Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-01-03

SPAN, protracteQ through 20 years, ter
minated in the establishment of the in
dependent states of Mexico, Guatemala,
San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Costa RIGA, Venezuela, Colombia, Ec-
uador, Peru, Chilli Bolivia, the Argen-
tine Republic, Uruguay and Paraguay.
to which the empire Of Brazil came in
time to be added. These events neces-
sarily enlarged the sphere of action Of
the United States, and essentially modi-
fled our relations with Europe and our
attitude to the rest of this continent"
THE GREAT MOUTH OF THE oRINoCo
The Inspiration of Every Move That
Great Britain Has Made.
Always after the great mouth of the
Orinoco" can be truly said to have been
the inspiration of every move that
Great Britain has made and every posi-
ton she has taken on the question of
the boundary between her province of
British Guiana and the republic of Ven
ezuela. This object has been kept stead
lily in view from the time she first ac-
quired possession of the three small
Dutch colonies lying on the coast, be-
tween the Essequibo and Corinto riv-
ers. Spain was the possessor by right
of discovery. The Dutch only held pos
session by sufferance on the part of
Spain-and they could pass no more IT,
tie to Great Britain than they held
themselves, says writer in the San
Francisco Call.
And in any case her cession was in
no respect binding on Spain, as she was
ne ri IN hQ Of
by any act confirmed it, nor has Ven
ezuela, after her, ever conceded foot
Of territory west of the Essequibo river
to Great Britain. No sooner did these
colonies, with their shadow of title,
come into the possession of Great Brit
ain than began the series Of moves, cal
ways after the great mouth of the ORR
noco." And this policy has been stead
lily followed through all the succeeding
years and the various and changing
ministries that have held the helm of
state in England. Her diplomats, well
trained in the history of her colonial
acquisitions and the art of letting time
develop a small holding into claim to
an empire, have kept in view during all
these years the golden stream of wealth
that would ultimately flow into her cof-
fers could she but make good her foot
hold on the great mouth of the Orinoco
and so control the future commerce of
the tributary regions. Once thus estab
lished it will take something more than
protests and remonstrances to induce
her to withdraw. The control Of this
river means to Great Britain the control
Of a region far greater in extent than
her vast Indian empire and far richer in
natural wealth and resources-a region
as large as our Mississippi valley, en-
bracing within its borders, in broad and
varied zones, all the ranges Of climate
and product TO be found in journey
from the sources of the Nile to the Arc
tic ocean. 1t means the control of 200,-
900 square leagues of the best watered
and most fertile country in the world
a country whose soil Is still virgin and
its rich and varied resources practically
untouched.
The control of the Orinoco means the
control of the development of this vast
empire and centuries, maybe, of con-
tinued and increasing wealth to be
SKINNED from the deep and broad
stream of trade that in time will flow
from this region through this its nat
ural gateway.
The Orinoco is a much more import
ant stream from a commercial point of
view than it's neighbor the Amazon.
The latter for nearly 5000 miles runs
under the same parallel of latitude and
with little difference of altitude and
consequently little difference of prod
ucts to stimulate trade between differ
ent points along its course as in the case
of our Mississippi. Its broad mouth,
$50 miles wide, and the position and di-
rection of the stream in relation to the
ocean tidal wave form a great him
drance to safe navigation, to say moth
ing of the uninhabitable character of
it's "silvas," which stretch from it's
mouth nearly to the borders of Peru
With the Orinoco 1t is very different
1t presents few, if any, obstacles to nav
igation from it's mouth to its junction
with the Cassiquian river, nearly 1900
miles. 1t receives from the west a
broad sheet of affiuents that take their
rise almost within sight of the Pacific
ocean, giving the broad and fertile re-
gions which they drain easy access to
the Atlantic.
BY the Cassiquian the Orinoco is con-
nected with the Rio Negro. one of the
largest tributaries Of the Amazon, and
other streams that make up the 10000
miles of navigable water in the Amazon
valley.
The Cassiquian is 100 miles long and
as broad as the Rhine. Though now ly-
ing useless, as 1t were, between and
connecting these great river basins, 1t
is destined in time to play as important
a part in the commerce of the world as
the Suez canal now does. Boats de-
scending the tributaries of the Amazon
from the very Pacific coasts of Colon
bia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia will find
a ready exit with their freights to the
Atlantic through the Rio Negro, the
Cassiquian and the Orinoco rivers.
The trade of this region naturally be-
longs to the United States, and the
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico
form the only inland body of water on
the western continent-barring Hudson
Bay-and this inland sea is bound to
play a great part in the future history
and progress of civilization as the Medi-
terranean has done in the past. Border
ing its shores on the north we have our
own country, on the south this vast
and rich Amazon-Orinoco region-the
two brought into close connection by
the Mississippi and Orinoco rivers.
The difference in people and products
will exercise a mutually happy in
f1uence on the commercial industries
and development of the two regions and
tbeir trade relations and stimulate their