The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-10-29
Mr. Minchin Of the City Of
st. Paul.
AN INTERESTING TALK.
something About a Great
Tropical Country.
"Hard Times" are not Unknown and
Taxes-GrOwing Coffee Republic
Less Stable than Empire.

LtSS DtbUI0 tudu EmplEC
Mr. Eduardo M. Minchin of ST. Paul,
Brazil, South America, is visiting in
q few days. Mr.. Minchin is q grand
nephew of Mr.. j. G. Rasor, ST., and
MIR. Barmore Raysor. His mother was
u Miss Pyles and his grandmother was
Miss Raysor. His parents and grand
mother are still living. Mr.. Minchin is
therefore related to several families in
Laurens, and while here he was the
guest of Mr.. John NJ. Clardy. He is q
young man a little past thirty, and
bears q strong resemblance in feature
to the Raysor family. He is a planter.
He vas seen by an Advertiser reporter
while here and talked interestingly
about his far Southern home. Reply
ing to the reporters questions, he said |:
"My family went to South America
in 1867. My father was a Floridian. l
was born in South America. We live
"a the city Of ST. Paul, Ito call it by
its English equivalent) which is South
of Rio Janeirio, below the tropic of
Capricorn, just in the temperate zone.
A number OF other Southern people
went from this country when my people
went. We have families of Fergusons
and Millers from Chester county, and |
think some Edgeield people.
"VpS wp orpU cpffao c,luor cono
corn, oranges, lemons, figs, grapes, and
many other fruits, but we have no APP
pies and pears. Peaches thrive very
we'll. The country people are in about
the same condition that they seem to
be here. The taxes are high and we
hear hard times talk just as you do
sometimes. The politics of the coun-
try are to q degree unsettled, so that
foreign capital is timid about entering"
''Is the confidence OF foreigners less
now than before the empire ended and
the republic wa established ?"
Decidedly. The government was re-
garded as more stable under the en-
pire."
"Do the races mix ?"
"The Americans flock together-they
have separate schools, and in u city
we have & union church where various
denominations of protestants worship.
The natives, mostly people of Portu-
gese descent, and the negroes, do min
gle. The negroes and native whites
attend the same public schools"
eyes, we have very fair railway ia
cilities and they are improving. The
health of the country, where we live, is
good. In the cities epidemics of yellow
fever occur, but they are growing less
frequent. The disease has not appeared
in st. Paul in nine or ten years. Better
sanitation is stamping it out. l do not
think it is as hot with us as found it
in Florida a month ago. We have frost
and sometimes the coffee crop is in
jured. Our winter comes when it is
summe here. We had o severe frost
on August 10 last.
"What sort of houses have you 2"
"Brick-houses and also houses made
of a framework of timber and q kind
Of mud. These latter are cheaper than
wood, though wood is plentiful, and
they are very satisfactory. They can
be nicely finished and 1 think they
compare we'll with houses here"
"What would you call a coffee farm
as to sizep"
81 should say 200 or 800 acres. The
trees begin to bear in five years and
they last 80 or 40. 1 know of one Or
chard bearing now the trees of which
are said to be rs years old. After the
18th year the trees must be fertil-
lied. The planters ship the product to
commission merchants at the ports.
Our port Is Santos-150 miles distant"
Mr.. Minchen expects to be in the
county about 10 or Is days longer.