The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-06-17

and giving to every casa splendid view of sea and river. Being constant ly washed clean by rains, independent of the lax sanitary regulations of the people, perhaps accounts in part for the fact that it is one of the most healthy cities in the world. A few weeks residence here is considered throughout all South America pana- cea for invalids, especially for those suffering from nervous prostration, general debility and malarial com pIaints. If Montevideo had only de- cent harbor one would see room for It. tie improvement. As it is ships at an chor in the roadstead just outside the cerro are entirely without protection from the frequent pamperos, or strong winds that correspond to ''northers" on the Pacific side.
 I An American writer who recently visited Uruguay declares that the Rio
 de la Plata is by no means the ideal river that many believe. Says he: After every strong pompero you may
 count wrecks and ships aground literal
 ly by the score. For want of port or protection of any kind,- all business is
 interrupted while the pampero is blow
 ing, communication being impossible
 between the shore and ships anchored
 in the roads. The necessity of loading
 and unloading by means of tugs and
 lighters renders the operation exceed
 ingly expensive, so that in many cases the cost of landing goods at Montevideo
 is equivalent to the freight on the goods from Havre, Hamburg or Liver
 pool Fully two-thirds of Uruguay's revenue is derived from customs dues; ithe rest from trade licenses, stamps
 and taxes on property. Within the last
 half-century the value of both exports
 and imports has increased twenty fold,
 and the former has always been largely
 in excess of the latter A few years ,ago Uruguay's commerce was practi-
 cally controlled by England, the i'm ports from that Kingdom alone amount
 ing to nearly one-haIf of the whole, and
 at least one-third of all the exports
 went to England. Nowadays much of the produce that formerly went to Brit
 ish markets goes to Havre, Hamburg
 Antwerp and Bremen, and the time is not distant when the United States will
 receive respectable amount of it, in
 spite of the local misrepresentation of
 our jealous English cousin.
 Though Uruguay's constitution was patterned after that of the United
 States, it necessarily differs from 1t in
 some important particulars, because
 whatever sentimentalists may say to
 the contrary-the fact remains, proved
 again and again by sad experience that
 the more volatile Latins, and especially
 those with preponderance of Spanish
 blood, are not capable of self-govern-
 ment, and therefore republicans, pure
 and simple, does not meet their re-
 quirements. The government of Uru-
 quay is divided into the usual three de-
 partments, executive, judicial and leg
 islative. The president is elected by a
 majority of the general assembly, for
 four years, and is not eligible to two
 consecutive terms. The five ministers
 composing the cabinet are appointed by the president and are responsible to
 him alone. The little republic is divi- ded into nineteen departments, which
 answer for the state in ours; and each
 department sends one senator to the
 "Upper House. of the general assem- !. bly,. The Lower House. has fifty
 three members, who are elected every
 year directly by the people, propor-
 tioned according to the number of vo- ) ters in each department. Thus Monte video, the most thickly settled portion, has twelve representatives, while all
 the other departments have only two , each. The constitution regulates the annual session of the legislature from January to June, but renders that wise
 regulation practically null by providing for extra sessions-greatly to the dis gust Of country members, who are kept at the gay and expensive capital !, nearly the year around by the majority residing In Montevideo. The conse- quence is that otside the capital none
 but rich men dare aspire for the office Judging from the few sessions which have attended. the Uruguayan congress seems to conduct it's routine business on much the anne plan that at Wash ! ngton. Indeed, looking down from the gallery upon the rows of shiny bald
 heads and listening to the spread eagle flights of rhetoric, called forth on slightest provocation, such as charter , ing a tramway or bridging back , country creek-one might easily fancy himself under the big dome capped by i the bronze Goddess of Liberty, were i! !. not that Spanish is spoken here intead of Americanize English.
 D South Americans incline by nature tc f eloquence, as ducks to water, and ora
 torical gifts are rated higher than any $ other. In no country of life compass
 and population can one hear on every a hand and read in the local papers SC : lmuch big-sounding but empty gusf , concerning republican simplicity, pater- lnal government, equal rights, venera-
 tion of habeas corpus and similar hum. bugs as in La Banda Oriental The
 state religion is Roman Catholic, but . other sects are tolerated--all except the : poor Jesuits. Infidels, Mohammedans Jews, heathens, are welcome to comt J and proclaim their peculiar faith, ol 7 their lack of any, at will; but the sis. ! ter sect, once so powerful rival, with