New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-28
EMANCIPATION IN BRAZIL.
THE ABoLITIoN OF SLAVERY IN THE EMPIRE
AND IT'S RESULTS.

AND lis RESULlS.
frRoM An OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT THE TRIBUNE.
Rio dc Janeiro, September D..
Three times within the present century the
history Of Brazil has presented a most singular
spcctace-that of a nation rising TO an intense
enthusiasm that bore down all distractions. The
first was when Dom Pedro I.-thcn Acting-Regent
Of King John of Portugal-expressing the senti-
ments Of the Brazilian people, uttered the memoir
able words Independence or death" which, With
out the shedding of blood banished Portuguese
rule from the American Continent The second
was when. six years later the same monarch,
sorrowfully pacing the floors OF the Imperial palace
waited for the end Of the discussion in Iarnament
that gave voice 10 the universal demand ior con-
stitutional liberty, and, when the paper was lald
before him, signed the abdication which mace him
an exile. The third when. on the lSth OF
last March, the Princess Regent Isabel IN penai1
Of her Imperial father, Dom Pedro H., signed the
Emancipation Decree. breaking the last shacKies
from the African race on the American Continent
and made the air ring with acclamations OF delight
Succeeding years have shown the beneficial
results Of the two first ebulitions Of what seemed
rather wild impulse than a reasoned course of
action hat the remote effects Of this third out
break of enthusiasm will also prove beneficial,
there is no reason TO doubt. OF its immediate
effects there is more chance for speculation. In
the northern part of the empire, where the sugar
industry Is waning and where many planters and
the majority of townsmen had anticipated the
act of freeing their slaves the opinion is expressed
that the final act Of emancipation has really made
little difference In the greater number OF In
stances the former slaves remain contentedly with
their former masters, receiving wages in place OF
their former underlined claim of protection and
support In this city. the centre of the coffee
hat VnfN ion ac
doomed the coffee interest of Brazil p lctcally
its one agricultural interest because it will now
be impossible TO continue cultivation in large
plantations, and equally impossible to cultivate
the crop advantageously in small patches
The reason signed is the poverty of the land
owners and the laborers Slavery has in 800
years produced the same uneconomic conditions
here as elsewhere. Notwithstanding the fact that
imposts on coffee gave the Imperial Treasury
four-ffths OF its entire domestic receipts, each
years crop was mortgaged in advance for the
years outlay. Thus when at the end Of 300
years the Emancipation Act frees the slave, it
finds the planter with an empty pOcket-book-
Even could he do without an income from his
lands for an indefinite PERIOD and should he parcel
out such lands among his freedmen, allottng to
each portion equal to what his labor cultivated
before, how can the freedman plant the trees and
he cannot care for those already in bearing when
he must cultivate plants for ready food; and in
the meantime himself his master and the empire
necessarily suffer loss for the coffee tree, if neg
lected nut for single season, is ruined.
The Government of Brazil is paternal, and in
this instance has been true TO its theory and come
10 the rescue Of the planters. 1t has borrowed
English capital to the amount OF SO, 900, 000 which
il has loaned without interest to the Bank of Rio de
Janeiro or condition of its adding an equal sum-
making fund of $4,000, 900 which is TO be loaned
land is being loaned) TO planters at rate not
ceeding 6 per cent. With this they can hire
laborcTs for this and next year. Under such an
arrangement this industry is being prosecuted at
present with undated energy, and the threatened
crisis is at least postponed and the Government
has presumably forestaled corner in coffee
Still observers insist that this is but temporary
expedicnt and that the crisis must come. The
great Brazilian industry, they say, has been
knocked on the head by emancipation. When this
loan is exhausted another years need will demand
another years loan, and il is absurd, they add, 10
presume that Government. which from the sugar
coffee gold and diamond crops of sxty-siX years
has not been able TO pay the loan that purchased
the Imperial crown, can go on always borrowing
TO feed it's coffee hills. In the minds of these
reasoners radical change in the industries Of the
nation must follow the changed condition Of
citizenship Such necessity may not prove an
unmixed evil TO a nation whose rivers offer I'M
rivalled facilities for commerce and water-power
for manufactures; whose mountain ranges abound
in all known minerals; whose forests contain
timber Of unexcelled quality; and whose valleys
scattered through thirty-fve degrees of latitude
and thirty-six degrees of longitude are capable Of
being made 10 produce the food supply OF the
worlds present population.
There are some, however, who look not for n
change in industries but collapse in the Govern
ment, because of the method persisted in Of man
aging the financial question. To the pessimistic
critic OF Brazilian affairs this steadily increasing
debt. this negotiating of new loans to pay inter-
est, seem to doom the Empire TO destruction.
How long, they ask, can Brazil continue at such
a ratep And they answer the question with an
ominous shake of the head England knows
what she is about" they remark. Brazil is a
rich country, and If British subjects lend money
TO Brazil Her Maiesty's Government will look TO
il that they get it back with interest. At dis
,ant day Brazil may find herself in the same po-
sition as Egypt II England does not take pos
session of Brazilian territory as indemnity, she
can establish protectorate over it and collect the
revenues till the debt is paid. Americans can
have nothing 10 say about IT, The Monroe Doc
trine has nothing to do with the Brazil
never was a republic, or even an attempt at ONE
On the other hand, the optimists argue that
Brazil never was more prosperous than she is
to-day Her currency, even paper, is practically
at par, a circumstance unknown in the past Her
credit too is better than ever before. These SAN
guine students of political economy think that
the greater part of the present loan will be paid
TO imported laborcrs. coolies, possibly Euro
peans, and that by the introduction of such labor
the planters will be enabled TO realize greater
returns than heretofore and TO pay back the loan
at an early date. While the need Of special
labor is thus supplied TO the planter, the freedmen
will betake themselves 20 the cultivation OF lands
not available for coffee culture, perhaps bringing
-. md hand nnnd lanfn N hn