Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-04-03
This Is the headquarters of the army, ano
the scene of a revolution now and then.
A Land of Fat Concessions.

VILLAGE. -
This Is the headquarters of the army. and
the scene of a revolution now and then.
A Land of Fat Concessions.
II Is at Boeota that the president lives.
and here the congress meets. 1t is here
that the fat concessions are given out.
Colombia is a land of concessions j have
told you of the big fortunes which Ameri-
cans have made out of the Panama rail-
road, which now pays a quarter OF a mil
lion dollars a year to the government. An
other valuable concession Is the salt mo
nopoly. No salt can be sold except by the
party owning this concession. AZ present
the owner is Mrs. NuneZ, the widow of the
late President NuneZ. She has salt mines
bia with a very poor article at very high
prices. Tobacco is another concession; ano
playing cards another. &c The IN ga aar fns
the right to keep other people out of the
sas'h CAD a to Dc It. There is. 81 course,
there was during the old canal days. but
every once in a while they catch a sucker,
as they did just before ! arrived When Z
roulette. Another concession at Panama
is the lottery. This is owned by, a stock
company which has a capital Of 10000.
year. and 1000 tickets at a dollar apiece
are sold every week. The prizes range
from 5000 downward. You see the lottery
and children, black and white. accost you
in the hotels, on the streets and In the
railroad trains. and offer you chances for
ing the lottery office on Sunday when the
drawing was going on and stopped In.
little boy Of about 5 years of g had
a table. In front of him was a revolving
wire basket filled with hollow ivory balls,
each containing one of the numbers from
- IN ~rHo rIyn r-oo hir and n
boy picked out a ball: The number in it
was the thousands of the prize. another
whirl gave the figure for the hundreds, a
third for the tens and a fourth for the
units. The whole thing was fair enough.
only, as the alcade, or city judge. In charge
told me, there. was only about one chance
in five hundred Of a ticket holder drawing
anything. The president of this company
is a naturalized American citizen named
Duque. He is the owner OF the on MY Paper pa Se1
worth of lottery stock are about $4,000 in
silver a year.
There is a chance for a concession here
for water works. Panama Is now supplied
with water by peddlers.- who go. about
through the streets. seated on barrel carts.
each of which is pulled by a mule. In the
There is. l am told, good water In the hills
twelve miles away. and 1t could easily be
piped to the city. Panama has about 2o,VD
people.
The Gold Mines of Colombia.
The idea prevails in the United States
that the greater part of South America Is
low, moist and unhealthful. This is not 80.
There are vast areas here which are as
salubrious as any part of North America.
NJ. Kennedy, an American mining engineer
who has prospected in all parts Of our con
tells me that for every habitable square
mile in North America there Is an equally
rich and healthful square mile here, and
areas of undeveloped agricultural territory
which nave not been touched. He says
gold as wen as in other things and pre-
diets that the eyes Of the world will soon
be turned southwark; In Colombia the
most OF 1.-THE the people er .r I've n,a 6aek and from Ta,, ens
Of vast extent from 1900 to 5000 and more
feet above the sea. Colombia is a land Of
wash oSi the - soil OIL anyWhere along the rivers
without finding. what the miners call color.
1 saw men washing the sands of the sea in
they did not get much. 1 am told that they
It was here that the spaniards got some OF
aggregate Of 100000 worth Of precious
metals has been taken out of Colombia a
great deal of mining is now going on n
the department or state Of Antigua, which
is reached by going several hundreds Of
miles up the Magdalena river. Here small
diamonds are sometimes found with the
gold. English parties own a number Of the
best mines in this region, and much capital
is invested. There are now between 300 and
400 miles being worked in Colombia
A Golden Cure for All Disease.
Nearly all of the Indian tribes have more
or less gold. 1 have been told Of a curious
method which the church has OF getting
the Indians to give up their gold. They
are prone to hoard II, but as they are very
superstitious the priests have in some OF
the churches the images Of certain saints
who are supposed to cure disease, but .te
whom must first be offered in gold a NINA
ture image of the part which Is diseased
II a man has a sore leg ne molds a little
leg Of gold-it may be the size Of his little
finger, it may be larger-and offers it to thu
saint. 1t Is hung up before his blessednes:
on a string with other similar offerings Of
golden eyes, teeth. heads and legs for 6
time and II the sore part gets well the In.
dian is convinced the saint and the golC
did the work. Mr.. Mansfield, an American
electrical engineer, who is in charge of tn
electric lights and the street railway o.
Panama, Is my authority for this state
such relics from the priests in the interior
but that though they acknowledge tina
they melt up and use the relics after {
time they will not sell them
A Paradise for a Patent Medicine MAJ
Mr.. Mansfield is generally considered
one of the best of the foreign authorities Oh
the wonderful wealth of vegetable life o
the Isthmus of Panama Before I lef
Washington I was asked by the secretar.
of agriculture to look up certain plant!
and trees which it is thought might profit
ably be introduced into the United States
was the Platonic bamboo, which is sal