The Mankato free press., 1913-02-14
TRIP TO WEST INDIES
and SOUTH AMERICA
From Tuesdays Daily.

Mr.. and Mrs. Charles r. Butler
returned yesterday from their trip
| to the West Indies and the Panama
canal. Mr. Butler says the trip did
them both world of good, and every
minute was full of interest and en-
| joyment
They sailed from New York Janu-
ary 8 on the White Star liner
"Laurentis,' and arrived back at
New York on February 5. The en-
tire cruise was made on the one
steamer, and Mr.. Butler is warm in
his praise of the service and accom-
modations furnished by the Whlte
Star people for a cruise OF this
kind. There were almost 400 people
in the party.
Cuba" said Mr. Butler, sis look
ing forward to four very prosperous
years under it's new president, Memo
cal, who goes into office in April.
The present government has plunder-
ed the treasury right and left, but
a better state of affairs is looked
for under the new regime. Jamaica
is wonderfully beautiful, and has a
greater variety of tropical vegetation
than Cuba, but it has not Cuba S
mineral wealth and Kingston, its
capital, does not wear the air OF
prosperous activity that is seen in
Havana.
Immensity of Canal.
"It is not possible to grasp the
immensty of the Panama canal with,
out having seen it. Gold Hill is a
good sized mountain. and Culebra Cut
is cut practically through the middle
OF It. BY pillng them two deep
twenty buildings the size of the
Free Press building could be placed
in one of the lock chambers; there
are six of these lock chambers at
Gatun and six at the Pacific end
Part of the old Panama railroad VIII
be under water when the canal is In
operation, so the line has been re
/ located" at a cost of nine million dol
lars. The rails on this road are sixty
inches apart-four inches wider than
standard gauge. The locomotives or
the railroad burn crude oil; those ''ir
the ditch" burn coal. The railroad
does big passenger business. First
class fare is five cents a mile, but
Gold employees are issued mileage
books for which they pay two and
one-half cents per mile. Silver EN-
ployes ride second-class, for twC
cents per mile. Gold employees are
those paid in United States gold OIL
currency. Silver employees are paid
in Panamanian silver, a dollar Of
which is the equivalent of fifty cents
gold Practically all the white EN-
ployes are on the gold roll. e..
! Short Stay in Venezuela.
Our short stay in Venezuela was
highly interesting. We landed at La
Guayra, which lies at the foot of q
huge mountain that rises, almost per
pendicularly, 5000 feet into the air
We made the trip up to Caracas
1000 feet above La Guayra, six miles
as the crow flies, but twenty-eight by
rail-on a toy railroad, with tiny
locomotive and coaches about half the
size of our Mankato street cars. II
is wonderful trip and the mountain
scenery along the route is the equa
of any in the world. Caracas is de
cidedly Spanish, but the Gran Hote
Klindt' unbent sufficiently to print
: the menu card in English in honor
of our arrival, and two of the de
licious offered were Deer la Veni
SON. and assaulted potatoes
lepers Sit on Street Corners.
Martinique was the district place
on the trip. In Fort de France the
sewage runs into open cutters an(
lepers sit on the street corners, beg
giDg aims The ruin of st. Pierre
which was destroyed by the eruption
of Mont Pele in 1902, is complete
The greater part of the city still
lies buried under from 10 60 feet o
lava and ashes. The debris has beel
removed some OF the principal streets
and ruins, but it is difficult to rea
lize that the fiat, lava plain cover!
what was once city of 10000 peO
. pie.
Porto Rico is alive and prosper
ous San Juan is a goOd-lookin:
town, with architecture of the SANE
type as Havana, but showing Amer
ican cleanliness and orderliness-
excelling in these points are th
other parts we visited. Sugar il
the chief agricultural product, bu
the first industry is being develope,
rapidly and some of the fines
oranges, grapefruit and pineapple
. now sent to the New York marke
comes from Porto Rico
) jraapnnrn raIr nFcPlInr