The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-24
VENEZUELA AND ITS PEOPLE.
Interesting Facts as 10 the Nature
of Venezuela.

Crypt.
1t is significant that the capital,
Caracas. eight miles from La Guayra
as the bird flies. occupies the crater
of an old volcano. The people are as
eruptive as the land they inhabit. With
the racial egotism goes self-assertiye-
ness easily excited, easily allayed. The
Venezuelan is just now blowing his
head off''-or rather having ii done for
him. Occupation has been found Tor
the crowds of idle men and boys who
loaf in Caracas streets, always well
dressed, we'll groomed and with no
visible susceptibility toward a job.
gay place Caracas is, a miniature Paris,
though Parisians make wry faces at
it-a town OF which Richard Harding
Davis has told to the world his love.
A town it is where everybody wears
diamonds. even il the shirt is ragged;
where champagne is used Ito put out
fires" and bank notes to kindle them;
where debtors are far wiser than their
creditors.
Curious Ideas of Honesty.
It is contrary to Venezuelan character
to pay a bill which he can repudiate to-
morrow. Present a claim for a small
amount TO a Caracas citizen and he
will engage a high-priced lawyer TO
discover d hDODHOle III your COHlT act
Yet these Venezuelans pride them
selves upon their scrupulous honesty.
You may leave a bag of nuggets in the
streets of Caracas and nobody will dis
turb it-unless you lay claim to ii Cor
some other foreigner does9 Sneak
thieves. according to our former Minis
ter, Mr.. F. B. Loomis. one almost
never encounters anywhere in the
country. Thieving is low, dishonest,
unworthy a proud descendent of gran
dees; but cheatir g-ah, that is other
wisei that is a game.
Town and country Folks.
The people are singularly alive to the
dramatic, the artistic. The towns
TEEN with versifiers who fill half the
columns of provincial newspapers with
classical illusions. Painters there are
too, strong men in landscape and re-
ligious art. Grand opera from Europe
draws immense audiences: and by
night, when nothing is on at the
opera house, ladies of high standing
organize little street dances with gull
tar music. A gay. thoughtless popula-
ton it is.
This, of course, is the urban Vene-
zuelan. In the hinterand the great mass
of population lives without working,
too easily fed by bountiful nature.
Most of them have more or less In
dian blood; in some districts pure In
dams may still be found. The abo-
rhymes are supplemented folk whose
needs do not make them good buyers
of textiles, since a blue loin-cloth or
dinarily serves for the whole rig.
A Rich but Wonderful Land.
The Spanish-speaking population has
been in Venezuela long time-in fact
about 400 years-long enough to have
built up a great empire But Burke's
QnhnFiErn
great empires" holds good to an emf
nent degree of Venezuela. Not means
but men have been wanting. The
country has extent sufficient for an
empire. 1t counts nearly 100000 square
miles-more than France, Holland and
Germany combined. 1t is ten times the
size of New York state. And in va
rety OF soil and climate 1t has marked
advantages. OF twenty-three states
everyone is said to contain mountains.
Back from the coast the mountain
range crops away to the broad llanos
of the Orinoco.Sa plain of incredible
richness. The land of Venezuela
taken as a wholes may be. sclassed as
either agricultural, pastoral or sylvan,
each division showing almost bound
less and untouched possibilities. In the
fertile mountain valleys grows every
crop known to man. Vast forests OF
mahogany and cedar have scarcely
been disturbed. The mineral wealth
has long since excited the cupidity of
the Britain, giving rise to the bound
airy dispute of a few years ago. The
gold diggings in Yaruarri yielded a.
Sl5 ounces in 1899 Silver is abundant
ins Bermudez, Lara and Les Anido
Sulphur coal, asphalt, lead, kaolin and
tin are found. Great iron mines have
been opened by an American company
at Irnattca on the lower Orinoco. The
pearl fisheries at the island of Marga-
rita employ 400 boats and still show no
signs of exhaustion. The graz ng
country now supports 10000 900 head of
cattle and could easily support more.
OF ali these treasures the Venezue-.
lans have proved unfaIthful stewards.
They have had wealth which they
could not use from mere incapacity to
secure and husband it. The country
stands in no better condition to-day
than under Spanish rule before 1911.
Large tracts of territory remain unex-
plored. Not only have roads not been
built. but no advantage has been taken
Of the 10000 miles of navigable water
ways. With a long coast and twenty
harbors no considerable merchant ma
rine has ever been launched.
The Bane of High Prices.
In all that concerns the necessities of
NE the NeDeZuelanS nave SHOWN tneln-
selves exceedingly lax. Prices in all the
cities run. higher than anywhere else
in the world outside of mining camps.
The only cheap thing in Caracas is the
violet; you can buy an armful for 20
cents. American sugar costs 80 cents
pound, flour $12 a sack, eggs SO cents
a dozen. butter IS cents a pound. coal
s24 a ton.
Everything else corresponds No
efficient street-car service in the cities;
hence one must take a cab Charges
on the railroad are extraordinary.
Firstclass passengers pay from to 10
cents, second class from to Z cents per
mile. Merchants groan constantly re-
garding freight charges. 1t costs more
to get ton of coffee to the ships side
from a town ten or fifteen miles back
than to send 1t to England. 1t is less
expensive to ship freight from Chicago
to New York than from Caracas to La
Guayra, sixty miles by rail- The
freight-rate on the German Central
Raiiroad-Ihe source of present diff
eulties-is 30 cents a ton per mile
as against ! cent a ton per mile on
many American roads. No manufac-
turing industries have been developed
anywhere in the country. Even ythe
coarse sacking in which. agricultural
products. are wrapped has to be inn
ported. In such conditions commerce
naturally Ianguishes. The $50 miles OF
railroad belong altogether to the for
eigner.
Liking for, Our Country.
American capital has not yet been
diverted to Venezuela in any copious