The Indianapolis journal., 1899-02-26


for instance, being dirty and unhealthy to
an extreme.
Although Asuncion is older than any city
of North America, it appears delightfully."-
clean and fresh. Its streets cross one an
other at right angles. and they slope to-
ward the water that every good rain
washes them clean. We have sixty inches
OF rain here verey year, and when it does
rain it pours. Only a few of the streets
are paved. The most of them are of red
sand, giving the city rose-tinted founda-
tion.
Let notice the houses. They are built
close to the sidewalks in solid blocks,
forming great one-story walls, with here
and there a door or an iron-barred window
opening into the street. You can tell the
different houses by the colors. Some are
painted rose pink, others sky blue, some
blood red and others of all the tints of yell
low and green. We are now going toward
the postofIice 1t is a light lavender On
our way we pass a markethouse, painted
rose pink, and a little farther on there is a
cathedral the color of rich Jersey cream.
Even the public buildings are painted. The
Presidents palace has a tinted exterior.
The houses Of Congress are Of a delicate
lilac, while the official newspaper is print
ed in a monastery-like structure Of Indian
red.
AsUNCION's CHARACTERISTICS.
It seems funny to think of newspapers in
Paraguay But there are newsboys every
where poking their dailies under your nose.
The papers are printed in Spanish and they
sell for 10 cents a copy, or about cents
of our money They are folios of the old
blanket-sheet shape, containing little news,
but big advertisements. Here is one that
has telegraphic dispatches, including cables
from washington and Rome. Asuncion has
telegraph line connecting 1t with Buenos
Ayres, from where dispatches can be sent
to all parts of the world. There are also
one or two wires to the interior OF the
country. and these are patronized to such
an extent that $4,000 messages were re-
ceived last year.
Asuncion has telephones. They are owned
by a stock company which pays dividends
of "a per cent. every year, NOTWITHSTANDING
that it's telephone rates are lower than any
in the United States The company charges
business houses 81 gold per month and for
telephones in residences the monthly charge
is only $50 in gold.
We can visit the central station 1t is an
interesting sight. The hello girls of Par
own hello girls, and some of them are quite
pretty Most of them are in their bare feet,
and their Iow-neck dresses are as white as
the orange blossoms that some of the girls
wear in their hair. There are orange trees
| lust back of the Office, so that the flowers
are ready at hand. The girls stand up to
| their work, making the connections by put
| ting pegs in and out of wall of numbered
| holes, thereby bringing together the various
| customers. I ask the manager some ques-
| tions as to salaries and am told that each
| girl receives about $6 gold a month, or $3.50
| a week.
We see tram cars on the principal strees.
| The cars are open at the side and are so
| rudey made that they seem to have been
chopped out with hatchet Each is drawn
| by three mules, which go on the dead gallop
and the cars run so far apart that you often
! have to wait a half hour for a ride. The
| different lines connect the wharves with the
railroad depot, and they go out to the sub
urban towns. They are well patronized, but
are not paying investments
1t is the same with Paraguay's only
| steam railroad. This was built under a
| guarantee from the government by English
| constructors. The English made money by
! building it, but the road has paid no divi-
|
miles into the interior. 1t connects Villa
| Rica with Asuncion, and will be extended,
| it is said, down to the Parana river. An
| other line which is talked Of but which L
| fear will not soon be constructed, is to run
| from .Asuncion to the port of Santos, Brazil,
| on the Atlantic. Such road, while very
expensive to build, would open much good
country and would probably have a large
| traffic.
| BANKS WHICH BEAT PER CENT.
One of the queerest things about Asun-
| con is the money. That in circulation is a
paper currency, poorly printed and of poor
material. 1t now comes from Germany and
| is not nearly SO good as the old paper
money which was made in the United
| States. The bank notes are in all denomi-
nations. from cents to 500, and the paper
| is at such a discount that a Paraguayan
dollar is now worth about 13 cents Of our
money. The banks of Asuncion handle this
| stuff by the basketful. They cord it up like
| paper, and they are making lot of money
| out of their business.
Indeed it seems to me there is a chance for
| some Of our Idle American funds to be used
| in banking in Paraguay. The usual rate of
| interest outside the banks is Is per cent, and
| in the banks you cannot borrow money for
| less than per cent. per month. The usual
! discount rate is II per cent, and a bank
| gives no favors without receiving a money
compensation AS a result the banks pay big
| dividends. Take the Mercantile Bank of
| Paraguay, upon which l have letters of
credit. This bank paid a dividend of 16 per
cent. last year and its president tells me
it has never paid less than 10 per cent It's
capital is only $4,000 in gold, and still its
business last year amounted to S2,0O0.O00
| The Territorial Bank. which has a capital
| of $4,000, paid a dividend of IL per cent
last year, and other private banks do, it is
| said, even better.
| From these figures it will be seen that it
| takes a good deal of money to do the busi-
ness of Paraguay There is now between
$SOO0,0OO and s10,0O0,O00 of Paraguayan
money in circulation, and the government
is trying to increase the value of the cur
rency by Withdrawing a certain amount
every year. 1t takes about s5,O0Oo00 an
nually to run the government, and the ex-
ports and imports amount to about Sl4OO0, COO
in gold a year.
Considerable money is made in the rais-
ing of cattle. There is a great deal invested
in shipping hides and a large amount in
preparing and shipping mate or Paraguayan