The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-28
MAKING OVER mo JANEIRO.
II Is Being Transformed INTO the Paris OF
south America.

south America.
When IL was decided to make Of Rio
de Janeiro a city so beautiful that the
wealthy Of other parts OF the world would
be attracted thither the matter was gone
about in a businesslike way.
II was no considered necessary that
the whole world should know what was
to be lone and thus get ready to make
the municipality pay double for every
thing. says the Van NOrden Magazine.
In the first place the loan were negotiated,
ready for placing.
Then the Federal Congress- placed in
the hands Of Mayor Passos and the other
gentlemen who we're TO have charge of
the rebuilding OF the city some unusual
poweTs. They we're empowered to con-
denim property and TO establish IN equable
system Of valuing it.
Things were done with the same speed
that a private firm or corporation would
regard az necessary. For instance, the
Avenida Central. n mile and a quarter
long, was cleared. paved. the buildings
upon it constructed. lighted with cleo
tricity and opened for traffic in eighteen
months.
The street ines were decided on, then
run by surveyors. Without giving time
for the courts to tie up the improvements
by foolish rulings the buildings were cleared
and torn Town in a day. Once the build
ings we're down there was small use for
injunctions.
Mayor Passos was Just as careless Of
the sacred rights Of tax dodgers. He
based the valuation Of seized property
on the taxes hat a been paid. In Rio
de Janeiro a rather sensible system. of
axation Is in vogue. but il in not copper
rveted. The taxes are apportioned to the
rentals.
Occasionally one OF Rio de Janeiro's
"best citizens would arrange with his
tenants for a nominal rental a n
and get his taxes cut down in this way.
Mayor Passos took q short cut in getting
at the amounts due property owners along
the line Of the Avenida Central: He simply
looked at the tax books and the courts
held that this was a fair proceeding.
In eighteen months this beautiful avenue
was a fact. even to appropriate buildings
constructed under the supervision OF the
authorities. a fine municipal opera house.
Paris; a National Library. a National
School Of Fine Arts and new public buildings
were built on the central avenue.
Along the curving shore OF the bay the
Biera Mar. a wide boulevard beautifully
parked and with a sea wall promenade
four miles long. was also laid out and built.
Other streets were paved and widened.
and whole districts of squalid tenements
were torn down. At one place where one
of the city's hills added no beauty and
made traffic ~inconvenient the hill was cut
away.
The whole city has been provided with q
new sewerage system. Under the auspices
Of a new Department of Health a sanitary
lessly as the Mayor. Rio de Janeiro has
also undertaken some Of the minor social
istic businesses that London has been
trying. notably the expenditure OF $780, 600
in model homes for laborers.
An English firm got the contract for
building the new dock system in its en-
tirety. A stone quay 0.0O0 feet n
with a channel 9I0 feet wide and 70 feet deep.
and the most modern warehouses and ap-
paratus for handling cargo from shore to
ship are altogether one undertaking, to be
completed at a cost OF s42. 600 600. To
cover the cost Of this work a special tax OF
? per cent. upon all imports was laid:
II has been stated that Rio de Janeiro will
he the best lighted city in the world. at
least te most lighted per capita; The
Light and Power Company OF Rio de Janeiro
eniovs 30 many privileges that 1t 10 a semi.
public corporation. 1t operates nearly all
the public utilities in the city: .
on hundred and twenty-five miles OF
street railway are operated electrically by
this company. The current is obtained
from water power. Fifty miles inland
from Rio de Janeiro the Rio dos Loges was
found to ave a fall OF 1000 feet in W
miles and a volume sufficient to develop
$1,000 horsepower.
With this power the electric cars are
operated cheaply. while 10000 electric bulb
and $50 arc lights are furnished Tor public
lighting. The same company furnishes
gas and has the telephone concession. The
number Of lines reported a few months z
was 1850. II is said that telephone con-
nection is secured In an average OF seven
seconds
All concessions OF this kind pay an annual
tax based on gross receipts n after fifty
years revert to the Government without
any further compensation.