Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-02-14
STORY OF 4 BRAZILIAN VENTURE.
How the Madeira and Mamore Railroad
Was N0t Built, and How the Men En-.
gagged Upon 1t Have Suffered.


this time with such painful results thatit
will not soon be forgotten. The last
mail from Para brought to us the news
that the Madeira and Mamore railroad
scheme had been practically Abandoned
Theoretically il has suspended opera
tions until the arrival of funds-and
that large body of destitute workmen
had been thrown upon their own reSour-
ces in a dangerous climate and among
Il strange people.
There are some features in this VEN
ture which will be worth the study OF
American capitalists; and there is GER
tainly one lesson in it which they will
do well to write in their check books
never to invest i'll an enterprise without
first knowing every feature and relation
of it perfectly. In the first place the
Madeira and Mamore railroad project
was either blunder or swindle. 1t
was designed to connect the long, high
ly expensive snd privileged navigation
of the Amazon with a half-civilized in
terror population of barely three mil
lions, whites, half-breeds and Indians
and that, too, on the supposition that
this interior population, poverty-strick
en- ard bankrupt though they are, would
hasten to make all the necessary Local
connections of railway an ,steamboa
lines through which the road could be
made available. 1t was to be built in
the wilderness, III an unhealthy climate,
at a greatly increased cost of construc-
ton, owing to its great distance from its
source of supplies, and was designed to
Il, - fNc tl,n ,Nrnl,,At- &c =,
country which could not till two respect
able freight trains u month. The secu-
rity for the contractors outlay was
sum of money in Gtigation-when the
chances were decidedly against the
company-which had been subscribed
on the promised guaranty of IA debt-re-
pudiating government, and upon the
conditional promise of Brazil to assist
after ceI tain sum had been expended.
The contract for building the road
was first taken in England, but was
wisely given up when the difficulties of
the enterprise were more fully under
stood and when Bolivia had turned her
customary back somerset in repudiating
her guaranty. The contract was taken
by Messrs. p. & 7. Collins, backed by
the Reading Coal & Iron company, who
at once entered upon the task with
praiseworthy energy, though with less
discretion than such an undertaking re-
quires. Laborers were brought out
under the most liberal promises and
under mistaken impressions of the eli
mate and country, construction supplies
were shipped in large quantities, the
United States government offered Its
encouragement by making brief sur
vey of the Amazon and Madeira rivers,
and everything seemed to go on swim
mingly. Another firm with rs little
foresight, took the contract for towing
supplies from Para to San Antonio only
to find when their steam-tugs arrived on
the scene that there were a custom
house, veXatious provincial regulations,
and an Amazon navigation monopoly
in the way which seriously interfered
with its plans. Familiar as we are with
wild speculations at home, ! doubt
whether we have ever known one so ut
terly insane as this.
After having fulfilled the first stipula-
ton OF the contract, as they claim, the
contractors found that the money was
not forthcoming; it was still locked up
in the Bank of England. The work was
stopped, as a natural consequence; and
now come complaints against the
Messrs. Collins, which, if true, should
cover them with q deeper and more
lasting disgrace than their reckless en-
terprisc has covered their business sa-
gacity with discredit. The workmen
whom they brought out from the Unit
ed States were penniless, ignorant, and
helplessly dependent upon them. How
they have discharged their responsible
ties toward these men viii, best be seen
in the following petition for assistance
to the United States Consul at Para, II
copy Of which has by chance come into
my hands, and in an extract from pri-
waite letter written by gentleman in
Para who is familiar with all the cir
cumstances.
THE woRKMEN's PETITION.
PARA, December IA, 1873. Il. s. Prin.
die, Esq, United States C5nsuln Para, Bro
I'll: DEAR SIR: We, the undersigned
members of the engineer corps and
others, late employees of p. & T. Col
Inns, contractors for the Madeira and
hdHlOTC IHlWhV, ueslTe 70 mike lHb
following statement Of facts:
On Friday, the 18th inst. the steamer
Ihe0toaiS arrived in Para with two
lighters in tow. On board of these
were two hundred and twelve men,
principally laborers, recently in p. &. T.
Collins's employ, citizens Of the United
States.
1t was distinctly asserted by Mr..
Peter Collins, and by Mr.. G. L. Moore,
United States consular agent at San
Antonio. also chief clerk for +. 4 I.
Collins that there was money standing
to the credit of P. & T. Collins in Para
sufficient to send all the men to the
United States.
On examining the credits of =. d I.
Collins in Para it is found that there is
only money sufficient to pay 9 per
centum of the amount of orders held
by the men. This amount is totally
inadequate to keep the men from
starvation, without considering the cost
of TRANSFORMATION to New York. Most