Evening star., 1901-08-31

| citizen usually waits until a revolution
! comes along and settles his grudges at
that time The people are absolutely lack
Ing In any sense of gratitude as a nation.
They are yelping now at America on ac-
count of the asphalt affair. few years
ago when we stood between them and Eng
land they Were swearing eternal gratl.ude
to the great republic of the north. what
the people need ise a strong hand and
curb bit. A strong wise dictator like Diaz
might do much for the country. AS It Is
there is no stability to attract capital II
the governments needs money 1t Simply calls
on the rich men or companies holding con-
cess1ons for as much as they think they
can bleed them for. The government rarely
pays any interest on the national debt,
although there is a good government reve-
nue.. AS a nation nothing is ever done for
the future. Here is a country with tre-
mendously rich and fertile valleys ana
huge undeveloped copper. iron and coal
mines These riches have scarcely been
touched, and the native population is utter
iy and absolutely inefficient to develop the
contained forces of the country. 1t Is
great continent simply held in reserve for
the future needs of the world. Some day
the strong races must go In and develop
this country. Venezuela has been preServ-
ed from such inroads in the past by its
lack of harbors and the high mountain
chain running close along it's coast. There
are tremendous possibilities for American
trade here. Trading firms should send
agents and keep them on the ground 1t IS
such an advantage in the commerce of the
country.
Puerto CabellO.
Puerto Cabello, further along the coast,
presents picturesque sight from it's har-
Dor, which is a fair one, although said to
be treacherous. A fort stands on the hill,
said to contain Krupp guns, while another
extremely antique fortification is at the
water line. The town is a small, rather
pleasant Spanish town, with a number of
German commercial houses.
Ii is the large trading port of Venezuela
ffcm mere big cargoes Of coffee, hides ana
cattle are shipped. During the last few
years large number of cattle have been
shipped from this point to Cuba. Two yes
sells were in the harbor at the time loading
with cattle for Havana. The cattle line is
ruE by w. d. Munson and Co. of New
York. They have twelve steamers carry
ing cattle on the hoof between this point
and Havana. 1t is a sad commentary on
cur merchant marine that every one of
these vessels carries a foreign flag. The
Only American boats down here belong to
the Red D line running to New York. The
cattle boats carry from GOO to 1,0o0 head
and the animals cost here about Sl1 per
head. There are large ranches for cattle
undeveloped land. American commercial
houses could make big profits in buying
hides, coffee, cattle, wood, etc, down here.
Some of the best coffee in the world is
shipped from this port but all of the good
grades go to Europe. Only the very cheap
est grades of the coffee from here are sent
to the United States
Last year there was a big earthquake
through Venezuela. 1t shattered things
badly at Caracas, throwing down walls and
cracking streets The shocks were felt for
number of days and for a week the
population almost TO a person in Caracas
camped out in the squares. The shocks
were extremely terrifying, although there
were few casualties. A Venezuelan in de-
scribing the affair, said: "AH the animals
were extremely terrified, the dogs, the
horses. the cows and the women"
THOS. C. MOVES.