Wichita eagle., 1889-10-25
TWO NOTEWORTHY FACTS ABOUT
THE PEOPLE OF COLOMBIA.

Ricardo Becerra. in Harpers.
There are among them no large for
tunes, and it may even be said that there
are not more than ten persons In the
whole country who possess a fortune OF
over million dollars, On the other
hand, a certain material well-being is
common among all classes of the popu-
lation, excepting only those who, through
| thriftlessness or laziness, refuse to work
subsisting on the spontaneous produc-
lions of the soil. 1t may be said that in
Santander and in Antioquia there is not
single laborer who does not own his
own house and plot of ground, together
with few head of cattle and three or
four mules. A like state of things exists
in Tolima and in certain sections of the
rich valley of Cauca. In Cundinamarca
and in Boyaca the distribution of wealth
is less satisfactory, for the laborer there
lives wretchedly, and saves nothing out
of his scanty wages. The general pros
perity of the county is further increased
by the equitable division of the land
among the people, more especially since
1860. when it was decreed that the Cath
olic church should no longer hold prop
erty in mortmain, the value of the prop
erty owned by her, amounting then to
S14 200, 900, having at least trlpled itself
since that time.
The second noteworthy fact regarding
Colombia is the eminently national char
acter of the progress made by her.
While the Argentine Republic, Chill.
Brazil, Peru, and even Venezuela, have
received a powerful impulse, moral as
well as material, by the introduction
i,,<,> trio Nf loro Of
foreign capital and of thousands of for
eign laborers, Colombia, with the single
exception of the territory of Panama,
and Notwithstanding the extreme liber-
atty of her institutions, has hitherto
lacked, and still lacks, this potent ele-
ment of progress. Thus, while the other
countries of America develop and be-
come strong and vicious by the infusion
of rich European blood, Colombia sub
ssts and progresses, though slowly it Is
true. by the almost unaided force OF her
own vital elements. There are fewer
Europeans and North Americans resi-
dents on e. soil than there are on that
of any otter Spanish-American country:
and almost all the manufactures ana the
larger number of the great enterprises
existing in the country are in the hands
of natives, and are supported by native
capital Wholesale and retail trade
even that carried on with other countries,
especially that of Ecuador and the var
ious European seaports large part of
the mining industry, the whole of the
agricultural industry, the navigation of
the Magdalena, the Cauca, and the river
Lebrija, the banking and commission
houses, and, finally, five of the railways
in course of construction. are in the
hands of Columbians, and have been
established and maintained by Column
bian capital and credit.
The formal debt of Columbia, the resi-
due of that contracted by her in union
with Nenzuela and Ecuador for the pur-
pose of defraying the expenses incurred
in gaining her independence, hardly
reaches eleven millians, while that oc-
casioned by her trade and other indus
tries probably does not exceed two. For
eign capital has been employed in Col
ombia only in the work on the Isthmus
of Panama, IL the construction OF the
railroad from Sayanilla TO the NADIA
lena, and in some few commercial en-
erprises IN Cucuta and Antioquia.
American. English, and French capital
has lately been employed in the working
Of various mines recently discovered.
The revenues of the nation for the two
years 1SSs-s9 are estimated at twenty
millions of dollars, derived from the Gus
toms. the working of the national sale