Here the Bay of All Saints (Bahia do Todos os Santos), a beautiful sheet of water, is entered before the city of Sao Salvador is reached, — (200,000 inhabitants, the third largest in Brazil). The harbor is more protected than that of Recife and the city appears more modern. Its

BAHIA 21

position is more commanding and is less exposed to the open sea. The harbor is sheltered, but steamers can not yet approach to the docks. At present vessels lie at anchor in the bay about a mile from shore in still water, so that the conveyance of the passenger from steamer to shore is easy and agreeable. Sail-boats and rowboats, large and small, meet the steamer, and parties of two or more can arrange to land, the cost averaging three mil- reis for the round trip if a bargain is struck be- forehand, and the hour of return be definitely fixed. Sao Salvador is the Brazilian name of the city, and Bahia should be used only to designate the state in which it lies and of which it is the capital. There are two distinct towns, the old and low town close to the water on a narrow, flat and sun-baked strip along the docks, and the high town on the bluffs, 150 feet or so above the other. The low town is used only in the daytime and is the center of the shipping and large commercial interests, active by day but dark and silent at night. To reach the city itself, the traveler may take a trolley or walk a few short squares to the elevator (lift) ascending perpendicularly, or to the cable-car as- cending on an incline. The cost of either journey is 100 reis. Coming down one is well repaid for the walk, a wide and paved roadway offering a pleas- ant decline from which attractive views of the bay and both cities may be had. Once in the upper city the sights arc novel and frequent enough to occupy

22 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

a day and more. Numerous street-car lines reach out into the suburbs in the interior and along the water to the open Atlantic or resorts on the bay. One charming feature of the city is the luxuriant growth of flowers in every public plaza and pri- vate patio. There are many fine residences, some dating back to colonial and imperial times, others showing less Dutch and more cosmopolitan archi- tecture. Sao Salvador is said to have more negroes than any other city in Brazil; I don't know who is responsible for that statement, but he must have had a difficult task in counting, and even then it must be a keen eye that could find more here than in Pernambuco.

Of this city the anecdote is told of the American consul appointed by some president who knew more about politics than he did about the require- ments of our consular service. The appointee de- layed so long in his departure that news reached Bahia before his arrival that he was a negro! The consternation among the few resident foreign whites was manifest and general, but they held a mass meeting and sent a petition to our state de- partment, begging the administration to change him to some other place. They said that when the diplomatic representatives met, they took advan- tage of the occasion to parade in a body so as to impress on the native negro population the power and influence of foreign nations, but that if a negro should appear among them as the representative

RIO DE JANEIRO 23

of the United States of North America, the negroes would go wild with delight in the belief that that far-away country was ruled by blacks, and that therefore their millennium had come. Fortunately this petition had effect, and another consul, white, was sent.

Bahia is an imposing city and appears metropol- itan with its numerous churches and its public buildings. Clubs, theaters and other places of amusements, with bathing, fishing and boating, add a liveliness which Recife lacks, although business is said to be very poor nowadays. The hotels are characteristic of the tropics, but perhaps less prim- itive than in many ports of Brazil.

There is one railway running out of Sao Sal- vador into the interior, and several coast-wise steamers ply up and down to the local ports. In- formation about these can be obtained only on the spot. The trains run quite regularly, but advance information concerning steamers is untrustworthy.

Rio de Janeiro is 749 miles south by west from Bahia and is reached after about forty-eight hours' sail. Along the coast the voyage is at times as full of charm as a Mediterranean trip, the weather be- ing seldom unpleasant or rough, though during the wet season tropic rains may drive passengers off the decks for a while. Near Rio the mountains come close to the sea, and at Cape Frio there seems to be no shore at all. This "cold cape" has been so called from earliest times, and well bears out its

24 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

name; over an area of several miles a chilly wind blows from the land, and the temperature of the air sinks so many degrees that one feels sure that an iceberg must be in the immediate neighborhood. Several explanations have been given for this phenomenon, but all are guesses of the good-na- tured captain or of the credulous steward. The coast is sparsely inhabited, but there is a lighthouse under the rock. Adding to the mystery of this cold air is the appearance of the banks of sand close to the water or spread out higher up on the mountain. This sand looks so much like snow that the local joke is that the passenger has seen snow in the tropics.

Fifty miles beyond Cabo Frio, an easy run of four hours, lies the harbor of Rio. On the right, the rocks grow more forbidding and barren, an open space is detected in the coast-line, and sud- denly the "Sugar Loaf" appears. As the steamer turns her bow to the north and passes this immense granite cone, jutting nearly three thousand feet to- ward the sky at the entrance of one of the most commodious harbors of the world, the imagination can but faintly grasp the beauty crowded into this bay of Rio de Janeiro. The city lies on the west shore, protected by the huge green masses ranged like a wall behind it; on the east, to the right, the rocks or sands are lower, although by no means flat. Extending beyond, as far as vision will carry, is this land-locked sheet of water, with here and there

LANDING AT RIO 25

an Island, irregularly fitted to the jutting capes. On every side are hills, covered with green as with a velvet mantle. Every poet who has ever been to Rio writes its praises during the first hours of in- toxication, and every traveler wishes to be a poet in order to be able to express his admiration, his sense of pleasure and wonder; but — alas, I am not a poet, and must leave the description to a better pen than mine.

The steamer is first stopped at quarantine not far from the Sugar Loaf. There is a wait for an hour or more, the polite but leisurely inspection of the ship's health being quite forgotten in the pano- rama of nature and the activities of the harbor. As yet the dock-works now constructing are not avail- able for steamers, so that they anchor some miles from quarantine, and about a mile off shore oppo- site the city. Passengers must bargain with one of the boatmen for transport to the shore, a fee of five milreis a person being considered moderate, and more than that not extortionate; of course, if a large party hires a large boat, the cost per person may be reduced. Hand baggage, which has al- ready been examined by the customs officials sent on board for the purpose, may be transported by the owner and should be so declared when the ex- amination is made, but larger pieces of baggage, such as trunks, boxes and cases, can not go on the rowboats. They are not submitted to inspection on board, and must therefore wait till the steamer's

26 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

tender carries them to the alfdndega (custom- house) on shore.

My own experience when I landed for the first time in Rio was an unusual one. It had rained so fiercely during the afternoon that the steamer had been delayed, and it was nightfall before we at last anchored and the passengers were permitted to start for shore. My companion and I had bar- gained with one of the innumerable boatmen who swarmed about the steamer, but by the time we were ready it was quite dark, and the rain had be- gun again. When we had descended into his boat, we found to our disgust that he got the better of us, in spite of the earlier negotiations, for, occupy- ing most of the space, were half a dozen Italian immigrants whom he had picked up from another steamer lying close by us. It was too late to change our plans, for the chances were that it we refused to go, we could not find another conveyance before morning. We yielded, therefore, and prepared to make the best of the bad bargain. Slowly he pulled his weighted boat to shore, so slowly that we were thoroughly drenched by the time we climbed up the steps leading to the Fifteenth-of-November Square. Here began a fresh difficulty; our lug- gage was in his care and he proceeded to arrange for its transport to the hotel. This was not in the contract, for we had intended to take a tilbury or two, and to make our own price. He insisted that we had employed him for the entire trip; we de-

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AN INCIDENT 27

manded our bags and offered him only the money to pay for the fare to the landing stage. Our em- barrassment grew with each minute, because no one seemed to understand the others. My friend spoke a satisfactory Portuguese, I used abundant Spanish, but the boatman was a rather recently arrived Italian. Rain and bad language was about all we could detect, when of a sudden the boatman threw himself upon our cicerone from the hotel, who had come to meet us, and the two of them began gyrations which, in any Anglo-Saxon country, would have been called a rough-and-tum- ble fight. I was just on the point of mixing in the argument with a stick, when, wonderful to relate in Rio, a policeman appeared and restored order. By this time the immigrants were escaping without paying their fare, so our boatman decided that he had better secure them even at the sacrifice of us. He therefore retired to his more legitimate prey, with more Italian curses.

However, I do not judge of Rio or of the Bra- zilians by this adventure. I kept my temper and had a good laugh about it afterward. Supposing, I said to myself, a South American should judge of the United States by some similar incident on landing in New York for the first time? Should we think it fair or reasonable of him to draw con- clusions from an incident of the first day's arrival in New York City? It was easy to preserve an un- prejudiced mind, because always thereafter I man-

28 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

aged to go about Rio without trouble, and with no hindrance except that which my limited store of Portuguese brought upon myself. I soon learned one reason why such irregularities could happen. The supply of day laborers in Rio, at that time, was far short of the demand, and wages on the new Avenida, the new harbor improvements and elsewhere, were so much higher than those paid to policemen, boatmen and such, that it was a diffi- cult matter to keep the ranks up to the require- ments of the growing city.

When the landing is safely accomplished, one's next anxiety is to reach the hotel, and to finish with the custom-house, called in Portuguese alfdndega. Here is learned, if experience has not already taught it, the meaning of that delicate Brazilian word paciencia. If the steamer is lucky enough to arrive very early in the morning, baggage for the custom-house may be delivered on shore the same day, but the traveler would do well not to think of such celerity, but to go straight to a hotel, pass the day as comfortably as possible, and defer all at- tempts at redemption of trunks until the next morn- ing. Once landed at Fifteenth-of-November Square, a tilbury may be hired, provided there is no wish to remain with one's companion. A tilbury has room for only one person besides and beside the driver; it is a two-wheeled gig on springs, very pleasant for riding and suitable for the narrow crooked streets of old Rio. Officially it costs two

HOTELS AT RIO 29

or three milreis, but at the end of the journey, when the acquaintance of the driver has been made, five milreis is a closer estimate. There are now (1907) no good hotels within easy distance of the water. Probably on the new Avenida Central one or two hotels will be built, but those available now lie beyond the center of the city. On the Cattete, one of the main streets along the bay, are two or three moderately good hotels, and still farther away lie the better ones; but nothing as yet meets the demand for a first-class, modern, cosmopolitan hotel, such as can be found in New York and Buenos Aires. The stranger must be warned against many pensions or boarding-houses which are merely disreputable lodgings.

All hotels in Rio make a charge at so much a day (from eight to fourteen milreis) which in- cludes the room with use of bath, morning coffee and rolls served usually in the room, breakfast at eleven and dinner at six. Wines are extra. The tipping habit is very well rooted in Rio, and it is advisable to be supplied with small change and large, if good service is expected. The advice usu- ally given to the traveler to go either to a hotel at Corcovado or in Petropolis, to escape the danger from yellow fever, is now unnecessary; there is less danger from yellow fever, at any time of the year, than there is from typhoid in many of our large cities. As far as the climate is concerned it is quite as comfortable in Rio, both day and night, at all

30 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

seasons of the year, as it is higher up, considering the tiresomeness of the long ride to reach the cooler heights. Now that Rio is cleaned and remade with good drainage and water supply, plenty of fresh air and rapid transit facilities, it is a healthy city, and the slums are less obnoxious than those in New York.

Rapid transit is offered by the bonds, clean, new American trolley-cars running from a little square close to the Avenida, southward along the bay and beyond. There are two classes of bonds, first class being reserved for those who have only the small- est lap parcels and wear both coats and collars, while second class, slower and less frequent, are enjoyed chiefly by the working-people and the car- riers of bags, bundles or other evidences of em- ployment. The zone system of charge is used, the lowest fare being 200 reis for the shortest distance, and after three o'clock in the afternoon excess rates are often charged. But the pleasure of a ride to the Botanical Garden, to Ipanema and the open ocean, is well worth every cent it costs. Toward the north and west, funny little mule-cars, significant of im- perial days, are still running out to the National Museum or the race course, but it is probable that within a few months even these will be displaced by the trolley. The fare here is only 100 reis for the trip. Away from the street-cars, unless one walks, it is necessary to take a tilbury or to arrange at a livery for a carriage, but this vehicle is at such

A BRAZILIAN CUSTOM-HOUSE 31

extravagant cost that I can give no direct advice concerning it. All my knowledge is from hearsay. The custom-house routine, which is the most important question after securing lodgment, is awkward and slow, compared to that in any Eu- ropean or American city, but it is unavoidable, and might better be considered as a pleasant intro- duction to Rio life, than as a nuisance, which it be- comes on frequent repetition. The alfdndega lies practically at the foot of the Rua (street) do Com- mercio, in an old-fashioned building quite unsuited to its purpose. It is wise not to go there till about one o'clock on the day after arrival. At this cus- tom-house the traveler's name must be declared, how many pieces of baggage he brought into the country, and the contents of each piece. Then a slip of paper is given the traveler, who departs with an inspector into an inner store-room; here he identifies his baggage, opens and exposes the con- tents. The inspection is a matter of form and detains one only a few moments with the polite in- spector, by whom a kindly tip is not misunderstood. Printed signs on the walls assert that no tips should be given, but no one observes that notice. After the inspection is finished, the trunks and boxes are at the mercy of the mob of carriers outside the doors, unless one has been w^se enough to make a bargain with the hotel porter, who must then be on the spot to take charge. Or the bargain can be made before entering with some teamster, who

32 a: TRAVELER'S NOTES

will then assert his authority and keep off those less fortunate. Ten milreis is a moderate sum to allow for cartage of trunks from the custom-house to the hotel; although to hotels on the hills or in Petropolis much more must be conceded.

One great solace in Rio, and in fact in all Brazil, as well as in other parts of South America, is the unvarying politeness of all, whether stranger, friend, acquaintance or laborer. The traveler need have no hesitation in asking questions, even if he does not speak Portuguese, but he should never forget to put in all the "please words" he can com- mand.

The most important step, after the arrangement for hotel and custom-house, is to visit the banker. A letter of credit is the best method of carrying the equivalent for money. There is no American bank in South America, and all commercial and finan- cial transactions are conducted through one of the English banks, branches of which are located in all the important cities. In all commercial houses, however, English is sure to be spoken. In Rio banks close for a noon hour, and it is best to be in- formed, before going to the center of the city, whether the bank is open at all — holidays are plen- tiful— and what are the best hours for business. In any case, allow plenty of time — thirty to forty- five-minutes — at the bank. Hiere being no fixed exchange, if the rate is high, only a small amount of money should be purchased at one time, or if

COST OF LIVING IN RIO 33

the rate is low, it is advisable to take advantage of it. The banker's judgment should be obtained, in any event, for by care and watchfulness many a milreis may be saved. This is a puzzling statement to one who has not sold gold on a fluctuating mar- ket, but it will not take long to understand the rea- son. In Brazil there is no coin in circulation, all money being paper, and gold is as much a com- modity as wheat; therefore the price of gold varies according to the demand or to the manipulations in the market. This afifects the cost of living very decidedly, and all who have experience will state that to-day it costs twice as much to live in Brazil as in the United States, and it takes a clever man- ager to live within that estimate. This extraordi- nary increase in price affects all items both of com- fort and luxury, and enters into even the minutest detail of shopping.

The shops in Rio are rapidly becoming the same as shops in other parts of the world, since the com- pletion of the new Avenida, where the department store idea is gaining favor; but away from this center shops, in the early English sense, are still the rule, and particular articles are found in par- ticular places, from door to door.

The Ouvidor is a unique street of Rio, to destroy which would lead to a revolution, so fond of it are the people. It is the center of the shopping life in the city, and also the spot where most of the sight- seeing begins and ends. The street is so narrow

34 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

that vehicles are not permitted in it, and from wall to wall it is crowded the whole day long by busy people in a hurry (some Brazilians can hurry) or by loungers and shoppers; nearly every corner has a cafe and restaurant, every ten feet there is a door giving entrance to a shop; during the heat of the day awnings are stretched in some places from roof to roof. The Ouvidor, by day, is the resort for the political and gossipy world of Rio. By night it is as deserted as Wall Street, nor is there in Rio an up-town life beginning after dark. A few theaters and restaurants, the clubs and home, suffice for the end of the day.

If the traveler remains long enough in Rio, he can easily spend two weeks in just that sort of sight- seeing which is so profitable, but so tiring, to the tourist in Europe. In fact, it is interesting to find oneself in much the same state of mind as that which is experienced in visiting Old World capi- tals. Undoubtedly the trip that gives the greatest reward within the shortest time is to ascend the mountain rising back of the city. This is Corco- vado, the highest peak of all about the harbor, and is the most accessible. Two routes are open to the visitor: one by a cog railway, the other by a trolley beginning at Carioca Square, the terminus of other trolleys. The latter is preferable, because it goes through the older part of the city, across the an- cient aqueduct which once brought water from the hills, and gives a clearer idea of the character of

SIGHT-SEEING IN RIO 35

the city while it was yet the seat of an empire. At the top the view is entrancing.

The National Museum, formerly the palace of the emperor, lies on the opposite side of Rio; to reach it, the car passes through some delightful slums, where native laziness and good nature are seen in all their picturesqueness. The building is hidden away in an immense park. The native Bra- zilian collections are particularly fine.

Other places of interest within easy reach are the Praza da Acclamacao with the statue of the emperor; near-by is a statue to Tiradentes, the first Brazilian martyr to liberty, and the old opera- house. Another noticeable building of earlier days is the Misericordia Hospital, facing the bay; this is an enormous structure, and used to be reported in geographies, when I was a boy, as the biggest hospital in the world. Whether it remains so to-day I can not say, but it is well worth visit- ing. In the city is the telegraph office, once the home of the emperors, and near-by the church of Candelaria, quite as famed for its story as for its beauty; it was built in fulfilment of a vow, made by a very pious lady, that if she were saved from shipwreck she would dedicate her fortune to the Church. Her piety is proved in Candelaria.

The Botanical Garden, at the extreme end of the city, is beautiful and for the student has treasures inaccessible elsewhere; but for the sight-seer it is disappointing, because he is apt to think of it in

36 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

comparison with the Thiergarten in Berlin, Hyde Park in London or Central Park in New York, though as a matter of fact it is so lonely and un- frequented that the snakes are not afraid to come out.

Picture post-cards are plentiful throughout Bra- zil, but the country is as a whole poorly photo- graphed, and it is a difficult matter, even in Rio, to secure good illustrations of views either of the street scenes or of nature. Photographs are expen- sive, too, except in Sao Paulo. The amateur will also find it difficult to take photographs, especially in the coast regions, on account of the dampness of the atmosphere and the cost of developing plates or films, which, in Rio or elsewhere, is excessive, as compared to what is regularly paid in the United States, in Europe or farther south of Bra- zil. I advise that films be developed at once, or packed away as dry as possible till Montevideo or Buenos Aires is reached.

The old, perhaps dirty and unhealthy, but cer- tainly fascinating and romantic, Rio is disappear- ing; in its place is arising a new metropolis, des- tined to become one of the great seaports, as well as one of the most charming residence cities, of the western hemisphere. The two great contributing factors to this metamorphosis are the almost com- pleted Avenida Central and the Harbor Works.

I could not drag myself away from the Avenida ; when finished and occupied from end to end by

Y. M. C. A. 37

substantial structures like the National Library, the Opera-house, the (St. Louis Brazilian Build- ing) Monroe Palace, it will be one of the great streets of the world, and the surroundings are planned in a style to give a suitable setting to the whole; away from this center, too, numerous alter- ations are going on which will eventually entirely modify Rio, but as yet these alterations are only partly completed.

Rio de Janeiro is a wonderfully beautiful city. Its environs are as charming as imagination can portray, and no one can grow tired of the changing views or of the rapid panorama of life. But to seek information on any topic, or to try to get data con- cerning any particular thing, is maddening. The stranger who must have sources of knowledge on which he can rely will find that persons are more trustworthy than books. For Rio itself there is a small hand-book in French published by L'Etoile du Slid, a French weekly paper, which gives sug- gestions about traveling into the interior by the railway, but for much of the detail of the city's or the nation's activities publications are hard to find. One good and accurate source of information is the Y. M. C. A. in the Rua da Quitanda 39. This is an American institution conducted in Portuguese for the benefit of native youths, although they may have English classes for the growing colony of English-speaking young men who are coming to the city under the impetus of its growing industry.

38 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

The Y. M. C. A. is headed by an American, and working in harmony with it in the same building is the Bible Society. These men are not only will- ing to help the stranger, but they are accurately in- formed about many of the details of Brazilian life, habits and business affairs. It is not improbable that they may establish, as an adjunct to their class work, a bureau of information and service, which the commercial interests of the city seem so com- pletely to have neglected.

Another supply of information will be found in the newspapers of Rio, especially the great daily of Brazil, the Jornal do Commercio. It is an un- official but thoroughly trustworthy index of afifairs. Some of the employees speak English and are sure to welcome any visitor seeking information; and he is as sure not to go away disappointed. They all know how to obtain and to supply accurate knowledge of the latest happenings. The Bra- zilian Review, an English trade weekly conserving English commercial interests, is to my mind the best English publication in South America. The editors and employees are always eager to help the stranger, and the advice given is accurate and com- prehensive.

If the traveler wishes, he can leave the city by steamer across the bay from the foot of the Ave- nida, finally reaching the trains of the Leopoldina Railway, which take him into the northern por- tions of the state of Minas Geraes, into the state

RAILWAY TO SAO PAULO 39

of Rio de Janeiro, and to the aristocratic watering place of Petropolis, or the old German colony set- tlement of Novo Friburgo. This is owned by an English company, and its lines, near Rio at least, are excellent in equipment and service. The gen- eral offices are on the Cattete.

To go by rail to Sao Paulo or into the immense interior north and west, embraced in the states of Minas and Rio de Janeiro, the Central Railway of Brazil must be taken. This is owned and managed by the government. All trains leave from the Cen- tral Station in the northern part of the city, where are also the general offices at which unsatisfactory information may be obtained. The equipment compares favorably with the average system in the United States. There are first- and second-class carriages, but only the first-class should be used. (This applies to travel throughout South Amer- ica.) Railway travel in Brazil is expensive. The government charges a tax beyond the price of the ticket, and no baggage is carried free; a trunk checked to destination will cost nearly as much as a ticket. If there is time it is better to send all boxes by freight in advance, and to be very careful that the price is fixed in writing. Also, the traveler is not permitted to carry much into the car with him, unless he is clever enough to tip the conductor bountifully, who will then shut his eyes to any in- fraction of the rules. The day cars on all trains are comfortable and supplied with all conveniences,

40 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

but the farther way from Rio or Sao Paulo, the dirtier and older the car is likely to be.

There are day and night trains making the jour- ney of 230 miles to Sao Paulo in twelve hours. The night train has clean and comfortable sleep- ing-cars, but the passenger must leave them an hour before arriving at Sao Paulo, because the gage changes. The day train, 7 A. M., is prefera- ble, because the scenery and the skilful engineer- ing climbing the mountain can be enjoyed. The cars are on the American pattern and many of them are built in the States. The speed of the train is good, but at many stations it makes long stops which consume time on the way. Good meals are served, but the traveler unacquainted with Portu- guese will find that he must depend on the sign manual unless he happily discovers some fellow- passenger who talks a different language from Portuguese.

As a rule the cultured people of South America speak French, and frequently English, in addition to the native tongue; but almost for the only time in my life I was obliged to discourse in pantomime, on the first part of this journey to Sao Paulo. The conductor and other trainmen were native, the res- taurant keepers, my companions for the first few hours, spoke only Portuguese, and I began to fear that the day must expire without a single exchange of ideas between me and my fellows, when one of the passengers taken on at a way station ventured

SAO PAULO 41

to inquire if I was not an Englishman. "No," I answered, "I am a North American." "Oh," he exclaimed; "then perhaps you talk English?" and he at once began to talk to me in as fluent English as I ever heard a foreigner use.

A pleasant habit these trains have — and they are never in a hurry in Brazil, so that express means little — of halting at every station, two to ten min- utes, according to the whim of the conductor; everybody gets out, nearly every one takes a drink, if only a drop of cheap rum and water at the cost of five cents; all but the ladies smoke the cigarette, and when paciencia has been nursed into full activ- ity, the train goes on again, to repeat the perform- ance at the next stop.

Sao Paulo is the most modern city in the repub- lic and has many features which make it attractive and even familiar to the American. The hotels are nothing to be proud of; in fact, Brazil can not consider herself awake completely till Rio and Sao Paulo have hotels as suitable for strangers as those in Buenos Aires, and there is a fortune for that syndicate which would have the courage to establish a chain of hotels on the model of the bet- ter class of Paris, London or New York, in the two large cities of Brazil, extending perhaps to Montevideo and Argentina. In Sao Paulo nearly every language is spoken, so that the embarrass- ment of silence is no longer to be feared. Italian and German are the most frequently heard besides

42 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

Portuguese, of course, although, owing to the ear- lier influences of England and the fashion of send- ing children to English schools, English is spoken by many of the upper classes.

Two great factors are at work to-day in Sao Paulo, adding to the use of English speech, but I am glad to say that these are American. I refer to the excellent Mackenzie (so-called American) College, and to the Tramways, Light and Power Company. I spent the greater part of a day with Doctor Horace Lane, the president of the college, and from the townspeople themselves I heard nothing but admiration and praise for this educa- tional institution. It was founded in 1870 by the Reverend George W. Chamberlain, in connection with the Presbyterian mission, but was later with- drawn, to become independent under a charter from the state of New York, with funds given to commemorate John T. Mackenzie, of that city. The entire system of education, from kindergarten to the department conferring collegiate degrees, is conducted on American models; it has affilia- tions with some of the colleges in the United States, and many of its graduates take advantage of this privilege to finish their studies in North America. Instruction is chiefly in Portuguese, although other languages are, of course, taught; but the college is not intended for foreigners; it is planned to give the native Brazilian just those opportunities which the North American boy or girl has in our best'

AMERICAN INFLUENCES 43

schools. The effect on the youth of the land is marvelous; they begin to understand what is meant by education, training, and preparation for real work. Irrespective of creed, the better class of Brazilians send their children to the American college. Only recently the attention of the Ger- man government has been called to it, because its influence does so much to establish national ideals; so that if Brazil is to become Germanized, every encouragement must be given to found a school in Sao Paulo on German models to counteract the spirit of Americanism.

The other American influence at work in Sao Paulo is industrial. I refer to the Tramways Com- pany. Although the capital is largely Canadian, and the home office in Toronto, yet the methods, the system and the activity are American in the significant sense of the word. They have supplied the city with seventy-five miles of trolley, and the service offered, with freight-cars, postal-cars and trailers, is as good as the best in American cities. The relations between the corporation and the municipal government are harmonious, and the people are learning the meaning of the word "hus- tle." In Sao Paulo they speak of the era before and after the trolley, and the young man who had previously been content with a government clerk- ship on small pay, and whose sole desire was to see Paris, now has the ambition to learn English and to become an employee of the "Litanpaua" Com-

44 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

pany. It furnishes electric power, from its plant up the Tiete River, to many factories in the city, where cotton goods, hats and shoes are made. An American, Clarke by name, has a shoe factory that clothes the feet of half Brazil.

From Sao Paulo numerous trains run in several directions into the interior, through the great cof- fee "fazendas" (plantations). These are either English or government roads, generally on a pay- ing basis. On one of them, about 150 miles in the interior, lies the famous Dumont estate, now an English stock company. Here cofifee is grown on scientific lines; a private railway extends through- out the sixty-eight square miles, 15,000 acres of which are under cultivation, and employment is given to 7,000 people, mostly Italians.

Information about most things in the state can be obtained without loss of temper; the govern- ment prints much reading-matter in many lan- guages, and has a bureau of information especially for the immigrant. In the hotels are printed time- tables, but I saw no folders such as our railways provide with such prodigality.

The trip down the mountain to Santos must not be missed; it takes three hours by the steam and cable railway, and affords another glimpse of the natural charms of Brazilian scenery. This rail- way is also owned by an English company, and pays the highest dividends of any corporation in Brazil. Studied as a triumph of engineering, as

SANTOS 45

a paragon of completeness in equipment, and as an object-lesson in the service, both for passengers and freight, it might serve as a model for railway man- agement the world over; but as a financial organ- ization it is unpopular in the country, because of its excessively high charges, its unwillingness to reconsider the monopoly it retains, and of the slight benefit it confers upon the adjacent territory.

At Santos the traveler is again in a tropic sea- port, but one completely transformed by the ambi- tion and energy of the Brazilians themselves, aided of course by British money and engineering skill. This is the only place on the Brazilian coast where the steamer lies alongside the pier as in New York, and it is easy to step to the dock and back again. Santos is a busy place, the greatest coffee mart in the world, with vast shipping activities. Every flag except the stars and stripes can be seen here, carrying away some of the sixty million dollars' w^orth of coffee from Santos. The hotels are poor and so uninviting that it is wiser to come down from Sao Paulo in the morning, if the purpose is only to see the city and to catch a steamer. There are reasonably good pensions in the neighborhood, for a longer stay. Pleasant rides may be taken into the surrounding country, but a comfortable way to pass the time is to sit in a restaurant on the plaza and drink the cool German beer from Sao Paulo.

The journey from Rio to Santos can be made by any Atlantic liner or by coasting steamer, an easy

46 A TRAVELERVS NOTES

night's ride of 215 miles, but t(3 reach a steamer from shore at Rio is almost as much of a task as it is to land there. The company runs a launch for passengers, but it is necessary to ascertain precisely when it leaves the wharf; it may take baggage, but to make sure that baggage reaches the steamer it is best to arrange for a boatman to transport it thither. The government places a tax on tickets sold for sea as well as on those sold for land travel, and therefore at least five per cent, must be added to the price of the steamer's ticket for the cost of leaving Brazil.

If the trip to Montevideo or Buenos Aires is made for pleasure, it is my advice that the traveler take a local coasting steamer from Rio or Santos. Through steamers go direct and are most of the time out of sight of land, but local steamers stay close to shore and spend six days or more in going the thousand miles to Montevideo, stopping almost every day at small ports — Curitiba, Paranagua, Itajahy for Blumenau, and Sao Francisco. By this route one can enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, with a delicious subtropical climate, and glimpses of a mellow and unprogres- sive civilization scarcely discoverable outside of forgotten parts of Italy. At Rio Grande, the south- ernmost port of Brazil, which may soon be made into a safe and approachable harbor by American enterprise, is a pleasant American Protestant Epis- copal church and seminary. From here a run of

LANDING AT MONTEVIDEO 47

twenty-four hours brings one to Montevideo and Uruguay.

URUGUAY

At Montevideo steamers lie at anchor in the har- bor about a mile from shore; there is usually deep water in the bay, but not enough for all ocean craft, and the southeasterly winds are treacherous for those too close to shore. The unfinished har- bor works may be completed within the decade, but until then the port remains inferior to the de- mands upon it. A company's launch brings the traveler and his baggage ashore together at the cost of one dollar, which the passenger must pay, and it would be unwise to undertake the passage by any other conveyance. One dollar of Uru- guayan money is equivalent to one dollar Amer- ican money. The country is on a genuine gold basis, although native gold coin is not seen. The standard coins of other countries have a legal ten- der value, the five-dollar gold-piece of the United States being taken for four dollars and eighty- three cents ($5.00 U. S. equals $4.83 Uruguayan), and the British sovereign being equal to four dol- lars and seventy cents (£1.00 equals $4.70 Uru- guayan) .

Passenger and baggage land at the custom-house wharf, where the examination is immediately made, rather formally and carefully, but always politely. It will not be difficult to find some person

48 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

speaking English, although a working knowledge of Spanish is of decided value. From the wharf street-cars (trolleys) carry passengers to the center of the city and beyond; the hotel district is within walking distance, and it is perfectly safe to employ any of the porters around the pier, who carry trunks and boxes to their destination, at a reasonable charge of about one dollar. A carriage may be hired, but carriages are expensive comforts in Montevideo, the compactness of the business area and the excellent tramway service making them unnecessary.

Montevideo has good hotels, on the European model, clean, attractive and comfortable. The rate for the day is $2.50 to $6.00, which always includes morning coffee, an elaborate breakfast at noon, and a dinner, usually with wine, at six o'clock. In some of the hotels the rooms are dark with no outer win- dows, and with only the classic wash-bowl and pitcher, but bath-rooms are plentiful; here men servants do most of the chamber-work, although a maid will be stationed on every floor. Tips in Uruguay should of course be dispensed, but they may be moderate and are always received with gratitude and courtesy. It is a real pleasure to give a tip in Uruguay; I never was in a country where ten cents aroused such cordial appreciation or where fifty cents led to a more elegant expression of thanks coupled with a witty discourse on the honors of service.

Children at Plav — ^Montevideo

Street in Montevideo

Kniblcm of Peace — Andean I'ass

MONTEVIDEO 49

The currency of the country is largely paper and very good paper at that, clean, handy and legible. There is some silver in dollars, and all the small change is silver and nickel.

The city of Montevideo is very clean and attract- ive; no guide-book is published, but the librerias (book-stores) put out little hand-books with maps, and an American house publishes for gratuitous distribution a folder, in Spanish however, with railway time-tables, postal news, and various items of information which the traveler seeks. In area the city is large for its 300,000 inhabitants. The main and business section lies on a narrow strip of land jutting into the River Plate, as our British cousins call it, to the north being the harbor and to the south open water toward the Atlantic. The residence and larger portion of Montevideo spreads along the shore for miles north and south of this peninsula. The clubs, hotels, theaters, chief public squares and shops are close together. Here it is less strange and exotic than in Brazil; every- thing is conducted in a way which may seem different but which is nevertheless familiar; shop- ping is conducted with French graces, although English is frequently spoken and many English goods are for sale. Bargaining is not unknown, yet the prices are decently fixed so that the pur- chaser is convinced that he comes within striking distance of the real value of the article he re- quires. In fact, Uruguay shows that polish of

50 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

civilization which may be called continental. The banks, chiefly English (so far as the American is concerned), are large and commodious, and one is not overwhelmed with the feeling that really the bank is doing a favor by cashing a draft.

For the mere tourist there is not much to see in Montevideo. The cathedral is dignified but not imposing, the public buildings are dignified but not magnificent, and the parks are lovely but sim- ple. In the suburbs the little hill — Cerro — which first made the name of the city famous throughout the world, is worth visiting, and the watering place of Pocitos is an endless source of delight for one who wishes to enjoy a bath in pure salt water, or who cares to feast the eyes on the most charming, the best-dressed and the best-mannered men and women in South America.

Information about Uruguay is easily obtainable, but not always up to date or trustworthy, yet the government is doing more energetic work of late, and all the business houses, the commercial agen- cies and other private concerns furnish data on which the student or the visitor may rely. Unfor- tunately the newspapers are the lowest fountain of knowledge; they are largely political and therefore subject to temporary suspension at any time, and they are so close to Buenos Aires that all general news comes from across the river with the metro- politan papers in the morning. Time-tables and steamer guides can be had for the asking, so that

RAILWAYS IJN URUGUAY 51

never an hour need be lost in ascertaining what to do and how to do it. If the traveler is leaving the city by rail, the only station whence all trains de- part is to the north, where the peninsula joins the mainland. There are only three directions in which to travel; toward Nico Perez and Minas in the northeast, toward the Brazilian frontier at Rivera north, and toward the northwest to Merce- des or Colonia. Express trains run three times a week, are comfortable and first-class in every re- spect, carrying good sleeping-cars for night travel; local trains are comfortable but slow. The cost of travel is almost five cents a mile and the rate twenty miles an hour. To reach the upper waters of the Uruguay River, the railway has a line from Rio Negro, twelve hours north of Montevideo, clear to the Brazilian frontier through Salto and beyond to Uruguayana; but the easier journey (especially if Fray Bentos, where the Liebig Beef Company has its plant, is the objective point) , is by steamer from Buenos Aires.

Travel in the interior of Uruguay, as long as one sticks to the railway, is very comfortable, although some surprises in the character of hotels must be expected. For a man there are only annoyances; but for a woman, especially one who knows little about Spanish life and less about Spanish hotels, the day and the night will be a continuous mystery. Away from the railway, the gentleness of the peo- ple and their cordiality must make amends for

52 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

much of the simplicity in domestic routine. Clean- liness can always be secured by a little tact, and privacy is not impossible. There are some condi- tions even in North American country taverns which need improvement, and therefore too ex- plicit information or comparison about South American hotels may be omitted, but experiences in hotels and taverns outside of the large cities might furnish profitable reading.

Uruguay is beautifully photographed, and the views of country or town seem strangely cheap after coming from Brazil. The clear dry air con- tributes to this, and the amateur finds that snap- shotting is easy. Not only does he get good views, but films or plates are so well and inexpensively developed, that what is extravagant in Brazil is merely a warrantable expenditure in Uruguay.

To Buenos Aires the traveler may take an ocean liner, if one happens to be in port, but the best steamer is that of the Mahanovich Line, which runs every night, and occasionally by day, across the La Plata. An opposition line offers accommo- dations, but they are not considered first-class. The single trip costs six dollars gold, round trip ten dollars; but the passenger must pay for the row- boat to take him from shore, about one dollar, in- cluding baggage. The fare includes state-room, a good dinner with wine served shortly after the steamer leaves at six o'clock, and cofifee with dry biscuit (crackers) early in the morning while ap-

LANDING AT BUENOS AIRES 53

preaching the docks. The meals are excellent; if the boat is crowded it is advisable to secure a berth in advance, and to request the steward (tip) to re- serve a seat at the first table. There is nothing to see except water in crossing the river, for the banks are low, sandy and invisible, but it is worth while getting up early in the morning to see the entrance into the harbor and the celebrated docks of Buenos Aires.

ARGENTINA

Buenos Aires is to my mind one of the wonders of the American world. No city in the United States is its equal in completeness, and it appeals to the traveler exactly as does a continental city at the first moment of arrival. Here the steamer ties close to the dock, so that one steps ashore along a civilized gangway into the custom-house. The examination of baggage is conducted methodically and carefully, but politely, yet duties are charged on some articles that usually escape in European custom-houses. There are English- or French- speaking officials for those who can not explain their wants in Spanish. A small fee of thirty to fifty cents (local money) is collected for each piece of baggage, but this may be paid in any currency at the exchange office on the pier. Argentina is on a silver-currency basis which is easy to compre- hend. All prices are given in terms of silver, and written or printed with /?/ — n after them. Thus,

54 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

at the rate of exchange fixed by law and invariable, one dollar gold equals two dollars and twenty- seven cents silver; and while foreign gold is liable to slight fluctuation, as it is in New York, yet the five-dollar gold-piece, United States money, is equivalent to five dollars and eighteen cents, Ar- gentine gold; and the British sovereign is equiva- lent to five dollars and four cents, Argentine gold. Therefore an easy calculation is to reckon one dol- lar in Argentine silver or paper money equal to forty-five cents in American money.

Politeness is the rule in Argentina quite as much as in Brazil and Uruguay, but the people are more alert and show a continental influence which some- what modifies their habits. On leaving the dock the best and cheapest way is to take a carriage. Vehicles can be found at every corner and along many of the streets, and are under as complete con- trol as in Paris. For the course one dollar m — n is the charge, a slight tip not being refused, though not so obligatory as in Rio or London. Baggage may be left for the hotel porter to attend to, or por- ters can be found at trustworthy agencies, if the carriage is not able to convey everything, and the cost will be reasonable. The hotels in the city are planted on or near the Avenida Mayo, called fa- miliarly Avcnida, which runs from the Plaza 2 de Mayo about a mile to the Calle Callao. All the hotels are good, but, like Kentucky whisky, some are better than others, and a few are luxurious;

HOTELS AT BUENOS AIRES 55

they arc quite French, however much their pro- prietors may strive to make them resemble Italian or English hotels. The traveler should avoid those having a reputation for housing transients of both sexes, but this can be discovered only by intimate questioning of persons who keep track of such gos- sip. Buenos Aires is so modern and European that any one who has ever been abroad would feel thoroughly at home there. At hotels it is well to bargain in advance, as often a dollar or so may be saved from the tarifif mentioned but seldom printed by the proprietor. The price will be from six to Uvelve dollars m — n a day, including room and use of bath, morning coffee and rolls in the room, breakfast at noon, and dinner without wine, which the guest is expected to order and to pay for extra, at six o'clock. I found the hotels in Buenos Aires the most reasonable in South America (except one or two in Montevideo), considering what I re- ceived, but I know that this is not a general opin- ion. Outside of the hotels tips are, of course, received, but they need not be extravagant. The currency being on a silver basis, a dollar seems to go a long way toward satisfying the appetite of servants. The currency in Buenos Aires is alto- gether paper, from the dollar up, and silver in fractions thereof, but it is clean, odorless and legi- ble, a pleasure to handle and universally accepted without question.

The banks are large and imposing, full of busi-

56 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

ness, but always ready and obliging. The shops are of all nationalities and commodities, and vary from the huge department store to the tiny door- way where trinkets are sold. All languages are spoken and every want is easily satisfied, so that the stranger finds everything he may desire, whether it is information or statistics, books or automobiles.

An excellent and trustworthy guide-book is pub- lished in Spanish {Baedeker de la Republica Ar- gentina)^ but any one of the numerous book-stores on any of the shopping streets will furnish hand- books in English, German or French, not very complete perhaps, but eminently usable, either free or at moderate cost. In fact, Buenos Aires is so cosmopolitan that the traveler need not feel a stranger after the first day. No one should miss visiting the docks and harbor works, the water- supply building, the zoological garden, or fail to stroll along Calle Florida, which is the Bond Street and the promenade of daily life. The bustle and activity of the city is strikingly American, al- though the atmosphere is European (Little Paris, the natives like to have it called), but English is understood almost everywhere. Spanish, of course, is needed in the country, and Italian is very useful, but English is, after all, the mainstay. Away from the capital, good accommodations are obtainable at the larger cities, such as Rosario, Bahia Blanca and Cordova, but in "camp" it is well to provide

BUENOS AIRES 57

for some roughness and to exercise a cheerful spirit, otherwise much of the pleasure of travel will be smothered by annoyance at the lack of what is termed comforts by the unhardy.

It bears repetition that information is easy to get, but that on occasions it must be corroborated by those well informed but disinterested. The newspapers are snappy, cosmopolitan and vigor- ous, but they do not always adhere to facts, al- though they bring news from every portion of the globe. There is a Y. M. C. A. in the Calle Mo- rena 452, conducted by an American whose influ- ence is highly beneficial, where valuable items concerning the ins and outs of Argentine life can be obtained. Dun and Company also have an agency in Buenos Aires, furnishing commercial information unequaled by anything in the country.

Buenos Aires is one of the best photographed cities, and views of the city and of the entire repub- lic can be obtained at any of the book-stores. The picture post-card mania is quite as widespread as it is with us. The Amateur Photographic Club is on a par with those in London and New York, and developing agencies for the camera enthusiast are plentiful.

It is worth while for the Yankee to study the street-car system of the city and the ramifications of the electric trams. He will find the cars most convenient and comfortable, w^ith remarkable con- sideration for the passengers' wants. No transfers

58 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

are given, but they are seldom needed. Day and night the cars ply to all parts of the city. At night they are specially in demand, because Buenos Aires is a city of gaiety which is brightest long after the sun has set.

There are six railway stations in Buenos Aires. To leave the city is as easy as to leave London. To go, for instance, to Rosario, one has the choice of four routes — three by rail and one by river; to go to Bahia Blanca there are both rail and water routes; and to any portion of the interior, express or local trains are obtainable. To Misiones, or up the Parana toward Paraguay, the river is the only highway. A railway guide is published, but it has little circulation, so that the best way to get in- formation is to go to the station or to get a circular from the railway company.

Travel in the country of Argentina is either a hardship or a luxurious pleasure, according to the purpose for which it is taken. If the trip is be- tween the large cities only, it is as comfortable as that from New York to Chicago; but if necessity demands stop and stay at any of the villages of the interior, it may be as primitive as a journey to a way station on a side line in old Mexico.

VENEZUELA

The quickest way to reach Venezuela is by the line of American steamers from New York which touches at Puerto Rico and Curasao before reach-

LANDING AT LA GUAYRA 59

ing La Guayra; the plcasantcr route is by the English Royal Mail, which zigzags around the Caribbean Sea for ten days or more, touching at forgotten ports of the Spanish Main before it reaches La Guayra.

La Guayra is the chief shipping-point for Vene- zuela, and the one best known to Americans, be- cause it is nearest to Caracas.

The Venezuelan consul in New York demands that a passport be shown by the passenger going to Venezuela, partly that the government may keep out filibusters, who make of her a circus in which to exercise their calling. The consul, who must be visited before the steamship company will issue a ticket, then grants traveling papers, for which he must be paid a fee of two dollars.

On arriving at La Guayra the steamer ties to a stone pier built by an English company which is allowed a charge on passengers and baggage de- barking there. The steamer may not tie to the wharf before seven in the morning; this rule is said to be for the advantage of quarantine and cus- tom-house officers, who otherwise would be on duty before sunrise nearly every day. The quarantine examination is rather severe, but is patterned, es- pecially in some of its details, after the methods in vogue at New York and New Orleans in the United States, and in Rio Janeiro in Brazil, with an attempt to make uniform such a system in America. Passengers must pay two bolivars (38

6o A TRAVELER'S NOTES

cents) for transport of each person from the boat by train to the custom-house, and in the proportion of two bolivars for each hundred kilograms of baggage (about fifty pounds). The wharf is sure to be crowded with a motley gang of native whites and resident blacks from Jamaica, who scream and push one another in their attempts to secure the privilege of carrying baggage and of looking after the passenger's welfare until he is seated in the train for Caracas. It is wise to select some man recommended by the purser or steward, and to in- trust him with all details, after taking his name. These porters are usually honest, but it seems a trustful game, with the advantage all on the other side, to deliver oneself and one's precious baggage to an unknown black dressed in flimsy white. I have not heard of any losses in this method, and it saves lots of trouble to be ciceroned so completely. The customs examination is politely conducted and is usually soon over, although much attention is given to details, because the government is suspicious of the importation of arms or other contraband articles. When the inspection is fin- ished, baggage is removed by the carrier to the hotel, if the passenger is unlucky enough to be compelled to remain in La Guayra, or to the train, which is at the station a few rods away, if he is go- ing as soon as he can to Caracas. Not before this should he pay the porter, for when he does this the fun begins. A huge sum will always be demanded.

LANDING AT LA GUAYRA 6i

It should ailways be resisted and about half the orig- inal sum offered. The result will be a compromise at about two-thirds, or probably eight bolivars for the completed job, which has included transport of baggage from the steamer to the custom-house (for which the porter pays and must produce his receipted ticket), the arrangement in the custom- house and the second transport to the seat in the train leaving La Guayra. I feel sure that this ex- planation will not help much, because the whole process is so confused that even those who have passed through the trial a dozen times do not al- ways come out with unruffled temper. I have heard the dock at La Guayra cursed and criticized by illogical Yankees who failed to take many things into consideration. The first complaint has been the delay at the dock by which the passenger may not debark before seven, the complainant for- getting that many a steamer is refused entrance into New York for exactly the same reason. The last complaint is that the routine of landing and clear- ing at the custom-house takes so much time that the passenger is sure to miss the first train leaving for Caracas, and must therefore spend the hours till three in the afternoon lounging about La Guayra; and that he must go to a hotel for a meal, thus pay- ing tribute to the keeper, who happens to be related to a cabinet official, and so on, ad nauseam. The protestant fails to remember that the blame does not rest upon Venezuela at all, but upon the steam-

62 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

ship company, which is American, and upon the dock company and the railway company, which are English; and that if these three companies wished to arrange a schedule a la Liverpool, they could compel the dock laborers to dress suitably and with a numbered tag; they could have officers to assist the ignorant passenger; and they could expedite matters with very little expense. But nobody in Venezuela is in a hurry. Why blame the govern- ment for faults that are entirely those of foreign corporations? Yet if comparisons are to be made at all, I confess my own anger was more fully aroused on returning to New York and being compelled to undergo an inquisition into my physical, moral and financial state which stretched my patience to the utmost and reduced me to untruths, no matter how closely I tried to adhere to facts.

