Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-30
NE|GHB0R[y HINTS
Lessons From South America
in City Building.
SOUTHERN IDEAL CAPITALS
Examples Set by Great and Beautiful
Buenos Aires and Rio.
MILLIONS SPENT ON CITIES
Nations Tenderly Considerable Of
Capitals-Avenues de Mayo,
Central and Pennsylvania.
MILLIONS SPENT ON CITIES
II.
By THEODORE ". NoYEs.

BY THEODORE ". NOYES.
Editorial Correspondence of The Star.
To generalize in contrasting different
danger of blunders. even when the at
tempt is made on the basis OF thorough
study of and full acquaintance with the
subject. But even a superficial inspection
Of the Latin Americans of South America
at home in comparison with the Anglo
Americans of North America fastens on
the mind two distinct and strong impress
sions which all the indications seem to
confirm.
The South Americans as builders Of rep
resentative republics. obedient to the
law and ruled by ballots and not bullets.
are as yet inferior to the North Amer
| leans. On the other hand, in city plan
ming and building, in wise development of
the city beautiful, the South Americans
are just as distinctly our superiors. AS
republic builders they fall short; as city
| builders they excel.
Lack of Genuine Republicanism.
In travel around and in South America
last autumn there were suggestions
everywhere of q lack of appreciation OF
the principles of representative govern
ment, of the failure of both ms and Outs
to sustain and obey the ballot and the
law, of popular unrest, discomfort and
distrust and of revolutionary tendencies
on the surface or latent. In Peru revolt
was In the air. Our steamer was search
ed by Peruvian soldiers at Moliendo, the
last Peruvian port before crossing into
Chile, for revolutionary leader the son
of Gen. Pierola. who headed the latest
revolution) who was accused Of melting
an uprising in southern Peru, near CuZcO,
and who was suspected Of plotting to en-
broil Peru with her neighbors, Bolivia
and Ecuador. In Chile the scars are
scarcely healed of. the sanguinary strug-
gle in Balmaceda's administration. Every
fighting. and the public sullenly accepts
the arbitrary and aristocratic rule Of the
great families. against which Balmaceda
fought. The revolutionary spirit Is la
gentina, where there is wonderful ma
terial development and prosperity, the
fairness Of the elections is publicly ques- |
toned. or rather their unfairness is as |
sumed and not contradicted. A revolution
had just been Quoted temporarily In Uru-
quay by concessions to the revoiut1ontsts.
1t was recognized as only q lull in the |
storm. In the harbor OF Rio lay the |
had just killed certain of their officers |
and had demanded and obtained amnesty |
from the Brazilian legis. ature on threat |
of bombarding the city.
These incidents do not either singly or
together prove what / have suggested
about political instability in South Ameri- |
ca; but they are, like recent events in
Spanish-American Mexico, straws sug-
costing the direction of the wind.
There is no indication that the Ins in
any South American republic, II as long
intrenched in power. for instance, as the
republican party in the United States.
would think for a moment of turning over
the government to the opposition because
the latter cast a few more ballots than
its own in a national election, as the re-
publican party will do here as a matter
of course II the 1912 verdict should be
against 1t. Such procedure as the sub
stitution Of an electoral commission for
war, as was followed in our contested
election of 1875 Is almost inconceivable
in any South or Central American re-
public.