The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-25

coast or on the banks Of the great
navigabIe river Uruguay. whence cat
tie. meat and wool are shipped
So far, therefore, Uruguay has all
the material conditions required for
prosperity and happiness, an album
dance OF good land, a temperate and
genial climate. water highways for
traffic proWdAd by nature In her riv-
ers. artifcfa1 IRON haehways on land,
supplied by entemrtstpg British CAPT
Inhabitants?
A Land Sotlg mt by Immigrants.
They were. till recent years. almost
entirely of Spanish stock. The war
! like native Indians. one of whose
tribes. the Charruas. were fierce fight
ers. having been killed off. and the
weaker tribes having quietly melted
away, very little aboriginal blood has
mingled itself with the Iberian stock.
Some negroes are to be found along
the Brazilian frontier, but they do not
seem to have percepubly affected the
European element
OF late years n stream of 3mrnf-
grants has flowed IN from italy, yet in
no such volume ~ toward Argentina
There is also a steady, though smaller,
inflow from Spain, among whom there
are. fortunately. many industrious
Basqucs.
Rather more than n NTH of the
population are Of foreign birth, q pro-
portion small compared to that of the
foreign-born population OF Rhode
Island or Massachusetts,. These new
corners will soon be assinilated and
are not likely to modify the national
type.
An Interesting National Type
That +yna 81 ri forxpis~u oh
server as already distinct and well
marked. The Uruguayan is, of course,
first and foremost a colonial Span
lard, but a Spaniard moulded by the
conditions of his life during the last
ninety years He has been q man OF
the country and the open air, strong,
active and lawless, always in the sad
die riding after his cattle, handy with
his lasso and his gun.
Fifty years ago he was n Gaucho,
much like his Argentine cousin, be-
yond the river. Now he, too. Like that
cousin, IS settling down. but he has
retained something of the breezy
recklessness and audacity, the frank
ness and free handedness OF the older
days. A touch of this Gaucho quality.
in a rnilder form, is felt through all
classes of Uruguayan society.
Democratic equality in manners Ia
com bined with a high sense of per-
sonal dignity, an immense hopefulness,
an impulsive' readiness to try all ex-
periments, a national consciousness
none the less Intense because II al
ready rejoices over the triumphs It is
going to achieve. Whether there Ia
more of ''tdeality'"* than in Argentina
will not venture to say, but there 10
less wealth and less ostentation.
Englishmen and North Americans
, settled IN Montevideo like the Aru-
, nd 40 rfA.. "a
/; lows. There is evidently something
attractive about them when the Sons
, .of such settlers grow up fond of the
country, willing and proud to be It's
citizens You Will hear an English
speaking youth of either race say, If
. asked whether he is an Engiishnan
i or an American, Il am an Uru-
guayan."
A Land of Tncessant Fighting.
While we were in Montevideo a
revolution broke out in the country.
|, There was sharp fighting about forty
/ miles away~from the city and the rail-
ways were bringing IN the wounded.
1t caused no great excitement. having
been expected for some weeks and
the newspapers told their readers
very little of what -s--s happening.
They did not know much, for the mill
tary authorities had stopped every
channel of communication.
We were unfortunately unable to
SEQ anything and could learn little of
the revolution, but Its origin. and espe-
, cially tho perfect sangfroid of the
Montevideans. both natives and Eng
lishmen struck US as curious A short
, explanation OF the conditions attend
ing such outbreaks may throw light
on the phenomena of other republics
as well az Uruguay
, Ever since the colonfsts declared
re ira Of
has been almost incessant in This smfl-
ing land. They fought first against
the Spanish troops, and then against
the Portuguese rulers of Brazil; they
fought several times against Argen-
4 tina and Paraguay and almost ances-
sanity against one another.
AS soon as independence had been
secured and the Portuguese finally ex-
PEELED. the two leading generals tRi-
vera and Orfbe), who had led the
patriots to victory, Guarreled, and be-
fore long were striving in arms for
the chief place in the republic Their
adherents grew into two factions
which soon divided the nation, or so
much of itaas took an active interest
In porftica
At the first battle General Oribe,
VINO headed one of the parties, rode
a white horse, and his lancers car
rfed white pennons on their spear
heads. 60 they were called the blan-
oos The followers of tho rival gem
eral. Rivera. had red pennons. and
ne rode a bay horse. They were,
therefore, the Colorados- From that
day on Uruguayans have been divided
into Whites and Reds. Seventy-hve
years had passed and the grandsons
1 Of the men who had fought under
/ Oribe and Rivera in 1896 were still
/ fighting.
4 What thoeT1ghffng Is All About.
4 For what have they been fighting ?
At first there were no principles in
VOWED: 1t was a personal feud be-
tween two soldiers, who not long be-
fore had stood shoulder to shoulder
against the brazilian invader. But
Just as political parties sometimes
drop the tenets with which they start
led and yet live on as organizations, so
sometimes factions which started
without tenets pick them up as they
go along and make them watchwords.
A party is apt to capture any current
Issue, or be captured by 1t. and to
become thereafter committed to or
entangled with 1t. Thus the Whites
became In course OF time the country
party as opposed TO the Reds OF the
towns. and especially Of Monteyideo.
and thus, as the city is the home OF