Arrival in Venezuela is outlandish enough, but a little good humor, a little submission to the ways of the country, and perspicacity, will overcome the confusion and place the blame, if there is any, where it belongs.

Venezuela is really on a gold basis, although there is no gold in circulation within the country. The unit of value is the bolivar (accent on the mid- dle syllable), worth 19.3 cents, but there is a slight premium on foreign gold or drafts, which makes an American dollar bring about five bolivars and a half at the bank. It is better not to carry any- thing but a letter of credit, because foreign cur-

VENEZUELAN MONEY 63

rency is not so readily sold, nor does it bring so much for its face value as a letter of credit or a certified draft. The common statement of price is in pesos; a peso means a dollar, but the stranger must be very careful to inquire what that dollar stands for, or rather he must assume that it implies only four bolivars, while a peso fuerte is five boli- vars, equal, for all purposes of ready computation, to our dollar, a simple peso being equal to eighty cents. Practically all the currency used is silver, though bank-notes, issued by the banks and not by the government, are in circulation. Do not take bank-notes ; they have only local use and away from their place of origin — say Caracas — must be discounted. The silver is the five-bolivar piece, a good, handsome coin, but fifty of them weigh considerable in a hot climate. The bolivar equals 2 reales equals 4 medios. One real equals 2 medios equals 10 centavos. One centavo equals one U. S. cent equals 5 centimos. There are local terms for the various denominations, unnecessary to give here.

The ticket from La Guayra to Caracas first- class costs fourteen bolivars, or $2.50. American money will be taken at this rate. This includes a comfortable amount of baggage, but an excess tax may be imposed. The checking system is used. The hotels in La Guayra are generally poor, such as might be expected from a tropical seaport, but the meals are good. There is nothing to see here,

64 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

but if the traveler is confined over night away from Caracas, it is worth his time to go three miles to the east of La Guayra, by carriage or train, to Macuto, where he will find one of the most beautiful spots on earth, and a simple little out-of-door hotel, as clean and comfortable, and with as good meals, as any traveler could wish.

The ride to Caracas is most interesting, and takes two hours for the twenty-two miles of rail. On arrival in the capital at the pleasant, clean, little station, one may take a street-car to the center of the city, but the better plan is to bargain for a car- riage, unless the hotel runner, who probably has been met at the dock or in the train, already agrees to do this; he may be trusted. Caracas has several hotels, all of them on the Spanish tropical order, charging so much a day (be sure to bargain in ad- vance), from ten to sixteen bolivars, which in- cludes morning coffee, rolls with butter and cheese, a hearty breakfast at noon, and a fine dinner at night. The rooms are usually large and well venti- lated unless on a court, but the bath-room is prob- ably at a distance, and not always to be used, as running water may not be turned on till late in the morning. Service may be performed by either a man or a woman who comes and goes at all hours of the day or night, and is summoned by a loud cry in the corridor. The bells seldom ring and it is easier to shout; when this is continued long enough, a servant is sure to come good-naturedly.

A South American Ilclle

In the Suburbs — Caracas

Vargas Hospital — Caracas

SIGHT-SEEING IN CARACAS 65

You can not make a Vcnczolano angry except by absolute and unmistakable rudeness. Tips are a modest source of income to the serving class, and a few centavos well distributed bring here a greater reward than two dollars in New York. A kind word is the coin of thankfulness in Venezuela.

To go to the bank in Caracas is half a day's work; all banks are owned and managed by na- tives, but some employee will be sure to speak English. No British bank has a branch in Venez- uela. It is advisable to have a bag or a small satchel for the silver dollars.

The traveler can find many sights worth visiting in Caracas, and he will have plent>^ of leisure, as nothing is done in a day here. The House of Con- gress with its courtyard is on the road to every- where, but its interior must not be omitted, for the mural decorations and frescoes are fine, and illus- trate many events in the nation's history. Mira- flores, the president's home, is open to guests at stated hours. The cathedral, at the corner of Boli- var Square, is unavoidable. The Panteon, to the north of the city, contains the remains of Bolivar and Miranda, with other heroes, and many relics. The Vargas Hospital is one of the best in Amer- ica, but foreigners seldom visit it. The hill of Calvario offers an extensive view of the city from within its own confines. The academy of Bellas Artes has some splendid specimens of native art, among them the pictures of Michelena, who de-

66 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

served and obtained international reputation. The municipal opera-house is large and well ap- pointed; the national theater is more modern. Much of the decoration is native work and much of the material came from native sources. Caracas is inadequately photographed, although every turn gives a varied picture, but postal cards can be ob- tained with good views, and the amateur can have his plates or films well developed in the city.

The shops offer little of value to the collector, who must content himself with native trinkets or im.ported ornaments. Even the needs of daily life are not always obtainable in the character desired by the stranger, because the country is so impover- ished that comforts have become luxuries. Living is cheap, however, compared to New York or Rio, and the cost of simple things is low. Flowers are ridiculously abundant and inexpensive, and at the flower market, early in the morning Sundays and Thursdays, a basketful costs a trifle.

Information about most things is hard to get, but there is little that needs study or investigation. The government prints some statistical matter, but all else is carried by word of mouth. The news- papers are good reading, but they might as well be last month's papers; they have no news beyond the meager foreign items and are devoid of criti- cism, because freedom of speech is at present im- possible.

The mere sight-seer can never be sated by the

IN VENEZUELA 67

human interests in Caracas nor by the wonderful beauty of the city's surroundings. A pleasant trip may be made to Antimano and El Encanto, or to El Encantado, short distances from Caracas. If the traveler goes to Valencia he will see on the way some scenery not surpassed by Italy. The German railway now departs from the same station in which the English railway ends. One train a day goes as far as Valencia, and has good cars. At Valencia connection is made with another English railway for Puerto Cabello. To reach any other part of Venezuela from Caracas, the traveler must depend upon a coasting steamer or one of the over- sea boats calling at La Guayra. He might of course go overland, but even if the actual distance be shorter, it will require days of preparation and special arrangements for horses, guides, provisions, as it did in Spain sixty years ago; or else he must make use of the infrequent diligences which ply between towns in the interior. Information about these can be obtained only on the spot.

THE SOUTH PACIFIC

On the Isthmus of Panama the old Spanish civi- lization is fast disappearing. Colon is becoming a modern American shipping point, hygienically and romantically unrecognizable by the traveler who might have known the place even as late as five years ago. The railway is interesting for what has

68 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

been accomplished by it, but the canal, in the ele- ments visible to the physical eye, is chiefly a stimu- lant to the imaginative eye which can see the completion of the work, when living will be unbe- set by danger from disease, when mighty ships will parade through from Atlantic to Pacific, and when the Chagres River, tamed and harnessed, develops an electric power to do all the work, both industrial and domestic, over the fifty miles of strip called the Canal Zone.

In the city of Panama, there are still traces of Castilian settlement; it is to be hoped that the old cathedral, and the ruins of the original city five miles down the bay, will be preserved for the sight-seer to realize what has been displaced.

It is only when finally afloat on the broad Pacific that the traveler feels that he is coming in touch with the true spirit of Latin America. The farther south one travels, the less does one notice northern influence and the more intrusive becomes the ac- tivity of England, Germany and Europe generally. The steamers from Panama are provided with all the comforts needed in the tropics, but there is not sufficient commerce to justify through routes, and consequently the journey is pleasantly delayed by frequent stops at small and unknown ports, from which are nourished the adjacent areas, and to which the steamers bring both supplies and gossip from the outside world. This is really an advantage for the traveler, since it permits of a closer ac-

IN COLOMBIA 69

quaintance with the peoples and their civilization. It keeps him within sight of land with the rich greens along the coast, and much of the time within sight also of the Andes, towering toward the east as a lofty barrier some day to be penetrated by the ingenuity of man, so that the rich valleys of the interior can be brought into use and commercially within the sphere of the Canal.

Colombia is the northernmost republic on the Pacific side, and the only one touching the Atlantic waters as well. Its area is 465,714 square miles, nearly twice as large as Texas, but climatically, al- though all within the tropics, the habitable or agricultural portion is temperate, about like Ten- nessee in October.

The population is estimated at 4,000,000, of which only a small proportion is of pure blood. The railway extension is at the most but 400 miles, all narrow gage, and owned chiefly by English in- vestors. The official monetary standard is the gold condor, worth $9.65, which equals ten pesos (dol- lars), and this peso is the common circulating medium, but it does not always have its par value, and paper money, circulating side by side with silver, is subject to fluctuations. The army has a minimum strength of 1,000 men. The external debt, held in England, is $15,000,000.

Only one port in Colombia, Buenaventura (Tu- maco is occasionally visited) needs mention; from it the capital, Bogota, at an altitude of 8,500 feet,

70 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

may some day be reached by rail, but at present there is no commercial demand for it, so that mountain trail and mule remain the only means of communication.

The first stop of importance at which there is true international interchange, is at Guayaquil, in the next republic to the south.

Ecuador, twice as large as Illinois, has an area of 1 16,000 square miles also completely within the tropics, but equally with Colombia blessed by a climate in the elevated region, so healthful that life becomes a pastime instead of a struggle. The population is 1,200,000, with 200,000 Indians. Two hundred miles of railway have been con- structed, and the work on this industry, sometimes under way, sometimes stopped, complicates the problem and the amount of the external debt, Vv'hich is $5,000,000, guaranteeing, and guaranteed by, the railway from Guayaquil to Quito. The in- ternal debt is $2,500,000. The official standard is the gold condor, equal to the English sovereign, or to $4.86 U. S. gold; the condor has ten sucres (48 cents each), and these, in silver, are the chief cir- culating medium. The army has a peace footing of 5,000 men.

Guayaquil lies south of the equator, 842 miles * from Panama, within the gulf of the same name

* I use in all the distances given for the west coast the chart of nautical miles from the tables of the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy.

ECUADOR 71

and on the River Guayas. The population is 50,000, the second largest in the republic, and of greatest commercial importance. Through it passes 90 per cent, of the trade of Ecuador, about $7,500,000 of imports and $10,000,000 of exports, annually, the latter consisting largely of cacao, rub- ber, cofifee and Panama hats. The United States, France, Germany and England share this trade, France having the largest share.

From Guayaquil, or, more accurately speaking, from Duran across the bay, the railway starts to- ward Quito; it is completed for a distance of 140 miles and will soon enter the city, since the road- bed for the remaining 120 miles is already leveled. The company is American, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey, and should be commended for having overcome as great engi- neering difficulties as can be met in South America.

Quito is on the equator, 9,600 feet above sea level, surrounded by a host of snow-capped moun- tains rising to twice this height. It has a population of 70,000, with a cultured aristocracy and an in- dustrious native Indian working class. The busi- ness is largely in the hands of English and German firms.

On reaching Tumbez on the frontier, where Pizarro began his adventurous conquest of the In- cas, the traveler is within the confines of Peru.

Peru has 695,700 square miles, thirty-one times as large as Maine, and a population of 6,600,000;

72 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

in 1876 only 13.8 per cent, of the population were white, and this proportion has not altered much within the generation. The external debt was ex- changed in 1890 for a monopoly concession to the Peruvian Corporation (English), which took over the state railways, certain mines and lands, and privileges of export; the amount was then esti- mated at $110,000,000; Chile has an interest also, as she wishes Bolivia to advance with Peru. Alto- gether there are 1,400 miles of railway, standard gage, in Peru. The army has an enlistment of 5,000 men; the navy a displacement of 5,000 tons; small, it will appear, against the strength of Chile. The monetary standard is the gold libra equal to the English sovereign ($4.86), and it contains ten sols, the silver sol passing for forty-eight cents.

A stop is made at Payta, once a Yankee whaling rendezvous, now the terminus of a railway running sixty miles into the interior to tap the petroleum beds and the fertile cotton valleys, destined to be- come the north Peruvian port for the future com- merce of the Amazon region toward the Pacific. Then past Eten and Pacasmayo, whence begins an historic trail to the Amazon through Cajamarca, once famous as an Inca residence; then Salaverry, the port for Trujillo, another Inca city; then Chimbote, half-way between Panama and Val- paraiso, a small port to-day, but destined to become great, because of its excellent harbor that offers outlet to the fertile country and the rich coal and

PERU— LIMA 73

mineral deposits tapped by the incipient railway; and at last comes Callao — Kalio, as skippers say — the greatest port of Peru, with piers and wharves, landing stage and a mole. It is a pretty place with 30,000 inhabitants, embowered in tropical trees and protected by the island of San Lorenzo. There are plazas and statues, churches and beggars, truly a la Espagne. Here England leads in the shipping, United States next, Germany third and Chile a bad fourth. Callao has a foreign commerce of one-half of Peru's total of $40,000,000, and is the landing- place for the city of Lima, only eight miles inland and five hundred feet in the air, the two being connected by trolley and steam-cars, constantly on the go.

Lima is in every sense of the word the capital of Peru. It was the home of Pizarro and the Inquisi- tion, of the viceroys who ruled South America from the Rio de la Plata to Panama; it was the stronghold of the church with a hundred domiciles for the faithful. Lima has endured earthquakes and floods, autos-da-fe and bull-fights, but the lot- tery and horse race are displacing the earlier sports, while a generous spirit is exchanged for the illiberality of former years. Life in Lima is conse- quently becoming up to date, and society is quite cosmopolitan. Italians, Germans, French, English and Scotch mingle in harmony with the old Cas- tilian aristocracy, and a leaven is working from all sides. Intellectually Lima ranks higher than

74 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

Buenos Aires, but the industrial activity of the city has not kept pace with her Atlantic sister. Never- theless, the public-service functions promise soon to become equal to those of any modern city, so that water, electric traction and scientific hygiene will destroy the bad reputation Lima once had, and give her credit for being healthful, to which cli- mate and natural advantages entitle her. In Lima the American colony is small, but the name Amer- ican or Yankee will be for ever reverenced on ac- count of the miracle of engineering perform.ed by the Californian, Henry Meiggs. He it was who planned and built the Southern Railway from MoUendo to Lake Titicaca, and also the still more famous line running up the mountain from Callao, 1 80 miles to Oroya, rising at one point to an eleva- tion of 15,665 feet. The traveler must not forego the chance to see this road, nor should the student forget that at Junin, farther along, Bolivar gained his great victory over the Spaniards on August sixth, 1824, leaving to Sucre to strike the very last and decisive blow on December twenty-fourth, 1824, at Ayacucho, to the south.

The railways are at present all owned by English companies and show the defects of management from a board of directors sitting in London, but Yankee enterprise is by no means absent, and much good American money ($25,000,000) is finding in- vestment in Peru, to show that others since Meigg;^ have grasped their opportunities. There are Amer-

MOLLENDO 75

ican silver miners, copper miners, and contractors for the newer railways, so that they run the English a close second in the amount of capital invested, while they ahvays furnish an object-lesson in en- ergy. It is one of the few sections belovv^ the equator vvhere we at present seem to hold equal rating with Europe.

From Callao the steamer carries the traveler into and past several small roadsteads scarcely to be dignified by the name of harbors; then to Pisco, a charming and active place shut off from the rest of the world except by sea and a local railway run- ning forty miles eastward to lea. The next impor- tant stop is MoUendo. The steamer does not really stop; it merely anchors till passengers and freight are landed; there is no such thing as stopping in this restless, tossing sea; freight goes in on lighters, passengers offer a prayer, shut their eyes, are seized by the expert boatmen alongside, get a ducking from the breakers, become hypnotized and finally reach land, unable to explain how they escaped a watery death. Some day a pier will be built, or the bay of Islay around the corner will be used.

MoUendo is chiefly of interest because it serves as the custom-house for the commerce into Bolivia, and because here begins the railway which connects the salt water with the world's highest fresh water sea. Lake Titicaca. Arequipa, 106 miles northeast and 7,500 feet in the air, is the point of greatest interest on the line; the city has 35,000 inhabitants

76 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

and is the center for southern Peru. Americans are active here, having large investments in mines, rubber and wool, and on Mount JVlisti, near-by, is situated the Harvard Astronomical Observatory. From Arequipa, over an elevation of 14,660 feet, the railway runs 224 miles to Juliaca; from Juli- aca 100 miles farther are built northward to Chec- cacupe, its present destination being Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas — the prehistoric city of South America. This railway will be one of the main links between Buenos Aires and Lima in the great Pan-American system. From Juliaca it is only a short distance southward to Puno, on Lake Titicaca, 12,645 ^^^^ above the sea. From Guaqui, on the lake, a railway will carry the traveler to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.

Bolivia has an area of 729,000 square miles, about as large as the Mexican cession of 1848. Its population is over 2,150,000, but 50 per cent, of this is pure Indian. The external debt of $4,000,- 000 was taken over by Chile in 1899, but the obli- gation to pay for it is not thereby escaped; yet Bolivia is rich, progressive and even industrious, and this contract should be no burden upon her finances. By a law of September, 1906, Bolivia has adopted the gold standard, making the boli- viano equal to the English sovereign ($4.86) and the peso, one-fifth thereof, practically equivalent to an American dollar. There are in operation 750 miles of railway, but projected or in construction

BOLIVIA— CHILE ^-j

are 2,700 more miles, which, when finished, will bring these highlands of the tropics within touch of the world from which she has been so long shut ofif. The standing army is 2,890 men, while a fighting force of 82,000 may be mustered.

Bolivia has no seaport since the war in 1879- 1884 between Chile, Bolivia and Peru; its indus- trial riches are and always will be derived from minerals, but there are agricultural possibilities only waiting to be developed by immigration for settlement and by brains for railway building.

Arica, a day's journey from IMollendo, is the northern port of Chile, and once belonged to Bo- livia; it may be returned to the original possessor, but the future is too uncertain to permit of guesses on this point.

Chile, with 320,620 square miles, about twice the size of California, with which it may be geo- graphically compared, has a population of 3,206,- 000, and is by far the most progressive and ambi- tious republic on the Pacific. Her external debt is $80,000,000, but there is a large internal debt of $30,000,000 also held abroad. The standard coin is the peso of 36>4 cents, thirteen and one-third of which make an English sovereign, and twenty a condor, worth $7.30 U. S. gold. The army is of- ficially 5,000 men, but obligatory service can bring it to a greater strength at any time. The navy has a tonnage of 40,000, which is increasing, as the Chileans are fond of the sea and of their navy.

78 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

There are 2,875 rnil^s of railway, of which 1,422 are government owned and managed, not at all to the discredit but rather to the advantage of the people and to the credit of the officials and en- gineers operating them.

Arica is an earthquake town, well-known in the annals of the United States Navy as the place where the Wateree was carried a mile ashore by a tidal wave in 1868. Its commerce is chiefly for Bolivia, and will largely increase when the rail- way, one of the first in South America, by the way, up to Tacna, is completed 300 miles farther to La Paz. Then comes Pisaqua and Iquiqui, the nitrate centers, now under the rule of the Chilian government. Iquiqui is 1,999 niiles from Panama, practically half-way to Punta Arenas in the Straits of Magellan, and at Iquiqui the tide of commerce may go either way — through the Canal or around the Horn. Yankee interests must be more active if we are to take our natural share of the increasing life of this southern area.

Antofagasta, on the Tropic of Capricorn, exactly opposite Sao Paulo and Santos in Brazil, is the next important port, although it is an open road- stead, frightful to the traveler and expensive to the shipper, but it is the terminus of a narrow-gage railway running 575 miles into the interior, to tap the mineral wealth of Bolivia.

Caldera is another stop of romantic interest to Americans, for it is destined to become an outlet

Alililarv College — Chile

House of Congress — Santiago

VALPARAISO 79

to the Pacific from northern Argentina, a transan- dean dream of Wheelright, the Yankee who pro- jected the first railway from the shores of the Rio de la Plata.

Next come Huasco, then Coquimbo, ports for the Chilian mining output, and at last, Uventy- three days out from Panama, almost three thousand miles due south of Caracas, is Valparaiso, the greatest shipping point in Chile and the largest Pacific market in South America. Valparaiso — Paradise Valley — is said to equal the Bay of Na- ples. It is not so magnificent nor so harmoniously beautiful as Rio de Janeiro's bay, nor has it the expanse or protection of San Francisco's; at best it must be only an artificial harbor. But description and comparison should be omitted here, because the disastrous earthquake of 1906 destroyed much of the city, and probably in the rebuilding the har- bor facilities will also be improved. The popula- tion is 150,000, cosmopolitan, active and represen- tative of the life of Chile. To complete the picture, however, the traveler must go to Santiago, with its 300,000 inhabitants, the official capital of the country, eighty-eight miles eastward among the mountains.

From Valparaiso it is possible during their sum- mer months to cross over the Andes to Buenos Aires on the Atlantic, in forty-eight hours, all by railway excepting thirty-two miles in the highest pass, which, at this writing, are still negotiated by mule

8o A TRAVELER'S NOTES

and diligence; but it is expected that the railway will span the Andes within a short time.

The traveler will notice that for almost all pur- poses of sight-seeing it is seldom necessary to go a day's journey beyond salt water. The greatest cen- ters of commercial and social interest are either seaports or cities which have, for climatic reasons, developed within close touch of them.

It should not be doubted but that some day the projected Pan-American Railway will be com- pleted, connecting New York with Buenos Aires overland, but it may be questioned whether any one will have the endurance to make the trip. Its chief service will be to ofifer, between intermediate points, quicker transit than can to-day be obtained by steamer. Therefore the tourist must study the coast-line well, in order to comprehend the rela- tionship of the several countries to one another.

An ocean path must be taken to arrive at any one of the three great divisions of the continent:

The Atlantic republics, Brazil, Uruguay, Ar- gentina (Paraguay).

The Pacific republics, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile.

The Caribbean republics, Venezuela, Colombia.

I have added itineraries, by means of which any place may be visited. For the Amazon territory, as far as Manaos, in Brazil and beyond, to Iquitos, in Peru, the Booth Line of steamers from New York.

STEAMER ROUTES 8i

For Recife (Pernambuco), Sao Salvador (Ba- hia), Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo and Buenos Aires from New York, the direct route is by the Lamport and Holt Line, the Prince Line (both English), the Sloman Line (German), to Rio in eighteen days, with transhipment for the more southern ports. The fare to Rio is $150, to Santos $160, somewhat less to the nearer ports, and $190 to Buenos Aires, with privilege of using Eng- lish or French steamers below Rio.

The indirect route is by steamer to Southampton, England, thence by weekly boat to Recife and be- yond. A through first-class ticket by the American Line to Southampton, thence by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, can be purchased for $195 to Rio, and $215 to Buenos Aires.

For La Guayra, Venezuela, the "Red D" Line has a steamer sailing every two wxeks, touching at San Juan, Porto Rico and at Curasao, to arrive at La Guayra on the eighth day. The fare is $80. The "Royal Mail" has a fortnightly service from New York, through Jamaica, Colon, Cartagena (Colombia), to La Guayra in fourteen days. Fare, $80. For other ports on the Caribbean Sea it is best to take a steamer to La Guayra, Colon or Bar- badoes, and there to tranship to steamers plying locally along the coast, although there are occasion- ally direct freight vessels to most of them. The United Fruit Company's steamers reach some of the local harbors. At Jamaica it will be possible

82 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

to catch a boat to almost any place, but sailings can be ascertained only a few days in advance, and the traveler is advised to have plenty of time, money and patience for the unavoidable but pleas- ant delays.

For Cartagena, Colombia, the Royal Mail or the Hamburg-American (Atlas) Lines, including Savanilla and Baranquilla, whence depart the mails for Bogota up the Magdalena River, ofifer a regular service.

For the South Pacific, the only gateway is across the Isthmus. (Panama) Colon may be reached from New Orleans, but I would not advise the traveler to select that route ; or from San Francisco, but the journey in the coast-wise steamers of the Pacific Mail takes three weeks. The best route is by the Panama Railroad Steamship Company, or the Royal Mail, in eight days for $80, including railway fare across the Isthmus. At Panama be- gins the trip on the Pacific Steam Navigation Com- pany, or the Compaiiia Sud Americana de Vapores, offering between them a weekly service. The jour- ney consumes three weeks from Panama, stopping — as has been mentioned — at intermediate ports, to Valparaiso. Fare (from Panama), $175.

Specific information concerning these routes may be obtained frvui the New York office of any of these steamship companies.

There remains only the connecting link between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso. The South Ameri-

AROUND THE CAPE 83

can Continent may be circumnavigated around Cape Horn on the Pacific Steam Navigation Com- pany's steamers, the journey lasting ten to fourteen days, and costing $100; or the Andes may be crossed on the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway to Las Cuevas in Argentina, on mule and diligence to Juncal in Chile, in forty-eight hours, at the cost of $75, including sleeping berth and meals. This route is open only from October to June.

Thus a grand tour may be arranged from New York to Buenos Aires, around or across to Val- paraiso, up to Panama and through the Caribbean Sea to New York, 15,000 miles for $750. It might be added that there is no way to get to Rio de Janeiro from Caracas — that is, no civilized way, except to travel across the Atlantic to England, or up to New York. But one can come from Rio de Janeiro to Caracas much more quickly, because all Brazil steamers stop, north bound, at the Island of Barbadoes. It is possible to go from La Guayra to Barbadoes, thence to Para at the mouth of the Amazon, and from there, on the local coasting line, the Lloyd Brazileiro, to Rio, but I pity the man who would attempt such a foolish journey.

Continuing the ocean voyage southward, the steamer brings one to Talcahuano, the seat of the naval academy of Chile, then to Coronel and Lota, adjacent mining ports; from there the traveler can go by rail to Concepcion, the third largest city in

84 A TRAVELER'S NOTES

Chile. Valdivia, the head of a German colony, is next; other ports of less importance follow, and the Chilian journey, after passing into and nearly through the Straits of Magellan, ends at Punta Arenas, the southernmost city of the world. There steamers turn to the north for the Falkland Islands, Buenos Aires, Rio and Europe.

This trip south from Guayaquil and from Val- paraiso around Cape Horn ought to be of particu- lar interest to North Americans, because of the ori- gin of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. The man whose genius devised and brought it to success was William Wheelright, a native of New- buryport, Massachusetts, who was wrecked in 1823 on the Argentine coast, near Buenos Aires. From that date he gave his efiforts and his dreams to the material improvement of South America. He was at one time United States Consul at Guaya- quil, Ecuador, and soon after established a ship- ping business in Chile. There he planned a railway across the Andes; he completed steam communica- tion between Valparaiso and Santiago, and later attracted thither the famous Henry Meiggs, whose brilliant engineering achievements filled with wonder Chile, Peru and, in fact, all the world. His last years were given to building, in Argentina, the railway which is now stretched almost across the continent. This was during the administration of President Sarmicnto, and it is the only discredit attaching to that statesman that his jealousy of

WILLIAM WHEELRIGHT 85

Wheelright's constructive genius caused Argentina to ignore the debt of gratitude due him. But the crowning work of Wheelright's career was the foundation of the Pacific Steam Navigation Com- pany. Before his time the passage through the dan- gerous Straits of Magellan had been made only by sailing vessels, but Wheelright saw the necessity and the commercial capacity of steam. He could not get help in his native country, so went to Eng- land. There, in spite of ridicule and abuse, he won the confidence of English public men and finan- ciers, who built for the company he organized two small steamers. These, with Wheelright on one of them, sailed from England, and with no great misadventure reached the harbor of Valparaiso October 16, 1840. The Chileans went wild with delight. They hailed him as their benefactor, and have since erected a statue to his memory. But the P. S. N. Co. is a British institution. Americans never partook of the advantages one of their loyal sons offered them; and unless we exercise greater energy now, we shall always be subordinate, as in this case, to the influences of Europe.

ARGENTINE STATISTICS

Area, 1,135,840 square miles. Population, 5,500,000; per square mile, 5.

Foreign debt, $385,465,000.00. Per capita, $71.00. Money, gold standard, on a fixed exchange, convertible into silver currency. Currency, paper above the dollar, which is exchanged on a fixed ratio of $2.27 paper to $1.00 gold. Silver and nickel coins of fractions of this peso, silver. Trade statistics (1905) : Exports, total, $322,843,841.00: to the United States, 4.8 per cent. ; to England, 16.66 per cent. ; to Germany, 13.25 per cent. Imports, total $205,154,- 420.00 ; from the United States, 14.30 per cent. ; from Eng- land, 39.20 per cent. ; from Germany, 14.40 per cent.

Investments in the coun- try: Of English money, $1,500,000,000.00; of Ger- man, $100,000,000.00 (ex- clusive of land owned by German colonists); of American. $10,000,000.00.

Miles of railway, 12,500; government owned, 1,500; subsidized, 1 1,000; unsub- sidized, none.

Capital, Buenos Aires ; population, 1,000,000.

Army, 20,000 active; 120,000 including reserves. Navy, 60,000 tons ; 6,000 men.

STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES

Area, 3,925,600 square miles. Popula- tion, 85,000,000; per square mile, 28.

Trade Statistics — Exports: Total, $1,- 626,083,524.00; to England, 34 percent.; to Germany, 11.3 per cent.; to South America, 4 per cent. Imports: Total, $i.i79.i35'344-oo; from England, 15 per cent.; from Germany, 10 per cent.; from South America, 12.7 per cent.

Miles of railway, 225,000, exclusive of sidings and secondary tracks, all pri- vately managed.

Army, 100,000 maximum strength; at present, 64,000 men; navy, about 570,- coo tons.

There is no external debt in the South American sense.

National debt, $989,866,722; per cap- ita, $11.60; to which add, for state, mu- nicipal and school, $18.15; total, per capita, $29.75.

86

CHAPTER THREE

ARGENTINA

GEOGRAPHY

Argentina is one-third the size of the United States. Its area is 1,135,840 square miles — as much as the territory east of the Mississippi, with Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas added. In fact, it is an enlarged Dakota, as far as cultivable land is concerned, with the inestimable advantages of warmer climate and greater accessibility to the sea.

Argentina extends over thirty-four degrees of latitude, from 22° S. to 56° S.; its land boundary on the west has a total length of 3,000 miles, on the north of 1,000 miles; from its northeastern boun- dary to the mouth of the River Plate is 750 miles of navigable water, while from Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego there is a salt-water frontage of 1,615 miles, lacking only 200 miles of the distance from Portland, Maine, to Key West, Florida. The greatest width of the country is only 800 miles, but this is by no means uniformly preserved. At the lower extremity it is scarcely 250 miles from sea to mountain. Buenos Aires, the capital and prac- tically the easternmost point toward the sea, lies as far south of the equator as Los Angeles is north,

87

88 ARGENTINA

and is as far east of Washington as the center of Newfoundland. The natural boundary between Argentina and her neighbor and rival, Chile, is the backbone of the continent, the Andes, whose circle of longitude nearly passes through Augusta, Maine. From these heights, at Aconcagua reach- ing 23,000 feet, the slope is gradual or abrupt to- ward the Atlantic Ocean, embracing the deep in- dentation of Bahia Blanca, one of the commercial doorways to the continent and the huge basin of the River Parana. This river is one of the three outlets from the interior of the continent to the sea, superior to the Orinoco in Venezuela, and second only to the Amazon in South America. Emptying with the Uruguay River through the La Plata, the outlet is eighty per cent, larger than that of the Mississippi and drains an area of 800,000 square miles.

Nearly every acre of this land in Argentina is, with the simplest of railway construction, within reach of the Atlantic Ocean; there are no natural barriers to overcome, such as we have in the AUe- ghanies on the east or in the Rockies on the west. Produce that can not be floated down a river to tide-water could be loaded on to cars and wath slight expense and a short haul be mechanically transferred to modern ships in modern harbors, with the whole consuming world of Europe closer to their producing areas than are the fields of our Middle West. How immense are these storehouses

GEOGRAPHY 89

of nature and how close to markets can scarcely be grasped except by a close study of their geography. Misiones, Entre Rios and Corrientes may be com- pared to interior Virginia reached by the James; the Province (State) of Buenos Aires, to New York, so close to the sea is it; the more northern areas are nearer the natural highways of transit than are Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mis- souri on the Mississippi; while south of Buenos Aires it needs only a few miles of railway to bring the products of millions of fertile but as yet un- tilled acres as close to the consumer as are Louis- iana, Alabama and Texas to-day. It is only along the eastern slope of the Andes, that is, to the west of the republic, that Argentina shows any real ele- vations; in Tucuman are mountains of 15,000 feet, and from there southward are mountains, valleys and hills; but the real Argentina is a fertile plain which, measured by the standard of our own soil, has, it is safe to say, 500,000,000 acres that can some day be turned to cultivation of life-sustaining products. In the remaining regions gold and other precious minerals are found, but Argentina is es- sentially an agricultural country. There the wealth of nature is from the earth, and the more she gives the more can it be replenished.

Some of this land is at present heavily timbered with woods of great commercial value, which are rapidly finding a market; but even allowing for this area, the greater part of the country is a well-

90 ARGENTINA

watered treeless plain, ready for animal pasture or the plow.

In addition to its accessibility to the sea-coast and therefore to the world's markets, this area has another great advantage over our older northwest, Minnesota and the Dakotas, or the newer regions of Canada, in that the climate is superior for the growth of cattle and grain, and for the dwelling- place of man. Only the upper tip of Argentina lies within the tropics, but over the regions of the north as far south as the mouth of the Parana, the climate in summer is about equal to that of our Gulf States, while that of winter bears a comfort- able resemblance to our late springs. There is never snow or frost over this section of the coun- try, and the heat, although oppressive at times, never becomes the blistering furnace found in New York, Boston or St. Louis during the summer. Buenos Aires is about on a line with Capetown, South Africa. The climate is superior to anything in our country, and the name, "Good Air," is not misapplied; the summer heat in Buenos Aires is always bearable, while the winters, even with their western winds, do not prevent life out of doors. This equability of temperature is noticeable all over the middle provinces, even west to the base of the Andes and south to the border of the Rio Ne- gro; but southward to the end of the continent, at Tierra del Fuego, it grows progressively colder, although, even with snow and frost, the severe

W lieat black m ArL;cnu;ia

Travclinu' in Snuth America

l\'ills of Tgfuazu — MisioiK's in Art^cntina

CROPS 91

winters of northern Michigan, with the disastrous consequences of snow blockades, are unknown.

The wheat-growing and cattle belt of middle Argentina is not as well watered as is our Middle West above the Ohio River; here again the com- parison with Dakota must be made, because the rivers can not be used for the transport of merchan- dise; but there are numerous streams that offer enough water for irrigation, and only a few feet be- low the surface water can be found either for live wells or for the windmills which form the outposts of all well-equipped estancias. In Misiones the landscape is Brazilian and to the extreme south it is like Arizona, but the droughts of southern Cali- fornia are unknown. The soil and the climate combined allow Argentina to grow anything that the United States can grow, and practically at half the cost; every product of our fields is already found there — sugar, grapes for wine, oranges, all our woods with others strange to us, cotton, alfalfa, corn, rye and wheat. Sheep, cattle, horses and hogs are already there in numbers soon to equal those in the United States. Coal and iron are the only products lacking; iron, scarcer than copper, is less easily found than gold or silver. However much may by future discovery be unearthed there, it is certain that the United States will never have in the Argentine a competitor in the natural wealth possessed by us in coal and iron.

The configuration of the country throws her

92 ARGENTINA

commerce into three natural channels, from the north and northwest, the west, and from the south- west; from the rivers Uruguay and Parana through Rosario, from the immense western interior through the port of Buenos Aires and its adjunct La Plata, and from the southern and as yet unde- veloped region beyond through Bahia Blanca. There are protected harbors farther south, and a fleet of coasting steamers serves the growing trade, but it will be years before this newer section is suf- ficiently developed to demand an exporting com- merce of its own. Rosario, Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca are as modern as skill and science can make them.

These millions of square miles are by no means all in the hands of private owners. The nation owns and gives good title to land in most of the provinces; the provinces and territories themselves also own land and by careful distribution en- courage colonial or independent migration. In some directions, especially west from Buenos Aires, the national or state government land has been disposed of, so that the land on the market is in the hands of private individuals or corpora- tions. In other directions, that is, in the less settled states and territories, land can still be purchased from the government, although much of it has al- ready passed into private hands; but considering the vastness of the areas yet untilled and even un- explored, there is still much land relatively cheap

COLONIES 93

and quite accessible, more so indeed than in the United States; this fresher region can be compared with the districts just opening in the Canadian northwest.

Two great differences must be noted; the first of these is that the railways have, with only one or tw^o exceptions, been given no land as part of their concession and can not therefore advertise the country for the use of settlers with that freedom which characterized our railways west of the Mis- sissippi in former years; a government guaranty on bond issues takes the place of the land grants with which we are so familiar. The second dififer- ence is the persistent and generous effort made by the Argentine government to bring in and to en- courage colonizing immigrants. They are w^elcom- ing colonists, while we are trying to keep out all but the most desirable, because there is more need there than with us for common labor. To be sure, in parts of the United States labor of all kinds is needed for industrial improvement; but if it w^ere properly distributed we should have enough for both factory and field. In Argentina there is not a sufficiently large working class, either for the increasing demand in the large cities or for the greater activity throughout the whole nation in its agricultural expansion. Our very recent exper- iment in Carolina is but a smaller instance of what all Argentina is attempting. In the nation there are several hundred colonies w^hich have acquired

94 ARGENTINA

land under state aid and are paying for it by the returns from work, or have purchased from pri- vate land companies who advance money, machin- ery and the necessities of living, receiving as pay- ment a goodly share of the increase. The Baron Hirsch colony is a fine example of such a system, and is one of the few Jewish settlements demon- strating that the Jew can be successful in his an- cient occupation of agriculture and herding, after so many generations of overcrowding in urban ghettos.

Many individuals in Argentina have become enormously rich from land and its products, and there is yet plenty of opportunity for the careful investor to secure virgin land within 500 or 1,000 miles of the capital, and to watch it grow and in- crease in value. But he must have money to be- gin on, and ability to compete on equal terms with the millionaire estancieros already on the ground. I do not mean that any commercial com- petition is probable, but that, the market being open to any one, the highways are crowded and only an up-to-date product will bring the pre- vailing price. The poor man who wishes to make a home in this new country, as he would do in our Northwest or in the newer Canada, has no place in Argentina; the tendency to-day is rather toward labor of the community or colony, from which the individual may finally break away. The solitary settler, as we know him, would find life very

PRODUCING CAPACITY 95

lonely. To own land appears to be of greater value than to work on it. The consequence is that some titles are endangered by the tricks of the govern- ment, or by the corporation land agent, while the character of the peon settlers from Italy or Spain is far below the character of our early pioneers. The north-European may acquire land in Argen- tina and grow rich from it, but his life will be isolated, and he will find few of the German or English homes which have made the villages of Kansas and Texas so pleasant.

Apart from the loneliness of these interior plains, the Anglo-Saxon finds no companionship among the south-Europeans, for the settlement in Argen- tina is peculiarly Latin, although the prevailing energy in the country's growth is English. It is im- possible to expect that for generations to come this fertile soil will be anything but an abiding place for the money-seeking Goth and a breeding place for the humble and less ambitious Latin.

It is undeniable that Argentina can give lodg- ment to 100,000,000 people and can furnish nour- ishment, at a remarkably cheap rate, for as many more, when her whole area is utilized. When it has reached the industrial stage we have reached, it is hardly to be questioned but that Argentina will take from us a large share of the markets of Europe which we have rather boastfully claimed as our own.

CHAPTER FOUR

ARGENTINA

HISTORY

The mouth of the Rio de la Plata was entered by the Spaniard, Solis, in 15 16, although earlier but unknown Portuguese explorers may have passed the capes. The aim of Solis was to discover a southwest passage to the Pacific, but he lost his life in a struggle with the Indians on the Island of Martin Gracia. In 1520 Magellanes, a Portu- guese, discovered the little hill of Montevideo and then passed into the Pacific. Adventurer followed adventurer till Mendoza, acting under the Em- peror Charles V, landed in 1535 on the spot where is now the capital of Argentina.

During the time of the colonization of the sil- ver country, which lasted until 1800, the Spaniards did all that human ingenuity could devise to ex- ploit the land and to pervert civilization. The settlement of the east coast followed by only a few years the conquest of Peru (1531), but no such developed or organized native life was found. The land was agricultural and the aborigines were wild nomadic Indians, so that this region was for years subject to the vice-regency of Peru. Santiago was

96

JESUITS 97

founded in 1553, Tucuman in 1565, Cordova in 1573, Santa Fe in 1573, all by explorers from Peru, from Chile or from Buenos Aires. This last city grew in importance and strength despite the intrigues, jealousies and strange economic theories of Spain, till in 1717 Zavala became the authorized ruler.

Up to this date Spain had had, from without, lit- tle interference in her territorial ambitions on the Rio de la Plata, but her authority had been under- mined from within by the increasing strength and subtleties of the Jesuits. In 1590 the Jesuits laid in Paraguay the foundations of that colossal power, lasting for more than two centuries, which forms an essential feature of the history and development of this part of South America. The Jesuits worked by priestcraft and paternalism, not by the sword; they subdued the Indians and turned them into peons or manual laborers, but they did not de- stroy them, as did the Spanish gold-seeking adven- turers. The Jesuits segregated them, weakening their resistance so completely that when finally the region between the Uruguay and Paraguay Rivers — now Paraguay and the Argentine Mesopotamia — was opened to invasion the docile natives melted away before the aggressions of the invaders. The Jesuit influence did not extend over all of what is now Argentina, but it was felt to the foot of the Andes, where it met the cold-blooded conquest in Peru.

98 ARGENTINA

From 1600 to 1700 the history of Argentina is but a loosely developing story of international struggles, wider settlements and continuous regrets that gold and silver were found only across the mountains. From 1700 to 1800 the colony grew stronger and began to realize the agricultural riches of the La Plata; Portugal became an en- emy and claimed for Brazil certain territory which Spain refused to grant. England then (1762) al- lied herself with Portugal, became involved in the quarrel, and though her arms were repulsed her merchants had their eyes opened and aroused Spain's sluggish perceptions by starting trade with the far-off settlements on the River Plate. In 1776 Spain realized the importance of the country and raised it to a vice-regency, with the capital city at Buenos Aires. In 1767 the Jesuits were expelled and their ecclesiastical property confiscated, but their power could not at once be checked. On the whole, during the century, there was a tendency to- ward improvement and an acknowledgment that the precious metals were subordinate to agricul- ture. The viceroys were ambitious patriotic men who, not debauched by the poison of Andean wealth, were perhaps far-sighted enough to dream of a nation in the New World resting upon a foundation of expansive industry, surer and saner than that of confiscation and Indian captivity. At any rate, the people were beginning to feel the spirit of revolt and to wish to keep the land for

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 99

themselves, even if they had to plow it themselves. This was better than driving Indians into mines. A short decade from 1800 to 18 10 saw an English attack on territorial rights initiated by an assault (1806) on Buenos Aires, but they were repulsed by the colonists and Spanish troops.

This incident was the needed torch to fire the thoughts of revolution. If there were patriotism enough in Buenos Aires and Montevideo to expel such a formidable nation as England, why should Spain rule? A Frenchman had led the seemingly undisciplined forces to victory after the pusillani- mous viceroy had left the unprotected city and fled to Cordova, but gratitude to a Frenchman was not subservience to the Bonapartist idea nor to France; no foreigner should govern them ; they must govern themselves. The succeeding and last viceroy from Spain was a tactless, domineering bureaucrat, and he delivered the ultimate stroke that decided Ar- gentina to use its own developing native talent to govern itself. There was an additional inspiration from the United States of North America which had already control of her own destinies. South America, seething with the ferment of liberty, de- termined to become for ever free from Europe. A declaration of independence was made by the pop- ulace of Buenos Aires on May 25, 18 10. This was the natal day of the Argentine Republic.

Thus the revolution broke. Missions to Para- guay and to Peru secured moral and material

100 ARGENTINA

support for the revolutionists, while Spain with wavering success tried to retain what was once her own. Brazil, owned now by Portugal, voiced old pretensions and claims to Argentine soil ; but Great Britain, moved by common sense in protecting her growing commercial interests and by her love of a righteous cause as well as by her antipathy to Spain, opposed Brazil and upheld the colonists, so that external attacks amounted to little. Internal aflfairs, however, were far worse and discord seemed to grow like alfalfa upon the virgin pam- pas. Out of the unrest and ambition developed one self-perpetuating discord — the effort of the province of Buenos Aires to secure dominant power in the nation, and the jealousy of the inte- rior provinces which stopped at nothing to wrest this power from her. It was town against country, centralization against localism, man against des- tiny, in a battle that lasted nearly a hundred years. Out of the turmoil developed a host of patriots whose names deserve as careful attention as we give to the heroes of our own Revolutionary epoch. One was Belgrano, who in 1812 devised the na- tional flag — white and blue — with the emblem, a liberty cap held aloft by two hands into the rays of the sun. Belgrano proved himself a general by winning battles, and a statesman by uniting, tem- porarily at least, the quarreling disputants. An- other patriot was San Martin, an essential factor in this war for independence; his life is one of.

RIVADAVIA loi

the romances of America. Posadas was the first executive head of Argentina, being nominated "Supreme Director of the United Provinces"; he soon relinquished his task to his successor, Alvear, who in his turn yielded to Thomas. During this presidency there was held a national congress which, on the 9th of July, 18 16, proclaimed the independence of the United Provinces and elected Pueyrredon. In 18 19 a constitution was proposed but rejected, and the country then plunged into civil war. Each state claimed and was given entire liberty so that, as one historian remarks, anarchy was officially declared.

In 1820 there were twelve changes of government in Buenos Aires. Revolution followed revolution, but in spite of internal dissensions there was in the country a developing strength, sufficient to claim, from the United States in 1822 and from England in 1823, recognition of independence. Interests began to be harmonized.

War with Brazil was declared in 1825 over the section of South America we now know as the re- public of Uruguay, which each nation claimed. The inhabitants wished independence, which they finally succeeded in obtaining in 1828. This war brought out another of the heroes of Argentina, the patriot and statesman Rivadavia, who became pres- ident of the Argentine Confederation in 1826. He was patriotic in that he resigned the presidency in order to avert a civil war. At times afterward he

102 ARGENTINA

held important diplomatic positions, thus showing that, without offending his dignity, a president could officially serve his country by accepting lower posts; he was a statesman in that he found a way to harmonize the discontented factions of the land, and to unify national sentiment. It is unfortu- nate that the name of Rivadavia is not better known to northern students; his earnest sincerity and self- sacrifice, his far-sighted intellect and patriotism, make him the peer of many of our Revolutionary heroes, and show how the Latin blood, under stress, is as capable of developing national genius as the Anglo-Saxon. Rivadavia's fame rests also upon his policy of conciliation. He won the good will of Europe, was given the right to establish schools, overcame the jealousies of the interior provinces against Buenos Aires so that Santa Fe became, for the time being, the capital ; and when in 1828 Uru- guay was declared free, he was relatively the Jef- ferson of Argentina.

