The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-01-03
CASTRO'S CAPITAL
AND ITS PEOPLE
Stucco Palaces That Are
Brightly Painted
STREETS ARE NEGLECTED
Plenty of Clever Men, But Their
Brains Are Not Allowed Play BY
An Oppressive and Mar
row Government.
STREETS ARE NEGLECTED

]. c. Simons in the New York Post.
wake up, lazy bonesl See how diligent
and busy are the ants" my friend cried
in the doorway.
ANTS are stupid insects. You ought to
read Kipling. The collection in my room
Is extremely unintelligent.
II thought you were sleepy?"
There are ants here-you can't close
your eyes in the West Indian islands or
South America; 1t is all the same; if mos
quitoes don't bite you the ants make
you furious"
We had that morning a good breakfast
with all kinds of fruit. granadinas, le-
chosas, nisperos, aguacates,- and even
fresh strawberries and radishes. Afterward
we ordered a carriage.
Although early in the morning there
was much movement on Plaza Bolivar and
in the surrounding narrow streets. 1t
is funny to see the bread deliverer, sitting
astride a mule, between two large bar
rels in which he keeps the fresh bread.
On the sidewalk near the white tower of
the cathedral sit sunburned natives, sell
ing cakes and all kinds of dainties. They
try like their colleagues In New York,
to beat away the thousands of flies.
Manned beggars, men and women, crawl
on the streets. I asked my friend how
1t happened that there were so many of
these wretched people. He answered that
1t was on account of the revolutions.
Barefooted boys ran through the streets
crying: "El gordol Ell gordor' The boot
blacks-here called 'limpiars'
us; they were also barefooted and shah
billy dressed. The "helados." Ice cream
merchant, is also well-known street
|. type.
Pedro, our coachman, came with good
team of horses and a clean carriage. We
started for drive. He took one of the
best roads in Caracas, paved with asphalt
and drove us over a long and broad bridge
that stretched across the banks of the
small river, Eel Ouayre." smoothly rum
ming through one of the most fertile and
beautiful valleys of Venezuela. Syrians,
Greeks and Armenians were busy In their
kitchen-gardens; negroes, mulattoes, and
few Indians worked in the sugar and
banana fields. We approached the Pa
raise road, passing the electric centrale
and the large cottage of Castro, called
Villa Zaila, after the Presidents wife.
. A Possible Paradise.
This fine road covered with trees and
flowers on both sides nice cottages with
splendid gardens, shows how easy 1t would
be for an intelligent statesman, at the
| head of willing people, to make of Ca
racas and it's suburbs a real "Paraiso.
The situation of the town recalls one oil
| the most picturesque places in Switzer-
land-but 1t Is of richer and tropical ma
rf,,ar &c iIn n lie
| to make the capital Of Venezuela one oil
| the finest towns of the South American
| republics.
We climbed UP the "Calvario" hill, tc
enjoy the view of the green valley and
the rosy mountains
YOU" said my friend to me, who are
here for only a few weeks can't believe
what kind of men have been at the head
Of this country. I know them for ten
years and they are just beginning to rub
noses Generally, they hate foreigners,
but they like to copy their works and
manners. Do you see. over there, that
large viaduct? The work cost thousands
of dollars-but it is good for nothing
; Nobody needs 1t and nobody uses it. And
that large tunnel opposite is absolutely
useless too Are they not funny, these
governors and presidents of Venezuela!
They squander money without purpose,
bridges, country roads, harbors, hospitals
or pure drinking water"
After our pleasant drive we returned tt
the town. / had chance to see the pub
lie buildings a little more closely. They
gave me the same impression as at first
exhibition monuments, all painted in very
bright eolors. The model, which is some
times good looks like those in Spanish
towns. The great difference is that the
lot a Of hrin or Gan6Ctnna o.
times of granite. The palaces" at Ca
racas are simply covered with cement,
painted afterwards. Even the ornaments
are of galvanized iron. and the roofs
are of brown tin and zinc. The "Capi-
tolio,' in the middle of a nice garden,
looked almost comical, like the decora-
lions in an opera house.
Poor Quarters Desolate.
Coming in uptown or into the quar-
ters where the poor people live, all
look desolate, disgusting, and out of
repair. The roads are extraordinarily
bad, so that we were obliged to get out
of our carriage; the squares were not
paved, and looked like sandy deserts
surrounded by unpleasant stables, dirty
houses, and novels. Several small
bridges had come to grief, dustheaps
were covered with flies and foul wa
ter ran through open sewers. The poor
people were dressed in rags; the child
rem played in puddles and muddy
bitches.
1t would be absurd to suppose that
there are only few men of higher
culture in Venezuela. The contrary is
true. The republic had. and has still,
excellent men, good auth ors. poets. pro-
fessors. of whom every country in the
world could be proud. 1t seems, how
ever. to be true that most of them are
not able, or not At, to teach The peo-
pie and especially the students, are. as
rule, kept in uncertainty through the
excitable government. Even the best
of the judges, statesmen. professors.
ETC., are generally in suspense, always
waiting and never knowing what may
happen in the near future. The stu
dents are almost all revolutfonists.
They learn In the university about So
cial order In a well-organized republic;
they understand the significance of a
free country, liberty, and inviolability
of the law. They learn that lawmakers
should not be lawbreakers-and they
see daily against their own families,
against foreigners and foreign states,
the greatest arbitrariness, almost des-
potic. After few months-he needs
no longer time for 1t with his southern
temperament-he dreams of universal
liberty and the rights of his people, the
great responsibility and duties of the
government, and he asks, astonished.
why is 1t, that our government
transgresses and evades the laws of
the country and international rights?
Why is 1t that they always try to vio-