The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-29


hair of the horses name and tail was
strung with pearls Later on, to the wealth
of the mines was added that of the guano,
and Peru got hundreds of millions of dollars
out of her manure piles. This source of
wealth was being worked when the great
nitrate fields were discovered and in 1878
Peru exported $17,5O0,OOO worth of nitrate.
which, in the then value of silver was
worth nearly twice as much as all her ex-
| ports in 1896 The total exports that year
were 47,000O00, and the government receipts
from guano and nitrate and other sources
were more than 1000, 000 Then the Chile
| ans, who were poor, cast their covetous
eyes upon these riches. They trumped up an
excuse for war about their boundary lines
and invaded the country. They had about
| twenty-five thousand men, and they laid
| Peru waste demanding ransom of various
| sections and destroying everything when it
was not granted. AT Chimbote, north of
here, there was a sugar factory and railroad
| shops filled with fine machinery imported
| from the United States. The Chilean general
demanded that the owners should pay him
100000 in three days. They could not and he
| blew up the machinery with dynamite. de-
| stroyed the beautiful houses OF the hacen-
das and killed five hundred sheep. which his
army destroyed the magnificent residences
| at the summer resorts below Lima. In their
| fights they gave no quarter, bayoneting not
only the wounded soldiers, but the defense
less civilians as well. They looted Lima, TAX
| ing the university for a barracks and de-
| stroying the archives. They also sacked the
public library, which contained fifty thou
sand volumes and many valuable manu-
scripts They even robbed the geological
garden, sending an elephant to Chile They
cleaned out the palace and the treasury and
collected millions in the way of customs,
getting $2S, 600 GOO in one year from that
source alone. The war lasted for nearly
three years and when it was closed by the
cession to Chile of the nitrate territory,
which she coveted, Peru had been raked by
the Chilean soldiers with a fine tooth
comb, and nearly everything of value taken
away. L understand that the Chileans have
now about used up all that they stole and
that they making trouble with the Ar
gentines in the hope of another great haul.
Since then Peru has had number of revo-
lutions such as 1 have described and be-
| tween the upper and neither milstones of
personal politics. the people have had little
chance to do anything but keep out of the
way of the bullets.
PRESIDENT AND CHURCH.
Since Pierola has been President, however,
the country has been remarkably quiet, and
| the general belief here is that this will con-
| tinue. Business is steadily growing better
| and there are a number of movements I'M
| der way for internal development Foreign
| capital is coming in and the President is
| doing what he can to encourage it. He is
| improving Lima, repairing the great cathe-
dral building a new city postoffice, and, as
| far as possible, reorganizing the army. The
| President of q South American republic has
| far more power in some things than the
President of the United States. He practical
| ly decides everything although his Cabinet
| ministers must approve his acts to make
| them valid. He practically controls Con-
gress to a large extent grants the conces-
sions which are given for public and private
| works and has much to do with the man
agement of the revenues. This country is,
| you know, a Catholic country. The Pope
| sends delegate to the court of Peru and
| there are more priests here than congress-
men. All other religions excepting the
| Catholic are prohibited by the constitution,
| though Protestant church services are toll
! Grated in Lima and Callao. There are only
| 5000 Protestants in all Peru, and until last
| fall marriage to be legitimate had to be
celebrated in the Catholic Church and ac-
| cording to it's ceremonies. The offsprings
of other marriages were not considered
legitimate, and the average Peruvian looked
upon the married foreigners here as living
outside the marriage relation. 1t was large
ly through Pierola that this has been
changed and 1 am told he would like to
restrict the powers of the priests still
further, though it seems to me that the
money he is spending on the churches shows
he is trying to curry favor with the clerical
factions.
THE CONGRESS OF PERU.
paid visit to-day to the two houses of
Congress of Peru This country has a con-
stitution which is modelled somewhat after
ours. Fhe law-making power is composed of
a Senate and House of Deputies The sena-
tors are elected for four years and the depu-
ties for two. The sessions begin on the 2sth
of July, which is the anniversary of Peru's
independence of Spain, and they last ninety
days. The salary of each member of Con-
gress IS SIS in silver day, or about $3.50 in
our money. Deputies must be twenty-five
years of age and have an income Of $500
year. Senators must be thirty-ive years of
age and their incomes must be 81 900 year.
If the members are however, professors of
science. the question of income is not
raised.
Both houses are on the Plaza of the In
QUESTION, where that terrible court sat in
times past. Peru was the center of Catholi-
cism in western South America for more
than two centuries, and from the Isthums of
Panama to the Straits of Magellan heretics
were brought here to be tried. The most
horrible of tortures were used and many
were burned at the stake. 1t is a strange
commentary on the changes Of Sthe times
that the Senate of Peru sits to-day in the
very room in which the inquistion court
held its sessions, and that speeches in favor
of free thought are made in the very hall
in which the most terrible bigots of the
past were tortured and slaughtered under
the name of religion. Even to-day bigotry is
common in the mountain districts, and /
am told that priest is now in Jail here for
having caused a witch to be burned al the
stake. The old hall Of the inquisition, where
the Senate meets, has a ceiling OF dark
wood, wonderfully carved. The room is long
and narrow and this ceiling is, judge,
about thirty feet above the floor The front
of the Senate is being remodeled An en-
trance like that of the Parthenon at Athens
Is being added to 1t. and 1T now looks more
like a Greek temple than an old Spanish
structure. photographed the front during
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