The internal troubles, which had ceased during the struggle with Brazil, broke out afresh, and the provinces were once more arrayed against Buenos Aires. This city was growing so vigorously that by all natural laws it could be nothing but the metropolis, if not indeed the capital, of the nation. For the moment one party, the Unitarians, con- quered, but overweening authority in their hands destroyed their prestige, and the Federalists, more active and more accustomed to warfare, controlled

ROSAS THE DICTATOR 103

Argentina. The result was to bring into power that wonderful creation of Latin American history, a republican dictator. The name of this particular one was Rosas, and he embodied all that was ma- lignant in such a character. Rosas was a Federal- ist; that is, he believed that Buenos Aires should play a subordinate part in Argentine afifairs, and that the other provinces, even though less settled, less cultured, less educated, should exert superior influence. This meant, in fact, that isolation was to be the prevailing policy of the government on the River Plate.

Rosas was a cow-boy, a gaucho of the pampas; he had had no training beyond that of the plains, and no ambition except to follow whither his star might lead. It made him a dictator. He knew how to please the multitude and the gauchos worshiped him. He was first a general, then, in 1829, gover- nor of Buenos Aires, but not till 1835 did he pos- sess himself of all authority. He had resorted to treachery and assassination in the beginning of his career, and to these medieval practices he added intrigue, constitution-making or breaking, and bra- vado. He strangled the press, he cajoled his allies, he appointed his fawning favorites to the best offices, and he gripped the government with a hand of iron. He soon lapsed from a man of primitive virtues into a selfish despot because he had a more pliant material with which to deal. Rosas was cruel and permitted to his agents, if he did not

104 ARGENTINA

encourage, a greater cruelty. He defied the al- lied strength of England and France, and, al- though they prevented his seizing and annexing Montevideo (Uruguay), he was clever enough to prevent Buenos Aires from suffering the conse- quences of his ill-treatment of foreigners. One of his ambitions was to preserve Argentina for the Argentinos, but in this he failed, because her abun- dant resources attracted an increasing number of foreigners. Both England and France, actuated by humanitarian and commercial motives, were un- willing to abandon the investments which their subjects had made. The Brazilians, whose interests also were at stake, always gave moral and some- times material support to the Europeans. They forced the free navigation of the Parana in 1849, and successfully compelled him to recognize the autonomy of Uruguay.

Rosas came into power as a tyrant, but tyranny breeds rebellion, and Rosas was driven from power in 1852, after eighteen years of unrestricted dicta- torship. He died in exile enriched by his long oflice-holding; as a Federalist he had concentrated all power into a few hands, undoing by his selfish- ness and folly what Rivadavia, as a nationalist and Unitarian, had accomplished by his wisdom and statesmanship.

There followed a curious anomaly in national affairs; by this time the country had become accus- tomed to attempts at revolt and even to revolution

CHOOSING THE CAPITAL 105

itself, but now the Federation assumed the govern- ment and recognized the province of Buenos Aires as a state apart, separated from the other states. This relationship, making two factions in the Ar- gentine family, lasted a year till 1855, when the province of Buenos Aires again took the lead, be- ing recognized by Argentina and the rest of the world as the natural leader of the nation. In 1853 a congress was held in Santa Fe, and Urquiza, who had driven Rosas into exile, declared president; he became in fact a dictator, but as a Federalist he could not quiet the assertive province of Buenos Aires. Around the vexed question of federalism or unitarianism revolved and revolted the passions of the nation for nearly ten years. Who was in power or who out, is a matter only of the national ar- chives; revolutions were as frequent and as sudden as Indian wars, but the end was union. Urquiza ceased active hostilities, and allowed the unitarian cause to triumph.

In 1862 the unity of the Argentine Republic was assured, the capital was removed to Buenos Aires and the history of the real nation began at that date. Its most eminent figure, another of the heroes of South America, was elected president, a man combining some of the attributes of both Grant and Lincoln, his contemporaries in the north — Bartoleme Mitre, under whose administration commerce grew, railways were begun and pros- pects brightened generally.

io6 ARGENTINA

In 1862 Mitre thought he was at the threshold of peace, and doubtless he would have accom- plished more for the country if external war had not occupied the energies of the nation almost ex- hausted by unceasing internal struggles. This war was the effort, finally successful, to crush the power and ambition of Lopez, the dictator of Paraguay. The question in which the war originated is one of the most complicated in American history; no Argentino tells the same tale as a Brazilian.

When peace was finally declared in 1870 Argen- tina was nearly exhausted. The country had been stricken by cholera, the finances were clouded, pay- ments both foreign and local were in arrears; but better than cash on hand was the spirit of national- ism, and the presence in her councils of two men — Mitre, already mentioned, who as a general had led the army and was now in the president's chair, and Sarmiento, a hero of still loftier ideals. Sar- miento may be called the Lincoln of this Argentine crisis. He was born at the foot of the Andes, of peasant parents, and his own unaided genius brought him to the place he later occupied. He received only the rudiments of an education, and, like Lincoln, read by candle-light after his day's toil was over. His life's story may be epitomized in his favorite phrase, "Found schools and you will do away with revolutions." He studied and ap- plied his knowledge; he preached the gospel of noble discontent and practised it; he was impris-

SARMIENTO 107

oned for his views on liberty, but he laughed at his jailers and cried for education and liberty the more ; he fought for his opinions and upheld them in the public service.

Sarmiento came to the United States as Argen- tine minister (1868) and while here was elected president of the nation — one of the unique inci- dents in republican history. When he took office (October 12, 1868) the war was not yet concluded, but the end was in sight, and he therefore could look steadily ahead to a constitutional government of six years, during which he hoped to carry out the reform and plans matured while he had been studying abroad ; and he was destined to succeed.

Of course he had a revolution or two on his hands. But Sarmiento held his office for the full constitutional term of six years (till 1874) and afterward was senator — the second statesman to step from the higher office to the lower. During his presidency the Paraguayan war was ended; public schools were established throughout the country; Buenos Aires was practically made the capital. Sarmiento planted libraries with Car- negian prodigality; he encouraged the extension of the telegraph and post-office; he fostered the spread of railways, and so invited foreign money and migration that during his term about 250,000 immigrants entered Argentina. Europe began to see the true riches of the country. The enlightened statesmanship displayed by Sarmiento aroused the

io8 ARGENTINA

sympathy and cooperation of the Old World in his ambition to build up the New.

From this date of 1874 the traditional politics of violence slowly but surely gave place to the democratic principle of the ballot and the consti- tution. President Avellaneda (187410 1880) per- petuated his predecessor's enlightened policy. Buenos Aires was officially made the capital.

From 1880 to 1892 Argentina, especially Buenos Aires, was completely modernized. Three-quar- ters of a million immigrants flocked to the country, foreign capital poured in, railways were projected and built with energy, and Buenos Aires expanded on a plan ambitiously outlined to make her one of the chief cities of the world. The finan- cial crisis through which the nation passed in 1889- 90 on the bankruptcy of Baring Brothers, who financed the improvements of the city, was accom- panied by a craze for speculation which intoxi- cated the nation.

But a country as rich in natural resources as Ar- gentina can survive a temporary ordeal of bank- ruptcy, and out of the confusion the nation emerged stronger than ever. Pena (1892-1898) was unfor- tunate in not being able to complete his full term, but a series of tactless errors and foolish blunders compelled him to resign. In 1898 General Roca, for the second time, came again to the presidency. His experience, combined with his knowledge of political requirements and control of the army, car-

MILITARISM 109

ried him into the new century and through his full term. Roca's successor, Quitanda, was properly elected but died early in 1906 and the present presi- dent ( 1907) quietly assumed office.

It is useless to assert that even the later presi- dents have lived entirely within their constitutional rights, or that all offices are assumed by virtue of a pure and spontaneous suffrage. Much nearer the truth is it frankly to recognize that in Argentina, as well as elsewhere in South America, militar- ism has often been the only means whereby the intentions of the government could be enforced. The very foundations and beginnings of the coun- try's life explain its development. Its discovery was an accident; explorations had for their pur- pose the search for gold, and little thought was given to settlement of a territory that might give outlet and home to an agricultural population. The Roman Church was supreme from the in- fancy of the colony; the aggrandizing economic theories of Spain saw nothing in the colony but enrichment of the selfish crown, and there was an uninterrupted struggle of the people against office- holding sweaters and booty-seeking adventurers. When the pressure became too great the colonies revolted.

Yet liberty to them meant license and personal irresponsibility. There was no way of governing such social units but by the sword. No command would be obeyed unless it came from a military

no ARGENTINA

officer. To them law was an unknown quantity; they had had no hardships of forest conquest as had had our woodsmen of Kentucky and Tennessee. The North Americans entered their unknown world with comparative slowness, and had not only to keep the Indians at bay but also to clear the un- ending forest before they dared to think of settle- ment for themselves and families.

The South Americans were adventurers of an- other sort; home was but a phrase, gold was their lodestone. The Indians were savage and hostile, to be sure, but were not a self-willed race; and when they were not killed they became the serv- ants of the conquerors. In the subsequent inter- mingling and intermarriage each learned the tricks of the other. Their personal freedom was absolute, and they had no traditions except of a law which it was human to disobey. Over them was selfish illiberal Spain, irritating the venturesome by silly tariff restrictions, Old World punctilios, and office- holding tax-eaters; they hated law and order, and ahead was liberty. When the Indians of Peru and Colombia revolted it was an early manifestation of Americanism protesting against cruelty and in- justice. When the yoke of Spain was thrown ofif, the Argentinos did not see why they should submit to any yoke; it was local self-government pushed down to the individual.

This desire for personal liberty welded on to a nature that can obey no power but that of the

NATIONALISM in

sword, is at the foundation of every crisis called a revolution in South America. It is not essential to the Latin's mind that it should advance only by revolt, yet in the Old World, his history back to the Middle Ages knew nothing else. Tradition has taught the Latins nothing beyond intrigue; their experiences suggest nothing but fighting and an evasion of a law that had never done them any good. Yet w^hen such men as San Martin and Sar- miento explained that government implied educa- tion and the suffrage, when the idea of material wealth meant not alone riches but also opportunity for larger numbers to live, the idea of peace grad- ually supplanted the glory of war. To-day in Ar- gentina, a so-called revolution is not uncommon; there may be violent disturbances in the future, but the people are learning what law and order mean. The doctrine of federation, which is but an earlier states' rights doctrine, is yielding before the larger materialism that to us means a safeguarded central- ization with well-preserved home rule.

The Argentino has not lost his poetry or his idealism; his artistic side is not subdued by the purer air of his limitless plains; but he has found a new employment in developing a New World nationalism.

CHAPTER FIVE

ARGENTINA

THE GOVERNMENT

"The Federal Government supports the Apos- tolic Roman Catholic Church." This is the sec- ond article in the Constitution of the Argentine nation, and in this ultramontane declaration rests the essential distinction between them and our- selves; it shows that in their minds they have not yet clearly separated tradition from law. This re- striction is inherent in every South American re- public, with the exception of Brazil. It afifects also the president and vice-president, who must belong to the Church, although freedom of religion is guaranteed to all.

The president and vice-president are elected for a period of six years and are ineligible for an im- mediate second term. Senators are elected for terms of nine years and may succeed themselves, but one-third of the senate body is renewed every three years. Each senator must have property with an annual income of $2,000. The deputies (repre- sentatives) are elected for terms of four years, one for every 33,000 inhabitants, and may be reelected ; at present there are 120. The machinery of the

112

THE CABINET— THE ARMY 113

election provided by the constitution is about the same as that of our United States, an electoral col- lege for the president and vice-president, state legislature for the two senators from each province, and direct popular vote for the deputies.

The present working constitution which, omit- ting several tentative documents, is really the sec- ond, dates from September, i860, and its few amendments have been only amplifications of original articles. The Cabinet consists of eight members instead of the earlier five, and they are called ministers (secretaries) as follows: of the Interior, of Foreign Affairs and Worship, of Fi- nance, of Justice and Public Instruction, of War, of the Navy, of Public Works, and of Agriculture. They are appointed by the president with the ad- vice and consent of the Senate.

The army of regular fighting strength consists of about 20,000 men, well equipped and drilled. I have seen the cavalry on review and it will com- pare favorably with any similar European body. Most of the men are recruited from the cow-boys of the plains, who are born to the saddle, and they sit their fine big horses with a grace and natural- ness which the German might envy but can not acquire, and which is equalled only by the cavalry regiments of the United States. The infantry is accoutered with modern arms and can do good work, but they are not born soldiers, like the cav- alry. In addition to the regulars there is a line of

114 ARGENTINA

120,000 which includes the reserves, a national guard and a territorial guard. Army service is compulsory and conscription takes place from among all Argentine citizens, embracing all males born within the country of whatever nationality. Everything about the army is modern. The fight- ing capacity here, as in other countries, depends much upon the general and the cause for which the army is enlisted.

The navy is the best in South America. The armament of Chile is declared to be superior, but the fighting strength of Argentina is undoubtedly better, while the frequent opportunity offered on the Atlantic to compare with European battle- ships, keeps Argentina's navy to a higher grade of efficiency than Chile's.

The post-office is a government institution un- der the minister of the interior. Its organization is on European models and is highly efficient, the service, especially in Buenos Aires, being rapid and trustworthy; in many w^ays it is superior to our own. Its officials are not hampered by the compe- tition of outside interests, and, with the national ambition to be one of the substantial powers, they are determined to bring it to the highest possible stage of efficiency. The telegraph is controlled by the government, although there is no monopoly. There are 30,000 miles of line, about one-half be- ing national, one-third railway, and the remainder the property of the provinces. In this department,

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TARIFF 115

too, everything is modern and developed to a stage of commendable excellence.

Argentina derives most of her income from cus- toms and has a tarifif devised not only for revenue, but also for protection. As it is a country exporting food-stuff altogether, and importing practically all other articles of use, the national government con- tributes toward the support of the provinces and territories, so as to equalize taxation. The protec- tion policy has been instrumental in establishing many manufacturing plants in the republic, and Buenos Aires has within recent years become a pro- ducing center and promises rapidly to supply the native demand for many articles in general use. For years to come, however, Europe and the United States wall continue to find a market in Argentina.

The nation is officially composed of fourteen provinces and ten territories, related to the gov- ernment exactly as are our own states and terri- tories, and maintaining the same degree of local self-government. The capital of the nation is the city of Buenos Aires within a federal district, and the original province (state) of Buenos Aires has as its state capital since 1882 the made-to-order city of La Plata. The immense tracts of unoccu- pied land, which at first belonged loosely to the government, are all now practically portions of the states themselves; the national government still owns and will sell land; in its earlier years it

ii6 ARGENTINA

adopted our plan of devising unoccupied land to the railways along their right of way, but this was generally abandoned in favor of government sub- sidy, and guaranty of principle and interest of railway and other improvement bonds; so that one important incentive for expansion, which we have at its keenest in our southwest and northwest, was withdrawn.

These railways draw their subsidy regardless of business, and are subject to government scrutiny; they make some effort to stimulate a productive output in their vicinity, but their energies have been rather given to following than to stimulating the increasing business along the line, thinking it the function of the government to encourage immi- gration, and that the railway does its share if it maintains its equipment according to grade, and increases its facilities when business threatens to overcrowd the rails. The railway has only recently grasped the advantages of encouraging settlement, because the management has always been in the hands of the British owners, who had little concep- tion of the needs of a new country. The result has been that the growth of Argentina is toward the city, and the nation has before her one of the great- est problems in government and one which we our- selves never felt. This is the necessity of populating the immense tracts of the interior, so as to overcome the dangerous preponderance of the cities. Of her 5,500,000 inhabitants, over one-fourth live in cities

THE LAND PROBLEM 117

of 25,000 or more, and about one-fifth are in Buenos Aires.

The land problem is quite different from that in Brazil. In Argentina there has been a good gen- eral survey of all the land in the nation, and titles are not so complicated or indefinite or obscure as they are in her big neighbor. Much of this land has been given to or snatched up by private own- ers, and every city, especially Buenos Aires, is exuberant with land companies, while any newspa- per supplies its readers with advertisements of auction sales of corner lots in projected colonies and settlements, or in "camps" (ranches, country estates) which may comprise thousands of acres. The immigration department, under the minister of the interior, publishes elaborate information guides for settlers, and each state seconds the na- tional government in its efforts to attract into the country a class that will adopt an agricultural life. Free transportation and money advanced for house construction are among the inducements held out to the immigrant. Besides this, European com- panies have arranged for the settlement of colonies. Land-owners who possess millions of acres, and who find that their estates are too unwieldy for them, are drawing into the country a class of farm laborers as small renters, or sharers of the produce. These holdings may be cut up into small farms and sold at an advance. Sometimes the government does not always faithfully carry out its promises,

ii8 ARGENTINA

but in the long run such irregularities will cease and government or private misdemeanors will be righted or disappear. Land can be had for the asking and money can be made from it by the in- dustrious; but in any case the settler must be care- ful to secure his title.

The great fact exists that a whole nation is offer- ing to the world fruitful, accessible and unoccu- pied land near to the consuming markets, with a healthful climate and an undeniable future of prosperity. Argentina is not so abundantly peopled as she deserves. Our government is concerned only in protecting the lives of strangers who come among us, or in refusing to accept those who are undesirable; the instant an immigrant leaves the inspection office with his papers the government ig- nores him and he becomes only a unit in the indus- trial body; but in Argentina the government officially and with financial aid invites him, be- cause an increasing population is necessary for self-perpetuation. Statistics show that during the year 1904, 161,078 immigrants arrived in Argen- tina; in 1905, 221,622, while 82,772 left the coun- try, giving a remainder of 138,850. The true settlers represent all nationalities from 3,226 Syri- ans to 137 Greeks and two Japanese. Italians lead with 67,598; Spanish with 39,851; then Russians, French and Austrians; Germans 1,151; English 734; Swiss, Belgians, Danes, and North Americans, 134. Thus it is seen that the overwhelming pro-

THE PAMPAS 119

portion of immigrants is from Southern (Latin) Europe. This is natural because language, religion and custom make the transformation easy, but the Latin people do not furnish the sturdy backbone of an agricultural population which the country wishes; they return, after saving their wages, to the mother country, and represent nominally an element of trade, like the French Canadians in New England. The increase in population does not keep pace with the productive ambition of the nation. This is not the fault of the government, which has for years done more than could be ex- pected to throw its land open to Europe, and had it not been for the selfishness of many land-holders who had veritable little kingdoms on a patriarchal plan, a healthier growth might have been fostered; but they were short-sighted, and the government can not yet overcome their errors nor those of selfish politicians.

To break the city habit and to establish homes in the country will require all the government's powers. Only one natural obstacle — the monotony of the pampas — must be recognized. However fertile the land may be, the imagination can not create a feeling of home; the plains are too lone- some, the distances seemingly limitless, and there is no sense of the comfort of which the North European dreams.

Argentina has been more active than any other South American republic in encouraging foreign

I20 ARGENTINA

capital. Only during Rosas' dictatorship did it discourage investments, and build a wall of exclu- sion around its frontier. Since then, and when England began to value the boundless possibilities, concessions and subsidies could often be had for the asking, and the government has been liberal in oflfering inducements for foreign capital to in- vest in public works she could not build herself. It is not necessary to go into details concerning these enterprises. Such gigantic schem.es as the Harbor Works of Buenos Aires, Rosario and La Plata, the first of which cost $36,000,000 gold, or the water and drainage system of Buenos Aires which cost $34,000,000 gold, all directed by for- eign engineers, are simple instances of how the nation uses its money. Concessions for street rail- ways, for grain and cattle industries, are usual, while the spread of railways is a continuous story of the nation's financial liberality. Of the 12,500 miles of road-bed, 1,500 miles are owned and man- aged by the government, the rest are private corpo- rations largely supported by government subsidy. They are well built and managed, although they have their defects in traffic adjustment, and they do not know how to create expansion in the way illustrated by the Great Northern or Illinois Cen- tral Systems. Perhaps if the government insisted that the railways take land instead of subsidy and pay more attention to carrying freight to a rural population whose standard of living could thereby

GROWTH 121

be raised, the embarrassment of the whole nation might be reduced. Not all the railways have termi- nals in Buenos Aires, for Rosario is an independent seaport and so is Bahia Blanca; but the inevitable tendency of every line is toward the capital, and where independent entrance is not obtainable, close connections are made; this is necessary, because practically all traffic is international, and the amount of local freight, handled between interior points, is a negligible item. That Argentina can show a healthy growth on the firm foundation of land is brought out by the facts that during the last decade her population increased forty-two per cent., her railway mileage thirty-six per cent., and the area of land under cultivation one hundred and sixty-seven per cent.

The burden of national subsidies is not really an evil nor can it be shown that Argentina recklessly entered into a national expenditure which, in more thickly settled industrial countries, is undertaken by private enterprise.

In the first place, the nation needed money to meet the enormous debts incurred by her early foreign wars and by the internal struggles pro- voked by the wild and unruly estancieros. The landed aristocracy, filled with dreams of repub- licanism, did not always reckon the cost, and cash was forgotten when these ranchmen first tasted power. But they had the land, and however dimly they may have perceived its value, they knew that

122 ARGENTINA

such land would ultimately carry all the burden they could impose upon it.

In the second place Europe, by deeper experi- ence, had long estimated the enormous worth of such broad fields with a beneficent climate and easy access to tide-water; these pastures had no rugged mountains to obscure them, and the belli- cose Spaniards had almost annihilated the savages that first dwelt there; so no treacherous and stub- born foe opposed their progress. A granary for the world was ready for the taking, and Europe took it, not by force but by finance. England has, on a conservative estimate, $1,500,000,000 already invested in industrial ventures and in land. Spain and Italy have two millions of their people already domiciled in Argentina, and Germany, Austria and Russia send to a smaller degree both cash and human beings to this agricultural El Dorado. The United States is an insignificant factor in her ad- vance, having at one time led in democratic ideals, but being now only her envied prototype in ma- terial expansion. This in-pouring of foreign gold was an almost unmixed good. It promoted uni- tarianism — what we call centralization — and al- though the provinces (states) will never lose their autonomy or their local pride, yet irrational state jealousies will finally yield to a pride in a future national unity, since no state can have an inde- pendent policy apart from the welfare of Buenos Aires. Foreign capital was instrumental in bring-

FINANCES 123

ing about the law of 1896 and others following, by which the foreign loans of the states were as- sumed by the national government, so that all the Argentine external debt is negotiated through one financial channel. In the aggregate the sum looks large; but it is a false notion to compute the debt according to inhabitants, which is a small factor; the debt rests really upon the land. The only les- son needed is a conservative adjustment between expenses and resources. Argentina has not always been able to accomplish this, and has sometimes been extravagant, but her financiers are learning, and, being more and more closely dependent upon Europe for their markets, are becoming conserv- ative in their estimates. In 1905 the national in- come was about $100,000,000, and expenditures $80,000,000. With forethought this balance can be maintained. Statistical reports, however, and es- pecially financial declarations, must not be im- plicitly trusted in Argentina, because the nation is not trained at keeping books, and tables of figures are sometimes adjusted to suit a purpose.

The financial lessons have on occasions been accompanied by unhappy punishment, and sacri- fices have been demanded which retarded whole- some development. The most striking punishment was the fall in the currency to a paper basis; this has been subject to indecent fluctuations, but to-day the paper dollar is officially established to be worth forty-four cents gold, and the gold dollar of any

124 ARGENTINA

country to be exchangeable for $2.27 paper. Fi- nanciers do not accept this arrangement as exact or altogether safe, but it serves, and undoubtedly the brains of the financial world will as readily adjust the currency there as they can the unsatisfactory monetary contrivance of the United States. There is no doubt of ultimate security, since nothing but a cataclysm of nature can rob the country of her resources.

Argentina is making a sacrifice in the conduct of education, which is under national control. The scheme of education is, thanks to the genius of Sarmiento, arranged to conform to the public school system of the United States. There are pri- mary, secondary and higher schools, and three uni- versities for the conferring of collegiate degrees; where the states can not pay for the maintenance of schools the national government assists by a subsidy, and everywhere public instruction is free. This all sounds wtII on paper and reads like a Utopian thesis, but in practice there is a sad mis- conception of what education means. Superficial- ity characterizes both the education offered and the desires of those who submit themselves for instruc- tion; there are not seats enough in Buenos Aires for the school children who by law should attend, and in the country the Italian or Spanish families remain the blissful analphabets of their own land; in the towns educators are poorly paid and owe their position as much to politics as to any intrinsic

FOREIGN INFLUENCES 125

merits as teachers. Diplomas are obtained with unnecessary ease, and rumor asserts that they have even been bought and sold. Of course there are good men, as in every country and age, who have the true spirit of education and thoroughness; but they are not abundant. A glitter takes the place of thoroughness; they are superficial, and often un- able to do satisfactory work.

This accounts for the influx of foreign talent as wtU as foreign capital. Most of the large proper- ties, such as railways, street trams, and manufac- turing plants, are in the hands of Anglo-Saxons. English, German, French and American engineers have been the constructive agents in all the great national or industrial enterprises. The Latin seems to have little self-reliant initiative to carry out what his imagination projects. This is partly due to the character of the education offered, and partly to the standard of physical and mental train- ing throughout the land. But there is one phase of national growth which is in pleasing contrast to the laxity in education. I refer to the forces that go to make what we call modern urban life.

The traveler who has any criterion by which to judge, must acknowledge that Buenos Aires is the finest city on the American hemisphere. It has not the natural beauty of the City of Mexico nor the harbor facilities of New York; if any comparison is to be made, Chicago ofifers the easiest simile. The southern city was founded years before the

126 ARGENTINA

northern, but it is only recently that the earlier one has begun to be cosmopolitan. Buenos Aires is not only the capital of the nation, which is an advan- tage, but it is also the commercial focus of an agri- cultural activity not second to our great Middle West. Its banks, its exchanges and clearing-houses probably transact as much business as those of the city on the lakes. In its natural surroundings, with the Rio de la Plata at its front, it is not unlike Chicago at the head of Lake Michigan. Each had the same simple tasks to overcome, but where Chi- cago ceased to care for anything but the grossly material, and was content with an ugliness which years will not efiface, Buenos Aires began to broaden in esthetic lines and to cultivate the graces of cosmopolitanism.

There are no sky-scrapers, neither are there ele- vated roads, for everything structural must con- form to the plan of an harmonious whole. The streets are well paved and well cared for, the com- fort of the citizen is more carefully considered than in any northern city, and everything that can be suggested for convenience, health and art, finds satisfactory answer in Buenos Aires. The revenues usually balance the expenditures, yet taxes are not high in proportion to the benefits conferred. The municipality itself, that is, the government, does not do nearly as much as London or Glasgow, in the way of managing its own affairs ; the police and fire departments are part of the federal district,

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though the water-works and docks are the city's; but the trams, telephones and many other public services are privately owned. Money seems to be no factor when Buenos Aires wishes an improve- ment; she adopts a plan and pays the cost, and the improvement is carried out skilfully and expedi- tiously.

Of course in a fluid population, such as there is in Buenos Aires, much discontent exists. A certain class has all the opportunity to make public office a crib for the employee, and the sight of such enor- mous unearned incomes and equally enormous ex- penditures, with open dishonesty of many officials and private promoters, arouses in some a hatred for civic injustices and inequalities. This expresses itself in a rising cry for state socialism, and the discontent is fostered by the little consideration given to the general voter. For years elections were conducted according to the whim of dictators or political autocrats, and the polls were managed by and for the party; even now the election laws need not only revision but enforcement, if the suffrage is to be the expression of the people and not a privi- lege granted to favorites or paid for by interested leaders. No approach to the application of the Australian ballot system has yet been made. Ar- gentina in this respect is not much more advanced than other South American republics, and can not therefore be recognized as an ideal democracy.

But, contrary to belief and to ignorant assump-

128 ARGENTINA

tions of foreigners, the nation is neither indifferent nor lazy; arrogant it surely is, because of the im- mense natural wealth and of the rapid strides by which it has entered the ranks of industrial and producing nations; yet this is but the strength of untamed youth, and there is no doubt but that the serious and deep-thinking minds of true patriots will, before the century is over, make of Argentina a wholesome democracy.

CHAPTER SIX ARGENTINA

THE PEOPLE AND PRESENT CONDITIONS

"We are not yet a people ; we have no Volk, like Germany or Russia. Argentina is only at the threshold of settlement; but some day we shall be a mighty nation."

A native-born Argentino told me this, and his epitome of that wonderful country can not be dis- puted by any one who has enjoyed her hospitality. The Argentino means to-day merely a person born in Argentina, and the old aristocracy of Spanish blood, which ransacked the country a hundred years ago, has had difficulty in preserving its ex- istence against the tide of Neo-Europeans eager to partake of the easy riches of that fruitful soil. The Argentino as a type is yet in embryo.

Of the 6,000,000 inhabitants, nearly one-half are foreign born, the great majority of them coming from Latin Europe. Each individual immigrant, when he arrives, is inspected and assured that he will be given fair treatment and can find work and remuneration.

129

I30 ARGENTINA

The other half of the population goes back one or tvv'o generations to a European ancestry. There is a scant remnant of the indigenous Indian, which was already on the road to decay when the country was discovered, but no characteristics of Indian blood or habit can be demonstrated. Until 1850 the growth of the nation, scarcely emancipated from Spanish rule and too troubled within itself to seek or to attract migration, was slow; in 1869, of 877,490 so-called Argentinos, 47,000 were for- eigners, and these were chiefly Spanish. Since then, other south-Europeans have come in and become naturalized and nationalized, so that the English compose the really alien stock. Latin and English are the two ingredients; Latins are easily absorbed after a few years, but the English traits can to-day be accurately and unmistakably defined. Early Spanish, newer Latin and English are there- fore the three dominant factors. The Germans have recently directed migration thither, but apart from a few individuals in trade or in the technical professions, most of them are among the colonists who are settling in the interior, where the early Spanish left the greatest impress. Their influence has not yet become apparent.

The later Spanish, with the Italian and the alien colonists, do all the labor and accept the position of field worker. The pure-blooded Castilian is the aristocrat and continues his traditions unfalter- ingly, but where the land has been brought under

THE INTERIOR 131

cultivation, even by this labor, and wherever are found the newer methods introduced by modern agriculture and the railway, the influences are al- most completely English. Throughout the country conditions strike one as primitive and unadvanced, compared with Europe or with the United States; and however old the history may be, the civiliza- tion itself is new and raw. Even near the cities the people live in a way which with us is rather remi- niscent of backwoods days or of stagnant settle- ments where ambition never was alive. The roads are across prairies or along cattle-trails; buggies or two-wheeled carts may be used, but the better conveyance is the horse or mule. Between such cities as Santa Fe and Tucuman the old Spanish highway is still traveled, but steam nowadays takes the place of "blood," a sangre, as their expression goes.

In fact, the country is In its Infancy. Here and there are estancias, modest enough if the homes are of those who have modest tastes, but luxuriant and magnificent where the estanciero has grown rap- idly rich, traveled much in Europe, or lived in Buenos Aires and found occasion for display and culture. Hospitality is as much a flavor of the land as is Spanish the verbal token of the people, and the kindliness of the Latin is always evident, though it may not be so spontaneous as it is in older countries. The habits of the natives and colonists are usually sluggish and unrefined; they live in a

132 ARGENTINA

way that is incomprehensible to the average North American.

There seems really to be no "settlement," in our sense of the word. In Argentina the country pre- sents great tracts of unused land, with a beautiful mansion as the center of a domain regal in its appointments, the working-class leading crude even slovenly lives, scattered about the estate ac- cording to the requirements of the neighborhood. Elsewhere are colonies beginning existence in the New World with all hope and cheerfulness, but they are unaccustomed to their surroundings and find no traditional customs to balance those they bring with them or to take the place of those they leave behind.

The centuries of occupation in Argentina count for nothing when considering her actual pro- ductive capacity. The incompleteness of occupa- tion is better understood when it is remembered that not only is migration recent but also that the land was given away in huge parcels to a relatively few men, who did not at first comprehend how imperatively nature demands that human hands be employed to get at her treasures.

The traveler in Argentina gets a strong impres- sion that there are no natives indigenous to the soil, no "countrymen" such as we have, and no feeling of kinship or homelikeness ; but a counterbalancing impression must be acknowledged in the increasing acreage under cultivation, in the decidedly modern

THE CAMP 133

tone of all activity and in the undeniable manifes- tations of industrial life. The workers are ignorant and stupid and if left to themselves might sink into the nonentity of their Indian predecessors. They consume nothing proportionate to their produc- tion, and appear to be only part of the cattle and wheat, yet there is a force slowly changing them into reasoning, self-reliant beings. This force is the aristocracy, largely Spanish (to some extent Eng- lish and Irish), which is determined to make a Greater Argentina of what has been intrusted to them. Within the last decade they have increased the population forty-two per cent, the railway mileage thirty-six per cent., and the area under cultivation one hundred and sixty-seven per cent., — proof enough that the country has not yet settled into national habits.

Across these plains the European or North American misses the signs of village life from sta- tion to station. Argentina has no village life, no rural population, such as one instinctively recalls in Spain or Italy, in Germany or England, or in our Mississippi Valley. The nation is a huge camp, if the pun may be allowed — {campo is Spanish for country as distinguished from city. In Argentine vernacular it implies both country and ranch.) It is a shifting, shack-dwelling, wage-earning popu- lation, decades removed from the land-buying and owning, permanent, home-building folk of the United States.

134 ARGENTINA

To illustrate this difference between Argentina and the United States, a personal incident well serves the purpose. We were traveling across the prairies not more than four hundred miles from Buenos Aires. A buggy had been chosen as the most suitable conveyance, into which three of us had crowded so as to be together for the distance of almost twenty leagues we had to make between one settlement and another. We passed huts or rough shacks, put up by natives or Italian and Spanish immigrants quite as much for protection against the weather as for any semblance of permanent home; in fact, we did not see a village or what we should call a farm-house all day long. Toward evening, as we were congratulating ourselves that we should reach the next town before midnight, the young fellow with us, who was new to such life and had not the resistance that comes from contin- ued exposure, began to suffer from indigestion and cramp. Our stock of remedies was of no benefit, and the motion of the buggy so intensified his dis- tress that further progress was impossible. We stopped at the nearest habitation, a primitive hut with no floor but the earth, no window, and only beams covered with mud and grasses for a roof. Here we found a cheerful native woman, who had never known any other existence, but her life had fitted her to handle such emergencies. By this time our companion was in agony; he could not sit up- right nor lie flat on his back, and his pulse was so

AN ACCIDENT 135

weak, his circulation so poor, that we feared he was going to die from some sort of intestinal trouble. But the woman was not to be balked by such symptoms. Within a few minutes she had her patient stripped and in bed; she prepared a kettle of boiling water over her smoky fire; she brewed a drink of some mysterious herbs known only to her- self and her kind; and with hot water compresses, hot blankets, and almost scalding hot tea, she showed her mastery over the situation. Within an hour the pain lessened, by midnight the danger had passed, and on the following morning, our com- panion, though weak and unable to walk, was car- ried to the buggy and took the rest of the journey without risk. We had proposed to our hostess to send for a doctor, but she scorned the idea, clench- ing her argument with the statement that the near- est medico was twenty miles away, a matter of five hours at least to fetch him. At first she refused any reward for her trouble, but finally accepted a present. My elder companion, a man accustomed to years of such wanderings, said that this case was not rare; that he had never met anything but the greatest kindness and that in an emergency he w^ould rather throw himself on the mercy of the simple Argentino than upon that of a prosperous farmer of his native state at home.

Undoubtedly all this will change soon and the rich soil will become the abode of a people with roots penetrating deep beneath the surface, but as

136 ARGENTINA

yet the country offers no opportunity to study the Argentine people; there can be seen only the ag- gressive energy of Europe, turning nature's bounty into food for the Old World. To understand what has already developed one must keep on the rail- road till one enters the town.

Judging by our own landscape, towns are not numerous in Argentina. Look at a map and you will find names in plenty, but most of them are only stations on the line, giving access to large estancias. The stopping places on a railway guide are fre- quent, but they may be only water-tanks or sidings with elevators and stock-pens for the immense amount of freight from the neighborhood, waiting for transit seaward. It is reminiscent of West Texas. In the province of Buenos Aires (more than twice as large as New York State), the most populous and oldest in the republic, there are, out- side of the capital city of the same name, one and a quarter million inhabitants. There are scarcely half a dozen towns, however, of more than twenty thousand, yet the annual business done in the prov- ince amounts to millions and the agricultural out- put for the future is incalculable. The inhabitants are scattered over the ranches, tending cattle and cultivating wheat for the princely owners. The other provinces are even less thickly settled by farms and towns, and the colonies lie hidden in the distance.

But in the towns, especially those of historical

THE SMALLER CITIES 137

background or in the newer ones built to handle or to foster an increasing industry, conditions are much superior. To them come all who can escape from the camp and who have a spirit above the dull routine of an illiterate peasantry. I venture to say that, town for town, matching for instance Rosario (120,000) with Buffalo, or Santa Fe (20,000) with Albany, there is as much taste and culture and that municipal conditions are as good in the southern cities as in the northern. They are places worth living in ; the public buildings are artistic and have a dignity that might put to the blush most of our pretentious Graeco-Roman post-offices and city halls; the streets are well paved and kept in good repair, the water supply is carefully considered, and the interior of the homes is tasteful if not or- nate. This applies equally to Tucuman (45,000) an old Spanish foundation of 1565 and the cradle of Argentine liberty (1816), and to Bahia Blanca with 20,000, a commercial seaport scarcely a gen- eration old. Each town is the center of its own dis- trict, though it is not an independent focus main- taining its own commercial and international relations, like Pernambuco, Bahia and Porto Alegre in Brazil.

In Argentina one marks certain traits in the producing classes: they are more wasteful than wc in the United States, but they have a stronger ex- cuse because they are ignorant, and only within a few years have they been introduced to modern

138 ARGENTINA

ways; the estancieros are wasteful, because they have only recently entered the markets of the world; hitherto the bountifulness of nature sup- plied them with more than their needs and they had not studied that conservation which makes a profit out of the surplus ; to-day they begin to realize that, however rich the resources, they must utilize all they produce. The railways are wasteful and care- less, for they show an inability to move the crops to market; wheat may be stacked unprotected against inclement weather, cattle may lose flesh through improper methods of transport and feed- ing. A complacent American may feel quite com- petent to give advice and to explain that a traffic manager of any first-class road might overcome these troubles and hustle freight to market with- out losing a bag of wheat, but when he returns to the States he will see that the problem is the same and that we are as embarrassed as they by a materi- al prosperity. Our task is larger, that is all. Recent car-famines in the Middle West repeat word for word the criticism of slovenliness and incompe- tency which is to-day the slogan of attack on Ar- gentine shipping methods. In both Americas the explanation is that few traffic prophets have been able to foresee and to estimate the rapid growth of production and commerce, and that finance is so conservative that it dare not reckon for the next generation. Therefore money is invested only when the profit on next year's business is sure. It

AN AMBITIOUS PEOPLE 139

is not Nature who is wasteful or careless or slovenly or short-sighted; it is man. It requires more than financial cleverness to look a generation ahead.

There is, however, one great feature which ani- mates the country and the nation. No matter hov/ unfinished the camp may look, nor how different from our New England or half-developed West, no matter how we may laugh at the childishness of the Italian or the seeming stupidity of the field laborer, one must yield to a conviction that Argen- tina is ambitious. The people are eager to get ahead. The great difference between the aristoc- racy, owning so much of the land and exploiting it for their selfish ends, and the unstable peas- antry freshly inspiring the theories of the new world, fades away before this vital influence. The land-holder may fret because he can not now, as formerly, pull all the strings of government at his whim; the laborer may be discontented because he can not be free from the annoyance of a bureau- cratic administration, but every Argentino is de- termined to leave the next generation in better ma- terial condition than his own. The ambition of the estanciero is to breed finer cattle or sheep or horses, to increase his wheat acreage and to make his estate more beautiful than his neighbor's; the immigrant struggles to escape from peonage and his patron, so as to become a farmer on his own account. The fatalistic philosophy of the Old World is lost in Argentina, as it is in the United

140 ARGENTINA

States, and is replaced by the desire to see things grow.

What this ambition has achieved is best illus- trated in Buenos Aires. It is a panoramic study of civilization to journey from the Andes eastward to the capital. In the mountain pass separating Chile from Argentina, the traveler employs the same mule of transit by which the Incas must have crossed and descended to the fertile plains to the east; farther down a narrow gage railway only suggests what is to come; through Mendoza he finds a few Indians, ineradicable traces of the Span- ish conquest, and many marks of early Argentine history; on the plateaus he sees the Italian or scarcely changed Russian, wild grasses and nature side by side with high-bred cattle and wheat ; prim- itiveness and complexity alternate, the former giving way by degrees to the latter, until, over a road-bed perfect in construction, rock-ballasted, steel-bridged, in a railway carriage as luxuriously appointed as a twentieth century Pullman, he rolls into a city as new, as fresh and as fascinating as present-day Paris.

Buenos Aires has few equals in Europe. This fact is the more remarkable when it is realized that it had none of the natural advantages pertain- ing to Rio de Janeiro or to San Francisco. It is singularly like Chicago in situation and growth, but can not be compared to it in any other way. The great attraction of the city is, as its name im-

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Public Advertising — Argentina

Public Advertising — Rio

BUENOS AIRES 141

plies, its climate, for the heat of summer is merely a mild warmth, the cold of winter is a gentle frost, and its pampero a good-natured blizzard.

The people of Buenos Aires are a wonderful people; it would be difficult to find a race of Europe or Asia, of South America, or even of Africa, not represented. Thousands of Spanish, Italians, Portuguese and French, hundreds of Ger- mans, Russians and Syrians find refuge there. Nearly every tongue is spoken, nearly every lan- guage has its newspaper, expressing popular ideas and conveying general knowledge in the idiom — and all are busy.

It is not the indolent city of the tropics, but a place of enterprises, ambitions, and though re- strained by the Latin love of leisure, nowhere in the world does one find greater evidence of indus- try. The shops are full of purchasers, factories are multiplying, young girls become active compet- itors'of men, and the older habits and customs of Europe yield to a broader cosmopolitanism. Love of the city is the danger in Argentina, because there is only one real city there, only one true cen- ter of political or national life, and that city is Buenos Aires. She has 1,000,000 inhabitants, more than one-sixth of the population of the entire re- public— a disproportion verging on disaster. In- stead of a gradual change for the better in this respect, the rest of the country seems to become more provincial. The city contains the culture of

142 ARGENTINA

the nation, and has not, as other nations have, other millions at her doors from which to recruit her strength.

There is an arrogance at present in the capital which, let us hope, will soften as time goes on. There is no great desire on the part of immigrants to go out into the vast spaces beyond, because work is plentiful here and wages high. A material pros- perity has belittled the value of slow-going virtues, and any way to make money is supposed to be the acme of Americanism. Here one finds the landed rich, drunk with their own wealth, displaying on as lavish a scale as in New York, and an aristocracy spending money like water or devising means for throwing it away. Culture is confined to a few, and taste and refinement are supposed to be im- ported along with other fashions. If money is spent lavishly it is not always spent foolishly, but often for the purpose of improving what they already have; they wish to improve, and the cost of a thing or an idea is no item for consideration, if some- thing is to be gained thereby. This makes Buenos Aires one of the great markets of the world. Any one with something to sell will find a purchaser if his article has merit. Tools, machinery of all kinds, utensils for all work, fill the warehouses, and the newest contrivance is eagerly introduced in the city or on an estate, and finds its way even to the re- cently arrived colonist in the farthest interior. French fashions naturally prevail, but the best ar-

BUSINESS CONDITIONS 143

tide takes the money. If England has the greatest commerce it is because she has most money in- vested; her citizens naturally buy from home pro- ducers or from dealers long established. But it is not a city of habit; the resident has been there such a short time that nationalism or patriotism is a minor quantity. Frankly you can not find a na- tional trait; it is either Spanish or Italian, French or German or English; but Argentinian — nay, there is no such word.

In considering Buenos Aires and its markets, it must be remembered that, if the purchasing desire is large, the purchasing multitude is small. For comparison take New York; an article sold there, becoming popular, finds a market among 70,000,- 000 others in the interior, with equal purchasing and consuming power; but an article sold in Buenos Aires, even if it went from one end of the country to the other, would soon exhaust its market, because there are only 4,000,000 more consumers in the entire republic, and four-fifths of these have neither the tastes nor the requirements above the southern negro. Buenos Aires is Argentina.

In this seething mass of activity, the politicians and statesmen are working night and day. The pol- iticians are the counterparts of our own intimates, with more grace, more tact, more enlightened man- ners, all covering the same delectable motive which we call graft. They have had no scruples in plung- ing the nation into an immense foreign debt, so

144 ARGENTINA

long as they could line their own purses. I found there the genus we recognize in the United States; whether they are in office or merely lobbyists, they are brothers of the senators or corporation lawyers or trust magnates to whom the people are a negli- gible factor. The statesmen are patriots, zealous nationalists, who, when they incur a foreign loan, honestly intend to repay. They are giving their brains, their energies and their manhood to the cause of making Argentina one of the mightiest nations of the earth. They are having a hard strug- gle, because the spirit of the time is not serious.

But a still greater obstacle to greatness is found in that shadow of industrialism, state socialism. Argentina has arrived at a stage in which the gov- ernment is more centralized than their early Fed- eralists could have dreamed when they fought their revolutions against the dominance of Buenos Aires. Their democracy has in it much more of European color than we are willing to admit is ad- visable, although in practice we encourage an im- perialism which frightens the advocates of South American liberty. However, clearly defined as a problem confronting the immediate govern- ment of Argentina is the imminence of socialism, which is more threatening here than in any other part of South America. This is due to two causes: one is the unrest brought over from Spain, Italy and France, whose agitators, unable or unwilling to find a home in the older country, have rushed to

SOCIALISM r45

the newer world to spread their propaganda of social revolution; the other is the fertile industrial soil on which they sow their theories. The country is materially prosperous, every one finds work, and the demand for labor is beyond the supply; but the cost of living is rapidly increasing, the enormous fortunes in the hands of a few seem to thrust into contempt those who have been so unlucky as to have nothing to do but work, and the old-fashioned harmony between aristocrat and peasant is split into the discord of capital against labor.

This shows itself in unions, strikes, disturbances in the trades, in all the various ways by which dis- content rises to the surface. This discontent is not altogether unreasonable, for nowhere is there more patent disparity between wealth in the hands of a few and toil of the many to produce it. Those who came early, in Argentina's boom, were fortunate in securing the land, and now the land takes care of them. They have attained in one generation the luxury of the unearned increment, where it has taken three with us, and our favored ones have a greater task to hold on to it. Besides this, their political methods are even more corrupt than our own, although the stage of demagogy is not reached, for the vote is either coerced or purchased.

