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

Is that these recurrent civil wars and
attempts at revolution do not seem to
have retarded her prosperity. She
saw more incessant fighting from 1910
till 1879 than any other part of the
world has seen for the last three hun
bred years. Even since then risings
and conflicts have been frequent, and
| though there has been no foreign war
since 1870, when that with Paraguay
ended. the presence on either side Of
two great powers, not always friend
ly to her or to each other, has often
caused anxiety. Nevertheless the
country has continued to grow in
wealth and population.
Capital has flowed in freely to build
railways, and the good opinion which
European investors entertain Is shown
by the fact that the Uruguayan five
per cent bonds average just about par
in the London stock market. Foreign
trade has increased fivefold since 1862.
Without forsaking their love OF fight
ing, the people have turned to work,
and the land or cattle owner depends
less on foreign labor than he does in
Argentina
Thus 1t would seem that as there
have been countries ruined by war
as Central Asia Minor was by the long
strife between the Seljuklan Turks
and the East Roman Emperors. and
as Germany suffered from the Thirty
Years war injuries 1t cost her nearly
two centuries to repair. so there are
countries which have thriyen in the
midst of war.
Uruguay's Hostility to Religion
The occasional recurrence OF such
incidents as that attending my visit
had not for some years prevented
the government OF Uruguay from en-
ulating that or Argentina in efforts to
kepe abreast Of Europe in all sorts of
administrative schemes for the ad
vancement of education, and for the
development of the country. In two
respects 1t has entered on a policy
different from that of other South
American States. 1t is the only one in
which schemes or ideas tending to-
wards State socialism have been coun-
tenanced by the executive, and II is
also the only one in which there Is
distinctly anti-religious party.
In Peru the Church has still some
political influence. In Chile she has
less. in Argentina practically none,
but in neither Is she the object Of hos
tility. Here, however, a section of the
dominant party is professedly antag-
onistic to the Church, and this would
seem to be due not to any provoca-
| ton given recently by the clergy
whose Blanco friends have been long
out of power, but rather to a spirit
which seeks to strike at and eliminate
religion itself.
Such a movement does not seem.
any more than do sociaiistic ideas, to
be a natural growth of the Uruguayan
soil. Just as the anarchistic propa-
ganda in Argentina has been recently
brought thither from Europe by i'm
migrants, so this less fierce express
sion Of the revolutionary spirit bears
marks Of having been transplanted
from those parts Of Southern Europe
where the moro violent advocates of
change regard not only the Roman
Church, but religion itself, as hostile
to progress and to the reconstruction
Of society on new basis.
The rural population Of Uruguay
are not the sort of people among
whom such ideas would spontaneous
their beliefs and views of life are
concerned. rather TO the eighteenth
than to the twentieth century.
Urug uay's Hope of the Future.
| With her temperate climate and
her fertile sou. Uruguay is an attrac-
tive country. In no part of South
America except perhaps Southern
Chile would a European feel more
disposed to settle down for life The
people are of pure European stock
| and have many OF the qualities
| frankness and energy, courage and
! high sense of honor-which make for
| political progress
! The country is no doubt compare
lively small, and it is tho fashion
nowadays to worship bigness and dis
| parage small nations. Yet the indie
pendent city communicates the
small nations-such as were England
and Holland in the seventeenth CEN
tury--have produced not only most
of the best literature and art, but
most Of the great men and great
achievements which history records.
National life Is apt to be more intense
and more interesting where it is con-
contracted in an area not so wide as
to forbid the people to know one an
other and their leaders.
+ Thus one cannot but hope that the
! Cruguayans, with some favorng con-
ditions and without the disadvantage
OF excessive wealth suddenly acquired,
will seriously endeavor to smooth the
road. now rough and dangerous, over
which the chariot Of their republican
government has to travel. 1t Is not
the constitution that Is at fault but
the way in which the constitution Is
worked.
The backward state of education
and consequent Incompetence of the
! OTuIHdly CiLlLCA Is usually aSSlEneu DIS
the source OF political troubles There
is certainly an inadequate provision
both here and generally in South
America OF elementary and secondary
schools. But the experience of many
countries has shown that the educa-
ton of the masses Is not enough to
secure a reform in political methods.
There is surely force in the view I
heard expressed, that If the whole
population, or even the whole Of the
educated class in the population,
were to exert themselves to take more
active part in politics, they could set
things right by checking the abuses
or grievances out OF which revolutions
grow and by moderating the party
spirit which PUSHES TO arms when
| grievances remain unredressed.
| (By special arrangement with the
Macmillan company from South
America: Observations and impress
sions," by James Bryce. Copyright.
1912, by the Macmillan company.
| Copyright. 1919. by the Macmillan
company
Next week Ambassador Bryce will
describe his Impressions OF the Brazil
of today. s.3.., a.a~