The Indianapolis journal., 1899-02-26

brain stimuIant, and that it has no bad ef-
fects If used in moderation. / have tried II
several times but always burn my tongue
with the tube. The tea tastes to me some
what like a decoctlon of quinine and hay,
and I doubt If 1 shall ever be able to acquire
a love for 1t.
A BANK FOR FARMERS.
Returning TO the banks, one of the queer
est financial institutions of Paraguay is the
Agricultural Bank This Is managed by
the government. 1t is a sort of combina-
tion of a. bank and an agricultural depart
ment. Its business is to help along agri-
culture by introducing seeds and tools and
by loaning money to farmers on farm prop
erty. 1t has capital of about half a mil
lion dollars, gold. 1t loans on about half
the assessed value of the property, chsrg-
ing what is here considered the very low
interest rate of per cent. Connected with
it there is a warehouse, which is filled with
farming implements and seeds. The Of
fcials say the institution is success, al
though such banks in other parts of South
America have ended in failures. This bank
is one of the methods by which the Para
guayan government is trying to build up its
farming interests. The government also
offers inducements to immigrants, giving
each new settler some agricultural machin-
cry, eighty acres of land and loan OF
II cents month for seven months for each
adult and cents for each child. 1t gives
each immigrant milk COW, oxen and
seeds, and also agrees to pay his passage
from Buenos Ayres UP to Asuncion. There
are strings attached to some of the above
gifts by which the immigrants pay back in
installments for all they receive outside the
land.
The immigrants who come to Paraguay
settle in colonies and not upon their farms.
There are scattered over the country per-
haps a half dozen colonies composed of diff
ferent nationalities. There is one not far
from Asuncion called San Bernardino popu-
lated by Germans. There is another of
Australians who got up a brotherly love
scheme and came to Paraguay to live after
the Golden Rule. They began enthusiastic
ally. They chartered a ship, each selling his
property and putting the money into the
general fund. In order to cut down the ex-
penses they divided the work on the voyage
among the different members of the colony.
They had hardly left Australia before the
Golden Rule was kicked higher than Glide
roys kite, and when it fell it came down in
a thousand pieces. These brotherly lovers
of throwing the dishes at one another dur
ing the trip, and by the time they reached
Asuncion they were quarreling as discord-
antly as so many strange parrots. They
soon became disgusted with themselves and
their lands have now been redivided.
Another colony of special interest to the
United States is just across the river from
Asuncion, in the Chaco This was named
after President Hayes because he decided
a territorial question between the Argen-
tine and Paraguay in favor of the latter.
The colony is called Villa Hayes, but they
pronounce it here as though it were spelled
Villa Eyes, for that is the way the Span
iards pronounce Hayes. This colony, named
after our good President, who, it will be
remembered shuddered when they talked
of putting Roman punch on the White
House table, is largely engaged in cultivat-
ing sugar cane and distiiling its juice into a
rum SO villainous that it will kill at forty
rods. Inasmuch as rum is an article that is
in demand in all parts of Paraguay at all
times, the colony is probably in a good
financial condition.
FRANK G. CARPENTER