The English keep out of politics and give their energies to finance. There are, indeed, English newspapers in the capital, but they serve chiefly as a link between the new country and the old. The

146 ARGENTINA

press is built upon French models rather than Spanish or English, and therefore has more snap to it than one finds in Spain; though it is a ques- tion whether it is more moral than its prototype and whether it directs public opinion as the Anglo- Saxon press does. They have not the serious monthly reviews of the northern nations; the week- lies or monthlies are largely literary or artistic, and public opinion is consequently left to the emotions or to the superstitions of the moment. One of their foremost scholars told me that as yet there is no literature native to Argentina. A few writers of fiction, poetry or history have appeared, but as a rule European literature predominates, and a local writer must receive European approval before he is recognized at home.

Fortunately the people are not slaves to alcohol ; in fact, the Argentinos are among the most abstemi- ous of the Latins and therefore do not fall easy victims to that crudest form of degeneracy.

A friend said to me: "It is a marvelous country; five years ago I had one opinion, to-day I am not sure what conclusions can be drawn. You ought to leave at once before you discover something to modify what now seems clear." It was good advice.

I went away convinced that there are two forces at work tending to nationalize the raw ingredients of population pouring into Argentina — the ambi- tion to rival or to surpass Chile, already behind in the race for modern recognition, and Brazil, whose

ENGLAND^S INFLUENCE 147

unwieldy bulk is slower to respond to outside in- fluences; and, second, an ambition to become the leader in South America, as the United States is the leader in North America. Argentina is big and lusty, but at present there is a self-satisfaction not yet based upon a solid foundation, which would not stand the test of adversity or attack; but this spirit of rivalry is a subconscious precursor of future strength. Another conviction is drawn from this : before the century is over, though perhaps not be- fore decades have passed, Argentina will be our competitor. The land is there; with one-third the area it has two-thirds our productive capacity in food products. The money, the brains and the muscle of Europe are as surely hers, till she can create her own, as they were ours till we no longer needed them. England is so strongly intrenched in Argentina that it would mean a disastrous set-back of fifty years to offend her. But whatever may be the present, the future of Argentina is assured. Land from which 200,000,000 people can be nour- ished is the vital franchise of the twentieth century. To ignore this or to consider as insignificant such an evident fact, is to forget what we once were, and what we have become. Their problem is to develop the unoccupied land already at hand; our problem is to develop the people already here and increasing faster than we can supply them with land.

URUGUAYAN STATISTICS

Area, 72,210 square miles. Population, 1,000,000; per square mile, 13.5.

Foreign debt, $121,455,747; per capita, $118.70. Money — Gold standard, fixed exchange. Currency: All foreign gold coins, exchange fixed by law ; silver and paper, peso ; silver fractional coins.

Trade Statistics (1903) — Exports: Total, $38,640,000; to the United States, 4.63 per cent.; England, 9.15 per cent.; Germany, 11.30 per cent. Imports: Total, $25,958,000; from the United States, 8.48 per cent.; England, 21.60 per cent.; Germany, 13.60 per cent.

Investments in the coun- try : Of English money, $300,000,000 ; German, $2,- 500,000; American, $500,- 000.

Miles of railway, 1,220; government owned, none ; subsidized, 720 ; unsubsi- dized, 500.

Capital, Montevideo ; population, 300,000.

Army, 5,000; navy, none.

FRANCE

Area, 207,054 square miles. Popula- tion, 39,000,000; per square mile, 188.

Army, 532,593 officers and men (ex- clusive of reserves) ; navy, 604,000 tons.

National debt, $6,092,053,500.00; per capita, $156.25.

Total imports (1905), $902,056,000.00; total exports (1905), $919,013,000.00.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

URUGUAY

GEOGRAPHY

Uruguay, the smallest South American republic, with only 72,210 square miles, is not quite twice as large as Cuba or Pennsylvania. It is the Banda Oriental, so called because, after the Uruguayan struggle for freedom from control by the Brazilian monarchy, it obtained its independence; lying east of Argentina it was called Oriental to distinguish it from its western neighbor. It is the buffer state between Argentina and Brazil, to each of which it once belonged and with whose destinies it must be inseparably bound.

Uruguay lies altogether within the temperate zone, between 35 degrees and 30 degrees 5 minutes south latitude, the meridian of longitude of Mont- evideo being about that of the little island of St. Pierre whence the French cable starts, off the coast of Newfoundland. On the north Uruguay is bounded by the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, on the west (across the Uruguay River) by Argentine Corrientes and Entre Rios, on the south

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I50 URUGUAY

by the Rio de la Plata and on the east by the At- lantic Ocean. The perimeter measures 1,075 miles, of which 625 are watered by the Ocean, the Plate and Uruguay Rivers, and 450 are arbitrated land- boundaries against Brazil.

Within this irregular quadrilateral can be found some of the finest land in Christendom. There are a few so-called mountains, but the Spanish love of emphasis will account for the word ; they are at best only rugged hills, serving to add picturesqueness to the landscape and to give protection to the inter- lying valleys. Not an acre is sterile on account of climate, since the extremes of heat or cold, which often bring hardships to the best of farmers and ranchmen, are absent; some of the soil is marshy, some rocky, most of it is fertile, as in our own agri- cultural states, but it is good land, susceptible of cultivation the whole year through. Cattle need no protection from the weather, and it is all accessible to the cultivator because no barrier interposes be- tween the fields and the sea. Greatly facilitating transportation, besides conducing to irrigation and drainage, are the large rivers of the country; the La Plata is practically a lake, offering entrance and anchorage at Montevideo and Colonia to ocean vessels sailing farther inland to Buenos Aires, Ro- sario and even to Parana; the Uruguay, forming the western frontier, is navigable its length along the republic; and the Rio Negro, which empties into the Uruguay, bisects the country from north-

LAND 151

east to southwest, furnishes local steamer traffic for most of its length, and simpler communication for miles farther up. The Uruguay may be compared to the Ohio from Pittsburg down, the Rio Negro to the Cumberland, and the little republic thus becomes another Kentucky.

There is an unsubstantial claim that gold and other precious minerals are found in recesses of the hills, but the fever for mining is not danger- ously high ; coal has been located, but the mines are insignificant; iron is there but not yet in commer- cial quantities. The chief, the enduring and the final industry must be agriculture, although the tendency has been altogether away from grains and toward cattle-raising. Only one-sixty-sixth of the land is planted to grain, although it yields such good crops that even the Iowa farmer would be pleased, and the consuming market is reached by a short haul; the remainder of the land is devoted to cattle. All the land is parceled out and appro- priated, but it is by no means all under cultivation. The native-born own the larger half, but the Eng- lish possess two-sixtieths, the French three-sixti- eths, Brazilians six-sixtieths, Italians and Spanish each eight-sixtieths. There are numerous colonies, but the colonizing habit, so strong in Argentina and once excessively encouraged in Brazil, is not a feature of Uruguayan settlement. It is confined to the older known shores of the Rio de la Plata in the department of Colonia. When once the unrest

152 URUGUAY

of the country is overcome and railways reach into untraveled areas, so that foreigners may attempt some crops besides cattle, Uruguay will expand its grain area enormously and become, acre for acre, an adjunct to Argentina in the bread-producing in- dustry of the world.

The ports of the republic are not numerous. Montevideo is one of the best harbors on the At- lantic, and, when it is completely modernized, will be more than a rival of Buenos Aires; Maldonado on the Atlantic is of moderate use, and Colonia, farther west, is used by vessels of twenty-two foot draft; but Uruguay is not lined with natural har- bors like Brazil, because the coast is too fiat.

CHAPTER EIGHT

URUGUAY

HISTORY

The earliest history of Uruguay is coincident with the discovery of the La Plata in 15 16. Solis lost his life on the island of Martin Garcia, and is commemorated in the beautiful theater at Monte- video. The Spaniards did not have an easy time in this region, as the aboriginal Indians here were pluckier fighters than those in Argentina. Ad- vance beyond the coast was therefore unsuccessful. Besides, the Jesuits from Paraguay, who since 1600 had carried on missions among the Indian tribes farther north, opposed a subtle barrier in what is now Argentine Misiones and Brazilian Rio Grande do Sul, and so hermetically closed this portion of South America that even the adventur- ous gold-seeker kept away, especially when he had concluded that but little gold was to be found there, after all! Montevideo was founded infor- mally, as an adjunct to Buenos Aires, in 1724, but grew slowly. In 1807 it was held by the British in their attack upon Buenos Aires, but was soon

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154 URUGUAY

abandoned. This shuttlecock habit made the Uruguayans accustomed to foreign control, and consequently they were laggard in accepting the republican spirit that spread over South America. Argentina made her first declaration of independ- ence in 1810, but Uruguay waited till 18 14, when Montevideo, coerced by Artigas in Buenos Aires, escaped from Spain. Still subject to the caprice of foreign domination, she belonged to Argentina till 1 82 1, when Brazil proved the stronger and ruled her till 1825. Then the Banda Oriental revolted against outsiders, and after three years of struggle won a real independence as a distinct nation, in 1828.

On the eighteenth of July, 1830, a formal con- stitution was adopted, under which, with some modifications, the nation has since been governed. The early fights against stalwart Indians had made the settlers warlike, the frequent and threatening changes of rulers had made them accustomed to an unstable administration, and the militarism of this method had encouraged a love of power on one side and a restiveness on the other. The result has been a history of revolution, or alteration in gov- ernment, if you please, second only to that of Ven- ezuela. It began before the ink on the constitution was dry. Rivera, who on short order displaced the first president, an Argentine war-hero, was a gaucho, and his first activity was to destroy the In- dians, who kept settlers from the smiling meadows

EARLY UNREST 155

of the interior. He ruled till 1835, by which time his rivals were strong enough to dispossess him. One Oribe, president, secured the sympathy of Rosas, the dictator of Argentina, and captured Montevideo. Rivera retreated with Argentine malcontents to Brazil, but in 1838 came back vic- torious, and, when the French were blockading Buenos Aires, he entered upon his second presi- dency. Then Oribe had his innings, again worry- ing Uruguay till 1842 when he secured a firm hold, but could not master Montevideo. Oribe was a cruel, selfish man, hated by the people; the nation dreaded him, the lovers of liberty, of whom Gari- baldi w^as then one, detested him. In 1851, when the country was practically ruined and Montevideo desolated by a nine years' siege, when England, France and Brazil were determined to destroy Oribe, Rivera again defeated him.

From 1 85 1 to 1854 there was some pretense of peace. The European nations, aided by the United States, had forced the free navigation of the Para- na, commerce was encouraged and the little coun- try began to blossom as nature intended she should. English, French, Spanish, and even German mi- gration turned thither, bringing money and brains; the fertile interior was occupied and an impetus given to production and business that has never been entirely lost.

In 1854 Floi'es was president, but the recurring revolutionary habit made such a game of ins and

156 URUGUAY

outs until 1863 that the historian can chronicle lit- tle else. In 1859 a treaty deserves notice; by it Bra- zil and Argentina, in case these two countries wished to engage in their own hostilities, guaran- teed national independence to Uruguay, making of her a South American Belgium.

From i860 can be traced that political feud be- tween the Colorados, mysteriously called Liberals, and the Blancos, quite as mysteriously called Con- servatives, which has racked the country and na- tion for two generations, often separating father from son, lover from sweetheart, given occasion to both Brazil and Argentina, officially and unoffi- cially, to take part in this internecine strife, and retarded the normal growth by fifty years. To-day it can be seen in almost as horrid a form as It was in 1865.

In i860 Pereira, who had been president, was succeeded by Berro, a Blanco. Berro had good in- tentions but lacked force ; he so wished to conciliate every one that he offended both England and France over the loan obligations. Italy, with Eng- land, threatened violence, to avoid which Berro compromised the dignity of the nation. His weak- ness led to measures of force to regain his power; he suppressed the newspapers and arbitrarily imprisoned some of his personal enemies. The con- sequence was that in 1863 Venancio Florcs, a Colo- rado, aided by Argentina and abetted by Brazil, seized the government. The nominal successor of

««MTT~r- L 2.

A Country \'illage — Uruguay

A Countrv \ illa^c — I'.razil

WAR WITH PARAGUAY 157

Berro, Aguirre ( 1864) , though dispossessed, would not stay crushed; he maintained one government and Flores another. Flores, the Colorado, had back of him Argentina and Brazil; Berro, the Blanco back of Aguirre, turned for sympathy and support to Paraguay, where lived and ruled one of the most remarkable military dictators of South America — Lopez. Lopez upheld Aguirre, at the same time nursing grievances of his own against Argentina and Brazil; so he determined to open hostilities. The war of destruction was on.

From 1865 to 1870 it was constant strife, al- though it must be said that Flores tried to help the material progress of his country: he encouraged railways and granted concessions; by his support the cable to Buenos Aires was laid, and numerous colonies, unfrightened by war or pestilence (the cholera scourged Montevideo in 1867), found a cordial welcome. Commerce increased and public buildings were finished. The civil law code was published; and just when Flores, in 1868, might have abandoned dictatorship to become a constitu- tional ruler, he was assassinated and the Blanco party, accused of the crime, had its back broken by this undiplomatic trick.

Owing to the final victory over Paraguay, where Lopez had been killed, his army shattered and the nation deprived of almost all its male citizens by the destructive forces of Brazil and Argentina, the Colorados were now in the saddle; and, with one

158 URUGUAY

exception, every revolution since Flores' time has been an attempt on the part of the Blancos (Con- servatives) to unseat them; incidentally it meant a fight for the spoils of office.

There were a few presidents and revolutions un- til 1870, when President Batlle (Colorado) took office, serving till 1873. Then more revolutions and the election of EUauri, who acted as president in 1874 ^^^ was really a good man; but a revolt in 1874 deposed him, just as he saw the opening of cable communication with Europe. The inter- regnum lasted until May, 1875, when Varela was elected. Financial afifairs had now become most distressing; foreign bonds were unpaid, there was no system in government, and confusion was mas- querading under a republican banner. In March, 1876, Latorre proclaimed himself a full dictator and a reign of terror began commensurate with the Rosas' administration in Argentina. Yet Latorre did some good and had real ambitions to restore to the nation the semblance of a democracy. In 1879 he was elected constitutional president, but in March, 1880, he resigned with the bitter cry that Uruguay was ungovernable. In May, 1880, there was another coup d'etat; newspapers were sup- pressed, public free speech was denied, and chronic revolution again broke out.

Santos was elected president in 1882 and em- broiled the country in a quarrel with Italy over the maltreatment of resident Italians. But he accom-

NATIONAL CORRUPTION 159

plished something, for with his support civil law was established — a great step in advance for a Roman Catholic country. Afterward this release from priestcraft was perverted into subjection to, and personal supervision by, a president. Santos lasted till 1886, when he was killed and General Castro led a revolution.

In November, 1886, Tajes became constitutional president and remained in office until March, 1890. He was a godsend to the country and inspired such confidence that foreign capital once more came in with reasonable security for investment. His suc- cessor, Herrera, could not, however, overcome the habit of peculation, misconduct and financial short-sightedness, so that in 1891 debts were unpaid and chaos approached on full-spread wings. This lasted till 1896, corruption being about the only mark of office. It was an era of distressing decay. In 1897 there was an insurrection; fraud was so evident in elections, property rights so little re- spected and the nation so crushed, that in looking back a scant ten years one wonders, not so much what the state must have been, but rather how the prosperous condition of to-day could have resulted from one so apparently hopeless.

In 1897, on the twenty-fifth of August, the na- tional holiday. President Borda was assassinated, and Cuestos came into office. He ruled well, gave honest elections and tried to inspire a respect for government founded upon something other than

i6o URUGUAY

militarism. The army felt hurt at this and in 1899 the officers revolted, to their discredit.

Since then a regard for the constitution ha? ■ccn growing, and the suffrage has really been respected and exercised in a way to prove that not many years must pass before the ballot, in Uruguay as well as in Germany, is really the court of best and last np- peal. In 1903 the Blancos made their last serious effort to revive the lost cause. Although for some months it was a severe internal war, which dis- tressed the country measurably, it was ended by the triumph of the government. The leader, Aparicio Saravia, was killed, his army driven over the fron- tier into Brazil or Argentina, and a security in good government given which, it is hoped, will be strengthened as time goes on.

How the people have developed within the last decade might be traced by examining the Orientals as they are to-day, and discovering what promise for the future is to be found in present conditions. The political unrest of the country draws the atten- tion to the idea of liberty, so prevalent in South America, and to the ignorance or disregard of constitutional government which marks such con- trast between the Latin and Teutonic mind. A study of the people will demonstrate how slowly but surely they are moving from the shifting sands of irresponsible freedom to the firmer ground of material and industrial peace.

CHAPTER NINE

URUGUAY

THE GOVERNMENT

The Constitution of this elective republic is sim- ilar, in many of its details, to that of the United States of North America, and is the working basis of a nation consisting of nineteen departments cor- responding to our territories.

The three great branches are preserved, execu- tive, legislative and judicial. The president and the superior court are chosen by an electoral college composed of the senators and deputies (representa- tives). The president serves four years and is not eligible for direct reelection; his power is exten- sive, as he appoints the heads of the departments (states) who are thus directly dependent upon him instead of upon the voters ; but the judiciary of each state, and an administrative committee for local administrative afifairs, are chosen by popular vote. The president has also in his hands various ap- pointive positions which increase his authority; he also exercises, although not always within legal bounds, a control over such matters as civil mar-

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i62 URUGUAY

riages, and his influence extends into more per- sonal matters.

Thie senators, one from each departamento, are elected by popular vote, but correspond in other respects to our own higher body.

Deputies (representatives), like our own con- gressmen, are elected by popular vote and take part with the Senate in the selection of the president, who need not be from among their own number. There are at present seventy deputies, one for each 3,000 inhabitants who can read and write.

Uruguay is organically allied to the Roman Catholic Church, and Montevideo is the residence of an archbishop who has a voice in government; but constitutionally there is no restriction upon any religion.

The Cabinet, members of which are appointed by the president, includes five branches: State, Fi- nance, War and Navy, External Relations, and Industry {^^Fomento," meaning promotion of busi- ness).

The Army is of good fighting caliber, and pre- serves the reputation for bravery and discipline which it acquired during years of internal and ex- ternal warfare. Unfortunately the repeated mili- tary pronunciamentos and dictatorships, which used the army to enforce unconstitutional demands, have disturbed that loyalty to country which we expect in a national army; and in its place there has been engrafted an obedience to a chief general

INSTITUTIONS 163

in command, and a feeling that on the army rests all authority. The army has a judicial code of its own, apart from its civil code. It fancies itself above the constitution and that by its powder govern- ments can be made or broken; in fact, the army of- ficers, tired of waiting for presidential favors or legislative emoluments, have often revolted to show their strength. But in recent years the opin- ion has grown that the army has other duties, scien- tific, hygienic and disciplinary, far higher than the hatching of coups d'etat, and that the day may not be far distant when this really fine body of men — 5,000 active, 80,000 militia — will consider its honor satisfied by becoming a dignified branch of the administration. The navy is as yet unborn — a proyecto, like many a dream of the Oriental mind. It is said that there is a gunboat and some officers.

The post-office, a national monopoly, is efficient and active. So far as I can judge, it is quite as com- prehensive and trustworthy as our own, although, owing to lack of railways, it can not penetrate so frequently into outlying areas nor serve so rapidly those within reach. The telegraph is partly na- tional and partly private ; both national and private lines reach in any direction w^here a settlement is found, and the service is as accurate and attentive as either of our own private corporations. The slovenliness, which is so often criticized by South Americans visiting us and compelled to use that in-

i64 URUGUAY

digenous animal called a telegraph messenger boy, is quite unknown in Uruguay. The private compa- nies work in conjunction with the national lines and offer through the Atlantic cables more direct communication with the rest of the world.

Within the country are 1,220 miles of railway, all built and owned by English capital, all thor- oughly equipped, and managed with a care that might make us pause to think whether we have the perfection of system and safety at home. These roads pay three to four per cent, on the investm.ent, and would return much higher rates if the interior of the country were quieter or more settled. The managers find it of advantage to soothe the leaders of both parties, rather than to fall back upon their undoubted rights; and from the gross receipts are therefore deducted various sums for "political expenses" which ought to be applied to other purposes. But of late even this expense item has dwindled, because the government is becoming more and more wary of offending foreign money. Years ago it used to tear up tracks and abuse the franking privileges in transporting its army; to- day damage done to a line is paid for, and when a train is requisitioned for troops, it is also paid for out of the commissariat. The railway is most de- cidedly the pioneer in modern civilization. Seven hundred and twenty miles of these lines work under a state subsidy, but the government has not of itself tried the experiment of building or owning or

THE TARIFF 165

managing the railways, as have Argentina and Brazil and Chile.

Neither has the government entered into such elaborate plans for colonization or state subsidy of any kind as we find in her neighbors. Colonists came largely of their own accord. These, with English and other foreign investors, had as secur- ity for their money only the trust in the future. Public improvements are encouraged, but in only a iew cases subsidized, and the foreign debt of the nation has gone to pay for its own constructions or for the bonds issued to secure funds to carry on their interminable Colorado and Blanco feuds.

Urus:uav derives most of her income from tariff charges, the country, like others in South America, being protective for revenue. Of late years the principle of supporting local industrial products has been actively adopted. The tariff is by no m.eans prohibitive. Stamp taxes, the occupation taxes of Latin nations, with excise duties, add to the revenues. The national debt is comparatively large, being nearly $125,000,000, but it seems not to bur- den the people, whose pride in financial fair deal- ing is very sincere. One commendable fact of Uruguay is that it has remained permanently on a gold basis, despite the tendency, irresistible in some Latin governments, to sink to a paper issue. To show the strong influence of outside interests the old story is worth repeating that at one time some dictator financier tried to repudiate the gold

i66 URUGUAY

debt by the issue of paper (silver) scrip, but the business men positively refused to accept the im- pure issue. For three days the government pre- tended to insist, but the banks remained firm; trade continued apart from government; the paper money was unrecognized, and finally the treasury w^as compelled to capitulate and to restore the currency to the international standard. Since then gold is the only value; foreign gold coins are legal tender, and the pound sterling, the eagle and other gold-pieces are listed in the treasury as national money.

I have heard good men say that to-day it might be impossible to enforce the same honesty, but the people are proud of their isolation from silver countries and so tenacious of their gold standard that they would probably be offended and revolt at any attempt at dishonesty. Let us hope that the pessimistic opinion is merely the expression of overripe age.

Their honesty is a matter of boast in everything except — strange as it may seem — politics. In the city administration they could teach us many les- sons of art, cleanliness and municipal virtue, but in politics they are still in the mire of office-hold- ing. What is implied by Liberal, Conservative or Radical, is beyond the ken of a Northman. A party name covers a multitude of jobs, in Uruguay.

The country is so small and so fertile and acces- sible that simple attention to the routine duties of

FUTURE NEEDS 167

public life would work a miracle of progress; un- fortunately no statesman appears to set a good ex- ample. Statesmanship goes begging; the principles of the Kentucky feud are the chief motives of public men. Really, there are no great questions involved in little Uruguay. To govern honestly, economically, to encourage and to support foreign capital, to leave the country to herself, should be the sole purpose of the president and his adherents. Brazil and Argentina must act as neutrals; Eng- land, Italy, and the rest of them, would gladly help her onward, but it may take a generation before the old warring spirit is dead.

CHAPTER TEN

URUGUAY

THE PEOPLE AND PRESENT CONDITIONS

"I can remember the time when the word of an Oriental was his bond. The old estanciero used to come to Montevideo to borrow ten or twenty or forty thousand dollars, and never thought of a bank or promissory note. He just said he would repay the money when his cattle and crops were sold."

This is a sentiment to-day in Uruguay; the old hidalguia of Castilian days is still strong among the conservative, country-living aristocracy, whose blood is pure and who believe in the customs of their fathers. This provincialism, this simplicity of life, is still evident in Montevideo in sharp con- trast to the stir, the ambition, the energy, the pro- grcssiveness and the materialism of Buenos Aires, only I lo miles across the River Plate.

If you imagine Charleston removed to that short distance from New York, you can obtain a good idea of the contrast between the one city and the other. As Uruguay is new Spain, so is Montevideo a new Madrid, with broad streets cleaned to a

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BEAUTY OF THE WOMEN 169

nicety, a leisurely habit of going and coming, trol- leys just replacing horse-cars, and the people ge- nial, courteous, hospitable, with plenty of time for the amenities of social intercourse, but perhaps slow. They dress well, far better on the average than those in crowded, impatient New York, while their kindness and good manners, their sincerity and honesty, might put to the blush the residents of our metropolis, if blushing and an introspective examination of faults were at all compatible with urban life in the biggest city of the western conti- nent. The men are different from Argentines, although they have of course the same racial char- acteristics, and the women are the most beautiful in the world. From street to street, from social tea to a gala function at the opera or at Pocitos, the charm- ing little watering-place just outside the capital, a foreign visitor is constantly exclaim.ing, "What beautiful women!" And how simple, elegant and dignified they are! These graces are not confined to the upper classes alone, but there seems some- thing in the mode of living, or, as they modestly put it, in the climate, which brings out a physical beauty not Amazonian at all, but spirituelle, dis- tinguishing the Oriental from other women of South America.

Uruguay has about 1,000,000 inhabitants, and Montevideo 300,000 — no great disproportion be- tween city and country, where the area is con- sidered; and of the million somewhat more than

I70 URUGUAY

one-half are native-born. The smaller half, Span- ish, Italian, Brazilian, French, English and Ger- man, seems not to have influenced the people to the extent that obtains in Argentina, because the in- crement from foreign migration has been numeric- ally and by decades less pronounced. The aver- age yearly increase has been 30,000 to 40,000, and the entire population of the republic has increased only 100 per cent, within thirty-five years; the birth-rate has been 35.3 per thousand with a death rate of 14.6, a net result of 20.7, as compared with that of 6.3 in the United States. The growth has been normal, not spasmodic, and the process of ab- sorption has gone on with more completeness than elsewhere; therefore a type is not hard to discover. Two characteristics struck me as noticeable — patriotism and conservatism. "Soy Orientar' ("I am an Uruguayan") is said with an upward jerk of the chin and a straightening of the back that is delightful. The Uruguayan loves his country; he is not migratory, and will stay and fight for it at the drop of the hat; but he scorns a Colorado or a Blanco, according to his bringing up, as thor- oughly as a Capulet hated a Montague. As is the case in most little countries, his patriotism is in- born and unargumentative; the Spanish trick of saying to a stranger that such and such conditions are unfortunate, still clings to him, but he looks in wonder at the foreigner who can not see all the charms of Uruguay. He would not be an Argen-

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CONSERVATISM 171

tino; he could not be a Brazilian; he must be an Oriental.

The conservatism is illustrated by the old-fash- ioned way in which he cheerfully allows himself to be transported about his beloved capital. If he wanted a trolley ride, he could go across the river, but until now (1906) horse-cars (a sangre) were good enough for him ; but he will take gladly to the recent electric displacement of the horse, and enjoy his democratic outing as simply as he always did. Conservatism and dreams often go together; so in this little country there are many proyectos — plans grand and practical — for improvement, not quite at the stage of fulfilment. The harbor works are still unfinished, although Montevideo sadly needs modern docking and transport facilities in order to maintain her shipping superiority over Buenos Aires, since by nature the Uruguayan port will always be the head of Platensian trade. The magnificent government building is a project, al- ready photographed but unfinished. The Oriental can see with his mind's eye his country blossoming like England, but he waits for foreign capital to do it for him, forgetting that the Colorado and Blanco blossoms drive away other plants. He knows that Uruguay will maintain her integrity, but he some- times acknowledges that it may be fresher blood than his own which is to perform the work.

This conservatism is slowly fading before the impact of north-European culture. It is shown in

172 URUGUAY

the changes taking place in Montevideo, which is rapidly modernizing in many of its outward as- pects, and in the habits of those who come to the growing city. Unfortunately, during these changes, there is the instability of tone which must accom- pany them; no longer is the word the same as the bond. When houses are rented or drafts presented at the bank, material security must be forthcoming, and a social prestige is not infrequently based upon some other quality than blood and ancestry. Money is beginning to talk in Montevideo.

But Montevideo is not Uruguay. The interior is not waiting to be exploited, but it is still a long way from being settled, in both senses of the word. The gaucho controls afifairs away from the capital, and he is as conservative in his untrammeled liberty as his more active urban brother. His breed of cattle is good, and much fine stock is imported from abroad; but it might be better; it might be equal to the stock in Argentina and as quickly reach a foreign market. But a complete sanitary system is not yet established, so he still dries the skins in the sun, slaughters the beef for cold storage, sends much of it to Liebig's Extract Company at Fray Bentos, and throws away what his father did. Grain he leaves to the more pacific and plodding Italian, who cultivates wheat and corn and does not care to ride thirty miles a day on his pony. Scattered all over the country, two, three or more in every departajuento, arc little towns of from

HOSPITALITY 173

four to twenty thousand inhabitants. Each city is modestly but carefully built and most of them have modern improvements, such as electric lights and running water, while all have quiet, well-kept parks, a municipal theater and a social club. Life in these towns can be very pleasant; it may be pro- vincial and show little of the bustle of our western cattle country, but one may travel much nearer home and find people less imbued with the dignity of life, less animated with a kindly wit, less cul- tured, than these simple folk of Uruguay.

I never want to forget my introduction to Uru- guay. I had come through the interior of south Brazil, riding at times muleback, at others taking my chances on the springless wagons of the German colonists; part of the way I had used the primi- tive railways, which were rather comfortless al- though expeditious; but for the last forty-eight hours I had been compelled to travel over a rough, dusty, unmarked road, along which were few habi- tations, and those no more attractive than Mexican adobe huts. My conveyance had been a diligence, such an old stage-coach as Buffalo Bill exhibits in his Wild West show. Late at night, tired and actu- ally foot-sore, because we men passengers had walked over the steep or sandy places, we entered the town of Ribera, across the Brazilian frontier from Santa Ana do Livramento. The next morn- ing, after a decent rest, I made my acquaintance with the place. Ribera has no claim to eminence,

174 URUGUAY

nor, apart from the fact that it is the terminus of the Central Railway, has it any importance commercially which entitles it to mention in a guide-book; yet socially it deserves unstinted praise. The day was the beginning of the carni- val, but I have no reason to think that I received on that account greater courtesy; opportunity was greater, that is all. When it became known that a stranger from North America was at the hotel, the townspeople called to make him welcome; I was urged to make myself at home, and to be a guest of the local club. In the afternoon I received a card of invitation to a ball to be given by young men, and in the evening the reception committee tried to prove that, far from home as I was, I must not feel the lack of kindliness and hospitality. The hotel offered meager accommodations, but the landlord vied with the others in his courtesies, and at the last moment suggested that, if I wished, he would purchase for me an excursion (what we call a scalper's) ticket, in case the saving might be worth my while. No one criticized my Spanish, the children did not gape at me or call me dago; but when I asked them to pose before my camera, they quietly whispered ''^extranjero" and waited till I finished. All the way through the country the same courtesy prevailed. I arrived finally at the capital, as much in love with little Uruguay and her people as the unbiased traveler becomes with her Spanish prototype.

EDUCATION 175

Stupid tlie people never are; their relish of a quiet joke and their aphorisms show that their brains have not lost the peninsular brightness nor their blood become sluggish by any African mix- ture. If their education does not demand that they recite the latest six best sellers, it is because they are content with the classics and with poetry; they are not ignorant, and the school system has not had the struggle noticeable in Argentina, because no great demand has presented itself to westernize a flood of foreigners. They can not master modern sciences because it is not their temperament, and they are content to leave to the north-European or to the North American the technical details of drainage or kilowats; but they profit by his mate- rial improvements even if they can not produce them, being happy with or without the complica- tions of modern life. The educational curriculum is well devised, but of course needs revision. Edu- cation is a national institution beginning with the primary grade schools and ending with the univer- sity in Montevideo. The Catholic Church ex- erts a preponderant influence, but it does not monopolize all instruction, as is the case in Spain. Perhaps this accounts for the freedom of woman in Uruguay. My judgment may not meet the ap- proval of all travelers, but it seemed to me that throughout the country there was more equality with man, more respect for womanhood, than in the rest of Latin America, and that woman herself,

176 URUGUAY

realizing this elevation without asserting a claim on it, dignifies her position most becomingly. In Montevideo a chaperon is a matter of course, but the freedom with which ladies go about in twos and threes molested by nothing worse than male glances of flattery — which they richly deserve — is in delightful contrast to the semicloistered timidity necessary in Argentina and Brazil. The prettiest sight in the world is a dia de moda at Pocitos.

The Orientals are tasteful, refined and like nice things, although they may not always have access to them or money to pay for them. It is not a poor or a new country, however, and the people are not wasteful through sudden riches. In Montevideo you see beautiful things, dresses, houses, works of art, but you notice little extravagance or display.

I have been a guest in many houses in Monte- video, and in all was there a refinement speaking of advanced civilization. One evening I went to call in the home of a gentleman neither rich nor famous, though occupying a responsible position in the government. He greeted me with true Cas- tilian grace, in which his wife and daughters joined. They played and sang, mostly the native criollo music, in which I was chiefly interested. On the walls were many fine paintings, some copies of old masters, but many original scenes from Uru- guayan life. The painter was the son of my host, and had been to Rome to study; there he had won an academy prize and had begun to make a name

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TRADE POSSIBILITIES 177

for himself, when he died of a fever. In every thought and action this family showed a deep and inherent culture, but they were not different from thousands of others in Montevideo, equally mod- est.

They are solid, like the English whose traits they have to some extent absorbed. Perhaps this ac- counts for the comparatively slow growth of manu- facturing establishments in Uruguay, — this, and their Colorado and Blanco raids, under which in- dustrialism does not thrive. Be that as it may Montevideo is not a great producing city; it still imports very many of its luxuries and necessities from abroad, for the Uruguayans, of all classes, excluding, of course, the newly arrived immigrant, are a consuming folk. They will buy anything If it is good, and they have discriminating judgment, especially those who are learning metropolitan habits. In several directions stretch commodious avenues of homelike villas, and around the city are growing suburbs. The citizens, with their relatives in the country, want the new^r things. Proportion- ately they buy well, but let the dealer beware who does not treat them fairly. I know of a case where a clever American sold bicycles to the trusting Oriental; the stock found a good market and the agent called for more, which were sent at the same price and also found a ready sale ; but instead of be- ing up to the former grade they were inferior stock, a worn-out, second-hand assortment dumped by

i7§ URUGUAY

the manufacturer on a confiding public. They were sold, yes, but not another American machine will be ridden in the country, and that dealer and agent must look elsewhere for trade. It has cost us mil- lions of dollars of business, because they distrust us in other dealings. It would have paid a manu- facturers' association to have bought and burned these wheels rather than to have them leave the United States and spoil our reputation for upright dealing. I know of another case where a merchant went to the States to order $40,000 worth of manu- factured articles. The manufacturer accepted the contract with exactly worded specifications, and the purchaser went on a holiday to England. While there he met an English manufacturer who sold the same article not quite so finely made, but whose reputation was an honored one in South America. On his return to New York he hastened to look at his wares and found, to his horror, that the foreman had changed some of the vital details of the contract. His reason for this was that he knew he could make a better article, that is, one more suitable to his own countrymen. "But," said the South American, "my purchasers demand just what I ordered and I can not sell your contrivance. It may be better, but you had no business or right to determine what is better or what is suitable." He therefore countermanded the order, and ca- bled England for what he knew he could trust. This is not the only instance. It illustrates the

NEWSPAPERS 179

folly of trying South American markets until we are wise enough to learn what they want. They like us, these genial Orientals; at bottom they have perhaps as sincere a feeling for democracy as any country, but they can easily tell what is friend- liness and what is cant, and they prefer to see us act; talking they are able to do for themselves.

Although the Uruguayans have daily sheets, freedom of the press is not permitted; the informa- tion given does not represent public opinion. As yet they have no newspapers in the new century's meaning; they might as well be published in Sevilla. But across the river lies Buenos Aires, and its alert journals reach Montevideo for the break- fast-table.

BRAZILIAN STATISTICS

UNITED KINGDOM (GREAT BRI- TAIN AND IRELAND)

Area, 121,391 square miles. Popula- tion, 43,250,000; per square mile, 356.

Army, 221,000 officers and men, at home; navy, 129,000 officers and men, 1,638,000 tons.

National debt, $3,983,682,455.00.

Total imports (1905), $2,826,397,- 010.00; total exports (1905), $1,650,- II7.33S-00. (One pound sterling reck- oned at five dollars.)

Area, 3,218,130 square miles. Population, 15,500,000; per square mile, nearly 5.

Foreign debt, $372,503^375 ; per capita, $25. Money — Paper, subject to violent fluctuations ; unit is mil- reis at par value, 54 cents. Currency : Paper, above the value of milreis ; nickel and copper, in fractional coins.

Trade Statistics (1905) — Exports: Total, $204,286,580; to the United States, 41.20 per cent.; England, 19.04 per cent.; Germany, 16.60 per cent. Imports: Total, $141,184,- 240 ; from the United States, 12.31 per cent. ; England, 49.90 per cent. ; Germany, 25.04 per cent.

Investments in the coun- try : Of English money, $350,000,000 ; G e r m a n, $75,000,000 (exclusive of land possessed by colo- nists) ; American, $17,500,- 000.

Miles of railway, 10,427 ; government owned, 1,287; subsidized, 6,014; unsubsi- dized, 3,016; state owned, no.

Capital, Rio de Janeiro; population, 750,000.

Army, 25,000 (number not definite) ; navy, 40,000 tons.

180

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BRAZIL

GEOGRAPHY

The United States of Brazil, with its 3,218,130 square miles, occupying nearly one-half of the South American continent, is larger than the area of the United States of North America embraced within one circumference. From east to west Bra- zil at its widest point is 2,225 miles. This line passes through Pernambuco, but from Cape San Roque southward the country narrows continuous- ly. Rio de Janeiro, about in the center of this east and west line, is in longitude nearly half-way across the Atlantic from New York to London. One great difference between Brazil and the United States is that whereas we stretch from ocean to ocean, Brazil, though it touches every country in South America except Chile, is bounded on the west by the mountains; another difiference is that much of its area lies within the tropics, beginning at 4 degrees 20 minutes 45 seconds North and ex- tending to 33 degrees 45 seconds South, only the lower 10 degrees (700 miles) being within the tem-

181

i82 BRAZIL

perate zone. If our Atlantic coast-line were pro- longed the same distance as Brazil's, it would reach from the end of Florida to the mouth of Hudson Bay, and if the coast-line of Brazil were laid east and west upon our map, it would reach from Portland, Maine, to San Diego, California. The resemblance is that, leaving out the rubber and sugar basin of the Amazon, there is a vast in- terior region in which can be cultivated many of the same crops as those produced within our Unit- ed States. I was schooled in the idea that Brazil was either mountainous or swampy. There could be no greater mistake. The highest point is only 9,000 feet; the interior, from the southern slope of the Amazon basin through the valleys of the Sao Francisco, the Tocantins and the Paraguay, is roll- ing hills and wooded slopes, on a plateau from 1,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea.

The Amazon valley is lower, rising in places 250 feet above sea-level. There the rainfall may reach 100, 200, 300 feet annually; south of this is an extensive area from 400 to 700 miles wide, drain- ing into the Amazon or its tributaries, yet forming part of the interior table-land, which otherwise drains into independent rivers or into what is called the La Plata watershed.

The climate of this plateau, which may be said to contain almost 2,000,000 square miles, is nearly perfect; it has the great advantage of fresh, pure air, equable temperature, abundant water supply

THE INTERIOR 183

and ricli soil. On the coast the rainfall is about ninety inches a year; on the eastern mountainside the moisture brought by the trade winds falls in rain about 200 inches a year. On the table-lands the rainfall will average about seventy-five inches a year and is quite regular during the season from September to April, except in a triangular area 700 miles northwest and southwest from Cape San Roque, where there are periods of uncertain rain or drought. On this central table-land the temper- ature may reach as high as 100 degrees F. during the summer, but the heat is never oppressive, and at night the temperature cools to about 60 degrees P., when as a rule a blanket is needed. During the winter frost and snow are unknown and the air is dry, cool and invigorating; woolen clothing is in all conditions comfortable. The whole country may be compared to a beautiful Tennessee without the rigors of winter, the landscape diversified by w^ooded hills and valleys seldom too abrupt for the plow, with an abundance of running water, which makes any artificial resort to wells or irriga- tion unnecessary. Such a picture can be followed through Minas Geraes, Goyaz, Matto Grosso, part of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Parther south, through the upland acres of Santa Catarina, Pa- rana and Rio Grande do Sul, all within the tem- perate zone, similar characteristics prevail, but the comparison should be made rather with Texas with its rolling prairies, or with New Mexico.

184 BRAZIL

They have ice there, but seldom snow, and all the year round life can be spent in the open air; yet a fire indoors is not uncomfortable. This land is essentially agricultural, although in the State of Minas Geraes (mining) are found the renowned Brazilian diamonds which promise to outlast the supply from Africa. Gold and other precious metals have been extracted from this territory for centuries.

Much of this land is virgin — as untouched by the hand of man as was Illinois before it attained statehood. It has been explored but never devel- oped; men have traveled over it, as Lewis and Clark penetrated into the Northwest, but there is no road, no highway over which commerce may pass, no thoroughfare on which may be transported the millions of tons of produce which the land is ready to yield. There are water-ways which may serve in the future as natural canals for traffic, since the river system is undoubtedly the finest in the world; obstacles of falls and rapids must be overcome, but nothing insurmountable to man's in- genuity; and these same rivers will, when once sub- dued to labor, furnish power for all the machinery that may ever be required.

Unfortunately this land is all owned, or rather controlled, by individuals who base their claims upon old grants dating back to the time of Portu- guese occupation or to the more recent government of the Brazilian Empire. Immense tracts of unsur-

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LAND TITLES 185

veyed land were parceled out to men for rewards, for favoritism, or because they gave vague prom- ises to do something which was beyond their pur- pose or power to fulfill. There is very little of what we call government land in existence, and still less land which can be so simply or securely trans- ferred that the purchaser, be he an individual or the representative of a corporation for industrial or colonization purposes, can feel that his title is unassailable.

The national government owns practically noth- ing. The land within each state is the property of the state government; nor has any attempt ever been made to put into systematic, regular form, according to a surveyor's chain, even one-third of this magnificent area. On paper much fanciful de- scription can be found, but nothing is accurate. Many of these claims overlap each other; and in the interior of some states there exist family feuds over the possession of unsurveyed lands, which the fictitious owners are too lazy to clear and too igno- rant to cultivate. On many so-called estates the claimant has never set foot; some are the habitat of native Indians who are not warriors, as were the Creeks and Apaches, but rather tribes of blight- ed development belonging to the Seminole or Pueblo type. On pretty plats of these estates, and even on government maps, may be seen rivers that have no existence or are leagues away from their true geographical location, the names of towns

i86 BRAZIL

which even the land agent's imagination could not truthfully describe; and railways are marked as projected toward points that could never be reached were they carried out by the locating engineer.

All this has acted as a deterring factor in the development of the country. But apart from the inactivity of the Brazilian character, apart from the fact that until now there has been no irresistible demand for expansion or growth into this terri- tory, there is a natural reason why Brazil has been so slow in making use of her great land advantages.

This is the configuration of her coast and the fact that the impassable Andes shut her ofif from the Pacific. Brazil's coast-line is more than 4,000 miles long, all on the Atlantic ocean, and forms two-thirds of her boundary. Leaving out of con- sideration the Amazon basin, because this is a land of itself, we see a chain of harbors extending from north to south. Those best known to international commerce are Para at the mouth of the Amazon, Recife (Pernambuco) with 200-^000 inhabitants, the center of the sugar industries; from there 385 miles south is Sao Salvador (Bahia) — (Boston to New York is 345 miles by sea) — with 250,000 in- habitants, whose chief industries are sugar, tobacco, cofifee and cattle raising. From Bahia to Rio de Janeiro is 749 miles — (Portland, Maine, to Nor- folk, Virginia, is 797 miles) — from Rio to Santos, the exporting harbor for cofifee grown in the state

SEAPORTS 1B7

of Sao Paulo, is 208 miles. The ports of Paranagua, Sao Francisco, Desterro are not so important for ocean steamers, although the German lines use them; they lie between Santos and the southern- most Brazilian port, Rio Grande, to which it is 500 miles, where the cattle and German colonist trade find exit.

Santos is the only harbor having modern dock- ing facilities, and these are as complete as brains and money can make them. Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande promise to have modern docks within a few years. All along this coast there is a lowland edge of from five to thirty miles between the water and the mountain ridge, before the ascent to the plateau is reached; the mountains come closest to the sea in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and subside to mere hills in Rio Grande do Sul. The seaports mentioned, and some others not mentioned, form foci toward which the developed land area and adjacent established industries send their products, so that there is no crying need for overland communication. Keeping in mind the cities of the United States used as illustration, the comparison may be amplified by assuming that Portland would be the center for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont; Boston for Massachu- setts, Connecticut and Rhode Island; New York for New York; Philadelphia for Pennsylvania and Maryland; Norfolk for the entire South; New Orleans for the Mississippi Valley, and that from

i88 BRAZIL

all of these ports there would be railways extending short distances into the interior, beyond which was wilderness. Imagine the railway and the telegraph in existence a century ago, and you have in Brazil a condition similar to that in the United States at the time of the War of 1812.

CHAPTER TWELVE

BRAZIL HISTORY

Brazil's northen coast was discovered in 1500 by Pinzon, one of Columbus' companions. In the same year a Portuguese squadron sailed farther south to Bahia and took possession of the land in the name of the King of Portugal, calling it Brazil from a wood producing a dye like the Indian dye of that character. The papal decrees of that time conferring the right to certain discoveries to Spain and others to Portugal, created a bitterness be- tween the two countries; but gradually Portugal, realizing the advantages of this new land, began with more system to claim and to develop it. From 1 53 1, when an attempt at colonization was first made, commenced that parceling out to nobles or to court favorites of vast and indefinite tracts which has been in Latin America one of the essential bars to such progress as we in the United States have made. We had the better fortune to take the land from the Indian and to hold it from the nation un- der government surveys. New Mexico and Cali-

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fornia suffered in much the same way as Brazil suf- fers to-day.

Pernambuco was founded in 1526 and Bahia in 1549 (New York in 1614 by the Dutch, Boston in 1621). To Bahia came with its first governor the Catholic Jesuits who, in the zeal to convert the natives, placed another obstacle in the way of development. This was the error they committed in abetting the importation of African negroes as slaves.

In 1555 the French established themselves in the bay of Rio de Janeiro (Jamestown was founded in 1607) ) but were soon driven away by the Portu- guese.

While Portugal was tributary to Spain (1580 to 1640) excuse was found by the English and the Dutch to attack Spain through these Brazilian set- tlements. The Dutch had already acquired a foot- hold along the coast from Maranhao to Bahia, and, under Prince Maurice of Nassau, they throve with the orderliness and progress of his regime. Even now Pernambuco and Bahia show their Dutch ori- gin in their houses, their gardens and their Holland ways. After the separation from Spain, Portugal exerted herself and drove out the Dutch, and in 1650 all this territory finally became her acknow- ledged possession.

