Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-11-29

were dependent and provided for; yester-
day, to see the law of the land recogniz-
ing them as the property of certain indi-
viduals, today taking from those individ-
uals by another law their property and
turning that property loose, so to speak;
to see the former slave-owners grum-
bling and complaining because of the
loss of their property; to see a tax or
duty levied and collected, even to this
day, to compensate those eX-masters for
the loss of their property and yet they
not receiving, it is said, one penny of the
tax collected to see short crops and lit
tie business /; yellow fever ravaging cities
and drouth devastating different parts of
the country to see Brazil's debt, amount
ing, it is estimated, to 100000, 900, and
yet to see her making loans anu foreign
ers anxious to take the loans; to see the
English sovereign and the American dol
lar worth less than Brazilian paper; to
see banks being established with power
to issue money to three times the amount
of their deposits-tO see these things and
not to know why or to understand how
they are so is certainly something very
much to be wondered at, and, added to
all this, to know that the impOrtations of
the country exceed the expectations, if
am rightly informed. Such is the coun-
try today.
Having spoken of the Liberal and the
Conservative parties, let me give you an
outline of the policy pursued by the Lib
eral party as set forth by the ministry in
May last, and which, with other things,
gave them a walk-over in the last cleo
ton. Their policy is defined as a liberal,
progressive policy for the country.
Among other things, the most important
are: First, "extension of the ballot"
every adult Brazilian citizen, regard
less of his income, who can read and
write and exercises or practices profess
sion, shall be allowed to vote" Now a
property qualification determines the
voter-or,an income that will enable a man
to pay at least 200 milreis--about Sl00-a
month for house rent. Another plank is
"provincial autonomy" The president
of each province to be appointed by the
emperor, and the president to have the
appointing of all purely provincial Off
Gals "Freedom of worship" is in the
platform also. Protestants have now
liberty to assemble for worship, but they
are not allowed to erect buildings having
the external appearance of church.
| Protestant ministers are allowed to per-
form the marriage rite of Protestants,
but are prohibited, | believe from unit
ing Catholic and Protestant in marriage,
If the parties declare themselves such.
"Civil marriages" is another plank in the
Liberal platform. ELECTION of Senators
for term of years. instead of life ten
ure, as now, is also one of the proposed
changes.
There are two houses of parliament, as
is known, the Senate and the Chamber OF
Deputies. The Senators are now elected
first, by the voters; then the emperor
chooses from the three who receive the
highest number of votes. Deputies are
elected by the voters once in four years
The whole number of Senators from the
20 provinces is 60, as at present estab
lished. The number of Deputies from
the same provinces is 125. The whole
number of voters is estimated at abOu
100000 in IA population of $4,000, 900
The province having the largest number
of voters is said to be Minas Geraes
south of Bahia-it is IL fine agricultural
province-having a voting population o
81, 800, electing 10 Senators and 20 Dep
uties. The province of Bahia comes
next with $4,000 voters, electing sever
. Senators and ii Deputies. The entir
population of the province of Bahia i
put down as ,S2l 900. The number o
square kilometres in the province i
426,427
1t might be interesting to know tina
the principal article exported from Ba
hia is tobacco, nearly all of which goe
to Germany and is chiefly manufacture
into snuff. Besides tobacco, there ar
exported sugar, coffee, cocoa, piassava
, IA fibre from which brushes, brooms
etc, are made-bread fruit, difieren
kinds of woods, diamonds, carbonate
f hides, gOatskins, etc.
+ Nearly all the sugar. coffee and coco
, are shipped to the United States. Indi
/ rubber, too, is shipped from Bahia
though in very small quantities, whe
compared with what is shipped from tn
provinces of Para, Maranham and Anna
zonas, all lying near the Amazon an
p said to form the largest rubber district i
: the world. Now that slavery is abo
! ished and the former owners are receiN
: ing loans from the government, to stal
1. them again upon their plantations-the
o loans extending on good security for fl
: teen years, -should there be no intern;
q disturbance in the country, with tn
f economic crisis passed and the planter
!. able to see they can get on without slaN
y labor-the future of Brazil promise
y prosperity and progress. Y.