Evening star., 1899-06-24

dicate which has agents going about
through Brazil and picking up everything
good in the way of electricity. They have
already got their hands to a certain ex-
tent on Rio, having built there the Villa
Isabella trai1way with the idea of equip
ping II electrically.
They have secured roads in Sac Paulo,
and are negotiating for roads irf Pernam-
buco. Pernambuco has about 2O0on peo-
pie. 1t is fiat, and car lines could be
operated without much power. The street
car rates are lower however than they are
with us. The fares from 1ls to cents
a trip. At the same time, labor is very
cheap, and most of the lines are operated
at profit.
There are telephone companies all over
Brazil You will not find a town of any size
which has not ore. The most of them pay
dividends.
Investments i'm Steam Railroads.
Brazil is growing very fast to railroad
lines. Its railways now have length of
about 5000 miles, and there is an equal
amount under survey or in course of con-
struction. The English own some of the
best of these properties, and they are
scheming 20 get hold of Others
At present the government has about B.
600 miles of lines, but these are poorly adj
miniStered end do not pay. | doubt If any
business managed by South American Off
cldlS can ever pay. Every Orlclal expects
to make squeeze or percentage out of
all the money which comes into his hands
The result is that the government roads are
badly managed and poorly administered.
The losses have been great that a law
has been recently passed authorizing the
leasing of the government railroads and
1t Is probable that they will eventually go
into the hands Of English capitalists. The
most of the railways have been construct
ed under a guarantee from the government
of per cent or per cent on the capital
invested, and many of them are now work
ed on that basis.
1t Pays so Per Cent.
One of the most profitable roads in the
world is that which runs up the mounta ms
from Santos to Jundiahy. This road has
paid as much as 80 per cent divideads, and
for years it paid 10 per cent semi-annually.
The road was first built with a government
guarantee of = per cent. 1t had a capital
of S1O,0OOOO 1t increased this to S15 O0D,-
600, and il has now made its capital $2S.-
OO,oOn 1t is now paralleling its lines in
order to accommodate the enormous bus
mess which goes over it 1t is the only
connection which Santos has with the in
terror, and the enormous coffee shipments
which go out from that port are brought
from the plantations on this railroad The
trade of Santos amounts to s15,oo0,000
year
The road shoots out of Santos to the foot
of the mountains. Here the locomotives
the hill by stationary steam engines, which
wind and unwind immense steel wire ca
tles. to which the cars are attached.
On nearly all Of the roads of Brazil there
are first. second and third-class cars. Few
of them have sleepers, and the cars, as
rule, are by no means as good as ours.
The Brazilian Central has Pullman sys-
TEN, SO that you can go from Rio Janeiro
to Sac Paulo by sleeper.
Most of the trains however, have only
day coaches. The charges for baggage are
very h=avy. My trunks have usually cost
me more than my railroad ticket Nothing
but a single handbag is allowed to be taken
into the carriages. The man who brings
more is not allowed to pass through the
gates until he has handed it over to the
express and baggage men. This is very in
convenient especially as no baggage is
checked which looks at all fragile or which
is not carefully wrapped.
Money in Steamships.
I am told that there is a great deal OF
money in Brazilian steamships. The line
on which 1 came to Para from Rio was thu
Brazilian Lloyd. This line has a monopoly
of the coasting trade of Brazil. 1t has a
large number of ships, which so from port
to port, and which are always loaded with
passengers and freight Formerly 1t made
a great deal of money, but since it has
gone into the hands of the government it
has steadily lost. Its ships are first-class
steamers of from 1000 to 5000 tons, made
in England and we'll equipped in every re-
spect. 1 am told that the line will probably
be for sale soon, and if it would be a
good investment for American capital
We should have a line of steamships from
New York to Rio de Janeiro and the other
ports on the east coast of South America.
1t is along this coast that the most of our
trade with South America is, and this
trade amounts to much more than a hun
dred million dollars year. Upon nearly
every dollar of it we have to pay percent
age to the Euro opean steamships for carry
ing the goods.
They Discriminate Against Us.
They discriminate against us and work
in favor of their own countries. This is so
even with some of the foreigners who op-
crate with American capital down here. /
heard of a German house not long ago
which does q business of importing 1t
brings in about 5000 packages every
month. its capital comes from the United
States, but it boasts that it gets its i'm
ports almost exclusively from Germany.
Indeed, number of foreign transporta-