Meanwhile other settlements had grown; the French, who had tried to establish in the bay of Rio a free religious colony, had been driven away

THE PAULISTS 191

in 1567 by the Portuguese, who thereafter gave their time about equally to seeking gold, compel- ling the natives to work for them and founding chapels as monuments to their piety in this hospi- table spot in the New World. The city of Rio de Janeiro grew slowly but surely until 1763, when it became the seat of the viceroy of Portugal and reached full maturity as a capital when in 1808 the Portuguese court was removed to Rio and it be- came for the time the royal residence of one of the monarchies of Europe.

The state of Sao Paulo was founded in 1554 (Santos had been occupied since 1543) by the Jesuits who designed it for a religious settlement; but the colonists yielded rather to their exploring and commercial energies and would not accept the domination of the Jesuits nor their theories about conversion of the natives. They drove this religious organization into Uruguay, Paraguay and what is now the Argentine territory of Las Misiones. These Paulistas, whose state is the most progressive and advanced of all Brazil, as we know it, pene- trated with bold and fearless spirit into the present state of Matto Grosso; there they attacked the Spaniards, and in their search for gold explored the state of Minas Geraes, where they found dia- monds as well. In Minas Geraes originated the first attempt to throw of¥ the European yoke (in 1789; the martyr Xavier "Tiradentes" was the first patriot in South America to sufifer for the

192 BRAZIL

cause of liberty and independence, and a beautiful statue in Rio commemorates his deeds.

The history of Brazil as a nation really begins with its foundation as an empire under Prince Joao in 1809. He was a fair-minded liberal ruler who did much to organize the country under a single government, and to develop ideas of stability and harmony in what had hitherto been a collection of struggling colonies. He introduced printing presses, public schools and was generous in his in- vitation to foreign scholars and men of ideas to visit the country. The present Oriental Republic of Uruguay belonged to Brazil for a few years dur- ing his reign.

When Portugal decided to recall the court and, by reestablishing the kingdom in the mother coun- try, set Brazil back into the position of a colony, a peaceful revolution, headed by Senhor Andrada, called the father of his country, and abetted by Prince Joao's eldest son, Dom Pedro I, was accom- plished. On September seventh, 1822, independ- ence was declared, and the Empire of Brazil, a free monarchical country of the western hemi- sphere, was founded.

To establish this new empire was the work of only a few months. Pernambuco, always restless, resisted for a time the subjugation to the authority of Rio and joined the confederation of Ecuador, but in 1824 it was completely brought to a sense of duty. In August, 1825, Portugal recognized

DOM PEDRO I 193

Brazil's independence and thenceforth its own in- ternal troubles were all that demanded the coun- try's attention.

As an empire Brazil presents for study only two reigns, that of Pedro I, from 1822 until he abdi- cated in favor of his son in 1831 ; and that of Dom Pedro II, who began as a boy of five to rule under a regency in 1831, ascended the throne with legal- ized majority at the age of fourteen in 1840, and continued in power till 1889, when he was peace- fully, and with great respect for his person and private life, expelled.

Dom Pedro I was a European by birth and by tradition ; he showed loyalty enough for the coun- try w^hich accepted him, but he could not escape from the ideas of an Old World monarchy. He lost the southernmost part of his dominion (Uru- guay) , which in language and habits was more Spanish than Portuguese; and although Argentina could not master it, neither could Brazil. The best result obtainable in the circumstances was a treaty in which the Oriental Republic, a neutral or buffer state between Brazil and Argentina, was formed in 1828.

Pedro I was not popular; he gave too much at- tention to Portugal, not enough to Brazil ; he failed to grasp the spirit of the new country and to com- prehend the wave of independence that received new impulse from the French Revolution of 1830. The people were tired of him and probably he was

194 BRAZIL

equally tired of the people. His compulsory ab- dication and retirement in favor of his son was a relief on both sides.

Dom Pedro II was the last hereditary ruler of the New World. If the idea of a transmissible power could flourish on American soil, there is no doubt but that he might have established a throne; but, although he left the country better than he found it, he was unable to stem the tide of repub- licanism. Probably his only regret was that, demo- cratic as he showed himself to be, he could not have died at work, with the keel laid for the launching of the new Ship of State as soon as he had drawn his last breath. Revolts took place during his mi- nority, but his regents, wise men for the time, kept the country reasonably harmonious and pacified. His majority was arbitrarily set at fourteen; he as- sumed control of the government in 1840 and was crowned in 1841. For ten years thereafter he had troubles enough, in the north at Pernambuco, and in the south in Sao Paulo and Rio Grande, where their haste for self-rule seemed to outstrip their knowledge and their experience. There were in- ternal dissensions which showed how hard it is to learn the cost of peace and orderly advance; but these revolutions, which were merely localized re- sentment against the centralizing tendencies of the empire, had no lasting effect upon the nation. Revolutions in Brazil have seldom been so disturb- ing or so wide-reaching as in other South Amer-

A Relic of Slave Days — Brazil

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W'cakliv I'azcnderu — Urazil

WAR WITH PARAGUAY 195

ican countries. It is unfair to declare that revolt is ingrained in the Brazilian people; they are in the main peaceful and law-abiding, and their period of ferment came after rather than before their independence. When Dom Pedro II reached his actual majority, a relatively progressive rule of thirty years marked the internal conduct of Brazil. There vs^ere two foreign wars which showed the mettle of the country and gave them all the experi- ence good for them. The first was a conflict with Argentina, over that thorn in the flesh, Uruguay. Brazil was again the victor, in that Uruguay re- tained her independence; and the River Plate, which was necessary to Brazil for the speedier ac- cess to her interior state of Matto Grosso, was opened to free navigation. The second war was one which may without prejudice be compared with our own struggle to free Cuba and to reprove a government that failed to see the irrepressible tendencies of modern action. It was in essence an altruistic war, directed against the policy of isola- tion pursued by Lopez, the dictator of Paraguay. At the beginning, in 1864, there were two motives leading to hostilities: one was the necessity of pre- serving intact Brazilian territory in the states of Matto Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul, which Lo- pez threatened to invade; the other was Brazil's demand that Uruguay should keep peace along her border, and that Paraguay should not be a contin- ual refuge for all malcontents who stirred up trou-

196 BRAZIL

ble in the neighborhood. The Blancos — the party in power in Uruguay — formed an alliance with Lopez, and then the statesmen of Brazil and Ar- gentina saw that only radical measures would be effective in checking the spread of irresponsible autocrats. The two big nations agreed to uphold the Colorados in Uruguay in their struggle against Lopez and the Blancos, the ultimate purpose being to crush Lopez.

This personal object was accomplished; Lopez was killed, the strength of Paraguay was shattered and practically her entire able-bodied male popu- lation annihilated; the Colorados were placed in power which they have held for thirty-six years, and the danger of the invasion of Brazilian soil was averted. The war dragged on till 1870 and brought into prominence many names well known in both Brazilian and Argentine history. Without this war the Brazilians never could have learned the necessary lessons of offense and defense, of their strength and of their weakness, or of the difference between a really practical constitutional govern- ment and an irresponsible liberty; it showed Brazil and Argentina that they must act as the police brigade of the Atlantic side of South America. Yet it has not altogether uprooted the weed of dictator- ship from the American republican garden. The war in some ways encouraged the friendship be- tween Brazil and Argentina, and in other ways it brought out certain jealousies between these tw^o

DOM PEDRO'S INFLUENCE 197

great countries which are still active. This is not an unmixed evil; a spirit of emulation is part of it — a rivalry which is surely leading to good results and will lead to better in the future.

While the war was on, little progress was shown by Brazil ; at the end of it she was prostrate with the loss of 50,000 men and over $350,000,000. But no impartial student of history can fail to admire her pluck and energy, which, under the kindly and far-sighted policy of the emperor, was able, within a decade, to restore national credit and place the country upon a secure industrial and commercial footing. Dom Pedro visited Europe shortly after the war and acquired the confidence of financiers there, and money was loaned to develop her re- sources. The Amazon had already, in 1867, been opened to the free navigation of the world, but Dom Pedro was able to attract to the more southern areas immigration and capital, and thus to begin an era of activity which characterized most of his reign. Railways were built, public works were be- gun and education was stimulated. Though he was a great admirer of the United States, he was wise enough to see that the Latin race was not able to put into practice many of the ideas and methods adopted without question by us. He was a good Roman Catholic, yet encouraged such a religious freedom that there was no distinction as to sect or belief. He was at the head of an arbitrary aristoc- racy, yet he himself was most simple and demo-

198 BRAZIL

cratic in his tastes and habits; he was also an aboli- tionist and wished to bring about automatically the emancipation of slaves, but by a stroke of fate it was this very principle which led to his downfall. African negroes had been brought to Brazil as early as 1530, to work the plantations in place of the rapidly disappearing native Indians. The world's movement, which in the middle of the nine- teenth century was agitating England and the United States, did not pass Brazil by. The same arguments were used there as elsewhere, and the country as a whole was willing to destroy the sys- tem. In 1 87 1 a law was passed according to which all infants born thereafter from slave mothers should be free; in 1885 all slaves over sixty years old were declared free; from that time on it was merely a question as to how all slavery should be suppressed. The large plantation and slave owners urged with some justice that they should receive compensation; but the spirit of freedom could not wait for such legal processes, and an instrument was found in the person of the emperor's daughter and successor to the throne, the Princess Isabel. She herself was unpopular; she had married a for- eigner, the Conde d' Eu, a good conscientious man and a fighter, but cold, reserved and unsympa- thetic; she was Roman Catholic, religious and as- cetic, and though faithful to her duties she could not understand or attract to herself the hearts of the Brazilian people. The fear that when she came to

EMANCIPATION 199

the throne their liberty would be suppressed, made them restless and incited them to that republican- ism which was and is the essence of American life. Her judgment may not have been wrong but her actions were untimely and therefore she did not increase her popularity, because, while she advo- cated emancipation, she showed no sympathy with democracy. As the spirit of emancipation grew, she played her part in it, and, taking advantage of the absence of her father in Europe when she was legally made regent for the time being, she signed in May, 1888, an emancipation proclamation, which liberated at once all slaves within the em- pire, without compensation to their owners. This was hailed as an act of grace by all anti-slavery ad- vocates, who were naturally the upholders of the democratic ideas. Benjamin Constant, the leader of advanced thought and the American disciple of Comte, rallied his followers — and the Brazilian mind easily followed him — to applaud this achievement; but an unlooked-for result was the alienation from the monarchy of the aristocratic land- and slave-holding class, who deserted to the republican cause; this union of two hitherto coun- teracting forces overcame what little monarchical factors were left in Brazil, and on November 15, 1889, now the national holiday, the emperor was formally but peacefully deposed.

Brazil from that date became a republic, but the infancy of the government was marked by far more

200 BRAZIL

distress and disorder than had characterized its conception or its birth. Misgovernment was as bad as that which prevailed in our Southern states after the surrender of Richmond, except in one particu- lar, obedience to law. It is one of the glories of our nation that, however unjust or tyrannical or abusive was the carpet-bag legislation w^hich passed as gov- ernment for many of the Southern states, there was comparatively little open hostility, and that read- justment took place with only the unavoidable cry of discontent against undeserved and galling treat- ment. It is a wonder that we did not experience what in South America is so often dignified as a revolution. Despite all statements of our modern pessimists to the contrary, I ascribe much of our readjustment to our Anglo-Saxon respect for law. That the Brazilian had not yet submitted to this spirit is shown by the events since the establishment of the republic. The reign of Dom Pedro had fostered in Brazilians a dislike for militarism, and during this period personal rights and the liberty of conscience and conduct had been respected; but now began a misrule of military autocracy which the nation was unable to overcome by legislative means. The first president was dominated by the army, and the governing powers went so far as to violate many of the constitutional enactments in order to advance their authority. The liberty of the press was restricted, the separation of Church and State was violently accomplished. Meanwhile,

A REVOLUTION 201

the former provinces of the empire were changed into self-ruling states, and some of them revolted against the central government, their motive being either a desire to assert their own newly-found in- dependence, or to protest against the unwarranted conduct of the national executive. Sao Paulo was the most active in its protests, and even the city of Rio de Janeiro rebelled. The first president was driven out of office.

The second president was no better than the former and he was unlucky enough to engender a discord between army and navy which has not yet been overcome; but he was a fighting army officer as well as the president, and finally succeeded in quelling the rebellion. It lasted, however, more than six months and nearly led to international complications. One incident was the killing of two British naval officers in the harbor, and another the action of the United States squadron, by which the recognition of the existing government was un- equivocally assured and the legal standing of the rebels as unequivocally denied. The revolt was a victory for the existing government at the end of May, 1894, t>ut it left the people on a lower moral and financial plane than they had occupied at the downfall of the empire. There was much despon- dency, together with the fear that Brazil was to be the prey of that military despotism and dictatorship which she had fought so hard to expel from South America.

202 BRAZIL

Nevertheless, the people yielded to the feeling that the constitution should be preserved; there was still revolt in Rio Grande do Sul, but the state of Sao Paulo gained the upper hand in the govern- ment and a law^yer instead of an army officer became president. The desire for liberty and de- mocracy conquered, and since then the country has governed itself with becoming decency and respect. There has been an internal war of greater extent than our Indian uprisings, but similar to these; there have been plots against the government and attempts at assassinations not unlike those which destroyed Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley; there have been factions in and out of power, as there have been with us, and mutterings that a re- publican constitutional form of government was a failure. There are perhaps as many malcontents in Brazil as there are in the United States, or in Eng- land or in Germany.

But all things considered, constitutional govern- ment has been a success in Brazil. P'or four suc- cessive national elections a president has been chosen who has quietly taken the seat resigned by his predecessor, with no more bloodshed than we ourselves have sometimes expected in times of great national excitement. Public improvements have been steadily developed, the credit of the country, at one time sunk beneath the notice of the financial institutions of the world, has risen until now securi- ties, both industrial and subsidized, have a recog-

DEMOCRACY 203

nized standing. Brazil has apparently just begun to understand what a great part she must play be- fore the end of the twentieth century.

When it is considered that the monarchy, after a bloodless fall and with practically the common consent of all the people, ceased to exist only eight- een years ago ; when it is acknowledged that, with nearly as much at stake as there was with us, slavery was abolished without a struggle only nineteen years ago; and that after these two stupendous events, practically simultaneous, the country has reconstructed itself within the lifetime of one gen- eration, criticism would be ill-founded which could not detect much to admire in the people and their history.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BRAZIL

THE GOVERNMENT

The Constitution of the United States of Brazil is patterned after that of the United States of America, which was translated for them into Por- tuguese by one of our citizens long resident in that country. It differs in some details from its proto- type, but it seeks to preserve the vital features while meeting certain local conditions inherent in their traditions.

The president is elected every four years directly by the people, and can not be immediately re- elected. He and the vice-president must be native citizens, but with this restriction any one conform- ing to naturalization laws may become eligible to any office within the government. His functions are much the same as those of the executive officer of our own nation.

Although the Roman Catholic Church is a pow- erful agent in spiritual affairs, no church has or- ganic relation to the nation. All religions are equal and tolerated before the law. The foreigner is

204

THE SENATE 205

liberally treated in Brazil and can exercise practi- cally every privilege enjoyed by a citizen. The people themselves may at times show a dislike to foreigners, but whatever governmental or race an- tipathy there was is disappearing. Foreigners who behave themselves in Brazil are welcome, but na- tional pride would prefer that native talent and initiative should have from now on greater control over industrial afifairs than has hitherto been the rule.

The Senate has three members from each state, who are elected by popular vote directly by the people for terms of nine years, but one from each state goes out of office every three years. The depu- ties (representatives) are chosen also by popular vote for terms of three years, one for each 70,000 inhabitants. At present there are sixty-three sen- ators (three from each state and three from the fed- eral district) and 215 deputies.

The Supreme Court is appointed for life by the president. There are fifteen members.

The Cabinet is appointed by the president, and has six members as follows: of Foreign Afifairs, of Interior and Justice, of Industry, of Railways and Public Works, of War, and of Marine.

The federation of Brazil consists of twenty states, whose independent and interdependent relations operate toward a less centralized government than our own. There are no territories in our sense of the word; all of the unoccupied land, which at the

2o6 BRAZIL

time of the empire lay within the former provinces, became integral parts of the states into which these provinces were erected, and the nation as a gov- ernment has really no land belonging to itself. The result of this movement alone was to give to the states greater importance than they have with us. Sergipe, with an area of only 15,090 square miles (somewhat larger than Maryland), a population of over 600,000, a seaport and a small railroad, is no more than equal to the inland and isolated state of Matto Grosso, with its 532,550 square miles (twice the size of Texas), only 175,000 inhabitants and no railroad.

Certain rights, also, were delegated or permitted to the states, so that they have an autonomy greater than that possessed by our states. The great dis- tances separating them and the complete lack of easy, rapid and regular communication between them, allows each state to exercise a certain inde- pendence in many affairs comparable to such rela- tions as existed early in the last century between New England, the South Atlantic States and those west of the Alleghenies. Their interests differ and their local histories encourage these differences. Amazonas, for example, is from fifteen to twenty days' sail from Rio; it has large foreign shipping in rubber and a great deal of English capital is in- vested. Pernambuco and Bahia are sugar areas. The state of Rio de Janeiro, containing the capital of the country where naturally is to be found the

Y. M.C. A. I'.uiMiii-— Rio

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STATE INFLUENCES 207

center of social and political life, is industrially a coffee district; but it has been subordinated to the state of Sao Paulo, where more coffee is grown, where a greater activity has always been mani- fested, and where a foreign population and free- dom from court influences have produced healthy ambitions for material and educational progress. In fact, until now Sao Paulo has been a controlling factor in Brazilian affairs and is tenacious of her position.

Minas Geraes, with 221,890 square miles, claims a population of over 4,000,000, and is in some ways equal to Sao Paulo in importance, although its lack of seaport and its reliance upon mines and dia- monds for prosperity, instead of upon agricultural industry, have not allowed it to surpass the others.

Rio Grande do Sul has had a checkered history. Founded about 1550, forming a frontier beyond which lay Uruguay and rebellion, a rich farming and grazing country, it promised to wield the strongest political influence in Brazil. In 1825 the experiment was begun of introducing German im- migrants into Rio Grande, which has led to one of the great problems of the nation.

The other states rank with more or less equality to each other and to the central government, and still retain an interstate commerce tax, but intercommu- nication is not so easy or so general as it is with us. There are twenty states in all, but the capital of Amazonas, Manaos, is, geographically and by

2o8 BRAZIL

trade relations, farther from Porto Alegre in Rio Grande do Sul, than it is from Europe. Such con- trasts show how loosely connected is the internal structure of this immense country, yet beneath there is undoubtedly a patriotism which will make of Brazil a united nation.

The state charters, granted at the time of the change from the monarchy to the republic, in the judgment of some students of politics, permitted too great liberty to the states; or, in other words, there was an error in not preserving a more cen- tralized form of government. But the history of the provincial settlements did not permit of any other arrangement. The federal government re- tains control of the army and navy, the postal and telegraph service, and also of the national Central Railway, but the states are otherwise largely au- tonomous. Each has an independent sphere of influence which is probably inseparable from its history and geographical condition. What we call militia is in some cases nearly an independent state army, more loyal to the local than to the national flag.

The army is made up of volunteers, there being no compulsory law in Brazil as in Argentina or Venezuela. Theoretically an army of 600,000 men could be mobilized in time of war, but it is a ques- tion whether that number would ever assemble. Distances are so great that patriotism might leak away before the individuals reached any central

ARMY AND NAVY 209

barracks. The active formation is, on paper, close to 30,000 men and officers, but it is not an imposing body. Occasionally in Rio or Sao Paulo, and in the cities where military schools are situated, may be seen traces of the army, but as a rule no display of militarism can be detected. The fact is that Bra- zilians are not fighters for the love of it, nor eager to assert a spirit of war; they are brave, as their history shows, and perhaps they love brass buttons, but their temperament is much more like ours in this respect. The army and navy is more a matter of government policy than a requirement without which the people would not be happy.

The navy consists of forty to fifty vessels of mod- ern type and construction, some of them having been built in government yards on thoroughly mod- ern lines. The nation is proud of these ships, be- cause anything accomplished by themselves flatters their intense patriotism, but this patriotism does not extend so far as to keep the men-of-war in per- fect condition. Many are "undergoing repairs"; others have not moved from their anchorage for weeks or months, and the officers have a bad name for laziness, neglect of drill and that worst of all faults in a navy, ignorance of discipline. That they can fight has been proved again and again by Bra- zilian history; but the navy certainly is not the ma- chine its secretary's report would like to have the world believe.

High protection, for revenue, is the necessary

2IO BRAZIL

policy of the government, but within recent years the tariff has been increased on the principle of supporting manufacturing, which is developing with successful rapidity within some of the states. One cause of the tariff, illustrative of an accepted phase of government common to all Latin Amer- ica, is the official support given by the nation to railways either in actual ownership and operation, or in guaranteeing payment in construction and operation on bonds and interest thereon. Many in- dustrial companies also are led to feel that their establishment is a national enterprise, and that their security and success depend upon the promise which the government issues to guarantee a fixed interest to those who purchase the bonds. This is going one step further than a protective tariff, be- cause it not only diminishes the factor of competi- tion, but it also develops a monopoly. It stands to reason that the government is not going to support two industries at the same time and in the same place, and that the field must be large and not com- pletely occupied before an unsubsidized enterprise enters it.

An interesting example of this government own- ership can be found in the railway situation in Bra- zil, where a portion of her mileage is in the hands of private corporations unsubsidized, a portion controlled by private funds but deriving some in- come from government funds, and a portion owned and operated, exactly like the Post-office, by gov-

THE CENTRAL RAILWAY 211

ernment employees. The railways controlled by individual states need not be studied here.

The Central Railway of Brazil, a railway owned and operated by the government, is the most im- portant in the country and reaches the most popu- lous and fertile sections of the states of Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro. It connects the two great cities of Rio and Sao Paulo, having a large number of connecting lines, and enjoys besides a practical monopoly of the terminal facilities of the port, and most of the suburban traffic of the city. It is well built, standard gage over a good proportion of its mileage, and compares favorably with most of the railways of the country. However, its ex- penses far exceed its income, and the annual deficit comes out of the pockets of the tax-payers; its offi- cial staff is made up of men who have favors to seek from the government, and it is at times used as a political tool. Undoubtedly the nation would be financially a gainer by leasing the Central to a pri- vate corporation, but the spirit of the Brazilians is against such a measure. It does not seem wise to them to allow such an immense investment to be in the control of foreign bond-holders; they have also a pride in the Central, as really a government insti- tution. There are other railways owned by the na- tion or state, but these lines are smaller and serve only isolated territories, so that no illustrative con- clusions can be drawn from them.

The best example of a railway completely inde-

212 BRAZIL

pendent of the original state subsidy is the Sao Paulo, running from the port of Santos, forty-seven miles up the mountain, to the capital of the state, Sao Paulo, and thence into the interior. Its road- bed and management are perfection, and it is a source of great profit to its stock-holders; yet it is not liked by the Brazilians because it really does little to advance the country, and in proportion to its profits, which are spent largely abroad, it does not add enough to the prosperity of the territory it serves.

Of railways that are subsidized by the state but owned and managed by foreigners, the nearest ex- ample is the Leopoldina, running steamers across the bay at Rio to Maua, whence the line proper proceeds to Petropolis; other steamers go to Nic- theroy, thence northward. The Leopoldina is the greatest system in Brazil, being a consolidation of many small lines, and possessing the first rails laid in the country, in 1856, by Viscount Maua. In 1899 a complete new system was created by an English company, who took over the bonds of the several subordinate lines. Since then the expenses have been less and the income greater, although the profit to the stock-holders in 1905 was derived partly from funds secured under government con- cession.

The railroad problem in Brazil is a complicated one, and differs in some ways from that presented to us in the United States. The result is that the

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES 213

country is not developed, by immigration or settle- ment, so rapidly or so extensively as has been the case in the United States. In only a few instances has land been given to a railroad; one great in- centive is therefore lost, and settlement is only luke- warmly encouraged. Government subsidy has taken the place of our land grants. This seems to have had a deadening influence, and the goal^ sought is not so much expansion in area and com- merce, but rather the bookkeeping to show that the requirements to obtain the government subsidy have been complied with. This imposition of a subsidy carries with it a government interference w^hich at times becomes not only burdensome, but really depressing, as the purpose in view is the cur- tailment of expenses rather than the introduction of new life into the land.

To take the place of the voluntary migration which has been one of the striking features of the settlement of the United States, Brazil has applied its energies, still led by the idea of subsidy, to as- sisting immigration. The bounties offered to immi- grants are generous and undoubtedly helpful, yet the result has not always been commensurate with the hopes of the empire or of the republic. It is true that about 2,000,000 south-Europeans, Italians and Spanish or Portuguese, have entered Brazil since migration began; but there is a certain dis- appointment that state-aided colonies have not in- creased the producing :[nd consuming capacity of

214 BRAZIL

the country. Consequently, since 1899, the general government has discontinued direct aid to immi- grants, except to receive them at the port of Rio and convey them to their destination, leaving to the individual states whatever encouragement seems best suited to their needs.

Somewhat different, it seems to me, is the ques- tion of state aid or government subsidy to steam- ship companies. Land communication in the in- terior is very restricted, except from Rio to Sao Paulo and a few minor places, and intercourse must be accomplished along the coast by water. Traffic between local ports would not pay, however, and there is no prospect that commerce will become so extensive that it will of itself support sufficient steamer service. Therefore the only way to assure regular and trustworthy intercommunication is to pay part of the expenses of those steamers plying from harbor to harbor. The government has for years subsidized boats sailing under the Brazilian flag, and is always ready to contribute to a foreign company which will comply with the proper de- mands of the government. It may be explained and warranted as part of the educational or civilizing methods of a country, and in that sense should be no burden upon the treasury.

The educational problem, during the time of the emperor and since, has been a great one. Brazil has no university as we understand the term, and the Department of the Interior provides only for

EDUCATION 215

higher studies in special law schools, medical schools and various institutions for technical train- ing. It can not be said that in this respect they have advanced as far as we have. The habit of going abroad for finishing work, whether it be in the so- called learned professions, or in the arts and sci- ences, is still considered justifiable and creditable. Their idea of education is culture rather than train- ing, and their mental outlook on life is more in sympathy with letters and the arts than with branches of the exact sciences; consequently what talent manifests itself in Brazil is modified by for- eign instruction. Yet there has been much native talent developed, especially in literature and music, and some of their engineering work is of a high order. At present there is a gradual awakening throughout the nation. They are seeing the neces- sity of developing the inestimable riches of their possessions; the ambition of the younger men is directed toward the technical professions, and many of them are coming to the United States to study at our engineering schools, recognizing that such work with us has a practical character which can be found in no other country.

Primary education is neglected. The Brazilians themselves say this, and one of their perplexities is to devise some system which may bridge the deep gap between the wide-spread illiteracy of the peo- ple, and the thorough and inherited culture of the aristocracy. Primary school education is under the

2i6 BRAZIL

control of the individual states, being compulsory in some, voluntary in others; but even where the law demands attendance at school to some extent, it is not enforced, nor can it be. Distances are often so great, inspection so lax and schools so poorly equipped, that it would take a small army to en- force it. The mixture of races is a complicating factor also. The Italians who come to Sao Paulo have a language so nearly like the Portuguese that they confuse the tongues, while the Germans in Rio Grande do Sul have been so segregated for generations that they have had no other language than their own, and being so numerous they have been left to get for themselves whatever instruction pleased the community.

Brazil transacts its business on a paper basis. Its financial situation is one of the most perplexing problems of the nation, and the attempt to explain the intricate mechanism by which paper represents silver, silver is converted into gold, and gold sent abroad in satisfaction of loans or credits, would fill a very unreadable page. It must suffice to say that gold is not seen from one year's end to the other; silver may occasionally be transmitted from person to person or received at a bank, but most of the silver issue is hoarded. All but an insignificant amount of the money current is in paper notes and nickel or copper coins. With this paper purchases are made and debts paid, a checking system such as serves our purpose in daily life being much more

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Bronze Gateway to Old Palace — Rio

Portuguese Library — Rio

THE MILREIS 217

of a ceremonious procedure. The money is uni- form throughout the country, so that there is no loss in value on notes issued by a local bank, and money purchased in Pernambuco passes readily in Porto Alegre, provided it is not counterfeit. For such money it is well always to be on the lookout. The use of the word "purchased" is intentional, because paper is bought and sold precisely as we would buy or sell wheat — that is, the value for the day of bank-notes varies according to the rate of exchange on gold. To-day the milreis may be worth less, or in other words the English pound sterling worth more than it was yesterday, or even two hours ago. The price of the milreis fluctuates enormously ac- cording to the value of the pound, and the owner of money is never sure exactly what it may sell for. So tricky and agile is the money exchange that prices of ordinary commodities vary from day to day, and it is not possible to reckon one's habitual expenses on a fixed basis. Even railway tickets fluctuate in value in obedience to exchange, and the cost of travel in Brazilian currency depends more upon the foreign market than upon the local tarifif. A student of economics and of the particular money question here mentioned, should be consulted if the reader wishes exact information upon it, but I doubt if he will be any wiser, after he has heard an explanation, than he was before. The heavy for- eign obligations of the Brazilian government and her great foreign commerce, compared to which

2i8 BRAZIL

the internal trade is insignificant, explains the fact of her dependence upon English gold, but it does not explain the illogical fluctuation in value. Gos- sip says that the banks, as speculators, have manip- ulated the market as our financiers adjust the prices on the stock exchange ; but only the wise ones know, and they never tell.

The Post-office and the telegraph service are managed by the Industry Department, and have not that efficiency which has been developed by Argentina or even Venezuela. The postal facilities extend over a great part of the republic, and letters are usually delivered; but the cost is high, the time in transit long and connections not well arranged. It is common advice that if a sender wishes to make sure of the delivery of a letter, it must be registered, for the curiosity of the postal clerks may overcome their knowledge of the rules, and the letter disap- pear. The telegraph is also government property, and has become more trustworthy and efficient within late years; but the cost is high, although the service is reputed to be prompt. Along the coast there are cables operated and controlled by foreign companies, and by these lines messages may be sent to many of the large cities. I have heard that their service is more trustworthy than that of the govern- ment.

In public affairs the municipal organization and city government are recognized as highly com- mendable, and we must acknowledge our inferior-

SMALLER CITIES 219

ity to them in this respect. The mayor (prefect) of a city is appointed, not elected, but the aldermen are placed in office by popular vote. These posi- tions carry the same weight and dignity that they do in England, and the results are consequently beneficial to the city. Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are models scarcely equaled by any city in the United States; Bello Horizonte, in the state of Minas Geraes, is a city made to order from bottom to top, like the White City at Chicago in 1893, and is artistically and hygienically a success as well as commercially prosperous. Santos cleaned away her bad name when she annihilated yellow fever by building the best and the only docks in Brazil, sec- ond in South America only to those in Buenos Aires. Manaos on the Amazon, and Porto Alegre, on Lake Mirim, steadily improve themselves by every modern device, while such widely separated interior cities as Diamantina in Minas Geraes, and Bage in Rio Grande do Sul, show the same desire to have a clean, wholesome, well-kept city, in which a man may live a respectable, healthy life without fear of overcrowding or of overtaxation. If one were to diagram the graft nuisance in Brazil, in comparison to us, where our cities are the worst, our counties and states perhaps less and our na- tional government the least infected by the evil of graft, it might be asserted that in Brazil the na- tional government has been the most tainted, the state less so, and the city least of all.

220 BRAZIL

In fact, there is a noticeable contrast in all Bra- zilian life between the city and the government or- ganizations. This is undoubtedly due to the early history of the people and of the country. The peo- ple arose from mixed sources and had distinct motives in their growth, while the nation developed from different states, each having a separate and independent focus which received impressions not so much from one center, as was the case in Ar- gentina, but rather from the outside world. The result was a local pride, such as we have in Massa- chusetts, in Virginia and in Texas; and this decen- tralization has not been destroyed by the present nationalizing tendency going forward in Brazil as a whole. Although seemingly a contradiction, it is nevertheless true that the older state rivalries are fostering a love of country which in the end will be strong and enduring.

The country is so big that it can afiford to be generous, and however loosely knit it feels its own power and dignity. This is shown in the willing- ness of Brazil to submit in good faith and humor to the principle of arbitration, rather than to bully by force of arms. Its boundary disputes are nearly all settled and only recently Bolivia received advan- tages in her claim to a territory that was in many respects already Brazilian. She wants peace and will sacrifice anything but her dignity to retain it. The weakness of her central government finds an object lesson in her poorly-kept government statis-

A NATIVE HABIT, 221

tics, and in the unsystematic way in which most public matters are conducted. Where native abil- ity alone is employed, there is apt to be delay and negligence. This, however, is a characteristic of the people and is intimately associated with the crudeness of their education.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

BRAZIL

THE PEOPLE AND PRESENT CONDITIONS

"The Brazilians like to do things their own way; they can be led by kindly example, but not driven. They are quick-witted, but they lack education."

This remark was made to me by a good friend of Brazilians, a man who has given the best of fif- teen years to life among them, who is loved by them for his work and character, and whose name will become part of their history and ours.

There are 15,500,000 people in Brazil, but the term ''Brazilian" does not express a simple idea; it is perhaps more complex than the frequently condemned Anglo-Saxon, which leaves so much to the imagination; and it may convey as imperfect a concept as our own word "American," which has become so rooted in language that, despite the offense it often gives to the South American, it is accepted over all north-Europe and the rest of the world as indicating a citizen of the United States.

The heterogeneous factors of our history and our people show themselves in an analogous way in the

222

NEGRO BLOOD 223

formation of the contemporaneous Brazilian. The early Dutch influence of government and settle- ment is as much alive in Pernambuco and Bahia as it is with us in New York; but from racial stock the Brazilians are Latin, south-European, and Portuguese. Portuguese is the national lan- guage, retained as pure there as English is here. The antipathy between Brazilians and Portuguese is as strong as that between ourselves and England in the early and middle years of the last century. They are largely Portuguese in blood, but have become American in thought and, considering the short time since the disappearance of the mon- archy, they are clearly democratic in sentiment and imagination.

Brazil from its infancy made use of slaves. Be- fore 1600 there is record of African negroes intro- duced into Brazil; they took the place of the disappearing Indian and were brought over in ever increasing numbers, so that by the census of 1890, two years after the abolition of slavery and one year after the birth of the republic, it is stated that there were 5,000,000 whites, 3,500,000 blacks, 6,500,000 half-breeds of Indian, negro or white, and 400,000 Indians. This shows an equality if not a preponderance of negro blood. Before the law there is no distinction; there is no color-line, geographically or politically; only very recently has there been any social ostracism against the black. In Sao Paulo, where civilization more

224 BRAZIL

closely approaches our own, and in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where there are many Germans and few negroes, this is beginning to be felt; but in the north, where the negroes are most numerous, no distinction is perceptible. As for that faint taint of negro blood which with us seemingly for ever bars its unfortunate possessor, it will be impossible for Brazil to draw the "color-line."

One of the presidents of Brazil, a man respected for his deeds as well as for his ambition, confesses with a frank pride that he has negro blood in his veins, and the nation as a whole resents any impu- tation that black blood carries social inequality with it. I was invited one evening to a small din- ner-party at which we were to meet a Senhorita X — , a young lady freshly launched into society, whose musical talent was exceptional, even in this land naturally so gifted with love of both poetry and music. I was the only one of the guests who had not met her, so that she was smothered with greetings before I was presented; but when my turn came, I was astonished to find before me what we would call a mulatto — kinky hair, thick lips and prominent teeth. There was not the least trace of embarrassment in her or the rest of the company. She sat opposite me at table, played for us later some brilliant piano pieces, and kissed all the ladies good-by with so much ease that it was abso- lutely impossible to conceive any difference among us on account of race.

THE NATIVE OF TO-DAY 225

A modest estimate will say that one-fourth of the blood of all Brazil is African; this does not mean that only one-fourth of the population is negro — the proportion is greater — but that from top to bot- tom of society there is this quantitative and quali- tative strain. Of course a remnant of pure-blooded Lusitanians exists, the old aristocracy who have as successfully kept themselves unmixed as have the Castilians of Bogota, but they are not "the people." In Bahia nearly every one is black ; in Rio, whether in simple social life or in the political aristocracy of Petropolis, the negro strain is evident, but far- ther south it disappears. The outlook in Brazil is that what we call the black man — negro — is dying out by a process of involuntary self-destruction. The race is crowding to the cities; it is improvi- dent, shiftless and unhealthy; tuberculosis, syphilis and cachacha (a cheap rum) are the destroying elements, and the country is too poor and too uned- ucated to make any great effort to save this people. They do not like the hard field-labor, and in the richer coffee areas they are being crowded out by Italians, Portuguese and Spanish; farther south the Italian and German does all the work except the day labor around the docks.

The next greatest source of new blood (omitting the migration from Portugal and Spain as being too close to the parent stock) is Italy. Of course, Italians readily find a place there, since they make good laborers and the language is so similar that

226 BRAZIL

even a few days suffice for them to acquire the rudi- mentary vocabulary necessary to begin work. But they do not become citizens in a truly political sense, any more than they do in the United States. They are thrifty and law-abiding, they breed well and pay cash, but they send their money home to Italy, and when they have saved enough they re- turn home.

Undoubtedly a great influence has been exerted upon Brazilian blood and character by the Ger- man influx of colonists, who have been steadily encouraged since 1825 and to whom areas of land were devised by the government. I have trust- worthy figures which give the number of Germans native-born and immigrant as high as 500,000; the opinion throughout the world, however, upheld by the Brazilians themselves and announced by the German Foreign Ofiice, is that 400,000 will suffice.

These colonists in Rio Grande do Sul are as de- based as the "po' white trash" of our own South, and will die of sloth if Brazil and Germany do not help them. Intelligent and well-informed persons feel confident that if the United States were weak, and if Brazil had no friends, the emblem of the German Empire would to-day be flying over Rio Grande as imperial soil.

Yet it is an error to assume that this migration from Germany came to Brazil through the same impulse which brought them to the United States; nor did they find in Brazil, when they arrived, the

Urticc of Jcrnal do L oimiwrcio — Rio

Protestant Episcopal Church — Rio Grande

A Street in I'urto Alegrc

THE GERMANS 227

same conditions or country which they found when they hmded in the northern hemisphere. The flower of our German citizens came to the United States during and after the crisis of the revolution of 1848. Statesmen, politicians, editors, university men, thinkers of all shades of liberalism came here to escape from Germany, and to find freedom for thought and action quite as much as to escape from a military bureaucracy crushing liberty there. During and after our Civil War others came with an enthusiasm for our ideas and because they found here opportunities in a rapidly expanding country; but they came as individuals, never as colonies ac- cepting or demanding state aid. There are a few examples in the United States of religious com- munities which have isolated themselves from the friction of our daily national life; but even these came independently and few perpetuate their cus- toms beyond the second generation. Our Germans met at the threshold of their adopted land the com- petition of Americans or of those who were becom- ing Americans as fast as they could. They retained only the wholesome traditions and customs of their Fatherland, but methods of work in any form they had to relearn or to learn anew, according to the successful methods of the land to which they came. In a word, they became absorbed. Their spirit of honesty, thrift, persistence and thoroughness is all they clung to; even their language they relin- quished, except in such cases of higher culture

228 BRAZIL

where the advantage of a second modern tongue kept the children by compulsion acquainted with German. The same forces are at work to-day; the Italian or the Russian immigrant learns English as his first lesson ; his children repudiate and forget the mother tongue and insist on Americanizing themselves at our public schools and in business life.

It has been different in the case of the Germans in Brazil. Uprooted from their peasant homes along the Rhine or elsewhere, they were planted there en masse as colonists in a new territory, a wilderness; but as beautiful, as healthy and as pro- ductive a country as the sun ever shone upon. The only neighbors they had were a few Brazilians, who farmed with the methods in vogue before Co- lumbus left the Iberian peninsula. As colonists they settled in the state of Santa Catarina at Join- ville and Blumenau, in Parana at Curitiba, in Rio Grande do Sul at Novo Hamburgo, Santa Elena and scores of other colonies. I found life there as dull as it must have been in villages two hundred years ago; there has been practically no improve- ment since they were started. They are thrifty, economical and decently moral, but they are not progressive, or expansive, or ambitious; the son does what his father did before him, the daughter is the same plodding Hausfrau of the Middle Ages.

These colonies are dying of anemia, physical

THE GERMAN COLONISTS 229

and mental; there is no new blood poured into them from abroad or at home; they hate the negro and do not marry among the Brazilians; they speak German among themselves, and whole vil- lages of them pass days without hearing a word of Portuguese; the land lies open before them, yet a few miles away from the original settlement it is as untilled as when Garibaldi marched over it in 1840. Only recently have they begun to demand a decent system of common school education. Until the last five years their only instruction was from haphazard itinerant German teachers in their own language, or from worse-prepared Brazilians. Most of them read and write German, but they are not well-informed and their sluggish wits are not stimulated to acquire more than enough to satisfy the animal needs of life. Yet they are Brazilian citizens and possess a seldom-used franchise. They assert at once that they are Brazilians — Teuto- Brazilians, to distinguish them from Luso-Brazil- ians. If they wished, they could exert a prepon- derant influence in Brazilian politics; and if their intellectual needs are met, if, by new blood or otherwise, they are aroused from their dormant life, Rio Grande do Sul may carry Brazil as Indiana sometimes carries an election in the United States. The best among them leave their farms and escape to the city of Porto Alegre, but no one with a love of accuracy could compare Porto Alegre (founded in 1740) with Milwaukee (founded in 1835).

230 BRAZIL

Rarely does a Teuto-Brazilian reach prominence; Lauro MuUer, minister of public works in the present cabinet (1906), is a German Brazilian, but he came from a father whose early life was spent in Parana, outside of a colony's influence. Never- theless, they are Americans, democrats in spirit; they have thrown off allegiance to their earlier home, and although some of them go back to Ger- many with an unexpressed hope of remaining there, they usually return to Brazil, where social caste and militarism are not against them.

These are the factors composing the Brazilian of to-day — Portuguese, Africans, Italians, German and Spanish. As a laboring population they are acceptable and even suitable, but they are not great consumers, nor, in proportion to their production, do they stimulate the manufacturing or importa- tion of commodities to balance trade. Their stan- dard of living, according to that of the European or American laboring class, is remarkably low. In addition, they do not blend into a homogeneous race even so indefinite as we ourselves present.

I constantly met this paradox: All over Brazil there is a nationality which gives a significance to the statement, "I am a Brazilian," quite as efifective as "I am a Chileno," while at the same time local pride in place of birth is much more pronounced than it is in Argentina or Venezuela. The native of Para, of the state of JViinas, or of Rio Grande do Sul may never have seen the capital city of Rio de

THE ARISTOCRACY 231

Janeiro, and will demand recognition for his sec- tion of the country, in a way claimed by the citizen of our United States. The extent of coast-line, and the fact that all communication between states is by sea, partly explains this, but I like to think that patriotism, in Brazil, is a deep and lasting trait. The negro in the north, the old Portuguese in the center, and the German in the south, are racially far removed from one another, yet the feeling that they are one people can not be overcome.

In Brazil, as in every South American republic, there exist traces of a feudal system, in that a sharp line divides the upper class, the aristocracy, from the lower class, the laborers. In other countries the Indian has served, in Brazil it has been the negro. Although democratic ideas have a power- ful hold on the people, the monarchy was so recent- ly destroyed that in their minds an aristocracy of blood still prevails, but this aristocracy is really one of land, of money. If any man by his own ability makes money he can break into the upper class with nearly the same ease as he can in the United States. This aristocracy represents the cul- ture, the education and the society of Brazil; it does not contain all the brains, nor all the ambition ; the people are beginning to think and to realize that the power of the ballot may sometime equal that of inheritance or of the sword.

The Brazilian is proud; he can be led but not driven; he likes to have his own way. His imag-

232 BRAZIL

ination carries him into great projects, and he is proud to have devised in fancy a future capital of the republic on the plateau of Goyaz; he exults in the newly finished city of Bello Horizonte in Minas, and that the city of Santos completed the harbor and drainage works at Santos, both of which would be a credit to any nation. He takes delight in the new city of Rio, in the scheme for a canal connecting Lake Mirim with the Atlantic, and he is enthusiastic over the inland railroad to stretch from Sao Paulo to Rio Grande. He is quick-witted enough to recognize advantages when they occur to him, or when explained by kindly counsel instead of by obtrusive, patronizing advice.

In financial directions his schemes are visionary; the country is loaded by a foreign debt, the money from which has not always been spent for its in- tended purpose; but her debts should not be bur- densome to a country so rich as Brazil if she grows normally; she pays these debts with creditable reg- ularity, even if on some occasions a refunding debt is assumed. This financial imagination and pride allows the Brazilian to resort with unnecessary freedom to the state for funds.

Brazil has built national and state railroads and harbors, subsidized steamship and colonial prod- ucts, and threatens to try to maintain the price of coffee out of government funds; yet her statesmen could not, owing to the impetuosity of the nation, arrange to pay the owners for manumitted slaves,

SALIENT TRAITS 233

nor can her financiers see how vital it is to her future prosperity to set free the land for genuine immigration, even if it compels the payment of cash to shadowy owners of shadowy titles.

Brazilians are lazy. Their indolence is largely induced by a tropical life, but it depends to some extent upon the fact that for generations they have tilled the soil and built their cities through im- ported hands. They employ foreign engineers be- cause they are too lazy to learn ; they hire overseers or managers — factors — for their coflfee estates, be- cause they are too lazy to study agriculture and transportation, preferring to spend their money, often foolishly or wickedly, in Paris. With some of the best cattle and grazing-land in the world, they prefer to pay fabulous prices for European or Argentine stock, because they are too lazy to take the trouble to adopt, on their own account, advanced principles of breeding. They buy food- stufifs abroad and are content to scratch the ground with an Egyptian plow. They are too short- sighted to see and too lazy to care that their neigh- bor raises wheat and is growing rich thereby.

Yet the Brazilian is ambitious, and will try to overcome his defects if his indolence does not over- come him. This ambition will be the making of a real nation, for it breathes a national spirit and gives to the phrase, "T am a Brazilian," a meaning akin to our own "I am an American." There is something large and hopeful in his tone; and

234 BRAZIL

though idleness, neglect and unprogresslveness are now surface marks, ambition is surely a part of his character and is only concealed by these overlying defects. Beneath, he is determined to do things, to do them himself, in his own way, and finally to make that way the proper way. This determina- tion arouses a sympathy in my heart which out- weighs all the ridicule I have heard heaped upon the country. The Brazilians are not stupid, nor, in the catch-penny word of pseudo-science, "degen- erate"; they are merely passing through a national crisis, and, although they do not yet quite know what their own way is to be, there is no doubt but that a great future awaits them.

