The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-04-01
IN A TROPICAL REGION.
ODD rAcT6 ABOUT Thu Po1110
PEOPLE or VENEZUELA.
The SpIendors Of q soath American
City's Parks-The Remarkable
Career of l.uZman.HlancQ.

The splendors of q soath American
City's Parks-The Remarkable
Career OF liuzman.Blanco.
The Venezuelans are the most courte-
GUS people that can be imagined, asserts
q Caracas letter to the New York Sun.
Impoliteness is objectionable here. The
clerk, with whom you deal over his u
ter, expresses his wish that you may live
long and prosper, and thanks you CRATE
fully for giving him the pleasure of show
ing his goods. whether you purchase
anything or not. When q gentleman
meets a lady, be she his sweetheart or his
grandmother, he always says he lis ~
ing at her feet" and he would rather be
shot than be guilty of passing before her.
They are not the semi-barbarians which
some people in the northern continent
suppose. They have accomplishments
which ought to make the rest Of America
ashamed. Usually they are able to speak
three OF four languages, have refined
taste in art and music, and, while they
lack ingenuity, and usually do things in
the hardest way, they are nevertheless
possessed of the keenest perceptive fac
ulties. and almost seem to read your
thoughts. 1t is not difficult to make
known your wants, even If you
cannot understand o word of their Ian
guage. They do not allow smoking in
the street cars and public places, as in
Mexico and Havana, and, although it is
the privilege of the manculine gender to
stare at the feminine with oil the eyes
they have, the men are never rude, and
beg the pardon of a beggar when they
refuse to give him aims.
They always put the locks upon the
wrong door, and wrong side up. When
they build q house, it seems IS if they
studied the most difficult mode Of con-
struction. They erect solid walls first,
and then chisel out places for the tim
beers to rest upon. There are no stoves
or chimneys, and charcoal is the only
fuel. Gas is produced at $3.50 per l, 900
feet from American coal which costs $50
q ton. There is no glass in the windows,
but o grating of iron bars keeps out in
truders, and heavy wooden shutters keep
out the air and light. Such blinds as
are common in North America would DO
the most admirable protection in this
country; but no one has ever intro.
duced them, and the, people will con-
tinue to swelter behind solid shutters
until the end Of time,
The rooms of houses are not plasfercd,
but the joists are all exposed. The floors
are of tile, and gaudy paper is pasted
upon the walls of cement and stone. In
the court of every house are the most
beautiful flowers. Tube.roses grow in
great trees, and the oleander is as com.
mon as the lilac in New England. The
parks look like the botanical gardens OF
the North, and in the evening are always
thronged with gentlemen apd ladies until
a late hour.
The police regulations are very strict.
The other day a child was kidnapped BY
q man in q hack. Every coach driver in
the city was thrown into prison, and not
a wheel was turned unit. the child was
recovered. Drunken men are never seen
in the streets. To become intoxicated
Is to invite yourself to work ten or
twenty days in the chain gang; and to
see the way in which prisoners are treated
is an inducement to be temperate.
The president of Venezuela, General
Crespo, is a mulatto Of fine stature and
commanding presence. He wears Louis
Napoleon mustache and imperial, and is
rather sluggish in his disposition. Ac-
cordinp to common understanding he 10
simply the mask of Guzman- Blanco, WHO'S
prevented from being perpetual president
BY a constitutional provision which pro-
hibits the re .election of q chief magistrate
without an intervening term. So, they
saw. Guzman serves as President every
other two years in his own name, and
puts up q dummy every alternate term.
Guzman. Blanco was born in the midst
of revolution, and lived in revolution
until he obtained the mastery Of the
country himself. For some time during
Buchanan's administration he was secrc.
tary of the Venezuelan legation at Wash
ington, and has made several visits to
the United States. The latest was last
summer, when on his way to Europe,
and there was a scandal in New York,
because q Fifth avenue dentist charged
him $40. 900 for tinkering the teeth OF
his family.
After serving in various military caps-
cities, Guzman finally, by his ability.
courage, and force of character, became
commander of the army, from which
post, in 1871, he easily stepped into the
presidency. His authority was disputed
for several years. but he kept strength
ening himself until he became. and still
is, as absolute q dictator as exercises
power anywhere on the globe. There
has hot been a law or decree, not even
the slightest official act performed in
Venezuela during the last ten or twelve
wears without his sanction, and, whether
he sits in the chair of the president or
ENJOYS life at his hotel in London or
Paris, he is the acknowledged head and
ruler of the republic.
The debt of Venezuela amounts to
about $25, 600, 900 of principal and accu-
mulated interest. When Guzman-B lanco
became president the bonds were worth.
less. His first endeavor after securing
peace was to establish the credit OF. his
country. He went to London himself
and secured the funding of the loan Mt a
lower rate of interest, which has since
been paid promptly in advance every
thirty DAYS. The bonds are now worth
from forty to nifty per cent. of par, and
their security is guaranteed by the fact
that Guzman himself has several millions
of dollars invested in them.
Bolivar is known here as the Liberia.
tor, while Guzman takes the grandiose
title of Pacific tor and Rcgcnera'or OF
the republic-and he has earned it.
From the time the Spanish viceroy was
driven out. after a struggle OF sixteen
wears, until 1874, Venezuela knew no
peace, and was rapidly relrogradlng into
barbarism. Guzman first pacihed and
then regenerated the people. They re.
ouired rigid discipline, and Guzman was
the man to enforce it; they required to
be driven with q stiff rein, and he had
the strength of character and the ability
to guide them.
Next he commenced an extensive sys-
tenn of public improvement, giving idle
men employment and laborers good
e He built government offices,
palaces, laid out parks. erected statues,
paved streets, erected an aqueduct
tweuty.sevcn miles long to bring pure
water from the mountains to the city,
bridged streams. repaired churches which
had been hacked and torn in revolutions,
filled the plazas with beautiful flowers
and crowned his free school system with
a university, bringing learned men from
Germany to ill the chairs. -.
Finally he established IN exposition,
where were exhibited the products OF
the country and where its resources were
illustrated by object lessons. He had the
unknown territory Of the republic OK.
plored, and then offered a large bounty
to steamship companies for every lmmi'
grant brought into the country. he gives
free land and free passages to every
settler, and two dollars per capita for
each member of the family for five years
after their arrival.
Guzman docs not propose that poster.