The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-01
BY BASSETT STAINES.
Copyright, 1908, by T. C. Mcclure.

Figure it to yourself, senor," ex
claimed the excited Colombian, as he
slipped his aguadente in a posada at
Cali town far away in the interior
of his country. You Americans
would construct the canal at Panama,
and you say it would bring much
commerce and great riches to our
country. Bueno! But what then?
You would make slaves of our people.
You would overrun the country, in
PRODUCING all manner of vice and crime
and disease. You would even" this as
final. unanswerable argument
build railroads."
well" asked the American, land
wouldn't that be good thing for
you?"
"a good thing!" The Colombian
grew more excited than ever, and
waved his arms frantcally. why, it
would spoil my mule business! What
should we all do with our mules when
everybody sent goods by the railroad?
We should have to eat them!
Foreigners Are DisIfked.
1--WE do not want you strangers to
come here and worry us. You cannot
make even five cents in your own
country, so you come to ours to make
money out of the honest, trusting,
truthful Colombians who know moth
ing of your scheming ways. We wish
to have nothing to do with you. We
get along very well by ourselves"
This man expressed the sentiments
of his race and of most Spanish
Americans. Even wealthy and edu-
Gated ColOmbans share his views. They
dislike and despise foreigners, and
firmly believe that Colombia is the big
gest pebble on the beach," Outside ~
its borders, they hold, there is little or
nothing worth counting. Spain is the
one foreign country they indorse
The jewellers on the Isthmus of Pana-
ma are the only exceptions to this
general rule. They believe in foreign
ers and foreign institutions, and are
naturally anxious to see the canal fin
ished. But then a Panamanian is not
reckoned as a Colombian by the other
Colombians. He is a despisted grin
CO." just like an American or an En-
glishman.
The untraveled South American is
absolutely incredulous when he is told
about the wonders of foreign lands.
Queer View of the United states.
when / lived IN Call, Salu an EAB-
lishman, who had just come to this
country after q residence Of several
years in Venezuela, there was man
from Dayton, Ohio, staying there. One
evening we were with some Colom-
bans, and he started telling them
about the wonderful things in Dayton,
Ohio-the cars that ran without mules,
the four-story buildings, and the fire
engines. They were politely incredu-
lous so I thought l would strain their
faith bit more by telling them about
New York.
II described the Brooklyn bridge
and the twenty-story skyscrapers-I
dared not go higher. When told them
there were seven roads on the bridge
and that hundreds of thousands of
people passed over it every day, they
looked at me sadly and reproachfuily
and | overheard one of them whisper
to another, 'Carambal That man lies
much better than the other one"
"Do you have butter and milk IN |
New York;" another Colombian asked |
an American. you can't have! You /
say that the place is nothing but |
houses closely packed together. Where, |
then, do you keep the cows?"
Are you married?" the same man
inquired. you can't be. You were |
not married here, and 1 know there 1