It seems an easy explanation for most of the shortcomings of the world, that education is at fault; of course, much depends upon the quality of education, and we ourselves appear to be suffering rather from an excess than from an under-supply of the raw material. In Brazil, however, I noticed that many facilities for education are lacking, and that what can be obtained is often crude and super- ficial. There is no compulsory education law in the republic, and even if there were a law it could be no better enforced than in other Latin Amer- ican countries, because the people do not care for it. The last trustworthy census (1890) gives an illiteracy of four-fifths and an illegitimacy of one- eighth (in the United States the illiteracy all told above school age is about one-twelfth, but this in-

LAX MORALITY 235

eludes the negro, as it does in Brazil; negro illiter- acy in the United States is about ninety per cent, of the whole, as is probably the case in Brazil also, but their negro population is twenty-five per cent., while ours is only eleven per cent, of the whole). In the big cities, any child who wants it can get a primary education, and the scheme for advanced or technical instruction looks well on paper; yet every one whose opinion I valued confessed that higher courses were sadly deficient. Medicine is well taught but by no means skilfully practised, and the best physicians have studied in Europe. Law is law the world over, but resort to it in Brazil is surprisingly costly, wearisome and full of delays. Training is what the Brazilian lacks; thorough- ness, willingness to attack a problem, to carry it to its conclusion and to apply the solution.

The greatest evil in Brazil, however, is a laxity of moral tone. Commercially I can not find that they are better or worse than we in the United States; they have scandals, peculations and defalca- tions, but in international dealings their public and private reputation is excellent. Politically I heard of insincere and rotten conduct, without going out of my way to listen for it, but there have been pa- triots whose motives were as pure as any that ever actuated man. The pessimist will tell you that in the building of the new Avenida in Rio, for in- stance, certain men got rich through the buying and selling of land, while others made fortunes

236 BRAZIL

through contracts and supplies. The optimist, on the other hand, will acknowledge the extravagance of the plan and the opportunity it offered for some to get the better of their fellows, but he will with promptness assert that to have accomplished the project of making Rio a clean, healthy city, is worth all it cost and should lead to forgiveness of such human sins.

Minor contractors, employees and business men have told me that to get a thing done through a government office, or to expedite the preparation of papers, it is necessary to resort to bribery in or- der to reach a satisfactory end. That touches the vital point; there seems to be no fixed value to any- thing, no open, recognized, published tariff in big things or little. In shopping one must haggle and bargain in a manner scarcely known to us, while in affairs outside the shop a perquisite accompanies a price — the tipping system has attached itself to all business. The fact that we stand aghast at the disclosed relationship between our large corpora- tions and business or political interests, shows that as a nation we resent the graft evil and expect a square deal, even if we do not get it. Any fee or tariff in Brazil serves only as an estimate for the minimum expense.

This intrudes into details of daily life. One must be sharp not to pay too much, and know when to pay enough; and the foreigner who goes deeper than the ordinary traveler into association with the

A KINDLY PEOPLE 237

people becomes confused at the elusiveness of the truth.

This disregard for accuracy, the absence of what we call the New England conscience, and the lax relations between the sexes, are the bad features of Brazil. Getting trustworthy statistics, or data on which to base any proceeding or transaction, is an unsatisfactory task; government information is usu- ally out of date and inaccurate; national afifairs are so scattered that seldom can complete details be found in one place; some of the states present in- formation of their own, which, though not always exact, is more nearly so and more up to date than that offered by the nation.

With all this said, the worst arraignment against the Brazilian is made. Some of his faults are racial and can be eradicated only by a newer code and by fresher blood; most of them are traditional, begun in the early history of the country and nourished by the monarchy and by slavery. Their virtues speak for themselves on acquaintance. Quick- witted, cordial, kindly, hospitable in town and country, the Brazilian possesses a charm which softens much of the annoyance felt at the indolence, the lack of system and the irreligion in the coun- try. His virtues will be preserved and his vices thrust into the background, when once he comes under the sway of a proper education.

That education is needed they are beginning to see for themselves. No longer can the emperor

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take the initiative and import ideas and methods in a paternal way; his scheme was commendable, but he fostered a dependence which, in the long run, hurt the nation ; not much longer will the govern- ment be obliged to begin a work before the people realize that they need it, for beneath the surface lies an ambition to learn things and to do things in an American way. There are plenty who will say that the Brazilians are a worthless race, unable to raise themselves out of the muck into which they assert the country has fallen; but there are others who recognize and are proud of the real strength latent in the race. Brazilians could teach us much in the way of culture; their innate love of the artistic, their appreciation of beauty, their subjec- tion to an imagination which does not always im- ply superstition, their more placid philosophy of life, which is free from the unwholesomeness of worry — all could be added to our nervous energy without harm. They resent our scolding them; they are irritated at our bombastic assumption of an unapproachable superiority, but they are will- ing enough to follow if we set them a good exam- ple. Their quick wit allows them to detect our faults as well as our virtues; their newspapers, which are fine specimens of daily literature, out- spoken in criticism and as fearless in judgment, form a completely free press, free even from the yellow mendacity of some of our own papers, exert- ing immense influence upon public opinion, and

Botafog-Q Crescent — Rio dc Janeiro

o

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AMERICAN INFLUENCE 239

they are not slow to lay bare our defects nor un- willing to give credit when we deserve it.

One sometimes hears that Brazilians do not, as a rule, like foreigners. My observation was that they are not insular or prejudiced, and that for- eigners among them who benefit the country re- ceive a thoroughly honest welcome.

Any one who followed the colporteur on his by- path journeys across Brazil knows that it is not always contempt or bigotry w^hich perpetuates ignorance, but that quite as often the native never before had opportunity to find out truth for him- self. Any one who has followed the daily round of the true missionary among rich or poor, cultured or unlettered, aristocrat or peasant, and has seen the eagerness with which progressive Christianity is received, knows that the Brazilian has plenty of grace in him. Our church envoys are teaching cleanliness as well as religion, chastity as well as good manners, industry as well as genuflection, physical as well as spiritual uplifting; all this in the name of America. One of the most pow^erful agents in making familiar to Brazil the ambitions of our country, is the American missionary, and a large proportion of the newer education offered to Brazilians comes from religious sources.

In Sao Paulo we have Mackenzie College with its American curriculum, professors and technical school, all in Portuguese; some of the best of Bra- zilian youth go there and many of them come to the

240 BRAZIL

United States or tell their friends to do so, in order to acquire more advanced training than can be found at home; hardly a steamer leaves for Brazil but carries back young fellows who have been to the States for a year or more to study some branch of applied science, and who spread the gospel of work and American enterprise.

The Sao Paulo Tramways Light and Power Company is one of the greatest educational forces I ever saw. Its capital is part English, its charter is Canadian, but its spirit is what we call Amer- ican; it has revolutionized conditions in Sao Paulo and Rio; it shows what vast possibilities the coun- try possesses; its example of energy is spreading like a contagion to all the cities, and the idea of using the inexhaustible water supply to furnish electricity, as at Niagara, for the power industries of Brazil has found root. In the chat of the street, the slothful, arrogant coffee merchant's son, whose snobbishness was his chief glory, is developing an ambition to speak English and to be an employee of the Litanpaua company.

It is a fair field and no favor in Brazil. If we enter this field in a straight-forward industrial way, we shall find England and Germany ahead of us. England has built railways and drainage sys- tems; she has steamboats, banks and telegraphs, she has loaned publicly or privately £70,000,000. Whatever England docs is solid and substantial, and her influence in commercial and diplomatic

EUROPEAN INFLUENCE 241

circles is very great. Germany, too, is recently ad- vancing into Brazil in a way we can hardly real- ize; she has banks in Rio and Sao Paulo with branches in other cities, but I can not ascertain that Germany has invested much actual money in the country. Her engineers are active in various enterprises, and her commercial agents are selling goods all over the country and crowding Eng- lish trade, because they study markets that the alert consuls detect for them. Germany has two subsi- dized transatlantic steamer lines touching at the larger harbors, and in 1906 established under the Brazilian flag a fleet of coasting steamers be- tween Rio and Buenos Aires. This represents one method by which Germany is spreading her sphere of influence; in the south, aid and money are given to schools and hospitals, and newspapers are en- couraged to keep alive a warm memory of the old home.

Italy protects her citizens well as long as they re- main Italians, and there are Italian banks and busi- ness houses, but the nation is not aggressive.

France supplies culture, fashion and wickedness to Brazil, and both seem satisfied.

VENEZUELAN STATISTICS

Area, 593,843 square miles. Population, 2,750,000; per square mile, 4.

Foreign debt, $25,045,900; per capita, $9.50. Money — Gold standard. Currency : Silver dollars (peso) at par ; fractional metal currency ; paper, occasionally.

Trade Statistics (1903) — Exports: Total, $7,653,000; to the United States, 35 per cent.; England, 1.20 per cent.; Germany, 5 per cent. Imports: Total, $5,425,000; from the United States, 35 per cent. ; England, 24 per cent. ; Ger- many, 20 per cent.

Investments in the coun- try : Of English money, $50,000,000; German, $20,- 000,000 ; American, $2,500,- 000.

Miles of railway, 525 ; government owned, none ; subsidized, 525.

Capital, Caracas ; popu- lation, 60,000.

Army, 10,000; navy, a few small gunboats.

GERMANY

Area, 208,830 square miles. Popula- tion, S7.ooo.ooo; per square mile, 270.

Army, 520,000 officers and men (ex- clusive of reserves) ; navy, 468,500 tons.

National debt, $755,857,000.00.

Total imports (1905), $1,696,660,- 000.00; total exports (1905). $1,364.- 131,000.00.

242

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

VENEZUELA

GEOGRAPHY

Venezuela lies wholly within the tropics. Ca- racas, 700 miles from the equator, is due south of Eastport, Maine, the easternmost point of the United States. The country approaches to 1° 40' N. about 100 miles from the equator, and reaches to 12° 26' about 850 miles northward. At the wid- est part it measures 750 miles; this is at the center; the eastern and western limits are scarcely more than half this width. Longitudinally Venezuela measures 420 miles each side of Caracas, which lies about half-way from east to west, close to the north- ern boundary on the Caribbean Sea. On the east lies the Atlantic Ocean and British Guiana, on the west Colombia, to the south is Brazil.

The area of the country is 593,843 square miles, not quite one-fifth the size of the United States. Within its confines are all varieties of climate, from the rubber-growing jungles of the Orinoco and Rio Negro, through sugar, cotton, cacao, cof- fee, corn, tobacco and wheat regions to the conifer-

243

244 VENEZUELA

ous pines of the Andean snows; but it is well to omit the extremes and to consider Venezuela as a semitropical land whose products are sugar, to- bacco, cotton, coffee, corn and cattle. One-half the total area may be ignored; it is either Amazonian or Alaskan, and even if drained, can not, without future scientific adjustment to environment, be hab- itable for the Anglo-Saxon. This by no means im- plies that the soil is unproductive or unfit for use. On the contrary, the Orinoco Valley is as rich as the Amazon and in time will become as fertile as any wholly tropical region of the world ; yet it will probably never be the home of the white man. If he lives there, it will be only for money-making, since labor in it is performed by an inferior race that does not deteriorate below a working standard while reproducing itself with the fecundity of any tropic animal.

Above the Orinoco Valley and higher, on the llanos westward toward the sierras, are tracts of forest and prairie land practically unexplored by the industrial white. The old Spaniards visited there and indefinite tribes of semibarbarian In- dians still dwell on these plateaus. Probably it is good pasturage for cattle; but as yet only rumors of its character reach northward and explorers say that floods of tropic rains, pests of mosquitoes and other enemies to tranquil life are factors that for years to come will keep out all but the most ad- venturous. It would seem to bear some resemblance

The Old in \'enezuela

'i'hc New in \'enezueia

PRODUCTIVE AREA 245

to the interior of tropical Brazil, which is higher and more easily reached. For present purposes this part of Venezuela may be left out of consideration ; its counterpart can not be found in the United States, though an analogy might be the Everglades of Florida mixed with the Salton Sea and the desert of Arizona.

But the better half of Venezuela is in charming contrast to this terra incognita of the tropics. It forms a strip at the most 150 miles wide on the eastern edge south of Cumana, widening for its 550 miles westward along the Caribbean Sea to Maracaibo, where it becomes 300 miles wide to the south, upward on to the slope of the Andean Cor- dilleras. This region embraces some of the most beautiful country ever occupied by man. It is all tropic, but in only a narrow space between the sea and the abrupt sierras running east and west, and around Maracaibo Lake, is there the heat, the moisture, the oppression which make mischief with one's energies and morale. Puerto Cabello, Coro, La Guayra, Barcelona are typical seaports where life, though by no means unhealthy, must neces- sarily be sluggish, indolent and oriental. Other shipping points on the Caribbean have some ad- vantages in climate or scenery; Guanta is modern, progressive and picturesque; Cumana is beautiful; its fine setting among the hills on the river and bay, the historical background and its political im- portance as capital of the state of Bermudez, make

246 VENEZUELA

it superior to other coast cities. Still, the coast is subordinate to the interior as a dwelling-place.

In this respect there is a singular contrast to Bra- zil, where, although the configuration of the coast is not unlike that of Venezuela, the settlers have always clung to the water. Bahia, Pernambuco and Rio are the great centers of colonial life; only Sao Paulo represents what from the first took place in Venezuela. The interiors of the two countries are quite comparable, but the Spanish swarmed here behind the mountains and made settlements for 400 miles within these valleys, leaving the water towns to be mere stations of entrance and exit.

No one can blame them. As far as taste and in- stinct for location of cities are concerned, the Spanish of Venezuela were no whit behind those of Mexico, Chile or Argentina, and selected earth's most beautiful districts for settlement and home. Directly south of Caracas the mountain valleys of- fered little opportunity for urban settlement. East of Caracas (in the federal district) lie the states of Miranda and Bermudez, but relatively speaking they were not populated, as was the country west of Caracas, through the valleys of the Tuy and the Aragua toward the Lake of Valencia, and thence southward against the slope of the Andes as far as the states of Tachira, Trujillo and Zamora. No word-painting can convey the beauties of this land- scape where mountains seem to caress the valleys, where lake and river, forest and meadow, field and

CLIMATE 247

pasture are so warm and green in the clear and balmy air, that if ever man finds a paradise, it will be in Venezuela.

It must be seen and felt to be understood — this beauty of the region ; but even the material-minded can not turn away in disappointment, for he will see that nature has made the soil as rich as the region is beautiful, and almost everything man can ask for will grow for the planting — corn and wheat, peas, beans, potatoes, all the tropic fruits like oranges, but seldom pears or apples; and the great staples, cotton and cofifee. Where crops are not grown is pasturage for cattle by the million, if only they were bred with the care shown in Argen- tina. If a hardier product be required, the native woods for manufacturing are at hand without stint. Food supply for 100,000,000 people can, without exaggeration, be gathered from this favored gar- den, nor need a thought be given the next winter's coal supply, because the weather varies only from spring to summer and back again.

Here life may be a constant out-of-doors. To be sure, they have hot days, with the mercury at 85° F., and cold days, as low as 45° F. ; in the dry sea- son, from October to April, when there are few rains, there is some dust and much sunshine. In the rainy season one's feet get wet, the railways suffer from land-slides, or the roads are muddy and perhaps impassable (the climate is not to be blamed for this, however) ; but never the draughts

248 VENEZUELA

of other health-resorts, or the chill winds that com- pel one to stay indoors and think of a furnace back east. There is not too much moisture, there are no indigenous diseases to be feared; areas with the dryness of Santa Fe, New Mexico, can be found, and the fault will not be with the climate but with man, if he be not satisfied with it. If this part of the earth has any defect, it is that earthquakes are more numerous here than in Illinois, and more disastrous; but thousands of persons take their chances, just as they do on railways in the States, and every year a goodly number survive.

Coal has been discovered in usable quantities, and it needs only an industrial awakening to pro- duce a market. The same statement can be made of iron; so that Venezuela has all the ingredients for modern activity.

This habitable region is not isolated in the pres- ent sense of the word. Already two main arteries of commercial travel are supplied, and there is room for more. It is superior to Argentina in this one respect, that neither nature nor man has con- fined the outlet to one direction. From Caracas the old Spanish highway leads over the mountain to La Guayra; from Valencia another leads to Puerto Cabello, and both are paralleled by railways of good construction which can hurry crops to tide- water. The valleys between these chief cities, the richest and most thickly populated in northern South America, have been laced by roads along

HARBORS 249

which communication is maintained by mules or oxen. Farther back, to Tachira, the country, fa- miliar only with mule paths, is waiting for modern civilization to build the not difficult iron way. Barcelona and Cumana on the east, natural outlets for the country back of them, are not at all cut ofif from Caracas, while Maracaibo to the west gives outlet to an immense territory at the south.

Eastward and southward there is drainage into the Orinoco, and steamers ascend beyond Ciudad Bolivar, within easy distance of the plateaus. It may now take ten days to journey from the interior to the coast, but it should be a matter of hours only to reach ships and a larger market. Not all of the harbors are by nature worthy the name. Puerto Ca- bello can shelter modern craft, and Maracaibo and Coro, but La Guayra is an open roadstead pro- tected by a mole. Nevertheless, what engineering skill has done for Argentina it can do in Venezuela, when she demands it.

These are but problems of the hour. The great and unavoidable fact is that here, accessible to man, capable of supporting with only moderate effort millions of human beings, are millions of rich acres offering home to the white man of all races; these acres arc fallow or virgin, untilled by the plow, even unused except by a scant two millions of in- habitants who do scarcely as much as their ances- tors did a century ago.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

VENEZUELA

HISTORY

At Cumana, in the middle east of Venezuela, is the oldest European settlement in America. The town was founded in 15 12 by the Spaniards but was abandoned when the pugnacious Indians re- fused to be immediately converted and enslaved, so that Panama, founded in 15 19, has been the oldest continuous habitation. But Cumana was rein- vested, and for almost four centuries it has watched the forces of the western world trying to penetrate the tough crust of tradition brought over by the Spanish along with their search for gold. Past the island of Trinidad, along this coast, Columbus made his third voyage in 1498, and undoubtedly his first glimpse of the mainland, if not the only place where he set foot, was near Cumana in Venezuela. Las Casas, the one true friend of the Indian, and alas! the reputed father of American slavery, was a priest in Cumana.

The settlements grew and flourished in the val- leys; Maracaibo was founded in 1529, and therc-

250

THE SPANISH MAIN 251

after were planted interior cities as far as the slope of the Andes at San Cristobal in 1561, but always it was El Dorado that lured. These cities nestling among the brown hills, formed the Spanish Main, and when the baroneted pirates of England and Holland were not engaged in the spiderish pastime of capturing galleons with Pacific treasures, they enjoyed themselves by landing on the coast and sacking the seemingly secure abodes of those who collected gold nearer at hand. Not a league of the 200 miles east and west of the Silla but has history of battle, wreck, and sunken treasure; not a valley with its cathedral spire but can tell of sack, ambus- cade, slaughter and buried pieces-of-eight. • The Indians, driven to despair by the pious cru- elties of the conquerors, revolted when they could stand no more; the mestizos, ignored by the haughty overlords of purer blood, revolted when with indignity they were denied the exercise of those very rights which the government of Spain had put on paper for their benefit. The whole colony of Nueva Granada revolted against the mother country when every promise had been de- nied them, and decency in foreign rule had ceased to be even a phrase in the council of Sevilla.

From the earliest times to the beginning of the nineteenth century Spain had only exploited her colonies; her rulers knew nothing of them except that those who did not die there came home rich after some years of a government clerkship. Mis-

252 VENEZUELA

rule and revolt were as familiar in the New Spain as they were in the Old — and then the separation came.

Caracas — Venezuela — is the cradle of South American liberty. Bolivar, Miranda, and Sucre are three truly noble heroes; yet Bolivar died a disappointed man, Miranda's life ended in a Spanish prison, and Sucre was assassinated after serving three new nations honorably and well. The only practical inheritance they have given to lib- erty is license and revolt. The lesson Spain had not learned and which Spanish America is so slow to learn, is the simple one of obedience to law. From the day that Bolivar aroused the revolution- ary forces in 1810 till the separation of Venezuela from Nueva Granada, history records fighting, dic- tatorships and rebellion. There was righteousness in it, too, because the Spanish royalists violated their treaties and so abused the patriots, who were eager to accept a decent peace, that revolt was the only resort.

The first constitution of 1820, for the countries now known as Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, was a replica of that of the United States, with a more centralized government. This was soon broken by the military authority of Bolivar him- self. Bolivar quarreled with Peru and Ecuador — a logical consequence of the enormous extent of the region his ambition and popularity had placed un- der his nominal control. The Captain General of

Military L\)lIcLic Above Railway Station — Caracas

Traveling in South America

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THE FIRST PRESIDENT 253

Caracas grew jealous of Bogota (Colombia) and in 1829 threatened to withdraw from the federa- tion. Quito did withdraw, and when Bolivar died, in 1830, the inchoate mass fell to pieces, leaving the three nations as we now know them, Ecuador, Co- lombia and Venezuela.

Venezuela dates its independence as a fighting nation from 1831. Paez was its first president. Since then, seventy-six intervening years have seen fifty-two revolutions and twenty-six presidencies, sometimes called constitutional, sometimes provi- sional, with a cheerful intermixture of liberators, restorers and dictators for good measure.

It is both an easy task and a difficult one to nar- rate the history of the past three generations. Easy, if the narrator gives only the wars, the rebellions, the intrigues, with the names of those w^ho man- aged to keep on the surface ; but difficult, if he tries to trace, out of this chaos of militarism and flow- ery theory, the grow^th of a people. Probably the only reasonable course is to consider the people as merely an ingredient in the brew. Paez had been one of Bolivar's best friends and generals and final- ly became a rival, but his army life seems not to have deprived him of some regard for a working democracy. His first attempts were to establish a political form, like that of the United States, in which the sufifrage should be w^ll extended and the offices largely elective. He also wished to be eco- nomical and moderate ; he actually showed business

2^4 VENEZUELA

methods in the collection and distribution of taxes, and he abolished slavery in 1834.

Paez was succeeded in 1835 by one of the few civilian presidents, Doctor Vargas, who continued the policy of his predecessor, founded the famous and beautiful Vargas Hospital, did much to enrich and embellish Caracas, and actually resigned his office poorer than when he took it. The army, however, which had been shocked and grieved at Vargas' unmannerly desire to rule according to law and to subordinate the militaryto a secondary or tertiary place in the body politic, started an in- fant revolution in his first year. Old General Paez came to the rescue and upheld Vargas, but the lat- ter did not outlast his full term. The sword proved mightier than the pen. Paez was reelected in 1839, and was succeeded in 1843 by Soublette, another revolutionary fighter, but a disciple and follower of Paez, both rating the statesman as high as the soldier. Till the expiration of his term, peace sur- vived in Venezuela — almost inaugurating an era of good feeling in this South American republic.

In 1846 there was a race war between the men of color and the Creoles, and Paez was asked to be- come temporarily a dictator, since the constitu- tional government seemed unable to cope with such a rancorous condition. While Paez proclaimed martial law he tried to arrange for an elective choice of the next president, thereby showing that he understood his countrymen as little as did Boli-

REVOLUTIONS 255

var. The candidate chosen was Monagas, who ig- nored the constitution, intimidated the electors and compelled them to usher him into the presidential office in 1847. Paez refused to acknowledge the legality of the election, and revolted. Monagas' family and faction were so strong that Paez was defeated and taken prisoner in 1849, but sent into pleasant exile in New York in 1850. The Monagas brothers alternated in power eleven years, until 1858. They were dictators pure and simple, tricky and underhanded ; their chief work was to hold of- fice, to make the people forget what the constitu- tion meant, and to arouse the passions which have ever since torn at the vitals of poor Venezuela.

In 1858 Tadeo Monagas resigned and gave as a reason that his health would be improved by an oversea climate; the truth is that had he not es- caped, he would have been expelled. Three parties then struggled for power, the conservatives, the democrats, and the liberals or federalists. Julian Castro, a supposed federal, secured an election (1858) but soon afterward disappeared so effectu- ally as to escape immortality in the Century dic- tionary of names. Gaul had control for a time and reestablished enough tranquillity to secure the elec- tion of Tovar in i860. Paez was recalled and put at the head of the army, hut that body had other ambitions than those of the aging hero, and he re- tired once more to oblivion. In 1863 General Fal- con appears to have been provisional president and

256 VENEZUELA

after two years of plottings, intrigues, undignified finance and compromise, was chosen constitutional president in 1865. The country became a federal government, the United States of Venezuela, but the unrest and discontent waxed fiercer while bank- ruptcy and anarchy approached closer. Nobody ruled, everybody stole; there was not enough money to pay printers' bills, and the country de- manded death or a dictator.

If it is true that a crisis in government is sure to produce a man to fit the emergency, then Ven- ezuela's misfortunes gave opportunity to her most eminent commercial hero, Guzman Blanco. He had served in positions of varying importance for several years; on a mission to Europe to get funds he had been relatively successful, and this experi- ence taught him that nations were not made by ora- tory nor by the old ideas of chivalry and personal honor, but by material growth and careful expendi- ture of taxes; he had been a confidential adviser of more than one midsummer's president, and his strength grew as he saw how weak were those who pretended to manage the destinies of the abused nation. The pen had been used to sign away almost every dollar and every privilege the people claimed, and Blanco was compelled to use the sword. In 1870 Guzman Blanco proclaimed him- self "General in Chief of the Constitutional Army of the Confederation," and he soon after became president. He was elected to full constitutional au-

GUZMAN BLANCO 257

thority in 1873 and, with slight intermittent pauses for breath, held despotic sway till 1888. But he did what no dictator before or since has been able to accomplish — he made Venezuela blossom like the rose. He ruled with a rod of iron and whipped into the selfish and short-sighted oligarchy some grains of common sense; if he had only had a Cer- vantes at his back to laugh aw^ay the pretensions of statesmanship with which the wily politicians of the Iberian school deluded the long suffering peo- ple, Guzman Blanco, with all his thievery and riches stored away in Paris, would indeed have transformed the country into the garden of the Caribbean.

During his regime the cultivation of cofifee reached unusual proportions, while fortunes were made and retained by its growth and export; the principal railways were chartered, subsidized and built by government encouragement; the popula- tion increased in a normal ratio; foreigners began to come and to make money, thinking that Ven- ezuela had reached the condition of stable, material civilization. Industrial activity was mani- fested, the streets of Caracas were thronged by visitors, rancheros and natives, all with their pock- ets full of money, and the shops displayed Eu- ropean art-treasures and costly fabrics with which to decorate the homes or the persons of the tasteful Venezolanos. Shipping made rapid progress, as the harbor pier at La Guayra was now finished and

258 VENEZUELA

others at Puerto Cabello, Maracalbo and Guanta contemplated. Trade with Europe was stimulated; there seemed no limit, in spite of trickery and cor- ruption, to the prosperity already acquired and promising to come. Blanco did much to beautify the city of Caracas, which is to-day a lasting me- morial to his taste and patriotism; the parks and gardens are largely of his design, he helped to erect good buildings, and his ambition was to make this capital city rank with those of other nations of South America.

But alas ! prosperity was the rock upon which the politicians split. They accused Blanco of extrava- gance, of creating too great a sinking fund, of look- ing after his friends, in fact of all the crimes they would call virtues if committed by themselves. In 1889 he was driven from power, mobbed, his statue was overthrown, the people were hocus-pocused into the notion that nothing but a revolution could coin their labor into ready cash, and therefore un- rest and bankruptcy came again. For almost three years the "Little Venezuelans" had their way, toss- ing the president's cap from one head to another, till in 1892 General Crespo snatched the power with dictatorial acumen. He, like Blanco, was a good man for the place, not exactly a Washington, but a statesman of practical common sense if noth- ing else, and he knew how to direct their turbulent energies into ways productive of something besides chauvinistic revolutions. During his term of of-

BOUNDARY DISPUTE 259

fice the famous dispute arose with England over its Guiana boundary, which led to the still more famous Cleveland-Olney ''ultimatum" and an outbreak of affection for the United States which became almost a religious festival in Caracas. Crespo, even if insincere in his motive — and I do not believe that he had any ulterior purpose — ac- complished the result of intensifying national feel- ing and demonstrating that the country had enemies in Europe and friends nearer home. But Crespo did not last long enough to prove what he could do; he was killed in 1899. Andrade, presi- dent from March i, 1898, to October 20, 1899, sank after a revolution into the cesspool of Curagao and the oblivion of Puerto Rico. He was succeeded by the man who to-day seems to be the only one ca- pable of subduing, I can not say harmonizing, the discordant factions, and of using both sword and pen as occasion may require in teaching the pov- erty-stricken nation that even inglorious peace costs less and pays more than theoretic liberty and medi- eval war.

Cipriano Castro is an Andino, that is, a native of the Andine sierras. He is of good family, uncul- tured, as Venezuelan education goes, a self-made man but by no means ignorant or boorish. His wife, of fine instincts and breeding, is from the ru- ral aristocracy. The short revolution, by which he expelled Andrade, carried him rapidly into power as dictator, euphemistically called supreme chief

26o VENEZUELA

of the nation; then provisional president, liberator, restorer and finally constitutional president. He has entirely remade the government, and he con- trols, partly by intimidation, partly by common sense, partly through the exhaustion of the country which is willing to yield a great deal for the sake of peace, and partly by the constitution. This sa- cred document has been revised under his influence, and now has elements distinguishing it noticeably fromx the original of 1830. Castro has made use of the nationalism nourished by Crespo, and by sev- eral lucky strokes has turned the country's internal dissatisfaction into resentment against schemes of exploitation from abroad. The people can not be blamed for this feeling of growing nationalism; for years they have been the prey of politicians at home and of money-makers from everywhere; they have been sold for ha'pence and had to pay in sov- ereigns. The English are not always guilty, nor the Germans, although these nations have not acted with the uprightness they have been obliged to as- sume in Argentina and Brazil. Nor has the United States, in matters of business, entirely preserved a name for fair dealing. France has openly befouled herself in much the same way as she did in the old Panama Canal.

The excuse was the apparent strength of the Matos rebellion, but the French cable-company was well content to gain should Matos win, and for- got that its violation of its charter might be discov-

ITS ISOLATION 261

ered if Matos lost. Matos did lose, and Castro attacked the cable-company, as the United States is attacking the disobedient Standard Oil and other trusts, in our own country. The French govern- ment upheld the cable-company, and the people of Venezuela nearly mobbed the resident French and their consul.

Venezuelans say that if Europe can forget honor and obligations, why can not a weak nation, with an honor already tarnished by the misdemeanors of her earlier politicians, occasionally fight back by the same weapons of trickery and guile. Castro has built up a machine, the essence of which is freedom from the foreigner — that is, a determination to have some of the profits of Venezuelan investments shared by the country, and to make the financiers of other countries accountable to Venezuela and her laws. The present tendency might lead to an isolation as bad as that of Francia in Paraguay sixty years ago, but Venezuela is not shut off from communication as is Paraguay, and this is the twentieth century of steam and electricity, and of a liberty that is material and industrial, not theoretic.

This fact Castro is slowly beginning to find out. After all, he is a modern man, not a reactionary; his patriotism may be grotesque, but it is not in- sincere; his economic policy may be ridiculous, but it is not unprecedented. Through his ministers he watches closely the rest of the world and he thinks he merely follows good example. When he hears

262 VENEZUELA

of tariffs, trusts and high finance he decides that what methods are good for big countries are also good for little ones; if he looks after his friends he knows of others who are doing likewise; but he is learning. Castro is eager for work and for know- ledge; if he is allowed to govern the country, the land can not fail to become prosperous. Peace is all they need; any peaceful government, however bad, is better than revolution.

Castro may not be the most enlightened states- man Europe or the United States might select, and from our point of view he may not be the best presi- dent; but he is the only kind of president capable of leading Venezuela into the place she is worthy of occupying among South American nations. Castro, when he recovers from the intoxication of power, will grow more liberal, and the country will learn meanwhile the peaceful art of industri- alism; but if he is cast out either by discontent at home or machinations abroad, and if another revo- lution comes to destroy the little faith and peace still left, God help Venezuela!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

VENEZUELA

THE GOVERNMENT

The ninth and present (1904) Constitution of the United States of Venezuela differs radically in some details from that of the United States of America, and does not preserve the early zeal of the constitution of 1830. Its scheme is for greater centralization of national government than we have considered advisable and for less autonomy on the part of individual states. The state must relinquish to the nation certain functions, like edu- cation and taxation, which we think should belong to local authority. A stern distinction is made be- tween Venezuelans and foreigners; though for- eigners have equal legal status, they are deprived of some privileges which with us belong by rights to the man and not alone to the citizen. The for- eigner is repeatedly mentioned and his restrictions defined.

The president is chosen by an electoral body con- sisting of fourteen members of the National Con- gress, either from among themselves or elsewhere;

263

264 VENEZUELA

at the same time a first and second vice-president are chosen. This president is administrative officer of the federal district (Caracas, etc.) and of the territories; he may temporarily withdraw from both residence and authority, in which case he dele- gates his office to a vice-president. The president is ineligible for an immediate second term, but when once elected holds office for six years. His powers are more personal and extensive than is usual in constitutional bodies; he may expel for- eigners, intervene by arms in state quarrels, and may prohibit ingress of foreigners devoted espe- cially to the service of any religion. He also super- intends the collection of the national revenue.

There are a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. A senator is chosen by the state legislature from outside its own body; he must be a native at least thirty years old, and holds office for six years. There are two from each state. Deputies are sent to Congress by direct vote, 40,000 being the repre- sentative unit. At present there are fifty-two. They must be native born. These legislative bodies. Sen- ate and House, meet only at biennial periods for a limited session of ninety days, but the president may call an extra session. They pass laws and any law may originate in either house; they elect by secret ballot the seven members of the Supreme Court who hold office, not for life, but for re- elective periods of six years; they must be native born.

House of Congress, Caracas

Harbor at La Guayra

THE CABINET 265

The Cabinet, directly appointed by and de- pendent on the president, consists of the Governor of the Federal District and seven members called Ministers: of Internal Relations, of Foreign Af- fairs, of Finance and Public Credit, of Business and Promotion, of War and Navy, of Public Works, of Public Instruction. Cabinet ministers must be native born.

The general clauses of the constitution explain the relation of the states to the nation, retaining for the latter the control of the army and navy, of public instruction, tax collection and ecclesiastical patronage. One important clause demands that all questions of dispute between foreigners, or between a foreigner and a native, must be submitted to the Supreme Court, and that all corporations must be domiciled within the country — that is, must have a Venezuelan charter. The death penalty is abol- ished (since 1849). Public buildings of all kinds throughout the country are controlled by the nation. The Roman Catholic Church is the state religion and the government contributes to its sup- port. Freedom of the press is guaranteed (but not encouraged). There are other clauses differing from anything we have, but they do not modify the essential differences of centralization of power and the restriction of the activity of foreigners.

The republic is divided into thirteen states, five territories and the federal district. This last is composed of several outlying strips, like the Island

266 VENEZUELA

of Margarita, besides the rather large area adja- cent to the national capital at Caracas. Each state has a president (governor) appointed by the na- tional executive, and the nation pays out of the na- tional taxes a proper sum into the state treasury for its support, if needed; whereas with us the state pays into the national treasury and collects its own taxes. Locally the state manages its own affairs.

Nowadays one's first critical glance is apt to be toward the strong arm of a government, the army and navy. The Venezuelan army is not a fighting machine. Recruits from the states are raw field- lads or hardy but untrained Andinos, who never knew any discipline but the obedience to a personal head and desire to follow his leadership. I have seen them in ragged trousers of varying colors, shoeless or with native alpargatas, discarded French caps and single-fire muskets; but they are brave and willing to fight. One who witnessed them seven years ago when Castro came into power might have laughed at their crudeness and sim- plicity, but one would have respected their thor- ough bravery. To-day Castro is drilling them in modern tactics; he has European officers imported for the business, and hour after hour those sta- tioned in Caracas go through the endless drill on the broad roads in Paraiso, being coached into some semblance of a civilized nation's army. There is no great need for improvement if they are to fight over again the ridiculous but often bloody

ARMY AND NAVY 267

battles of their traditional revolutions; they will tight and shoot and kill without further training if they are fired by personal loyalty to a leader.

There is, however, a novel feature in Venezue- la's later policy which involves international more than local conditions; the people are aroused and desire that their army should make a good show. Castro's ambition is to have a good army to exhibit in tim.e of peace and to repel foreigners in time of invasion. They could not stand against English or German or Yankee regulars — nobody but the un- traveled patriot dreams that; but they could scatter to the hills and, with guerilla tactics, ceaselessly nag an enemy bold enough to occupy their beloved soil. They have fighting blood in them and are brave. Time only can tell whether the lack of dis- cipline, which for generations has been disguised under the name of liberty, can be overcome. The officers are all generals, and there is a pretty little military college in Caracas where cadets are edu- cated. The army is supposed to be about 10,000 strong, but varies according to the enthusiasm of the moment.

The navy is a little squadron of seven vessels, called by courtesy men-o'-war. They equal in ca- pacity torpedo boats or submarines. Against a real cruiser they would stand the same show as a pleas- ure yacht; in reality some of them are yachts sold to the confiding Venezuelans for two prices by clever Americans who thus discarded second-hand

268 VENEZUELA

goods. The navy looks well on the water and is admirably equipped — on paper. Venezuelans are not sailors; even less are they engineers, machinists or navigators. Their whole life and passion is for their valleys and mountains ; they can not learn the mysteries of boilers or the donkey engine. But they are all very polite and would probably salute an enemy before firing at him, if they found out how to discharge a gun. They love the uniform and the ring of the word of command, but their navy never will be respected nor can it protect their harbors. Its only purpose will be to demonstrate that all the rudiments of a nation are there.

It is otherwise with the less martial Post-ofiice and telegraph service, belonging to the Fomento Department. As in other countries, these are gov- ernment institutions and, as far as my experience goes, both are commendably maintained. The Post- office is wxU equipped, managed with careful re- gard to safety and routine, and enters into districts far beyond the railway; under the stimulus of the present energetic administration many places are accessible which hitherto seemed out of reach, and lines are projected to benefit even the uncivilized Indian. The chief complaint against the service is that it does not meet the demand for haste. For example, the steamer to the United States leaves La Guayra on a Monday after the arrival of the train from Caracas, but the postmaster at the capi- tal will not forward mail by the last train ; he re-

INSTITUTIONS 269

quires that this steamer's mail be made up not later than Saturday night. The result is a loss of thirty- six hours, and often the inability to post answers to letters received by a Saturday's steamer, unless re- sort is had to the courtesy of the legations who have the privilege of forwarding their special mail by the Monday's train.

The telegraph is effective; it extends over 4,000 miles of national circuit through all the business centers, and reaches well into the interior. The railways are allowed independent lines of their own. By an arrangement with the French cable- company, local cable-routes are maintained by which the city of Bolivar on the Orinoco is touched. Through this concession arose one of the interna- tional disputes which led to a quarrel with the French Government and brought to the surface the growing hatred toward foreigners and their selfish exploitation of the Venezuelans. The French cable-company expressly agreed to certain clauses of construction, repair and maintenance — and vio- lated them; it agreed to submit to the laws and courts of the country — and repudiated these rul- ings; it illicitly dabbled in politics during the Matos rebellion — and nearly cost the de facto gov- ernment its life. The only justification the cable- company offered was a vicious plea that Matos promised to become the real president.

Venezuela is now and always has been on a gold basis and foreign gold has a fixed legal value, al-

270 VENEZUELA

though fluctuations take place in the commercial price of gold; but no gold coin is to be seen in the country. Very little has been coined and it is too precious for daily use. Silver is the prevailing me- dium of exchange and the silver currency is unusu- ally good, comparing in fineness and brightness with dollars, quarters and dimes. A slight pre- mium is given to foreign face drafts, but the par equivalent is well maintained. Paper notes are cir- culated, but the people do not like them and there is some risk, away from Caracas, that they may have to be discounted. The government itself does not issue paper. This high standard of exchange is largely commercial. The government is not financier enough to keep its bonds afloat, and repeated revolutions, international experiences with repudiations, delayed payments of interest and subsidy obligations, have given Venezuela a very bad name in the financial world. There are no foreign banks in Venezuela, and the govern- ment is attempting to establish a national bank to conduct all oflicial business.

The nation has derived much of its revenue from import dues, from stamp taxes on documents, from licenses, and from salt or other mines and monopolies. Of late, besides the tariff for revenue, which is the chief source of income in most Latin American countries, Venezuela has committed herself to the protective policy and the fostering of infant industries. She needs factories badly, but

THE RAILWAYS 271

the inevitable tendency, especially noticeable in this unstable country, is to encourage monopolies. This is not only because capital alone can begin a manufacture, but also because political interests and capital naturally hang together and thus mo- nopolies become firmly established. The govern- ment thinks it not beneath its dignity to squeeze some companies to starvation and to give to others privileges which permit them to acquire all the trade in a particular commodity. It is comfortable for the fortunate stock-holders but disastrous for those not so fortunate. The foreign outsider gets angry unless he has wit enough to see that this short-sighted fiscal policy is only tit for tat, since the government is now doing for its friends just as it has for years been done by; it is retaliating upon the foreigner who thought he had found in Ven- ezuela a happy ground for international exploita- tion. Not one sin of finance does Venezuela commit, which can not be counterbalanced by abuses committed by foreign companies against her.

From this accusation the railways must be ex- cepted. The enlightened ambition of Guzman Blanco recognized in the railway a great civiliz- ing influence; yet the railways in Venezuela have not been permitted to perform for the country what they are capable of doing, if the policy of expansion were encouraged instead of hampered by fiscal interference. It is lamentable that the

272 VENEZUELA

government seems to be unwilling to grant to the railways power to increase their business and to extend their influence, by immigration and com- merce, into untapped areas. Once let the railways open new territories to settlers, and let the govern- ment protect them so that the agriculturist, the grower, the producer, the settler, will be assured that his crops are his own and that the markets of the world are open to him, and Venezuela would astonish the world. In no other tropical country is living so healthful and pleasant. The harvests are abundant and sure, and markets are easily and cheaply reached. The opening up of Venezuela is a matter of education. It may come slowly, but it must inevitably come, if not by enlightenment from within, then by benevolent compulsion from without. The country is rich and the natural de- mand is that it shall be occupied.

The Venezuelan idea of education is theoretic and poetic, not practical and industrial; if my ob- servation can be trusted, the people of Venezuela are better educated in books and have better school opportunities than in any country of South Amer- ica, with the probable exception of Uruguay. Edu- cation is a function of the nation; the government supervises schools and universities, and is earnestly engaged in extending the knowledge of the three R's. Statistics give an illiteracy of from twenty- five per cent, in Caracas to eighty per cent, in the southern interior, yet it is hard to find along the

5*

w ^am

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Alarket Place — Caracas

A Tavern in \ enczuela

Waiting

EDUCATION 273

highways of travel a village without its school and its children able to read and write. They are eager for knowledge and easily absorb it, but beyond the rudiments they do not receive what they should. The danger in book learning alone, which Diaz in Mexico long ago discovered, is very evident here; it leads to discontent and renewed revolt. The government's plan to introduce manual training must be something more than a paper project, for only thus can the children of the land be redeemed.

The regulation of the schools should be taken out of the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. Once let primary education become unsectarian, without losing its religion, and let tools with the value of work be the culture of the nation, and the Venezuelan child, bright, sympathetic and ambi- tious as he is, will no longer remain a peon drudge or an unproductive plaything of wordy generals and liberators.

This blindness to the country's need is the blot upon the governing aristocracy. They are cultured beyond our "best people," serious and patriotic, but they will not act. Another Vargas or a Sarmi- ento must come. All their time, all their impulses, are given to the game of politics. The youth may go abroad for higher education because he can not find it at home; but what he brings back is seldom an industrial ambition, such as one finds in Brazil and Argentina; he returns a politician. Here, too, the subtly provoked hostility to the foreigner is

274 VENEZUELA

manifest; there is no foreign school in Caracas, and I question whether one could be made to pay. The university is well organized and turns out law- yers and doctors and scholars, but engineers and scientists are scarce.

The latest catalogue from the university hardly mentioned what we call science ; but as it was more than a year old and gave no promise of an edition oftener than every three years, one can easily guess how unimportant the scientific faculty is consid- ered.

Yet it is a mistake to assert that the Venezolano has no mind for science and industry. The publi- cations of the statistical bureau, organized and in- spired by the genius of Castro, is a commendable performance, and shows what can be done with proper direction. It is the aristocracy, not the peo- ple, who are to blame; it is the aristocracy who plot to retain the prestige of the Castilian chivalry and that corollary to a decrepit and exhausted state of society — oflice-holding and graft. Any one who knows old Spain knows by analogy Venezuela. The brilliant altruism of theoretic government, coupled with a debauched selfishness when in power, is here as well as there. Only a firm and persistent demand from more advanced nations who have her true interests at heart can overcome the racial traits and the fear of the foreigner. Only the strong arm of such a dictator as Castro, a man who, with all his faults and vices, his unstatesman-

DANGERS 275

s

ship and narrowness of views, is still a sincere pa- triot, carrying the germ of higher things, can bring the nation out of its paralysis. If outside nations offend him, as they frequently have done, he may at first cast us out only to seek our aid in the end; but if he falls because some other dictator misleads the credulous people by promises of improvident rewards, the nation will be overwhelmed. It can not continue much longer in its inherited disregard for law, order and uprightness that make other countries great. It will crumble into ruins, and a scramble for possession, which we can not prevent, will mark the next epoch in its history.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

VENEZUELA THE PEOPLE AND PRESENT CONDITIONS

Venezuela is old Spain, the Spain of Washing- ton Irving eighty years ago. She has as much beauty, her people have the same Andalusian charm, and she can show as much romance and intricate diplomacy, or as many primitive inns as existed beyond the Pyrenees before guide-books were bound in red.

Venezuela resembles Mexico and the Andean republics of South America, differing from her Atlantic sisters in that she still retains as a work- ing-class a large remnant of the aboriginal popu- lation which the earliest Spaniards discovered when they landed. The Indians were not agricul- tural, although they had all facilities for becoming so; and they left no trace of having been stirred into barbarism or a crude civilization, as were the Mexicans and the Peruvians. These Caribs, if they were nothing else, were fighters, and delayed the European attempts at benevolent assimilation. They must have been numerous. They were found

276

THE PEOPLE 277

every^vhere, and even now there are 60,000 un- mixed independent Indians and 240,000 who have adopted some semblance of village life — more than remain in Argentina and probably nearly as many as Brazil contains. Upon this primitive stock, un- civilizable by any means within themselves, the Spanish left their stamp. What they did not kill they enslaved. Las Casas, the defender of the In- dians, one of the founders of Cumana, was the instigator of the importation of Africans into Ven- ezuela and the West Indies; blacks and Indians became mixed, and there was soon a subject-race working in the mines, in the fields and in the towns. But Spanish is the dominant stock which has produced the native of Venezuela; he has little blood from elsewhere; neither Italians nor Portu- guese have come in sufficient numbers to exert an influence. Germans, when they entered Venezuela, came singly and were absorbed by marriage, or as feeble colonists were lost among themselves. The English, except as adventurers or bucaneers, never hankered after Venezuela as they did for Uru- guay and Argentina and parts of Brazil, nor did the French attempt any conquest or settlement beyond their tiny islands of Martinique and Gua- deloupe. The ingredients are altogether Spanish, Indian and African. This rather pure Castilian stock spread farther and farther westward, avoid- ing the coast (contrary to the Brazilian habit), settling deeper inland as far south as Merida

278 VENEZUELA

(1558), always seeking gold, but absorbing a cer- tain content from the beauties of the mountains, and deriving profits from agriculture and pastur- age when they could not discover precious metals. They differ from the Mexicans, who found riches at hand. The Venezuelans had to be modest in their foundations; the luxurious cathedrals of the City of Mexico and Tula are not duplicated, nor could they populate towns of the greatness of Zaca- tecas and Guanajuato; El Dorado eluded them, so they had to remain agriculturists. When coffee was introduced in 1784 they were ready for coun- try life, and since then they have become recon- ciled, rugged and free. Not having been so beloved by Spain as the gold-bearing colonies of Mexico and Peru, they had less intercourse with the world in general, and their Spanish traits re- main quite untarnished. *'Quien dice Espana dice todo'' (''Spain is the whole thing!"). "Venezuela first and last" is the key to their character.

