The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-03-11

cas-, elRnt miles from La Guay[8 6S the
bird flies, occupies the crater Of an old
volcano. With the racial egotism goes
self-assertiveness easily excited, easily
allayed. The Venezuelan Is just now
'blowing his head Of7'-or rather hav-
ing it done for him. Occupation has
been found for the crowds of idle men
and boys who loaf In Caracas streets,
always well dressed, we / groOmed, and
with no visible susceptibility toward
job. A gay place Caracas Is, q minia-
turs 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 every
body wears diamonds, even II the shirt
10 ragged where champagne Is used
ito put out firesr and bank notes to-
kindle them :" where debtors are far
wiser than their creditors.
Curious Ideas Of Honesty.
1t is contrary TO Venezuelan charac
ter TO pay bill which he can repudiate
Tomorrow. Present a claim for o
small amount to a Caracas citizen aud
he will engage q high-priced lawyer to
discover . loophold in your contract.
or course the lawyers bill IL never
settled either. Yet these Venezuelans
pride themselves upon their scrupulous
honesty. You may leave bag of mug.
gets in the streets OF Caracas and no.
body will disturb it-unless you lay
claim to IL Tor some other foreigner
does). Sneak thieves, according to our
former minister, Mr.. +. Is. Loomis,
one almost never ENCOUNTERS anywhere
in the country. Thieving In low, dis
honest, unworthy q proud descendant
Of grandces but cheating-ah, tina: Ia
otherwise! that Is q game.
The people are singularly alive TO the
dramatic, the artistic. The towns teem
with versifiers who fill half the COL
umns of provincial newspapers with
classical effIsions. Painters there are,
too, strong men In landscape and
religious art. Grand opera from
Europe draws immense audiences
and by night, when nothing Is on at
the opera house, ladies of high stand
inR organize little street dances with
guitar music. A gay. thoughtless pop
ulation 1t Ii.
This of course Is the urban Venezue-
Ian. In the hinterland the great mass
of population lives without working,
too easily, fed by bountiful nature.
Most of them have more or less Irdian
blood In some districts pure Indians
may still be found. The aborigines are
simpleminded folk whose needs do not
make them good buyers of textiles,
since a blue Ioin cloth ordinarily
serves for the whole rib.
A Rich Nut Undeveloped Land.
The Spanish-speaking population
fact about four hundred years-long
enough to have built up great empire.
But Burke's aphOrism regarding little
minds and great empires" holds good
to all eminent degree In Venezuela.
Not means, but men, have been want
ing. The country has extent sufficient
for an empire. 1t counts nearly
GOO, 600 square miles-more than
France, Holland and Germany COM
bined. 1t Is ten times the size of New
York State. And in variety Of soil
and climate II has marked advantages.
or the twenty-three States every one Ii
said TO contain mountains. Back from
the coast the mountain range crops
away To the broad lianOs Of the Orino-
CO, . plain Of increditable richness.
The land of Venezuela, taken as q
whole, may be classed az either agri-
cultural, pastoral, or sylvan, each d.
vision showing almost boundless and
untouched possibilities. In the fer
tile mountain valleys grows every crop
known to man. Vast forests OF ma
hogany and cedar have scarcely been
disturbed. The mineral wealth has
long since excited the cupidity OF the
Briton, giving rise to the boundary
dispute Of q few years ago. The gold
diggings in Yaruarri yielded 42,3l5
ounces in 1890. Silver il abundant in
Bermudez. Lara, and Les Anidos.
Sulphur, coal, asphalt, lead, kaolin,
and tin are found. Great iron mines
have been opened by an American
company at imatica on the lower Orin.
oco, The pearl fisheries at the island
of Margarita employ four hundred
boats and still show no signs of ex.
haustion. The grazing country. now
supports ten million head of cattle and
could easily support more.
or all these treasures the Venezue.
lans have proved unfaithful stewards.
They have had wealth which they
could not use from mere incapacity tC
secure and husband Ii. 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 ten thousand miles of navigable
waterways. With q long coast and
twenty harbors no considerable mer.
chant marine has ever been launched
In all that concerns the necessities ol
life the VeneZuelans have shown them
selves exceedingly lax. Prices In all
the cities run higher than anywhere
else i'm the world outside of mining
camps. The only cheap thing in Car.
acas is the violet you can buy an arm.
full for 20 cents. American sugar costs
80 cents pound, flour Sl2 sack, eggs
J ID cents a dozen, butter IS cents q
pound, coal S24 ton.
Everything else corresponds. No
efficient s;reet.car service In the cities
hence one must take cab. Charges
on the railroads are extraordinary
Firstclass passengers pay from to il
cents. second class from > to cents pei
mile. Merchants groan constantly re
gardiDg freight charges. 1t costs more
to get Il ton of coffee to the ships side
from town ten or fifteen miles back
than to send 1t to England 1t IL less
expensive TO ship freight from Chicago
to New York than from Caracas To l.,
Guayra. sixty miles by rail. The