Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-27
PROSPERITY N PERU
People Recovering From the De-
vastation of War.
C0UNTRY's CREDIT HIGH
Eighteen Millions Borrowed From
Germany
FOR INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
Germans, Showing Enterprise and Ag-
gressiveness, Are Elbowing
Out the British.
FOR INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
By WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
written for The Star and the Chicago Record
| Herald.
The republic of Peru has made great
| progress within the last fifteen years. Dur
ing all that time it has had peace and a
! civil government and has prospered. For
many years previous the presidents of Peru
| were soldiers, and gained their power by
| the support of the army. They were prac-
tIcally military dictators. But the civilista
| party Is now In power. which demands the
| entire separation of military and political
| aHairs. 1t has reduced the army to
| minimum and does not permit soldiers to
| nave anything to do with the elections,
| while the officers are required to remain In
| their barracks and are not allowed to exer-
else civil authority or take part in political
| contests. The result Of this reform is seen
In the Industrial and commercial improve
ments and in the public revenues which
nave increased 20 per cent during the last
| forty years. Everybody is prosperous and
| the people are rapidly recovering from the
| devastation of the war with Chile. A god
| standard OF currency has been maintained
Tor eight years and the credit of the
| country which was down to zero not many
| years ago, is now good that $4,000 geo
was recently borrowed in Germany at 80
| and 92h "
| provements chiefly for railways into now
| inaccessible sections of the interior and
contracts for building them will be let early
! this year. The Peruvian government would
| be very glad if American contract would
| become interested and tender bids for this
| work, because ii is more friendly to the
| Chlteu states than to any other nation.
| NO country is nearer to US or reciprocates
| with more cordial feelings the neighborly
| interest We have shown il, ner affairs 1t is
very nkeiy' however, that German syndi
| Gates Will secure the contracts for the con.
structlon OF the proposed roads. The money
| to build them was borrowed in GERMANY
| The great Deutscher Bank is taking a di-
rect interest In the enterprises and nego-
uated the bonds. The loan was made
| however, by the Transatlantic Bank which
was recently established at Lima with Ger
man capital under the protection of the
| Deutscher Bank, to represent and encour-
| age German interests in Peru The first
| loan of 100000 is secured by tax on
| salt, and the second loan of $15OOOO 600 by
q, o TAX COT on tobacco, which brings in about
Sl'W0,oO0 every year. Under the contract
| the bonds will not be issued until the rail-
| way Din sections) is constructed inspected
| and accepted by the government, so there
| is no danger of n diversion of the funds
| as has sometimes occurred in other
| countries.
German Aggressiveness
| The Germans are showing the same en-
/ terprise and aggressive policy in Peru that
they have shown in Brazil and other parts
| OF South America They are gradually
| elhowing the British out They are abb
| sorbing the export trade, and in almost
| every city throughout Latin-America the
retail shops, the commission business the
| manufacturing industries and all kinds of
! enterprises are owned and controlled
! by Germans. They have only recently
| come into Peru. but have evidently come to
stay. The people of the United States
might have had the best of everything. but
| we are so much absorbed with our own
| affairs that we are very reluctant to go out
! into other countries. We have had for
| several years larger interests than any
! other nation in Peru. The two great rail-
| roads, one of them running from Callao to
| the famous mines of Cerro de Pasco, and
| the other from Mollendo to Lake Titicaca
| are owned by American capitalists. The
| Cerro de Pasco mines were recently pur-
! chased by Mrs. Hearst, j. B. Haggin of
San Francisco and members of the Van
| derbllt family. The Inca Mining Company
| which owns the San Domingo mine is com
posed of capitalists of Bradford. Pa These
! gentlemen have recently received from the
| government very valuable grant of rub
! Der lands on the eastern slopes of the
| Andes and are now constructing a road
| through the wilderness to reach them
This concession Hes on one of the tributar-
| les OF the Amazon, so that an outlet will
| be given TO the Atlantic for their products
There are several other large American
enterprises in Peru, and the New York
| house of William r. Grace & Co for
| many years has been very prominent in
| mercantile affairs. There ought to be
much more trade between the two couu-
tries Callao is becoming great port. and
when the Panama canal is opened will be
nearly equi-distant from New York and
Liverpool-about $500 miles. The principal
| staples of Peru are sugar, cotton, wool and
rubber, which promise the greatest wealth
for the future. although up till now guano
and gold. silver and copper mines have
brought the largest revenue to the people
and the government.
Peru Vast Treasure House.
Peru is a vast treasure house. Its min
eral deposits are perhaps unsurpassed in
all the world The gold silver and precious
stones which were carried away as loot by
the conquistadores enabled all Spain to live
in luxury for centuries. Nowhere else in
all the world was so large value of porta-
bic booty ever captured. And never did
any community grow so rich with so LITTLE
labor. From 1880 to 1924 the Jesuit priests
took twenty-seven tons of pure silver out
of a single valley. while other mines yield
ed hundreds OF millions of dollars even
with the primitive systems EMPLOYED nv
the monks and the native Indians But for
nearly half century or more Peru went
backward and became so poor that her
richest citizens We're compelled to live on
the pawnshops. But that period has hap
PLY passed, and with permanent peace the
country has slowly recovered It's prosperity
and today enterprises formed for dig
SInS Tie treasure OF the mountains and
curing the cultivation of the valleys which
are exceedingly fertile and produce all of
the staples known to the tropical and tenn
perate zones. Down In the hot lowlands
along the coast cotton and sugar are grown
and in the mountains wheat, corn and bar
ley. The slopes of the foothills furnish I'M
limited pasture lands, which are now prac-
tically unoccupied.
There Is room In Peru for several mil
lions of immigrants and every occupation
known to man Is open to industrious arti-
sans. The population is very scanty
There vast areas entirely uninhabited
chiefly because of the lack of railways and
| other means of transportation. The mines
of cerro de Pasco lay idle for third Of