Democracy is the breath of their nostrils, not so much in politics as in conduct, for your Venezue- lan is your true democrat. The traveler needs only to read Ford's Gatherings from Spain and our own John Hay's Casti/ian Days to catch the spirit of the transplanted Iberianism in the New World. The alms-seeker is not a beggar here; he is merely the object upon whom you bestow your good will and who gives you his blessing, and he loses none of his dignity by the exchange; he carries his cane

SPANISH TRAITS 279

with the grace of an hidalgo and has as much right to the sunshine and fresh air as the owner of cattle on a thousand hills. Poverty makes no caste dis- tinction; if the poor man can not ofifer you a banquet with red wine, he is quite as cordially hospitable with his simple beans, his banana and his cup of coffee; he will take a light from your cigarette or give you one from his, with no thought but that you are both on the same highway, though one may be afoot, the other on horseback. Even in Caracas there is no tinge of servility, and the coach- man or the flower-seller instinctively proiTers and expects an equality of intercourse, with no patron- age on the one side or humbleness on the other. Caracas is not yet modern, not at all industrially advanced; the old graces, the old ease, the old charm of manners are practised to-day. This epito- mizes itself into courtesy and kindliness.

A distinguished diplomat, visiting Caracas for the first time and on an unpleasant errand, once exclaimed in his astonishment at the genuine hos- pitality of his reception, "Are they all so kind; do they really mean it?" He had been brought up in the school where there was a suspected ax-to- grind under all politeness. But in Venezuela there is no undermotive and their kindliness has not crys- tallized into a form in which punctiliousness is of equal virtue with cordiality. In Spain they use words of welcome which are merely phrases; in Venezuela these have not lost their meaning. "La

28o VENEZUELA

casa es la suya, senor" (This is your house, sir) is literally true for as long as you wish.

The pride, the honor of a Castilian, goes with this kindliness. It is the honor which John Hay so ridicules, which has impoverished Spain, made the nobility lazy and out of pocket and unable to care for anything beyond the blueness of their blood.

Another Spanish trait, even more evident here than elsewhere in Latin America, is the love of militarism. They take great pride in titles, these democratic Venezuelans; generals are thick in Caracas, or would be if they did not have to flee to exile, while judges and doctors are plentiful. This signifies that it is easier to hold office, to decree a new constitution and to organize a revolt, than it is to work patiently from year to year, watching crops, improving agriculture and following the markets. The Spaniard was born to command, to ride a horse — is he not a caballero? — and to build — republics; yet he can not acquire the routine of life by which alone material progress is accom- plished. When coffee sold much higher than it does now in Venezuela, the country was rich in consequence; when, shortly before and after our Civil War, cotton and sugar were exported from Venezuela, money was plentiful and Caracas was called Little Athens. But that was luck quite as much as industry, so when luck departed industry died also. They can talk of work, but the Venezu- elans do not know how to work. Their talk, too,

SOCIETY 281

is inherited along with their literature, and both lead them into that exuberant language which so amuses and, I am sorry to say, disgusts the Anglo- Saxon. It is only verbiage; it is chivalry gone to seed. Their culture is Spanish, theoretic, ideal- istic. Nowhere else, unless it be in Bogota, can such delightful society be found or such poetic conversation be enjoyed, as in Caracas.

I went one afternoon to a tertulia (five o'clock tea) in the house of a modest family in Caracas. The ladies, young and old, acted as hostesses, and served the light refreshments as informally and as daintily as would be done in England. Some of them had been to school in England, France or the United States, and the conversation was indififer- ently carried on in Spanish, French or English. After the usual small talk about the weather, music at the opera, and the game of base-ball, which at present is the fashionable outdoor amusement of the young men of Caracas, we drifted unconscious- ly into a comparison of national literatures, and I was impressed by the remarkable familiarity shown by these ladies with our poets. Poe seemed particularly to have touched the melancholy tem- perament of the Spanish, but other poets and nov- elists were mentioned with such freedom that I had to confess my ignorance about some of them. I went away with the feeling that in culture and profound appreciation of many of the deeper emo- tions of the human soul, an American could learn

282 VENEZUELA

much from the simpler aristocracy of Venezuela. The dress, the manners, the elegance of diction and suavity of conduct, would be admired in any cap- ital of Europe; here in America it seems artificial, however charming. The family life, too, when it retains its old-fashioned savor, is intimate and quite patriarchal, though I fear that recently it has become tainted by fin de Steele cynicism; but in the country on the cafe fincas or large haciendas the simple life can be found in as pure a state as in Old or New England.

These conditions will not at first be noticed by the stranger, especially if he does not speak Span- ish and is unacquainted with the mother country. His observation will be chiefly attracted by the neglected streets, the quiet life, the lack of the hus- tle and noise by which he usually gages a coun- try's activity. If he goes to Valencia or Cumana or up on the mountain in Tachira to San Cristobal, his first impression is one of decay, though here, too, he will find the same manners and the same philosophy. He can not fail, however, to be struck by the courtesy and kindliness of the people, high and low. The culture will pertain to the aristoc- racy, the other characteristics are general, even to the lowest peon.

As he descends the social scale the traveler notices more and more negro blood, and the stu- dent will declare that within recent years this mis- cegenation has increased; it is difficult to draw

THE NEGRO 283

to-day the line between mestizo, that is, half-Span- ish and half- Indian, and negrito, in whose veins there is African blood. Yet this impurity is evident only near the seaports, diminishing farther inland; it seems therefore to differentiate these people from those in Spain who still preserve their race unal- loyed since they mixed with the Moor. The Vene- zuelan peasant is the democrat, though he have a touch of the conquered in him; and if one word describes him it will be "docile." He has been led since he was conquered and is still subject to the commands of the aristocracy and guided by the ambitions of those superior to him; he has never known another impulse. He is no fool ; he is no more stolid than is the Spaniard; his wit may not be violent, but he can take a joke and give one with true Celtic enjoyment.

There is an old but good anecdote of a priest, recruited from the peasant class, who was driving over one of the mule-paths so pathetically called a royal road. He himself had been a muleteer in his youth, but his sacred office seemed to compel him to protest against the language commonly used in profane life to encourage the steps of the lag- ging beast. At last he said to the driver: "Not so much, my son," referring rather to the words than to the severity of the untiring whip in the hands of his guide. "Let me try my way," he said, at last; and the driver gladly relinquished his whip and his function to his superior, of whose early expert-

2^ VENEZUELA

ness he had often heard. But the good Father for- got his office as he warmed to his work, and the old zeal of whip and tongue came back to him. He plied both with a vigor born of thorough training, but his muleteer, who imagined that he had as- sumed sacerdotal authority when he changed his seat, in his turn murmured: "Not so much, Padre mio, not so much." The father saw the joke and the reproof, but he answered with a sigh: "Ah, but it was good while it lasted!"

If the peon could be removed from the influence of the priesthood and given that true liberty for which he has always been so ready to fight, there would be much hope for him; if he were stirred by a tide of migration which would threaten him with extinction if he did not work, he would enjoy his country as he sings about it; for, contrary to superficial judgment, the Venezuelan is not lazy; he simply does not know how to work. He must be impelled by some exterior force. The Jamaica negro is lazy, the southern black is lazy; most resi- dents of the tropics are indolent, but some will work of themselves if they are only shown how. The Venezolano is now as the Mexican was fifty years ago — inert.

This is applicable not only to the lower peasant class, but to the whole nation. There may be cer- tain energies displayed at times and a mental or even physical activity latent, but there is no main- spring; the whole nation is unproductive, over-

Statue of Bolivar — \alencia

ORATORY 285

come by the sterility of the artistic temperament. Their civilization is worn out.

I am making no exhaustive comparison between their civilization and our own, or between theirs and that of Brazil and Argentina. Our own has defects ; we might be better ofif if we lost the vices of commercialism and replaced them by Latin graces, yet ours breathes of the twentieth century, while their civilization is on dead models. If no substitution is possible, ours is still better because we produce; the habits of production we insist on, trusting that the faults will be checked; they in Venezuela are sterile; with the richest land in the world, they import food-stuffs to feed their scanty wants.

Over both aristocracy and peasantry has fallen the Moorish-Spanish mantle of fatalism; since rev- olution and lawlessness have always been, they assert that therefore they must always be. The non sequitur of the argument does not strike them, for out of it grows a certain content which we can not understand. Ambition is not toward accom- plishing more — they are satisfied that their country has produced a Bolivar; beyond this imagination can not go except in their oratory. This shows all the bloom of Castilian poetry. Their country is great and glorious, their deeds immortal, their generals conquerors and heroes, their battles the clash of Titans; but most of it is mere oratory, however beautiful and classic.

286 VENEZUELA

Their civilization is finer than ours, less gross, less sordid; or, to use a word which brings out the feature of greatest importance, less material, there- fore unproductive. It is a relic of the time when an aristocracy was real and deported itself as such, when culture belonged to the upper class and labor to the lower, when breeding and pedigree signified everything, and politics was the sport of those who held the office for the sake of the money it brought and the power it gave. But it is a civilization obso- lescent if not dead. We see the same in Spain to- day, where it has withered for fifty years; in Italy, where it is giving place to a sturdier culture whose sign is deeds not words; in our own South, where oratory and southern chivalry were coexistent. But in this South, as well as in Mexico, it is receding before the activity of that civilization which mate- rially develops a country for the man who works, although it may appear for a time to crush out the more delicate instincts of a race by the struggle to give nourishment to both body and brain.

Venezuela, strange to say, with her nearness to the eastern world and her early start in history, is the last to yield to the forces of industrialism. In fact, she has not yet yielded and may not yield for years to come. The ethnographic rule of Hum- boldt that "the accidents of climate and configura- tion are felt in all their force only among a race of men . . . who receive some exterior im- pulse," can, at the end as well as at the begin-

COMPARED TO MEXICO 287

ning of her life, be applied to Venezuela. Her people are of healthy stock; they are not irredeem- ably tuberculous, and, preserving the temperate habits of the Latins, have escaped the dangers from alcohol which threatens to destroy the West An- dean natives. If the Venezuelans have one- vice it is gambling; but that, while discouraging thrift, never impoverishes a race; they love the excite- ment of the hazard, whether at the card-table of an aristocratic club, the official lotteries supported by Church and State, or the crap games of the village urchins; and they still love the bull fight. In Caracas the quadrilla is as ceremonious as at Ma- drid; but Mexico has not abandoned bull fights, and we admit that her virtues have carried her safely beyond medievalism.

Thus the unavoidable comparison comes up again. Mexico, too, was Old Spain before Diaz, foreign capital and American enterprise changed her from a land of gilded romance into an enter- prising, producing nation, recognizing the need of material industrialism. So it must be with Venez- uela. Her agricultural riches can never be ex- iiausted, but they must be drawn out by foreign brains, northern money and perhaps by Teutonic energy.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

THE SOUTH AMERICAN SITUATION

This is the situation. The nations of Europe are crowded and South America offers the only available land on earth into which the surplus can overflow. Who will occupy this virgin soil — when and how, by whom and under what influences will its productive acres be used for the sustenance of man?

A professor of the Royal Geographical Society estimates that when there are two hundred and seven persons to the square mile for fertile lands, ten for the mountains and one for the deserts, no greater population can be properly nourished and the earth will then be full. There will then be six thousand million persons. At present the earth contains something more than one-quarter of this number. At the regular rate of increase the earth- will be fully peopled about the year 2072.

According to statistical data collected by Mr. James J. Hill, the United States within forty-four years will have to meet the wants of more than two

288

THE USE OF LAND 289

hundred million persons. Fie asks: "How arc these people to be employed and how supported? The United States has very little free land left, so that within the next fifteen years every acre of pub- lic land will disappear. As sources of wealth, the sea and the forest can no longer be taken into calculation; coal and iron are measurable but nec- essarily limited quantities; coal will be practically a luxury by the middle of the present century, and the most reasonable computation of science affirms that existing production of iron can not be main- tained for fifty years.

"England's coal and iron are so low that the overcrowded manufacturing areas can not employ all her factory-bred working class, although she neglects her agricultural advantages; migration, therefore, takes place because the people instinc- tively recognize that land is the great asset of a nation's wealth and that consequently command of the soil means domination of the earth.

"We in the United States must look to it that our land is put to better service. Agriculture must be the mainstay of the country. Germany recognizes this better than we; so do Japan, France and Bel- gium. Our aflfair, therefore, is to cultivate the soil, because foreign trade alone will not make us rich. If we do not improve our own soil and are not in addition ready and willing to invest money in the soil outside our territory, Germany, Japan and China will control the markets of the future."

290 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

On the western slope of the Andes are Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, which may be called the mountain republics; their chief in- dustries will be those, such as mining, in which is demanded a minimum of human and maximum of machine labor; they have untilled fertile land, but not enough to draw great immigration, and it is to a noticeable extent already occupied by native races, who were impressed by the stamp of the Spanish conqueror, although there is so much ab- original blood that they can by no means be com- pared to an Old World peasantry. These countries on the Pacific Ocean are isolated by the lofty Andes, by thousands of miles of water, but they will soon be made more approachable to us by the completion of the Panama Canal, so that they will develop along American lines with eagerness, if we treat them fairly.

Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela (Paraguay lies bet^veen Argentina and Brazil, has no sea-coast, and while her rich acres are open to settlement, politically she must act as do her neigh- bors) are the important republics of the Atlantic seaboard, and upon their conduct, as well as upon our attitude toward them, does the future of South America depend.

The forces at work will be twofold in nature — governmental and commercial. But before these are studied a preliminary survey must be taken if their application is to be understood.

CLASS DISTINCTIONS 291

East Andean South America differs in two essen- tials from the rest of the hemisphere. First, there is practically no aboriginal race left; in Venezuela the Carib Indian and the Andino are disappearing, and the later Spaniard, with some Indian and negro blood, makes what is to-day the meager native laboring population. In Brazil the Indian has disappeared from all but the wild interior; in his place is a mixed race of African, negroid Latin, relatively pure Portuguese, Italian and Spanish laboring class, with the washed-out German colo- nists of the southern states.

Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina have one social condition common to them all, which differentiates them radically from the North American. In addition to the fact that they all sprang from the Latin race, their social struc- ture has two sharply distinct divisions: an aristoc- racy of wealth, or of education, or of blood (usually of all three), and a working-class, which as a rule possesses no one of the three. This aristocracy is the governing class and inherits its attributes from Spanish or Portuguese ancestry; members of it may sink into the under stratum, but seldom does any one rise from below. There are, of course, instances where a peon has risen to the unofficial nobility, but there is nothing like the flux of society which we recognize and encourage in the United States. Practically every man whose name we read in South American history comes from the aris-

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tocracy; a common people, such as we have devel- oped here, does not exist there. In large cities, like Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the Italian or Spaniard may ascend the ladder, and English and Irish immigrants generally push into the upper class. In Brazil there is so much negro blood that it colors the aristocracy, and the rule is less ap- parent.

This stamp of social difference is a nearly im- possible barrier for the Northerner to overcome; in the professions and in technical trades the indi- vidual— German, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon — may secure employment and advancement, but the working-man, the farmer or the shopkeeper, how- ever much he may do, can not find an atmosphere that will give him, his wife or his children, a healthy outlook on life. He can not get ahead, because the social environment is against him. Moreover, in Latin American republics children born within the country, of any parentage except those having diplomatic or temporary residence there, are natives and must be classed as citizens. A foreigner, therefore, who is a settler, loses for his children the protection of his own country, and these children are legally Argentinos or Venezo- lanos, and so on, as the case may be.

This is the great reason why these countries have developed in a direction different from that which marked our own growth. They wanted immigra- tion and they got it, but in large orders; the Euro-

LAND 293

peans herded in colonies where there was no civil- ization into which they could be absorbed, and they consequently remained nothing but transplanted sprigs of the Old World ; they did not change their ideas or their habits, and two generations have done less to Americanize them than two years of public schooling with the same stock in North America. They occupy land, but they can not set- tle as do immigrants with us. That is the reason South America is to-day rich in land but poor in labor.

Second, from Lake Maracaibo, in Venezuela, to Bahia Blanca, in Argentina, and beyond, stretch unnumbered square miles of land which in course of time, whether in one generation or twenty, must be brought under cultivation. All the sci- entific knowledge of intensified agriculture by which one hundred human beings can be nour- ished on the soil of one acre of ground, all the examples of oriental economy which show that four cents a day and a modicum of rice can sustain family life, argue nothing to the European who wants land and is willing to fight for it. The Mal- thusian theory of the ebb and flow of mortality has been proved false; science is rapidly attacking epi- demics and destroying them, and keeping alive the weaklings who only a few years ago were allowed to die. Every nation therefore rejoices when its birth-rate surpasses its death-rate; yet Europe, tested by migration statistics, is already overfull,

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while even the United States, with our millions of untouched acres and in spite of promised govern- mental encouragement of agriculture, is becoming crowded. The surplus population from these places must go somewhere. Asia is fully popu- lated, Africa is fully exploited, North America is restless, South America is the only remaining spot on earth capable of offering homes to impatient man.

The United States has 28 inhabitants to the square mile, Uruguay has 13.5, Brazil has 5, Ar- gentina has 5, Venezuela has 4, Belgium has 600. Omitting the coast-line and the Orinoco Valley of Venezuela, the sugar country and the Amazon Valley of Brazil, and the upper reaches of the Parana and Paraguay in Argentina, the remain- ing area, vast as it is and lying partly within the tropics or mountain snows, is as capable of support- ing the white man as the United States or Canada. Migration of individuals from the north v/ould flow thither quickly if it were not for the social question, irrespective of the instability of govern- ments. But homes for individuals are difficult to make ; men must form colonies and land companies, and come with sufficient capital to begin the attack on the soil. Venezuela in her valleys be- hind the coast ranges has as beautiful climate and scenery as God ever gave to man, all within easy reach of the older civilization. Argentina has in- estimable productive possibilities, but it is hard to

CHURCH INFLUENCES 295

think of her prairie as homes for the north-Euro- pean. Brazil, however, has millions of acres of untilled land, every one of which will, sooner or later, be a center of industry.

The nations of Europe have a twofold object in spreading out upon the earth's surface; they are eager to find land where their surplus population may take root and expand, but they also have an ambition toward imperialism; like Alexander, they would plant the flag on alien territory. The unoccupied land in South America is open to the view^ of any one sailing the Atlantic; it lies within easy reach of Europe, and sooner or later it must be settled and cultivated by the white man.

Other factors are to be considered before we can pass judgment on the present and future of South America. The Spanish and Portuguese estab- lished the Roman Catholic religion as the State Church in all countries except Brazil; there the law recognizes no difference, although the people themselves are largely Romanists. But history shows that civilization strides onward more rapid- ly when a country escapes from too close an alli- ance wath any creed. Italy, France and Mexico have ceased to submit to religious interference, and South America can not grasp modern ways till she separates herself more fully from the pope and the Roman Church.

I have seen the defects and heard the cant of the foreign missionary, and I have often refused to

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accept him at his own valuation; but I must pause to express my admiration for the uplifting force of the American missionary, the Bible Society, and the Y. M. C. A. in South America. Their consci- entious attention to their work and to the ideals which they advocate goes far to establish a high standard of morals and conduct — spiritual, social and hygienic — and to foster a religious sense which otherwise is lacking. They ofifer, chiefly to the low^er class, but to the aristocracy also, if they wish, an education which they can get in no other way; and it is education, in the North American sense of the word, which South America needs. Each country has a well-prepared law, with numerous sub-articles, arranging the routine of education, but for the average child of common school age it stands for little or nothing. Outside the big cities distances are great, school buildings few and teach- ers untrained and inexpert. Statistics about educa- tion are inaccurate, and, after all, mere ability to read and write does not indicate the intellectual or industrial activity of a country. As peoples, the inhabitants of these four countries are poorly edu- cated. All the scholarship, science and culture pertain to the aristocracy; of scholarship they have abundance; in Caracas or in Montevideo there are as thoughtful students of literature and philosophy as in Paris, but their scholarship is almost alto- gether intellectual, not productive. Of science they are great admirers; their hospitals and labora-

CULTURE 297

tories, although not so numerous, are as well equipped as those of the United States, and they teach all the exact sciences; but they do not know how to follow modern methods, and their princi- ples are apt to be academic rather than practical. For physicians, engineers and technicians, they rely more upon foreign education or skill than upon their own. Buenos Aires and Rio can show as elaborate engineering construction as New York and San Francisco, while Uruguay and even Ven- ezuela have wonderful projects for future develop- ment; but the plans are largely European, although the schemes have, in almost all cases, arisen in the imagination and poetic vision of the Latin mind.

This imagination and poetry are the salvation of Latin America. Even in the lower class art is an instinct and beauty a thing preserved. From the remnants of the Carib in Venezuela to the newly imported Spaniard or Italian in Argentina, there is no awkwardness; the shanty of the North- erner proclaims its origin ; thatched roof and adobe hut have lines of grace in them. This spirit is manifested in the upper class as culture. You can not travel through South America without finding an appreciation of art, education and good man- ners; boorishness is practically unknown; kindli- ness, courtesy and breeding characterize the people, from the village shop-keeper and the cow- boy to the cabinet officer; and politeness in (juestioa

298 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

and response is almost universal; thievery is not common and human life is comparatively safe.

In the upper class and in the cities culture shows itself in a love of art; every city will have its municipal opera-house or theater, and to the larger ones are invited the best European artists who can be tempted by money. French and Italian troupes make annual pilgrimages to Argentina and Brazil, and Venezuela subsidizes foreign talent. Sarah Bernhardt has played often in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio, and their inhabitants can not possibly understand the news items which said that she played in the United States in a tent. "Why, have you no theaters there, or do you mean to say that commercial rivalry would prevent the people from seeing such a great artist? How extraordi- nary!"

Culture shows itself also in the construction and government of their cities. Caracas, in addition to nature's advantages, has elements of beauty, while Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Montevideo and Buenos Aires are structurally among the best cities of the western hemisphere. When a South Amer- ican comes to the United States he marvels at the rush of life here, at our activity, our industry, and at our material successes; but when he goes home he tells his friends that as a rule our cities are ugly and ill kept. He often expresses surprise that we have such unrepresentative citizens for municipal officers, and that with our proportionately high

GRAFT 299

tax rate the people benefit so slightly and the poli- ticians spend so much with so little to show for it. Generally the officials of Latin American cities are men of dignity and civic ambition, though they are not strangers to what we call graft.

Graft is the black, spot on Latin American na- tional politics. It is said that every man in office has his hand outstretched and that nothing reaches final signature until it has paid toll. It may be a redeeming grace that in contracts or questions of large import the first demand is that the country and the people shall be benefited; the second con- sideration is how much there will be to go round. A new railway, a concession for electric lighting, or any public improvement, must first be accu- rately constructed, technically correct and conform to the best requirements of art; but in addition the officials must be conciliated. It is a system. Yet as a rule the Latin is too polite and diplomatic for coarse financial slugging; finesse and diplomacy represent the highest phase of his culture. From the era of the Medici and Ferdinand of Aragon, he has been compelled, by national jealousies, by the machination of the Church, to study the prin- ciples of intrigue, and all South America shows it. His development has followed traditions until he is the match for any statesman in Europe. One dear old friend, who has for forty years been in and out of politics, said to me: "Yes, your diplo- mats come down here to be fooled, just like so

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many others, and this fooling means that the vis- itors are made to believe that certain things are so and so, vs^hen in reality they are not. The taint of Machiavelli, which has been part of our inherit- ance, leads us to suspect that the United States to- day is not altogether free from the same taint."

Ethically speaking, there is a tone of immorality running through all South American life. In diplomacy it may be called finesse, and the bluntly spoken word, which we fondly think is the bond of an American or an Englishman, is hedged by the blossom of verbiage so characteristic of the Ro- mance tongue. I have heard repeated testimony to the high standard of their financial morality; bankruptcy is less frequent than with us and the long credits granted by English and German houses prove the trustworthiness of ordinary busi- ness men. I know of one case on the Orinoco where an Englishman once in six months meets a trader from the interior; he has no real security for his sales, yet if at the end of the first half-year the previous bill is unpaid, because the trader could not reach Ciudad Bolivar, the Englishman does not worry at all ; he knows that when the year ex- pires the money will be forthcoming, penny for penny. This method of long credits frightens the American Yankee and is an obstacle to trade which otherwise might grow into prosperous proportions.

Another so-called manifestation of immorality is in their sexual relations. I must, however, come

DOMESTIC LIFE 301

to the defense of the South American woman. I have had an intimate acquaintance in Latin Amer- ican homes for years, and nowhere in the world have I seen a purer domesticity, nowhere is there greater domestic service, a sincerer love of chil- dren or an honester attempt to lead the life which according to their interpretation God intended them to lead. In Buenos Aires and Rio there is a fast set, as there is in New York and Paris, and the idle rich make opportunity for indulgence just as they do everywhere. Our ways may not be their ways, nor can an Anglo-Saxon always understand the domestic ambition of the Latin; but it is a shocking error to withhold just praise from a pure- minded sex at the other side of the equator. South American women have asked me why there were so many divorces in the United States; with them marriage is a sacrament and a social obligation, and I feel convinced that they preserve their vir- tue and happiness as well as we do.

In the lower class conditions are different; mar- riage is more often a form and a celebration; the percentage of illegitimacy is high, and neither man nor woman is discredited. It is analogous to what prevails among the negro in our southern states or in many of the highly civilized and moral West Indian islands — extra-matrimonial maternity is no crime, and man, not woman, is accountable for unsanctified indulgences. Male cliastity is prac- tically unknown, but the cities are relatively clean;

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in Caracas and Montevideo annoyance on the street is very rarely met with, although in Rio and Bue- nos Aires there is an atmosphere that offends nice women. Such sights as Broadway, Piccadilly and Friedrichstrasse present, are in South America, as a rule, undiscoverable except by those who lust for experience.

It is easy to criticize with a toplofty idealism, but sober comparisons often make a traveler less positive in his prejudices. Tales of debased states- manship in Latin America are the same tales we hear at home; their national politics are less pure than ours, but municipal affairs are conducted in a better way. Their political misfortune is in many cases due to the fact that the chief executive is not a strong and righteous man, and that often, fasci- nating the party with a false cry of patriotism, he emerges as a military dictator who seldom rises to the height of Guzman Blanco or Diaz. The peo- ple are unthinking, uneducated, and the politicians control the masses by oratory before the voting or by the shotgun after it. Universal suffrage is nei- ther understood nor practised, and outside influ- ence must to a great extent elevate these growing countries into an appreciation of sane politics. Their revolutions are either an expression of the ambition of some leader who can not wait for a peaceable election, or a violent protest against the exercise of illegal power.

Suppose we assume the viewpoint of an educated

OPINIONS 303

South American, and prepare a composite picture whose elements shall be made up from many seri- ous-minded men from the capitals and industrial centers of the Latin world.

"When you, the people of the United States, broke free from English government and tradi- tions," (I have heard it said), "South America be- came your ardent admirer; when the radicalism of Voltaire and the iconoclasm of the French Revolu- tion had disturbed the world's routine, we in Latin America were among the first to learn the new les- sons; but we continued to hold as a pattern and guide, in our search for independence, the United States of North America. When Bolivar set the whole continent on fire, he turned to the United States for comfort; you were the first to acknow- ledge the autonomy of our new republics. You were the salvation of South America against the retroactive machinations of the Holy Alliance, and for years the trade from the Magdalena River, from Rio Janeiro and Buenos Aires, was largely carried in American bottoms. But the English, the French, the Germans have not been slow to under- stand the opportunities south of the line, and they have invested both money and brains in extending hither their commerce. As long as the United States had to fight for liberty, we in Latin America acknowledged that you were the supreme beacon of democracy, but when, after your Civil War, you bounded into a material prosperity unexampled in

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the history of the world, and, in struggling to In- crease your output, you seemed sometimes to have lost sight of the principles of justice and equality for which you had fought, we in South America felt that your ideals had become dim. We began to question whether our development toward de- mocracy was not as good as that which you showed us. When you began to look more and more to- ward Europe as the source of your ideas and the- ories, we at the same time were deriving more and more financial and intellectual aid from the same source; when our old bitterness against Spain had cooled, it was questioned whether, after all, we could learn anything from you not already learned, and whether modern Europe could not ofifer more in the way of ideals — material, educational and even spiritual — than you offered.

"Our men of culture recognize but three forms of government, as possible theories to be worked out on South American soil. The first is thai rep- resented in its worst state by Russia, in its best state by Germany; the form which adopts militarism, which has engrafted upon itself a tax-eating bu- reaucracy, and which advocates the divine right of kings. This last corollary South America has for ever repudiated, but she appreciates the good that Germany does, she sees how the national spirit has encouraged industry, developed the nation and given rise to a forced altruism that often aims at the greatest good for the greatest number. South

ENGLISH INFLUENCES 305

Americans like militarism, wc arc flattered by the titles and the glitter of the army; we are fond of fighting, and we should with regret abandon a po- litical system which had no place for the officer, or accept one which, like your own, makes of the officer a civil servant and a national police. It was an exclamation of surprise when a South American reported on his return home that he had traveled across the United States and never seen a soldier! We shall surely have no empires, but we may be- come bureaucratic, and, losing the spirit you call democratic, we may finally drift into military pa- ternalism.

"The second form of government, best repre- sented by England, is that of parliamentary control of the nation under a limited and responsible mon- arch. South America has for decades been upheld and advanced by English capital. The British banks here, the splendid Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, with other corporations of similar pur- pose, have been an educational influence of incal- culable value. The £500,000,000 of gold which England has invested in railways, industrial com- panies and land, have a strong efifect on our thought and conduct, and the well-known integrity of British finance, commerce and diplomacy has ac- complished much in turning our thoughts toward the east. However much intrigue may be attrib- uted to England, to-day she is not to be suspected of any motive beyond a straightforward purpose to

3o6 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

find investment for her money and opportunity of employment for her surplus population. English colonies are rare in South America, although Eng- lishmen have carried their ideas into the back- woods in the regions of the Orinoco, the Amazon and the River Plate. They are our friends and they are yours. You will find that England is cordially in sympathy with the principles you represent, and as cordially opposed to the aggressive ambitions and imperial desire for land of which Germany is guilty. England has done more than any other country to help South America — is it unreasonable to think that we may in the future look to her for guidance? It is within probability that from long and intimate association with England we may finally remold ourselves on her parliamentary and aristocratic system, discarding the monarch, but re- taining some of the elements of a self-adjusting government and an upper class privileged by land and education.

"The third form of government is your own, a republic with unrestricted suffrage. From the days of your own struggles for independence South America has looked for ideals to you, and we, too, have had our martyrs in the revolt against Europe. Tiradentes in Brazil, Miranda and Bolivar in Venezuela, were imbued with the ideas of govern- ment illustrated in the United States; Sarmiento in Argentina copied many of your institutions, and if Rosas and Lopez developed a hated form of

AMERICAN INFLUENCES 307

military dictatorship, if Guzman Blanco disobeyed constitutions and ruled as a beneficent despot, the people everywhere preferred to submit to such a yoke rather than to recall any taste of foreign power. The United States has always, until a few years ago, been quoted to show what a democracy could achieve.

"But within the last dozen years our outlook has changed. Your wiser statesmen and your scholars are as much revered as ever, but there is no longer in South America a blind devotion to you or to your present-day manifestation of democracy. You have given us no money, no commercial en- couragement (largely of course because you were so engrossed in your own limitless industries that you could not expend your energies upon outside affairs) ; but of late, since the Cuban War, our feeling that you have neglected us in money and ceased to inspire us with ideals, has changed into a suspicion that you are not quite the unselfish lead- ers you once were; self-interest, more than a sin- cere and lofty patriotism, seems to be your motive. You have become a world power, you take your pattern from Europe, you prefer to rank with Eng- land, Germany, France and Japan, rather than to be the independent leader of the western hemi- sphere. If you can acquire the Filipinos, to whom you pretend to offer a benevolent assimilation, if you can assert the right to control the foreign and financial policy of Cuba, if you assist at the rape

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of Panama, if you claim that Santo Domingo might better be a fief of your Congress, what limit is there to a triumphant democracy of that charac- ter? This is not our ideal of self-government, by any means; and for us the northern beacon of dem- ocracy has gone out. If you can no longer be our guide, we think we are warranted in forging a model of democracy of our own. It may not be what you would dictate, but it is our own, and we think we have the right to advance in our own way, without authority or mandate from the United States.

"We recognize that you have won a place among the nations by unparalleled activity, but we do not blindly admire the methods employed. We can see that your Congress is not always free from taint, that your states are not models of far-sighted legis- lation, that your cities are governed in a way to make us alarmed lest we should fall so low. We admire your whir of life, but it is not in the Latin blood to imitate it; your enormous financial trans- actions we gasp at, but we do not necessarily de- sire to have the same standard of morals surround us. We have our race problem, our railroad prob- lem, our immigration problem, but until you work out yours correctly, we are willing to try a solution for ourselves. In government, in ideals and in finance you have not lived up to your early prom- ises, and you can no longer be our schoolmaster or our monitor. We have reached our majority, so

AMERICAN MISTAKES 309

that we dare to criticize you and to have inde- pendent thoughts of our own.

"But let no one think that in South America the love of liberty is dead. We shall fight for our free- dom till we conquer or till the land is swept clean; but liberty may not mean the same to us now as it once did, or does to you. It seems as if conditions had been reversed, and that to-day you in the United States, more than we, are actuated by the greed for gold. We have asked you for the bread of pure government and substantial help, but you offer us only a stone of trade."

And even more than this is true. Their heroes are honest heroes, though they may not all have show^n constructive statesmanship; their patriotism is sincere, however theoretic; their idealism is pure, though produced from the brain of the phi- losopher and poet. Often, on close contact with those who claim to be Yankees (citizens of the United States) , they have been disappointed ; many a renegade in southern waters who could not come back has disgraced our name; they hear of our scholars and statesmen, but have on occasions re- ceived from us as diplomats, decayed business men and uncultured politicians, whose sole purpose ap- peared to be to hold a job and talk ofifensively of the grandeur of things at home.

We are rapidly replacing this grotesque kind of consul and minister by better educated, more ener-

3IO THE SOUTH AMERICANS

getic and more decent men who do not betray us, and who try to show that we have accomplished something better than a crude material prosperity. If we wish to rank with England and Germany, we can do so only by treating South America with the dignity shown by Europe. They are all a kindly folk; courtesy is a virtue which with them is much more a habit of daily life than with us, and contentment is there much more easily attained. It may be questioned whether we in our social scheme have advanced above South America, as long as we show the brutality of the mobs at the Brooklyn Bridge, or the slums of our big industrial cities. It is acknowledged by them that we have the highest standard of living on earth, but they add that not all of us reach it; our material prosperity is so ir- regularly distributed that it has caused a wide- spread discontent, and the rainbow of happiness seems almost to have disappeared. I never met a man who had really lived in South America who did not say, after he had relieved himself of certain critical bile distressing his Anglo-Saxon stomach: "But after all, they are a mighty nice people and when once you learn how to get along with them life is very pleasant under the Southern Cross."

But there is another feature of neighborliness with South America, which seems usually to be unknown or forgotten or ignored, in discussing the means of increasing our influence over nations with whom we have now scarcely a speaking acquaint-

FOREIGN INVESTMENTS 311

ance. I refer to the investment of money within the territory itself in the way of large enterprises, such as railways and all industries which employ labor and bring into productiveness the unoccupied land. These countries all have land to sell, they all eager- ly beg for the brains and talent of modern produc- tive life; they know that the skill to contrive, the power to build and the force to expand comes from north-Europe and from the United States. Ar- gentina and Uruguay are controlled by English capital and methods, Brazil partly so, though she has dreams and schemes of her own. Venezuela has made only the beginning and still waits for the magician who can coin her oratory into cattle and her love of country into commercial highways. It is a conservative estimate that England has invested in Argentina £300,000,000, in Uruguay £60,000,- 000, in Brazil £70,000,000, in Venezuela £10,000,- 000. Germany in these four countries may have £40,000,000 and the United States perhaps £4,000,- 000.

At least forty per cent, of this is invested under government guaranty and subsidy. In some cases the nation, in others the state, gives official security for these loans. Diplomatic representatives from these nations have negotiated for moneys and have given government sanction to the promise that the interest will be met and the capital be repaid. This is a principle of which we now know little; some of our states have borrowed money abroad

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and brought lasting disgrace upon themselves by repudiating these debts, but as a rule we obtain money from within our own borders. South Amer- ica has no money of her own ; she was for years ex- ploited and robbed by Europe, and she has now only land and the riches that go with it to sell. Every country there mortgages her customs, her taxes and her future crops to Europe, and has a reasonable hope that along with capital there will flow into the land immigrants and settlers who will develop her resources, and become in time good citizens. Investments have been less safe than with us, not because men are trickier, but because a gov- ernment guaranty has been necessary before money is respected, and the stronger the nation from which the investor hails the greater the prospect that this government guaranty will be observed. But to- day there are unlimited possibilities for the invest- ment of money, quite apart from such protection, because the national governments are getting stronger, and because the commercial nations are demanding that financial action be unrestrained and that governments obey their own laws, give freedom to the expansive tendencies of older na- tions, and offer only that security which any self- respecting people know must be maintained.

Any combination of capital can find in South America, as in Cuba, magnificent opportunities for investment. Energy will be required — American hustle — skill and forethought, but no more than is

OPPORTUNITIES 313

necessary to-day in our own land to make an enter- prise "go through." A concession must be obtained, equivalent to charters under our state or city gov- ernments, but the prospect for future growth is greater, and if we wish such investments, they w^ill furnish outlet for our younger brains, perhaps af- ford homes to some of our surplus population, and give us a vital interest in those countries. If we are not willing to invest money within them, we have no right to direct or to dictate the course they may elect to pursue. Of course, nothing in all this ex- cludes the value of increasing our commerce with South America, nor is it meant to belittle the im- mense trade possibilities which can be made reali- ties if we take advantage of them; but this must be done in the right way.

I should say that Argentina is the most advanced country in South America; she is the land of op- portunity and promise; Buenos Aires is as full of life and gaiety, comfort and luxury, modern thought and unrest, as New York and Paris. Uru- guay is socially New Spain, geographically a per- petual garden ; but she clouds her future by the self-destruction of internal war. Brazil opens her hospitable lap to the enterprise of the world, and, however slothful or dormant her people may ap- pear, there is beneath the surface an energy and an ambition which sooner or later will make her one of the powers of the world. Venezuela needs years of firm, stable government before she can show

314 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

either a consuming or a producing people; trade, apart from certain well-sustained lines, is at a very low ebb, and at present all investments are insecure, especially if the money is to be developed within the country itself. Impartial observers will assert that outside forces must for a generation to come be brought to influence Venezuela before migra- tion or money can with any certainty find lodgment in that beautiful, fertile, but unhappy country.

Of the 25,000,000 inhabitants east of the Andes, the consuming capacity scarcely equals 12,000,000 North Americans. The greater part of this popu- lation is concentrated in the large cities. The pro- ducing activity is chiefly confined to agriculture and cattle, and local manufacture of the simpler necessities of life. Industrial energy is growing, and whoever undertakes to supply their wants, in what may be called the domestic commodities, must be prepared to compete not only with the output of locally equipped factories and such plants employ- ing cheap labor, knowing the needs of the people and enjoying a protective tarifif, but also with the well-organized and skilful merchants of England, Germany and France.

Trade the world over is secured by the person who can sell better goods for the same price, or equal goods for a less price. No other rule will work in the long run. South America fosters trade and is careless who gets it. Any American going to any city there, if he have pluck, perseverance.

TRADE POSSIBILITIES 315

cash and good stuff to sell, can sell it if it is wanted ; but he must study the markets, he must act honestly, learn the customs of the consumers, and fight for what trade he can get. The South Americans are not naked savages, waiting to be clothed, grateful for the cast-ofif garments of a higher race; it is not the necessities of life which they lack, but some of the comforts, many of the luxuries, and above all, the means to increase their productive capacity. This implies the better grade of manufactured goods, especially machinery, either for individual effort or for the larger industries by which manu- facturing plants of their own can be set in motion. American sellers must have their own agents and independent exhibits; it will not do to select an English or a German house through which to offer American wares. Dignified,, high-grade Amer- ican establishments in Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires will do much to attract trade our way. This would encourage the location of an American bank, and would help solve the vexing question of an American line of steamers to South America.

It is not a matter of necessity to subsidize steam- ers; the great bulk of trade profitable to our mer- chants is in the hands of the trusts. Kerosene oil, agricultural implements, railway supplies, many tools for the skilled trades, are what find their way south of the equator, and the manufacturers can as well afford to pay for transportation as the

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American people; but to pay a moderate sum for the direct carriage of mails under the American flag, properly safe-guarding the contract so that the cost only is covered, would be a wise act. If the government goes further, the next step should be national ownership and management of a steamer line. If we can operate the Panama Railway and build the canal, we certainly can operate steamers as a branch of the national Post-office. This would impress South Americans and w^ould be the great- est educational object lesson of our power and dignity that could possibly be conceived.

At the risk of being accused on the one hand of repetition or on the other of failure to give such details as will be of service to those who are hoping to expand American commerce in the direction of South America, I add a few words concerning trade possibilities in that continent. There are two great mistakes made by American business men in their study of those markets. One is the lack of comprehension of what those people require, the other is their unwillingness to persevere in efforts to secure the trade.

Most persons to whom I have spoken confess to a hazy idea of the civilization existing in Latin America; in the big cities like Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Valparaiso, this is as advanced as with us or in Europe, but it does not sink as deep into the lower elements of the social structure. Away from these big cities there are foci of this

TRADE CONDITIONS 317

high standard of living, but as a rule the common people are comparable only to a primitive Old World peasantry. These country areas are by no means so thickly settled as they are in Europe, or even with us. Consequently, the demand for any class of trade product is proportionately low and the market restricted. In the big cities, the people buy just what we buy, with modifications depend- ing upon climate, fashion, local environment or habit. Away from the cities necessity plays a much greater part than fashion.

It must be remembered, too, that England and Germany, with France, have been industrially utilizing these markets for years, so that the field is by no means new. What they sell we can sell, be it cotton goods, shoes, pianos, or machinery. No one can foretell what the people want, or what they will buy, without a systematic investigation of their desires and requirements. Herein lie our errors. Hitherto we have rarely needed a foreign market in which to dispose of our products, because we had not reached the consuming capacity of our own people; this limit we are practically (not the- oretically) just approaching; such large industrial organizations as the International Harvester Com- pany, the Singer Sewing Machine Company, with numerous others of like strength, have canvassed the field thoroughly, and have men constantly all over the world looking for business; but the smaller American manufacturer is new to the for-

3i8 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

eign trade opportunities, and must bestir himself if he hopes to sell his goods in South America.

There is only one way to do this. R. G. Dun and Company have a branch in Buenos Aires, through which any information can be obtained concerning trade chances and opportunities. By consultation with them, or with the International Bureau of American Republics in Washington, the beginnings of a business can be laid down. But the next step is the more important. The manufac- turer, or association of manufacturers, must send good men to the principal city or cities, and keep them there. These agents must be Americans. It is folly to expect an English or a German house already on the ground to push American goods, sometimes in competition with English or German stuff. At first trade may be slow and expenses greater than profits, but that is just the time to stick to it; the man or corporation afraid to spend money had better not enter South American competition.

Nothing so disheartens the traveler, if he is from the States, as to see in these great capitals small, cheap and one-horse shops pointed out as "Amer- ican," or to be asked by men of extensive interests, "Why do not your big men of business have repre- sentative agencies here?" South American mer- chants would really welcome North American enterprise, if it were conducted in the proper way.

An attempt to answer the question about the pre- vailing character of goods purchased in any coun-

NEEDS 319

try, might be misleading if detail were carried too far, but broad statements may be made. Venezuela must be left out of consideration; trade is stagnant there, and even the European houses have only traveling men who merely take orders. Industry must wait till good government comes to assure a square deal to all, or till outside forces compel that nation to encourage foreign energy knocking at her door. Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia are waiting for the Panama Canal, and though they have immense areas for agriculture, at present they are interested chiefly in mining and railroad construc- tion. Every South American country needs money with which to develop its natural resources; even cofifee and cotton must have machinery, but sugar and rubber can not be produced without heavy in- vestments months or years before returns come in. Peru and Chile on the west coast, but particularly Argentina and Brazil on the Atlantic, are the coun- tries most open to our trade. In the cities they need building material, construction supplies, industrial machinery, tools and equipment for running busi- ness on a modern scale. Clothing of all kinds they buy, but Brazil and Argentina both export cotton; both have hides and make shoes fairly acceptable to the local demand. As in Europe, here, too, American machine-made goods find the readiest sale where local machinery is not producing enough to crowd out the imported article.

But what the South American wants most of all

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is North American capital and energy with brains. If we should build a railway east of the Andes, if our financiers should once become interested in any of the great industrial enterprises demanding the investment of money, as has been the case in Cen- tral America, Mexico and only recently in Cuba, if we only would buy some of their surplus land and make of it suitable homes for those who need them, then we could more easily take a hand in the problems of the immediate future.

This future permits of three paths; which will East Andean South America follow? The first, which is to-day the line of least resistance, means the final adoption of European ideas, methods and customs. England and Germany are the control- ling influences now. South Americans will never voluntarily become dependents of Europe, but they may gradually be driven to acknowledge that pure democracy is a failure and therefore be will- ing to see established on American soil a Eurcpean- ized paternalism.

The second lies beneath the overshadowing ter- ror of a usurping imperialism. If England or Ger- many asserts that might is right, that their capital invested there is best preserved by a direct power which is responsible only to London or Berlin, if overflowing Europe can not be restrained and if they seize as colonial possessions the virgin acres of these relatively weak nations, there will be bloody war. It may be with more benignant purpose than

DEMOCRACY 321

the Spanish invasion of four centuries ago, but It will likewise be a war of conquest; this time not for gold or for booty, but for land on which mil- lions may live. Commercially and strategically Argentina attaches to England. Brazil is loose- jointed and might lose some of her territory to Ger- many and England, but the country will remain democratic as long as the word persists in language. Venezuela is ours, as much as Cuba is, and Santo Domingo, and all the land watered by the Carib- bean. Our influence there must be paramount as long as we have the strength to police the area con- tiguous to the Gulf of Mexico.

