Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-05

It's river 2AAtDOTt. WIKI u pfAUGn 10 f1tla
Bella. In all 500 miles OF railroad will be
built. This IL one of the most important
articles In the treaty. Years ago Colonel
George Earl Church, distinguished Ameri-
can geographer and engineer. had a project
for railways in this region and was backed
by Philadelphia capitalists, but Ultimately
the enterprise was abandoned. Now 1t Is
certain to he carried through as the Brazil
ian government agrees to build the road it
self within four years.
Both countries viii benefit by the railroad,
which will be tributary to vast system of
inter-r.ver navigation. There is river
called the Guapcra. one of the principal af-
huents of the Madeira. and near the head
waters of this river at Matte Gresso II only
requires a channel a thousand feet long to
connect with two rivulets known as the
Aguapey and the Estiya, which empty into
the Jauru which is of the important
tributaries of the river Paraguay, whose
waters reach the Atlantic through the Pa
rama and the Platte at Montevideo This
would form the system of intercommunica-
ton which General Rafael Reyes, the CO.
lombian explorer, describes in his plan for
going from the mouth of the La Platte to
the mouth of the Orinoco and the Amazon
by water. A century and half ago the
portuguese tried to cut canal through
which fat-bottomed boat might pass. but
they did not continue their experiment.
A rush for the Acre territory is not likely
until Brazil has established it's full control
and set up government there Even then
crowd is not probable, yet there will be
adventurous Americans and Europeans
pushing their way into the farthest in
terror for some of them already had
tablished themselves when the boundary
dispute became acute
A Chicago man who had general supply
store told me at La PaZ that for any one
accustomed to the tropics it was not such
bad place. He himself had been doing
very good business and was expecting to re-
turn there. However, he did not look upon
1t as white mans country in the sense of
being a good field for immigration or coloni-
cation White men. he said. who knew the
interior of South America and had been in
the Amazonian region, would get along all
right as managers of the rubber plantations
and in general business The best food, he
declared. was the small monkeys which are
very numerous in the dense forests. Gen
eral Pandos troops made their chief diet
of these monkeys during a part of their
march, and one of the officers told me he
found them very palatable.
Development Of Rubber Industry.
The development of the rubber industry
may not be quite so rapid as anticipated
through the inability to get labor. The
gum picking has to be done by the natives,
and they are not very numerous. The popu-
lation of the Acre territory usually has been
placed at 10000. but Brazilian officer, VINO
had been over it in a lecture in Rio Janeiio.
declared that there were not more IMAM
10 OCO people in the whole region, the ma
jority of whom were BraZilians. On the
other hand, the official census OF the BOIL
Wan government placed the population OF
the territory of Colonias at ol.Coo ana most
of these would come within the Acre boun-
daries.
The inhabitants are nearly all ihoiahs.
There is a tribe known as the Araonas
which will work and live with the whites:
and these Indians form the chief source OF
labor supply for gum picking smaller
tribe, known the Chajes, Is also peace
full But there are the Peraguas. the lpu-
rinas and the Caripinas VINO are saHase.
some of them, it is said, even TO the point
of cannibalism. These Indians have been
dying off through various epidemic as
eases. When the Acre country was nrst
explored the Indians killed various Scien-
lists and officers. 1t is presumed that Bra
Zil will keep sufficient military force to
protect the settlers and make possible the
further development of the rubber-growing
industry.
The foreigners who We're established in
Acre a few months ago were making ag-
gressive claims for compensation for the
losses they had suffered or thought they
had suffered through the administrative
acts and military measures both of Bo-
livia and of Brazil There seemed no dis
position on the part of either government
to deny the justice of some of these clailns
An article in the treaty provides for an
arbitration tribunal to pass on them. and
where they are established to designate
which government Is responsible for them.
This tribunal is to be composed of three
members-one named by Bolivia, one by
Brazil and the third to be chosen from the
ministers of foreign countries accredited to
BRAZIL There is also to be a mixed COM
mission to delinlit and fix the boundaries.
Peru had an interest in the Acre region
and it disputed some of the territory
claimed by Bolivia which Bolivia now cedes
to Brazil Naturally Peru Will not admit
the right of any country to yield sover-
eighty over territory which it claims, but
this controversy is recognized in the treaty
between Brazil and Bolivia. A special ar
ticle provides that the questions at issue
between Bolivia and Peru shall be passed
on to Brazil, which will undertake to set.
tie them The claim of Peru relates to the
source of the river Yayary and the terri
tory along the parallel of latitude II de-
grees. Peru has kept small body of
troops in the disputed region and at differ
ent times there have been reports OF COLI
sions both with the Bolivans and the Bra
ziiians. but these encounters never have
been serious. Eastern Peru will benefit by
the railroad building and by the other meas
ures which the Brazilian government is to
take. and the rubber industry in the Pc
ruvian territory will receive an impetus.
AS the relations between Brazil and Peru
are friendly and as both are committed to
arbitration there is no doubt that their
respective contentious can be arranged sat
isfactorily by diplomatic negotiation
CHARLES NJ. PEPPER