The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-11-19
COMMUNISM IN
ACTUAL PRACTICE
German Traveller From Bolivia De-
scribes Its Work Among a Tribe of
Indians.

On any map of Bolivia you Will find
big white space in the southeast
ern part of it. This large region has
been neglected by explorers and all
other white men. excepting a handful
of Bolivians, rubber collectors and a
few missionaries. 1t was not known
until this fall what interesting things
are to be found in this forgotten cor
ner.
Captain hermann, a we'll known ge
ographer, who has been studying rub
Der resources in South America, has
written for Petermann's Mitteilungen
some remarkable facts about this re-
gion. He could find no map to help
him on his journey, and the route map
he carefully prepared gives much fresh
information.
Most people have thought of Bolivia,
since the war with Chile in 1879 de-
prived her of a port on the Pacific
ocean, as being without any port
commodities directly with the rest of
the world. But Jerrmann found that
the republic has made a port of her
frontier town, Puerto Suarez, on the
Paraguay river
The name of this town is not found
on some of the latest maps and yet the
town is now engaged in foreign trade.
The goods are brought by ocean
steamers into the Rio Plata, trans
ferred to river steamboats, and carried
up the Paraguay to Puerto Suarez
where they pass through the custom
house just as though they had en-
tered a great Bolivian seaport.
These goods would be of little use, as
they are hundreds of miles from the
settled parts of Bolivia, unless excel
lent means of transporting them were
provided. The common wagon roads
of South America are among the worst
in the world, but-the Bolivians have
built road over 100 miles westward
from their port which will compare IA
vorably with the good roads of other
countries. hermann calls the govern
ment of the republic tyrannical and
says it has used the privilege it chooses
to exercise to compel the people to
work in the government service for a
mere pittance, and thus has provided
an excellent road at very small cost.
The road winds westward for over
100 miles through the valleys and for
ests until it reaches the navigable part
of stream flowing into the Rio
Grande. The boxes are transferred
from the wagons to small boats, which
carry them to the northwest, and they
are finally distributed to the leading
towns of the country.
To reach the rubber district Jerr-
mann had to leave the good wagon
road and strike north along narrow
and tortuous path through the dense
forests. On his way he came to the
country of the Guarayo Indians of
whom he gives the best account yet
written.
Their name means Yellow Men, and
they have really an extremely light
mid III
self superior to the Caucasian, and 1t
cannot be denied that in uprightness
and strudy character he compares ia
forably with more civilized peoples.
The tribe, which numbers only a few
thousand souls. has become known sim
ply because Of one popularity: It's life
is ordered on the communistic plan.
Everybody works, not for himself, but
for the common good. The people have
a number of small settlements and four
large ones, and are ruled with a rod of
iron by their caciques.
They derived their communistic idea
from the Jesuit fathers who lived
among them several centuries ago.
They have enlarged these ideas accord
ing to their own notions and believe
that by serving all each may contribute
better than in any other way to his
own we'll being and that Of his tribe.
The smaller settlements are divided
into two sections, the larg ger towns into
four, and in San Ignacio there are
eight sections. The supreme head of
the people in each section is cacique,
who has under him a superintendent, 8
judge and q secretary, the last keeping
written record so that an account of
ali the affairs Of the section becomes
part of it's history.
There are also a number of superin-
tendents of labor. one of them having
under his direction the men who dis
tribute the water, another squad sup
plying firewood, others attending to all
the farm work. Every man detailed
for farming has a plot of ground for
whose careful cultivation he is held re-
sponsible. The crops he harvests go
into the common store to the last
pound or bushel. but the man is pun
ished if it is decided that the yield
from his patch is less than it would
have been if his industry had been
greater.
If the house of one of the tribe is
burned it is replaced at public cost.
Thus throughout their lives in every
way each shares the good and bad for
tune of his neighbors.
The ca Clique is an absolute ruler, and
ulSODeQle0ce 10 Ills VIII Is severely
punished. Laziness is one of the worst
of crimes and the. penalty inflicted is
often several hundred blows well put
on the. naked back with leather
strap. Even the women are punished
in this way, receiving sometimes as
many as fifty strokes.
Discipline is remarkably severe. No
one may leave his section without per-
mission. No one may entertain stran-
ger unless the cacique assents.
No one may marry outside of the
tribe under any circumstances. nor
take a wife in another section of his
| tribe without the consent of the
| caciques of both sections 1t is inter-
esting to have these further details
about this little. group of South Amer
lean Indians. Whose peculiar and some
what advanced civilization had already
carried their name abroad
Jerrman at last reached the rubber
! fields after travelling many days
| through the dense forests. The tree is
! the Hevea braziliensiS, the same plant
| that yields the famous Para rubber in
| the Amazon basin, and Bolivia is sup
plying more and more of this superior
| rubber every year. The tree is known
! among the rubber collectors as the
seringa.
The explorer mentions very curious
fact. concerning the search for other
rubber fields in these great forests. The
| groups of rubber trees are scattered
only here and there among the timber
and men are kept constantly in the
! field in search of more trees.
This work is not without danger, for