The third path means that in the end American democracy will be triumphant. England is our friend in this and she would like to see us do as she has done. I met no Englishman who really wished territorial expansion in South America, but they all think that the time is coming when accumulated debts must be paid, either by compulsory arbitra- tion or by such tutelage as England is to-day exer- cising over Egypt; and I am convinced that not all of South America would object to it. Neither did I meet any Yankee who wished our flag to fly over any South American soil, yet many settlers and travelers thought that we were carrying our policy too far in encouraging a defiance to moral obliga- tions.

Concerning Germany, my impression was other- wise. A South American said to me in all serious-

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ness: "It will not be many years before Germany tries to seize some of this land. She is extending her trade enormously, but with an ulterior pur- pose; she can never have so much at stake as Eng- land, but her people are here and they intend to stay. If you take no vital interest in us, what are you going to do when Germany demands satisfac- tion?"

The question is scarcely one for academic discus- sion. It is a matter for action. If we are to take part in their affairs we must be neighborly; invest money, send honest men to develop these rich fields and to add fresh energy to the exuberant South American imagination. This is the only way by which can result a real sisterhood of republics to overcome the spirit of aristocracy and class which is at present dominant.

Although the recent visit of Secretary Root, in the dignity of his high office and the unusual charm of his personality, has done much to make South America less suspicious of the future, there is still a fear that the United States is not a faithful or sincere ally; that instead of a defender of true democracy we have determined to become a land- grabbing world power, bent on beating into line those who do not act as we think best; and that our rod of chastisement is that unclarified thing called the Monroe Doctrine. In the United States this is a fetish; the people have heard of it, orators quote it, politicians dangle it before the eyes of the for-

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 323

eigner, but statesmen can not define It. In South America it is public gossip. The newspapers let scarcely a day pass without mentioning it, neigh- bors discuss it in the streets and government offi- cials hate it because they do not know what it means. If the United States wants to act honestly and generously to the South American republics it can not begin in a more straightforward manner than by accurately defining "The Monroe Doc- trine."

CHAPTER TWENTY

THE MONROE DOCTRINE

The political romance of the nineteenth century- is the American Monroe Doctrine. Nearly a hun- dred years before its assertion Europe saw the awakening of a new life in the world's history, and the era marked by the names of Voltaire and Rous- seau has well been called the dawn of reason and common sense. Out of it grew that earlier romance in modern politics expressed by the motto, Liberie, Egalite, Fralernite, which culminated in the French Revolution; and it was a mighty struggle before common sense again showed itself in the foundation of the present republic.

After our own hard-won independence and out of the agitation of the Napoleonic wars there grew up the necessity of declaring that the principle of monarchy must be confined in its battle for life or death to the Old World, and that the principle of constitutional government without a legalized hereditary aristocracy, and with leaders chosen only by the people's vote, must be allowed to live or die by itself in the New World.

When President Monroe issued his astonishing

324

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message in 1823 the reactionary Holy Alliance was fastening its clutches on Europe. If the Great Powers had been granted their desires, Russia might have extended her possessions in our neigh- borhood, and the Spanish colonies in revolt would have been dragged back to bondage; but the states- men of America and England were far-seeing enough to recognize that the result would be dis- astrous to the progress of human liberty. The di- vine right of kings had become a farce, and it had been repeatedly proved that colonies in a new world could be retained, not by force, but only by sympathy. It was therefore our purpose to check any attempt from Europe to invade American soil. In this way we insisted that here the liberty of de- mocracy must be permitted to work out its destiny. The message of President Monroe says :

At the proposal of the Russian imperial government, made through the minister of the Emperor residing here, full power and instructions have heen transmitted to the minister of the United States at St. Petersburg, to arrange, by am- icable negotiation, the respective rights and interests of the two nations on the nortliwest coast of this continent. A similar proposal has been made by his Imperial Majesty to the government of Great Britain, which has likewise been acceded to. The government of the United States has been desirous, by this friendly proceeding, of manifesting the great value which tliey have invariably attached to the friendship of the Emperor, and their solicitude to cultivate the best understanding with his government. In the discus- sions to which this interest has given rise, and in the ar- rangements by which thev may terminate, the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that

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the American continents, by the free and independent con- dition which they have assumed and maintained, are hence- forth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European pozvers.

It was stated, at the commencement of the last session, that a great effort was then making in Spain and Portugal to nnprove the condition of the people of those countries, and that it appeared to be conducted with extraordinary moderation. It need scarcely be remarked that the result has been, so far, very different from what was then antici- pated. Of events in that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much intercourse, and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested specta- tors. The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly, in favor of the libertv and happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded, or seriously menaced, that we resent injuries, or make prepara- tion for our defense. With the movements in this hemi- sphere we are, of necessity, more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and im- partial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different, in this respect, from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their re- spective governments. And to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citi- zens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to can- dor, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare that ztv should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not inter- fere. But with governments who have declared their inde- pendence, and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles acknow- ledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 327

of oppressing- them, or controllins^^ in any manner, their des- tiny, by any European power, in any other Hght than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. In the war between those new governments and Spain we declared our neutrality at the time of their recogni- tion, and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to ad- here, provided no change shall occur which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this government, shall make a corresponding change, on the part of the United States, indispensable to their security.

The late events in Spain and Portugal show that Europe is still unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced than that the allied powers should have thought it proper, on any principle satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed, by force, in the internal concerns of Spain. To what extent such interposition may be carried, on the same principle, is a question to which all independent powers, whose governments differ from theirs, are interested ; even those most remote and surely none more so than the United States. Our policy in regard to Europe, wdiich was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long ag- itated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, wdiich is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers ; to consider the government de facto as the legitimate for us ; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm and manly policy; meeting, in all instances, the just claims of every power; submitting to injuries from none. But, in regard to those continents, circumstances are eminently and conspicu- ously different. It is impossible that the allied pozi'crs should extend their political system to any portion of either conti- nent, without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can any one believe that our southern brethren if left to them- selves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally im- possible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition, in any form, with indifference. If we look to the compara- tive strength and resources of Spain and those new govern- ments, and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course.

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It must be remembered that never have these words received such government sanction as to be officially enrolled upon our statute books, never have they been openly recognized by other nations, never have they been established as an acknow- ledged principle of international law; we have not ourselves, in every instance, carried out the logical conclusion of the words, nor, where we have in the past resorted to their spirit, have we always put the same interpretation upon them. Although we have taken it for granted that what was already in the possession of European powers should be left in- tact, we still hold that American territory must not be transferred by sale or conquest to any nation but ourselves.

South America does not always confess how much the Monroe Doctrine contributed to the preservation of those early struggling nations; yet careful students of history there gratefully assert that had it not been for the United States England might have seized Argentina and Uruguay; or had we not been eternally vigilant, Germany would long ago have had her flag flying over South Bra- zil; without the Monroe Doctrine Venezuela would have been and would still be a weird field of scramble for the unemployed of England, Ger- many and France. Many observers to-day express the fear — some the hope — that such action is not yet beyond possibility, but politicians or excited statesmen in South America discredit our support

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 329

and claim that of themselves they would have been able to maintain their independence.

In the United States the words and the sense of the Monroe Doctrine are nevertheless chiefly of historical significance, and neither politicians, statesmen nor the thinking public understand their implication; and this is relatively true of South America as well. We may leave out of consider- ation the West Andean republics; Chile is nearly able to care for herself, she is pugnacious and will yield to no one; Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Co- lombia are mountain and mineral countries, and however much agricultural land they may possess, their future does not offer attractions for a dream of European influence or conquest, and moreover, the Panama Canal will always be a safeguard against European aggression. Mexico has reached the stage where she can progress in an American way and work out her own destiny. Central Amer- ica must be dominated by the example of the United States and Mexico. But the great land- owning nations on the Atlantic, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela, are those most influenced by European thought, most open to European capital and migration, and most expres- sive of their opinion of the Monroe Doctrine.

Without reference to any particular application of its spirit, a careful study will show that there are four ways in which this Monroe Doctrine can be interpreted:

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1. We may abandon the Monroe Doctrine com- pletely. This has been done; there are instances in which we have permitted American soil to be ab- sorbed by a European power, and we may permit it again, but no monarchy has ever been established here with our consent; for Brazil, before 1823, had an empire which fell to pieces of its own weight in 1889, and the bastard French empire of Mexico died before we had time actively to protest. It may therefore be taken for granted that no crown can survive the ineradicable hatred of republican America.

2. JVe may force the Monroe Doctrine to its fullest theoretic limit and insist, by declaring war if necessary, that American soil be held sacred to that one American institution of democratic self- government, and that each country be compelled to work out its destiny, be the result good or bad, just or unjust, progress or stagnation. We may cry "hands off," even though we at times hurt our- selves as much as others by allowing a band of un- scrupulous dictators to find shelter beneath our nullifying protection.

3. We may proclaim ourselves masters of the western world, and thereby plunge still deeper into the current of international politics. We must then say to Europe, "No, American soil is sacred to America; you shall have no influence here. The world needs these new lands, it needs also security for its expanding peoples and industries, but we

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 331

alone will control; it is manifest destiny. Develop- ment shall be in our hands and the markets must adjust themselves accordingly."

But before the analysis is carried further and the fourth case is stated, it will be best to consider whether in Europe and the United States there have taken place any changes which may or should modify our attitude toward the concept of the prin- ciple, to give it a practical value without changing what has been so long cherished by us as to have become a holy sentiment.

American peoples are all sentimental. History has nourished our earliest ambitions to live, to grow, to develop and to prosper on government by principle and by morality. During the Civil War we fought among ourselves for a sentiment. We have offered to fight for a sentiment when we thought that England was abusing Venezuela; we actually fought for a sentiment when we knew that Spain was abusing Cuba; and in the future we shall be ready to fight for a sentiment if w^e think that it conforms to our ideas of material and spiritual progress. This sentimentalism of the people must not be gainsaid; to be sure, we have lately been ac- cusing ourselves of rampant commercialism, and we have confessed that our desire for material de- velopment has led us into immoralities which have debauched both business and society, until we are criticized as having lost the American ideal of democracy. But the mass of the people remains

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honest and sentimental. Our Latin neighbors also are sentimental, but their sentiment finds easier ex- pression in poetry and art. Nevertheless, they, too, have deep within them the love of liberty and dem- ocracy which has grown in a century of struggle, although their freedom may often mean irrespon- sibility, and their liberty be distorted into lawless- ness.

We, on the one side, derived our ideas of inde- pendence and liberty from English (and Dutch) sources and we had behind us as an inheritance, even from the Magna Charta, experiences in con- stitutional governments. When we adopted the fin- ished scheme of our own government, we showed that we had to some extent yielded to the influence of the Latin whose philosophers and theorists from time to time expounded plans by which human na- ture and human societies could be regulated by de- ductive methods, although our conduct has ever since shown plainly enough that we obtain the best results by reasoning inductively. Whatever ad- vances we make are happily the outcome of both experience and theory.

The South American republics, on the other side, have been, from their earliest struggles, al- most altogether under the sway of the Romance philosophers. Tiradentes (Xavier) in Brazil, who became the first martyr to independence, was com- pletely of the French school ; Bolivar in Venezuela, great admirer of the United States as he was.

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 333

showed himself an inspired patriot who dreamed that the only necessary step was to launch a repub- lic with a constitution, and that the human factors in the country would, with but little friction, mold themselves into the form of a democracy. All South America's escape from the clutch of Spain was accomplished by men fired with the enthusi- asm for a Utopia. In later years the analogy can be worked out; Latin America has not yet ceased to be the home of some of the most beautiful the- ories upon earth, while at the same time she shows many laughable instances of government perverted into a system for the personal aggrandizement of one man, who found it necessary to become a dic- tator, either to carry out his own selfish schemes, or to compel the people to act with him, sometimes contrary to the constitution, if their own interests were to be best preserved. This explains the ex- tremes of military rule and of revolution. Dicta- torship may lead to noticeable industrial and even intellectual advance, as was the case in Venezuela under Guzman Blanco, or in Argentina under Sar- miento, who tried nobly to govern within constitu- tional limits ; or it may retard and paralyze a whole nation, as the instances of Lopez in Paraguay and Oribe in Uruguay prove. They all have times of prosperity and times of decline; periods when the country is guided by a sincere leader whose ambi- tions are to foster popular self-government, so that his successor may carry on the administration un-

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der true constitutional forms; and periods of stag- nation during which everything is made to yield to the selfishness of a clique and a cabal. Through it all has been preserved an intense feeling for ab- stract and indefinable liberty.

We on our side have found out, often by bitter experience, that liberty is describable only in terms of obedience to law. If we do not like the lav/, however much we may individually disobey it, we believe that a law must finally be established to right our evils and that law must prevail. We have thrown of¥ completely and for ever the doctrine of hereditary privilege, and have yet much to learn concerning the principles of self-government, but we test everything according to law.

The South Americans, on their side, have not always delimited their ideas of democracy by con- cepts of law. They, equally with us, have repudi- ated the divine right of kings and an hereditarily privileged class, but liberty with them is often an intangible emotion translatable only in terms of personal ambition, or of poetry figuring what might be or should be. Thus there is not one South American republic which has not changed its con- stitution time and again to meet some fancied con- dition, though the new government ran no smoother because of it; and there is not one country in South America which has not indulged in revolutions, because it could not wait for a slower process when the law was being violated. Their revolutions are

THE MONROE DOCTRINE i,y^

always induced by one of two motives: a coup d'etat at the hands of one embryo dictator who wishes to dislodge another already in power, or a protest led by an ambitious patriot who hopes by this means to destroy wrongs visited upon a suffer- ing people; and the people follow blindly one leader or another, because they are not educated enough to perceive, as we Anglo-Saxons do, the dangers of overturning one wrong by a second. The lower class can not judge for itself, and, re- acting enthusiastically to the voice of the orator, it is satisfied with the show of personal liberty.

To enjoy the vast plains or mysterious mountains, to go his own way untrammeled by discipline or rules, to fret about nothing beyond the cattle and the harvest, to partake thankfully of what bounti- ful nature gives, and to work no more than to pro- duce one blade of grass, to recognize no authority, to live without responsibility — that has been the South American idea of freedom. The United States has left behind this phase of social life, al- though remnants of it still are evident, but in some South American republics no other idea prevailed. In others, especially in Argentina and Brazil, they have awakened, and are slowly trying to harmon- ize their conduct with their industrial projects and conditions. Therefore the desire for stable self- government, for democracy, is as vital for them as it is for us, however differently it may show itself.

Now certain modifying and unforeseen forces

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have noticeably changed the world's outlook since 1823, and neither North nor South America has quite acknowledged them. No longer is an abstract pursuit of liberty the fundamental function of gov- ernment; an intellectual theory on which to bass a social organization must give way before the more substantial demands of material civilization. In 1823 England had a population of 22,000,000, Germany of 12,000,000 and France of 27,000,000, while the United States could hardly reckon 12,- 000,000. The Louisiana purchase had been made only in 1803, and Florida became ours in 1819; Texas had not been thought of, and the West was a dream. Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky were infants not so well-developed as Oregon in 1875. Eu- ropean neighbors were close at hand, and therefore one great, if not the only purpose of the Monroe Doctrine was to protect ourselves.

Until 1850 it was well enough for America to in- dulge in experiments with self-government, un- affected by European influences. Republics grew and expanded as they pleased until the era of colo- nization was reached. State-encouraged colonies brought new questions into play, and what was once a mere desire for colonization, has now be- come a necessity, because England has a population of 42,000,000, Germany of 60,000,000 and France of 38,000,000.

In Europe colonization was at first only a means to subdue strange countries to a condition of vas-

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 2>?>7

salagc, whence a new income could be derived with which to enrich the home country. India and China in the old world, Mexico and Peru in the new, represent these earlier ambitions. As explora- tions were made in North America and Australia, there began the more modern idea of colonization for settlement. To-day we have the latest motive of all, the use of colonial territory for commercial and industrial expansion. At one time a country's product was consumed within its own borders, but nowadays, however poorly distributed according to some economists these products may be, no one nation produces all that it consumes, or consumes all that it produces. Years ago, too, the soil within any country gave ample employment to its citizens, but to-day, owing to the cessation of military slaughter as well as to the benign influences of the medical sciences, human beings have multiplied so fast that Europe, despite the improvements in agriculture and manufacturing, is hungry and her overcrowded population must spread out upon the untilled places of the earth. We of the United States are not yet land poor, but we have nearly ex- hausted our free lands; we are ambitious for in- dustrial success, and we are eager to expand our commerce. We have no colonies in the South American sense of the word, for all emigrants to our shores enter as willing settlers looking for homes. In South America the nation or the state has expended immense sums in bringing over Eu-

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ropean peasants to till the soil and to work in their industries, so that, by the act, they have morally and legally obligated themselves to care for these new-comers until they learn to be citizens. These colonists are not so rapidly absorbed into the body politic as with us but remain a long time trans- planted Europeans in republican America.

Contemporaneously with this mode of growth began a material expansion throughout the world, in the construction of railways, telegraphs, and national or civic improvements. The South American is no longer an agriculturist content to consume only what he produces, and satisfied with his herds, his fields and his wagon roads; he is compelled to advance with his age; he de- mands modern means of communication and transport, modern architecture and modern educa- tion. These have brought him into closer intimacy with the outer world, which means Europe and not the United States, and in acquiring what he sought he assumes responsibilities which were far from his dreams of liberty when, a generation before, inde- pendence from Europe had been declared. Gov- ernment bonds are sold to European capitalists; railways are built by European money, industrial stocks are solemnly guaranteed by the nation in order to raise money to be expended under state supervision, while the colonies, in addition to the fact that they, as institutions, receive state aid, are officially promised the peace which is their due,

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 339

and are offered encouragement to develop, practi- cally unhampered by the internal quarrels of the native-born, so long as they do not care to partake of suffrage and citizenship.

It is therefore a very pertinent question: If a nation acknowledges certain responsibilities in re- gard to the citizens of another nation, why has not that other nation a perfectly proper right to de- mand that these obligations be carried out? While it is well known that Palmerston decided that Eng- land was not to be used by bond-holders as an offi- cial debt-collecting agency, he but spoke a policy of expediency, not a doctrine, because he wished the money to be spent at home; and Great Britain has never officially declared even in Turkey that she would not collect her subjects' lawful debts. In fact, she has on occasion openly insisted that justice compelled her to protect by every means this branch of her commerce. Such was the case in the recent Venezuela episode, and the United States refused to consider the blockade of the Venezuelan ports an infringement upon our theoretic rights in the western hemisphere. To come closer home in all senses of the word, we ourselves have felt it our duty to protect interests of the United States in Cuba, and our ultimate reason for so doing was not to restore order or to teach Cubans how to govern themselves, but to secure an unmolested usufruct for our capital invested there. Imaginative altru- ism can not go so far as to claim that intervention

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in Cuba had as its purpose the protection of British capital. Material prosperity and an unrioted gov- ernment go nowadays hand in hand — the harmoni- ous conjunction of the two is the raison d'etre of the State. Therefore, with the international respon- sibilities which Latin America assumes, until she has learned to escape revolution and to foster in- dustry, the increasing interests of the older and more stable nations demand that watch be kept over her.

But as yet it has not been well decided how the weaker republics south of us can best preserve their autonomy, and at the same time encourage the world's increasing hordes to fructify their fertile spaces. The big stick has played its part, and largely through our assertion of the traditional Monroe Doctrine have America and democracy become synonymous terms; yet too continuously have we given it solely an individual interpreta- tion, and too infrequently taken into consideration the changing purposes of the world, the democrati- zation of all peoples, the growing need for land, and above all the opinions and feelings of the very nations we assume to protect.

South American opinions are not altogether fa- vorable to any interpretation we have recently tried to give the Monroe Doctrine, either through the lips of orators on the stump or In Congress. Until he travels in South America a resident of the United States can not realize how general and

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 341

how persistent is the discussion of our relation to the rest of the world through that Doctrine. In Venezuela, where freedom of speech is dangerous, one can hear mention of it only in confidential conversations, and in Uruguay, where political con- ditions are such that they must consider it in refer- ence to Argentina and Brazil as well as to Europe and the United States, their opinion is colored by that of their close neighbors; but in Brazil and Ar- gentina, freedom of expression is unrestricted and the subject is as much a topic of the dinner-table and the promenade as is the weather or the prices on the stock exchange; and the newspapers fre- quently give it prominence. If one found mention of the Monroe Doctrine only in newspapers reflect- ing English or German thought (there is no news- paper devoted to "Yankee interests") there might be reason to believe that a propaganda was actu- ated by the secret service of these nations, but the fact is that the more usual place for the head-line "Monroe Doctrine" is in those papers edited and published by native journalists who try to record rather than to lead public sentiment. The sneering assertion that such papers are venal and are re- printing opinions supplied them by European dip- lomats, is, to my mind, entirely unsupported by proof. Their sentiments are genuine and reflect the editorial mind. Hardly a day passes but that, in La Prensa and La Nacion of Buenos Aires, in the Jornal do Commercio, Jornal do Brazil, El Dia,

342 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

of Rio de Janeiro, are found attempts to analyze the latest meaning given by the United States to its one external policy. The terms used are not flattering: "vassalage," "suzerainty," "selfish protection," "commercial exploitation"; these are regularly employed; they resent our dictatorial attitude; a few recognize the debt they owe us, but the major- ity assert that their gratitude can not be retained by the obtrusive and condescending iteration of our greatness and our progress. The essence of their criticism is expressed in the statement that we are only more powerful than they, that while in edu- cation, in material results, in the art of production, we have outstripped them (confessedly because we are of Anglo-Saxon they of Latin origin) they, in morals, in home life, in grasp of the great problems which are now uppermost, are no whit our in- feriors. They claim, too, that the differences are only in details, that their struggles are in a large sense the same as ours, and that they are giving as conscientious eflfort to elevate themselves as we are. It is our help they need, not our advice; trade they will always encourage, but until they can find in us examples superior to what they can find in Europe, they wish to use their own volition in advancing as their natural and racial conditions may suggest. The big stick should be used for a different pur- pose than to whip them into a path they do not wish to follow.

Such being the case, it is only just and right that

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 343

we do help them, but we must learn how. Those who think that by lecturing them, by trying to dic- tate to them, by constantly asserting our superiority while failing to set a good example, we do them service, make a great mistake. South Americans like and admire us, but they like and admire other countries as well, and the gospel of liberty is as sacred to them as it is to us. We can best prove our helpfulness by reestablishing an ideal of true de- mocracy, by investing money in their abundant en- terprises, by sending our capital and our brains, not to exploit them, but to partake of the bounties which nature and man ofifer there. Any one ac- quainted with South America knows that the re- sources are boundless, that railroads, industries and farms will return proper dividends there as well as here, if once they are conducted with peace. The theory of unrestrained liberty is as dead there as it is here, but sentiment is by no means dead. On both sides we have learned that a greater boon than "freedom" in the abstract is honest material suc- cess, for thereby are secured the blessings of food and home to countless thousands now deprived of them. Material progress with equal opportunity and fair distribution to all, should be the interpre- tation of twentieth century liberty. The whole world is becoming industrial, and we must there- fore stimulate an industrial productiveness instead of a struggle for theoretic and abstract rights. il think that no citizen of the United States ac-

344 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

quainted with South America seriously wishes that any of that soil should actually belong to the United States, or thinks that we could govern the Latin as well as he can govern himself. I have never met one who did not confess that we should be better without the Philippines, or who did not proclaim that we had within our own borders weighty difficulties of our own, and that outside of these borders, Cuba, Santo Domingo and Pana- ma would tax our extra-territorial governing ca- pacity for generations to come. On the other hand, I have met no man — Yankee or not — who did not think that a policy of friendliness, neigh- borliness and watchfulness, was the only one to pursue. This means to encourage migration from Europe to South America, to applaud those re- publics who have been able to attract to their shores the working forces of the world, to ask but not to demand our fair share of the profits, to con- tinue in our path of unassisted immigration while not interfering with the bounties and guaranties offered by them to capital and labor. To help them develop as best suits them, and to develop ourselves as may be best for us, is a creed that will be wel- comed from Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego.

The whole question, with the intricate factors at work in North and in South America, and exam- ined since the change in conditions from those of 1823, can be summarized as follows:

The Holy Alliance has ceased to exist. The

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 345

principle that provoked it — the desire to enforce the divine right of kings and the assertion that Eu- ropean monarchs had an inalienable claim to the soil of America — is for ever dead.

The United States has become a w^orld power and is so recognized by Europe; our growth has been achieved altogether by voluntary migration; those who came to us forsook the Old World to become residents of the New, because here they would find a republican form of government where they and their children might become citi- zens if they wished. In South America thousands of the colonists were brought over by the state, their passage paid, land and implements given them with the nation's solemn assurance that they should be protected; they might become citizens, their children must become so.

While the industrial growth and financial credit of this country has been unaided and unhampered by the national government, our national bonds are at a premium the world over and our state bonds, held largely within our own borders, have, with only few exceptions, been promptly paid; our in- dustrial stocks and bonds are supported in the mar- ket by private capital, the only aid given by the na- tion or state within the last generation being in the form of land. We do not to-day recognize such a financial transaction as a state or national annual subsidy to corporate stock, or a concession convey- ing money payment or carrying special privileges.

346 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

In South America, since 1850, immense sums of government bonds have been sold abroad under na- tional promise, made by diplomatic agents, that the interest would be paid; other immense sums, also with government guaranty, have been borrowed abroad and expended at home on railways and pub- lic improvements; other sums, for a different class of railways and for quasi public industrial enter- prises, have been expended within the country and the bonds and stock guaranteed by the state or na- tion, or the company was so subsidized that the na- tion made itself responsible. Thus the latter half of the nineteenth century has seen South America, even while perpetuating the republican idea, grad- ually influenced by state-aided colonists, by Euro- pean methods, and inclined toward a collective rather than an individualistic method of develop- ment. Europe has these immense sums of money at stake there, great numbers of people domiciled there, and Europe controls all the trade except some lines of machinery and manufactured goods which we possess, or in some natural products of the earth which will gradually be lost as the pro- ductive area enlarges.

The United States, while by no means over- crowded, is still filling rapidly; our land is reason- ably well occupied, so that instead of welcoming migration we yearly make stricter laws against it, and we have within our own confines problems of civilization which demand the most far-sighted

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 347

statesmanship. Europe is overcrowded and her discontented millions must go elsewhere, while South America has millions of acres of unoccupied land which she begs may be occupied and made to add to the food-supply of mankind. Slowly but surely must South America open to the material and industrial demands of the world.

One more feature is the greatest of all. Europe — England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain — have their commercial rights which must undenia- bly be recognized; but some of them have equally undeniable ambitions to subvert the democratic idea, and they would go so far as to combine their commercial rights with their monarchical ambi- tions by laying hold of land, which then would become territories of Europe snatched from South American nations; over this land they would fly the flag of an hereditary king, and the residents therein would be subjects, not citizens. Thereby would be destroyed the sentiment of American soil for the democratic ideal. We can put no trust in the avowals of Europe; we must continue to be- lieve that the hope of territorial aggrandizement is as firm as ever.

All this has been explanatory of the interpreta- tion w^e should give the Monroe Doctrine. We can not longer maintain our oracular attitude to- ward Europe, nor should we longer irritate and confuse South America. We must have a more definite policy than that toward Cuba or even

348 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

toward the Philippines. The part we are playing now is as much a dog-in-the-manger as was that played by the English and Spanish on our western frontier in 1790; if we do not abandon it we shall, before the next fifty years have passed, be defied and mocked, as we mocked and defied these na- tions in 1800. Instead of restraining the natural currents of human activity, we should encourage the South American desire for colonization and the European attempt to satisfy it. We do not need any sphere of influence beyond the equator, nor do the republics there wish to lean upon us; they are free and independent. Argentina will soon emerge from obscurity as Japan did, and be able to adjust her score with England as may seem best to both of them. Brazil is still in the throes of creation, but the result will be a giant when her latent possibilities are uncovered. Venezuela brings us nearer home, and here, by a firmer moral suasion than we have hitherto exercised toward Cuba and Santo Domingo, and by demanding that she observe the obligation to obey the human law of expansion, she must be made to obey her own laws for the protection of citizens and aliens alike in their industrial aspirations.

This is the crux of the problem. Instead of join- ing hands with those who wish to announce a pol- icy of irresponsibility, we should insist that we are in sympathy with those who pay their debts and who have the right to demand that debts due them

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 349

must be paid, although land must not be taken in payment. We can not be confined by an alliance; this is beyond our traditions or our interests, hence it would be folly to give our adherence either to a compact with Europe to compel South America to pay her obligations, or to that un-American propo- sition embodied in the so-called Drago or Caivo doctrine. Any agreement referring to such mat- ters may well be left to liberal interpretation by a body like the Hague Congress, where the United States can stand up for justice, which, let us hope, will always be American.

But we have looked backward too much; we should now look forward, into the future, for the world is beginning a new era. Any one of the three interpretations already given to our great external policy, can, after all, be applied only to a particu- lar case. What we need and what civilization has a right to expect is a clear statement of our pur- pose. This purpose, if I understand the feelings of my fellow-citizens, and if I have fathomed the sen- timent of South Americans, is to keep hands ofif, to let each republic work out its own destiny while it recognizes and lives up to moral and financial ob- ligations; this purpose also is not to interfere in international quarrels, but to be prepared to ofifer help and encouragement to the weak in case of un- licensed aggression by the strong.

This is what Mr. Root said in his conciliatory journey through South America, yet not even the

350 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

word of such a statesman will accomplish what the patriotic citizens of those countries expect. We must look ahead for fifty years. We must not mince matters or be afraid of our responsible and unavoidable destiny. Argentina and Uruguay are free; let them develop as they may; fresh Euro- pean blood will help them and they will remain republics on a pattern best suited to themselves. Brazil needs from Europe, and also from us, assistance which she is slowly obtaining. Our atti- tude must be one of friendly neutrality south of the equator, assuring them that their autonomy will be preserved. But in the case of Venezuela a more active position must be adopted. We can not escape. The future means that if we avoid our responsibility, Europe will sooner or later demand that that beautiful but turbulent country be opened to safe colonization and secured for the uses of in- dustrial progress. We had better be in sympathy with the wholesome ambitions of Europe than to assist in perpetuating an effete and unproductive civilization, however poetic it may be. We must say to Venezuela, if you do not open your doors, obey your own laws and yield to the higher de- mands of society, we shall compel you to do so.

South America wants something definite and unmistakable, so that if we act contrary to what we propose, they can accuse us of bad faith and have reason on their side when they do so. Any- thing is better than blowing hot with one president

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 351

and cold with another. Therefore, the only straightforward course is some action by Congress which formally adopts an interpretation for the future.

4. We must define the Monroe Doctrine in pre- cise and unequivocal terms which will apply to future activities in the western hemisphere, in something like the following language:

"We disclaim any intention to seize or to govern any part of the South American continent. But international relations are much closer than they were eighty years ago, and to-day it is our duty to encourage the use for productive purposes of all land not yet brought into cultivation. As a nation we can not enter into any alliance which will array America against Europe, nor can we, therefore, give adherence to a principle which would encour- age the extension of international debts, nor irre- sponsible neglect of those already incurred. As to the collection of debts, we shall make every effort to promote their adjustment by an international claims commission, although we can not interfere if a creditor nation shall, for the good of the world, use force in compelling a debtor nation to pay its lawful obligations.

"But the privilege of working out a 'democratic destiny must be considered inalienable from Amer- ican soil, and, to preserve this privilege, we assert the right to prevent, by all the means at our com- mand, in any case of the weak against the strong,

352 THE SOUTH AMERICANS

any unauthorized attack upon any American na- tion, which has for its object and is accompanied by the elevation of a foreign flag."

If we have the courage thus formally to express our sentiment, retaining the significance given it by the originators but restated by the nation, not by any individual, the Monroe Doctrine will then become the political romance of the twentieth century.

INDEX

Aconcagua, 88

Aguirre, 157

Alfandcga, 26, 28, 31

Alvear, loi

Amateur Photographic Club, 57

Amazon, 2, 14, ']2, 80, 83, 88, 182, 186, 197, 219, 244, 294, 306

Amazonas, 206, 207

American Line, 81

American Protestant Episcopal Church and Seminary, 46

American Steamers, 58

Andean Cordilleras, 245

Andes, ii, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 88, 90, 97, 106, 140, 186, 246, 251, 290, 314, 320

Andrada, 192

Andrade, 259

Antimano, (^"j

Antofagasta, 78

Aragua River, 246

Arequipa, 75, 76

Argentina, Traveling in, 53-58, Statistics, 86, Georgraphy, 87-95, History, 96-11 1, Gov- ernment, 1 12-128, People and Present Conditions, 129-147

Argentine Corrientcs, 149

Argentine Mesopotamia, 97

Arica, -j-j, 78

Artigas, 154

Avellaneda, 108

Avenida Central (Rio), 28-30, ZZ, z(>, 38, 235

Avenida Mayo (Buenos Aires),

54 Ayacucho, 74

Baedeker de la Republica Ar- gentina, 56

Bage, 219

Bahia, 15, 19-23, 81, 137, 186, 189, 190, 206, 223, 225, 246, 298

Bahia Blanca, 56, 58, 88, 92, 121, 137, 293

Banda Oriental, 149, 154

Baranquilla, 81

Barcelona, 245, 249

Baring Brothers, 108

Batlle, 158

Bartoleme Mitre, 105, 106

Bay of All Saints, 20

Bay of Rio de Janeiro, 24, 190

Bclgrano, 100

Bellas Artes Academy, 65

Bello Horizonte, 219, 232

Bermudez, 245

Berro, 156, 157

Bible Society, 38, 296

Blanco, Guzman, 256-258, 271, 302, 307, m

Blancos, 156-158, 160, 165, 166,

171, 177, 196 Blumenau, 46, 228 Bogota, 69, 82, 225, 253, 281 Bolivar, 4, 65, 74, 252, 353, 355.

285, 303, 306, 332

355

356

INDEX

Bolivar (coin), 59, 61, 62

Bolivar Square, 65

Bolivia, 11, 72, 75-78, 80, 220,

290, 319, 329

Boliviano, ^d

Bonds, 30

Bond Street, 56

Booth Steamers, 14, 80

Borda, 159

Botanical Garden (Rio), 30, 35

Brazil, Traveling in, 16-47, Statistics, 180, Geography, 181-188, History, 189-203, Government, 204-221, People and Present Conditions, 222- 241

Brazilian Review, 38

Buenaventura, 69

Buenos Aires, 7, 15, 20, 29, 2>^, 41, 46, 50-53, 55-58, 74, 76, 79-S4, 87, 89, 90, 92, 97-99, 102-105, 107, 108, 114, 115, 117, 120-122, 124-127, 131, 134, 140, 142-144, 150, 152- 154, 157, 168, 171, 179, 219, 241, 292, 297, 298, 300, 302, 303, 313, 315, 316, 318, 341

Buenos Aires (province), 89, 100-102, 105, 115, 136

Buenos Aires and Pacific Rail- way, 83

Cajamarca. •]2 Caldera, 78 Callao, 73-75 Calle Callao, 54 Calle Florida, 56 Calle Morena, 57 Calvario Hill, 65 Candelaria Church, 35 Cape Frio, 23, 24 Cape Horn, 78, 83

Cape San Roque, 181, 183 Caracas, 7, 59-61, ^z-6t, 79, 83,

242, 243, 246, 248, 249, 252- 254, 257-259, 264, 266-268, 270, 272, 274, 279-281, 287, 296, 298, 302

Carioca Square (Rio), 34

Cartagena, 81, 82

Castro, Cipriano, 259-262, 266,

267, 274 Castro, General, 159 Castro, Julian, 255 Cattete, 29, 39 Centavo, 63, 65 Centimo, (i2> Central Railway of Brazil, 39,

174, 208, 211 Central Station, 39 Cervantes, 257 Chagres River, 68 Chamberlain, Reverend George

W., 42 Checcacupe, "jd Chile, 2, II, 72, ^^, 76, 77, 79, 80,

83, 84, 88, 97, 114, 140, 147,

165, 181, 246, 290, 319, 329 Chimbote, 72 Ciudad Bolivar, 249, 300 Colombia, it, 69, 70, 80, no,

243, 252, 253, 290, 319, 329 Colonia, 51, 150-152 Colorados, 156-158, 165, 166,

171, 177, 196 Compahia Sud Americana de

Vapores, 82 Comte, 199 Concepcion, 84 Conde d'Eu, 198 Condor, 69, 70, 77 Conservatives, 156, 158, 166 Constant. 4, 199 Coquimbo, 79

INDEX

357

Corcovado, 29, 34

Cordova, 56, 97, 99

Coro, 245, 249

Coronel, 83

Corrientes, 89

Crespo, General, 258-260

Cuestos, 159

Cumana, 245, 249, 250, 277, 282

Curasao, 58, 81, 259

Curitiba, 46, 228

Custom - House (Alfandega, Brazil), 26, 28, 31, Z^; (Uru- guay), 47; (Argentina), 53; (Venezuela), 60, 61

Cuzco, 76

Desterro, 187

Diamantina, 219

Dom Pedro I, 192, I93

Dom Pedro II, i93-i95, I97, 200

Dumont Estate, 44

Dun, R. G., and Company, 57.

318 Duran, 71

Ecuador, ii, 70, 7I, 80, 84, 192,

252, 290, 319. 329 El Dia, 341 El Encantado, 6y El Encanto, 67 Ellauri, 158 English Steamers, 14 Entre Rios, 89, 149 Eten, 72

Falcon, General, 255 Fazcndas in Brazil, 44 Federalists, 102-104 Fiftcenth-of-Novembcr Square,

26, 28 Floras, 155

Florcs, Venancio, 156, 157, 158

Fray Bentos, 51, 172

French Cable Company, 260,

261, 269 French Steamers, 15 Frio, Cape, 23, 24

Garibaldi, 155, 229

Gaul, 255

German Steamers, 14

Gerro, 50

Goyaz, 183, 232

Great Western Railway of

Brazil, 19 Guanta, 245, 258 Guaqui, 76 Guayaquil, 70, 71, 84 Guayas River, 71 Guiana, 259

Hamburg-American Line, 82

Harbor Works at Rio, 36, at Buenos Aires, 120

Harvard Astronomical Observ- atory, 76

Herrera, 159

Horn, Cape, 78, 83, 84

House of Congress in Caracas,

65 Huasco, 79

ICA, 7^

Incas, 71, 76, 140 Ipanema, 30 Iquiqui, 78 Iquitos, 80 I slay Bay, 75 Itajahy, 46

Jesuits, 3, 97, 98, I53, 190, 191 Joinville, 228

Jnrnal do Commercio, 38, 341 Jornal do Brazil, 34^ Juliaca, 76

358

INDEX

Juncal, 83 Junin, 74

La Guayra, 59-61, 63, 64, 67, 81, 83, 245, 248, 249, 257, 268

La Paz, 76, 78

La Plata, 52, 115, 120, 150, 153

La Prensa, Buenos Aires, 341

Lake Maracaibo, 245, 293

Lake Mirim, 219, 232

Lake Valencia, 246

Lamport and Holt Line, 81

La Nacion, Buenos Aires, 341

Lane, Doctor Horace, 42

Las Casas, 3, 250, 277

Las Cuevas, 83

Latorre, 158

Leopoldina Railway, in Brazil, 38, 212

L'Etoile du Sud, yj

Liberals, 156, 166

Libra, 72

Liebig Beef Company, 51, 172

Lima, yz, 7^

Lloyd Brazilciro, 83

Lopez, 106, 157, 195, 196, 306,

Z2>2 Lota, 83

Mackenzie College, 42, 239 Mackenzie, John T., 42 Macuto, 64

Magdalcna River, 82, 303 Magellan Straits, 78, 84 Magellanes, 96 Mahanovich Line, 52 Maldonado, 152 Manaos, 80, 207, 219 Maracaibo, 245, 249, 250, 258 Maracaibo Lake, 245, 293 ^Liranhao, 190 Matos, 2C0, 261, 269

Matto Grosso, 183, 191, 195, 206

Maua, 212

Medio, 63

Meiggs, Henry, 74, 84

Mcndoza, 96, 140

Mercedes, 51

Merida, 277

Michelena, 65

Milreis, 18, 21, 25, 29, 30, 32, 2>3,

217 Minas Geraes, 38, 51, 183, 184,

191, 207, 211, 219, 230, 233 Miraflores, 65 Miranda, 65, 252, 306 Mirim, Lake, 219, 232 Misericordia Hospital, 35 Misiones, 58, 89, 91, 153, 191 Alitre, Bartoleme, 105, 106 Mollendo, 74, 75, 77 Monagas Brothers, 255 Monagas, Tadeo, 255 Monroe Doctrine, 12, 322, i^i.

Chapter XX Monroe Palace, 27 Montevideo, 7, 15, 36, 41, 46-51,

55, 81, 99, 104, 148-150, 152-

155, 157, 162, 168, 169, 171,

172, 175-177, 179, 292, 296,

298, 302, 315 Mount Alisti, 76 Muller, Lauro, 230

National Library, 2)7 National Museum, 30, 35 Nico Perez, 51 Novo Friburgo, 39 Novo Hamburgo, 228 Nueva Granada, 251, 252

Oribe, 155, 332

Orinoco River, 88, 243, 249, 269, 300, 307

INDEX

359

Orinoco Valley, 244, 294 Oroya, 74 Ouvidor, 33, 34

Pacasmayo, 72

Pacific Mail Steamers, 82

Pacific Steam Navigation Com- pany, 82, 83, 84, 85

Paez, General, 253-255

Panama, 2, 7, 68, 70, 72, 73, 78, 79, 82, 83, 250

Panama Canal, 11, 68, 69, 78, 260, 290, 319, 329

Panama Railroad Steamship Company, 82, 316

Pan-American Railway, 80

Panteon, 65

Para, 83, 186, 230

Paraguay, 3, 58, 80, 97, 99, 106, 153, 157, 191, 195, 196, 261, 290, 332

Paraguay River, 97, 182, 294

Paraiso, 266

Paranagua, 46, 187

Parana (city), 150, 230

Parana River, 58, 88,90,92, 104,

155, 294 Parana (state), 183, 228 Paulistas, 191 Payta, 72 Peiia, 108 Pereira, 156 Pernambuco, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22,

81, 137, 181, 186, 190, 192, 194,

206, 217, 223, 246 Peru, 2, 3, II, 71-75, 77, 80, &4,

96, 97, 99. no, 252, 278, 290,

319, 329, 337 Peruvian Corporation, 72 Peso, 63, 69, 76, 77 Petropolis, 29, 39, 212, 225 Pisco, 75

Pisqua, 78

Pizarro, 71, 73

Plate River, 49, 87, 98, 103, 150,

168, 195, 307 Plaza 2 de Mayo, 54 Pocitos, 50, 169, 176 Porto Alegre, 137, 208, 217, 219,

229 Posadas, lOi

Praza da AcclamacSo, 35 Prince Line, 81 Prince Jo^o, 192 Prince Maurice of Nassau, 190 Princess Isabel, 198 Puerto Cabello, 67, 245, 248,

249, 258 Puerto Rico, 58, 259 Pueyrredon, lOi Puno, 76 Punta Arenas, 78, 84

QuiTANDA, 109 Quito, 70, 71, 253

Real, 63

Recife, 16-20, 23, 81, 186 (see Pernambuco)

Red "D" Line. 81

Ribera, 173

Rio Grande, 46, 187, 194, 232

Rio Grande do Sul, 149, 153, 183, 187, 195, 202, 207, 208, 216, 219, 224, 226, 228, 229, 230

Rio de Janeiro (bay), 24, 190

Rio de Janeiro, 7, 14, 15, 23,25- 41, 45, 46, 54, 59, 79, 81, 83, 84, 140, 141, 180, 181, 186, 187, 191, 192, 201, 206, 209, 211, 212, 214, 219, 225, 232, 235, 236, 240, 241, 246, 297, 298, 300, 302, 303, 315, 316, 342

360

INDEX

Rio de Janeiro (state), 39, i8j,

187, 206, 211, 230 Rio de la Plata, 2, 73, 79, 88,

96-98, 126, 150, 151, 182 Rio Negro, 51, 90, 150, 151. 243 Rivadavia, loi, 102, 104 Rivera, 51, 154, I55 River Parana, 58, 88, 90, 92, 104,

155, 294 River Plate, 49, 87, 98, 103, 150,

168, 195, 307 Roca, General, 108, 109 Rosario, 56, 58, 92, 120, 121, 137,

150

Rosas, 103, 104, 120, 155, 158, 306

Royal Mail Steam Packet Com- pany, 81, 82, 305

Rua da Quitanda, ^y

Rua do Commercio, 31

Salaverry, 72

Salto, 51

San Cristobal, 251-282

San Lorenzo, 7i

San Martin, 100, in

San Roque, Cape, 181, 183

Santa Ana do Livramento, 173

Santa Catarina, 183, 228

Santa Elena, 228

Santa Fe, 97, 102, 105, 131, 136

Santiago, 79, 84, 96

Santos, 15, 44. 45- 46, 78, 81, 186, 187, 191, 212, 219, 232

Santos (president), 158, 159

Sao Francisco, 46, 187

Sao Francisco River, 182

Sao Paulo, 13, 36, 39-45, 78, 194, 209, 211, 212, 214, 219, 232, 239, 240, 241, 246

Sao Paulo Railway, 212

Sao Paulo (state), 183, 187, 191, 201, 202, 206, 216, 223

Sao Salvador, 20-23, 81, 186

Saravia, Aparicio, 160

Sarmiento, 4, 85, 106, 107, in, 124, 273, 306, 332

Savanilla, 81

Scrgipe, 206

Silla, 251

Sloman Line, 81

Sol, 72

Solis, 96, 153

Soublette, 254

Southern Railway, 74

Straits of Magellan, 78, 84, 85

Sucre, 70

Sucre, 4, 74, 252

Sugar Loaf, 24, 25

Tachira, 246, 249, 282

Tacna, 78

Tajes, 159

Talcahuano, 83

Thomas, lOi

Tierra del Fuego, 87, 90, 344

Tiete River, 44

Tiradentes, 35, 191, 306, 332

Titicaca Lake, 74-76

Tocantins River, 182

Tovar, 255

Tramways Light and Power

Company, 42, 43, 240 Trujillo, 72, 246 Tucuman, 89, 97, 131, ^37 Tumaco, 69 Tumbez, 71 Tuy River, 246

Unitarians, 102, 104, 105 United Fruit Company's Steam- ers, 81

INDEX

361

Urquiza, 105

Uruguay, Traveling in, 47-53. Statistics, 148, Geography, 149-152, History, 153-160, Government, 161-167, People and Present Conditions, 168- 179

Uruguay River, 51, 88, 92, 97, 149, 150, 151

Uruguayana, 51

Valencia, 67, 248, 282

Valencia Lake, 246

Valdivia, 84

Valparaiso, 72, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 316

Varela, 158

Vargas, Doctor, 254, 273 Vargas Hospital, 65, 254 Venezuela, Traveling in, 58, Statistics, 242, Georgraphy, 243-249, History, 250-262, Government, 263-275, People and Present Conditions, 276- 287

Wheelright, 79, 84, 85

Y. M. C. A., 27, 38, 57. 296

Zamora, 246 Zavala, 97

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