The Republican journal., 1903-10-15

bound volume. Address Dr. H. v, Ile1CS,
Buffalo, n. Y.
There are some wise laws, as we'll as
foolish ones; and among the former is
one that prohibits interference with
any useful industry; another that gives
to every inventor the exclusive right to
use his own invention for a period OF
fifteen wears. unless he wishes to sell it.
Everybod who introduces new machln-
cry gets the exclusive privilege of work
ing it from three to ten years, accord
ing to the amount of capital invested.
Whenever the Bolivian Congress passes
a new law, or the President issues an
edict, it is published i'll the official news
paper, although the vast majority OF
the population never see it, and could
not read it if they did. When there is
occasion for special haste in the
matter, regiment of soldiers are sent
out. preceded by a band, who stop at
every street corner while the command
ing officer proclaimS the law in loud
voice.
The production of chincona bark, or
cascarilla, as it is here called, from
which the alkaloid qulnine is extracted,
was for many years Bolivia's most I'M
portant industry in the agricultural
line; but during the last decade it has
proved unprofitable, owing to competl-
ton in Java and the British Provinces
of Southern Asia. That class of lndl-
viduals known at home AS smart
Alecks" are found even in this out-of-
the-way corner of creation. One OF
these is a certain SenOr Shucroft, who
WAS heavy planter of CascarilIa few
wears ago, prosperous and presumably
happy. One unlucky day the idea struck
him of sending a quantity OF quinine
seed to his home goyernment-that OF
Holland-thereby putting himself INTO
the newspapers and winning the graft
tude of posterity. In uncalled-forg gener-
osity. he sent a very large amount of
seed. with minute directions for its
treatment derived from his own expert
ence, and suggested that experiments
be made III Java. The remarkable sue
cess of chincona i'll that Island led the
British government to encourage It's
planting in India, and already the busl-
ness is ruined everywhere by over pro
duction. MI. Shucroft received little
gold medal from the Dutch government
in acknowledgment of his enterprise;
and may be that consoled him for the
loss of all his fortune, his own extensive
cascarilla plantations having become
yalueless. Bolivia can never compete
with those Eastern countries that now
take the lead in chincOna production.
because of her immense disadvantage
in the matter of transportation. All
her products must cross the successive
cordilIeras of the Andes on their way
to the sea, mostly on mule back, at a
cost of transportation not less than
eleven bolivianaS per hundred weight,
an expense five times greater than that
of carrying it from the coast around
Cape Horn to Europe. A boliviana, by
the way, is the Bolivian dollar, and is
worth twenty-five cents less than the
''sol" dollar of Peru; and the Bolivian
peso is worth twenty-five cents less
than the boliviana; while every Ameri-
can dollar in gold or paper commands
at least $3.50 in Bolivian currency.
AS an example of the rapid depreciation
in the price of bark, may be mentioned
the Erickson plantation, which a few
years ago was valued at million and
a half bolivianas, and is now offered
amount, but cannot find purchaser.
Nearly all of Bolivia's cascarilla is of
the red variety, known as quina mora
da. The number of quina trees now
under cultivation in this country is said
to exceed Is, 100000; about thirds
of them being near the northern border,
in the province of Mapiri, whose bust
ness center is Sorrato. The department
of Yungas cultivates half million
trees, and a great many are grown in
the Benz Provence, farther to the
east. 1t is impossible to get any reli.
able statistics regarding Beni's produc
tions, because they all 60 to the eastern
coast of the continent, via the Amazon
and its tributaries. Indeed, there are
no printed statistics of any kind con
cerning Bolivia's export or import, and
no history of the country was ever writ
ten except one small and very incom
plete edition in Spanish, published hall
century ago.
As to the treatment of chincona: al
this distance from the equator it will
not grow at greater elevation than
OOO feet. nor lower than 3.0(eO. The