Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-21
FINE LACES,
3 1.2C, Sc, 1OC

chiefly with the ak, the hoe and the bowie
knife. The trees are first cut down and
burned. The holes are dug for the cotton
seeds, and after this little more is done
except to keep down the weeds until the
cotton is ready for picking. There is no
plowing to speak of and no farming in our
sense of the word. Lands are very cheap,
and 1 do not doubt but that cotton growing
after modern methods would pay.
1t is odd to see the cotton as it is brought
here to the warehouses. Much of 1t comes
upon the backs of horses, the 200-pound
bales being slung to the sides of the saddle.
Some of 1t is brought in on OK carts and
some on low wagons.
The cotton is bound with rough sacking.
1t is often tied up with vines, being re-
packed after it reaches here. 1t is interest
ing to watch the loading and unloading of
the cotton at the presses. The negroes carry
the bales on their heads often carrying 200
or 300 pounds for block or more in this
way.
Where Cotton May BE King.
l am surprised at the extent of cotton
planting in Brazil. The amount raised is
on the increase, and the day may come when
cotton will be king in parts of Brazil as it
is in our southern states. 1t is raised north
of Rio de Janeiro all along the coast to
some distance above Pernambuco have
seen II being loaded at nearly all the ports
great deal of it goes TO the Brazilian
The government has now a tariff on cotton
goods which enables the cotton mills to
make money. Within the last ten years 100
cotton factories have been established and
the most of these are paying big dividends.
One factory paid a dividend of 60 per cent
! its first year and 10 per cent year for five
years thereafter, at the same time greatly
: pnla rRinp its Dlapf In tha Of AlpOaS
J below here. there Is a mill which produces
! $4,000 pieces of cloth a year. 1t has 4S0
workmen. The first year 1t was established
it paid a dividend of AZ per cent. The
second year it paid so per cent and the
third year 40 per cent. In the state OF
Bahia there are fifteen cotton mills. There
| Is one at Rio and they are TO be found as
far south as Sac Paulo. The southern mills
| get most OF their cotton by ships from the
north. In the state of Minas Geraes forty
six factories are in operation. Two hundred
thousand workmen are employed and thou
sands of tons of cotton are annually con-
sumed. i am told that these factories have
something like S15, 900, 900 capital. There is
a single manufacturing company in Bahia
which has $1,OOO,0O0 capital. 1t operates six
mills, running 44O looms and 1000 spindles
1t produces about 5S,O00,O 900 yards of cotton
cloth annually. One of the big factories oi
Rio de Janero imports its thread. 1t be-
longs to an Italian company and is, | an
told, doing we'll
Wages are much lower than in our cottor
factories. They range from 20 cents to s.
per day. There are no strikes and the
hours are long. Many of the factories make
goods only TO order weaving the mark ant
names of the merchants on the goods. Th'
most of the cotton manufactured is cheap
The width which the people Of the interior
prefer is twenty-siX inches, but the higher
grades of cotton goods are made in twenty
four, thiTty-two and thirty-siX inch widths
This is also a sugar country. Pernambuct
produces about 1000OO,0 900 pounds of can
sugar a year There are large sugar fac
tories and there are many factories wher
the sugar is made into the native rum, 70
which there is always steady demand
Odd Sights of a Brazilian City.
Recife is an interesting place. It's build
ings are OF bright colors, those Of the bust
ness parts of the town being two and thre
; stories. Many of them have walls of porce
lain tiles and some have ridge roofs tina
make you think Of the houses OF Holland
The town was once inhabited by Dutch, bu
the Portuguese drove the Dutch out, an
long ago the city became entirely Brazilian
Its people pride themselves on bein
among the most enteTprising OF Brazil. TIL
town has newspapers. public library, tele