The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-26

lHE Bolivian government is al last
 waking up 10 the conviction of E its Indians. Three-fourths of the
 SA.kSgI inhabitants of this high plateau are little more than savages. They have tive work of government, took strong churches, but their religion is conn bination of superstitious interwoyen with the customs of medieval Chris tianity. The government has schools but the Indians do not attend them, and not one in a hundred can read md write. Thousands of them are in state of debt slavery, and tens of thousands are so sodden with alcohol and cocaine that for tue most of the time they are little better than beasts. The government has established. com pulsory system of education, and 1t has thrown the schools open to all BoriN- ian children. Nevertheless, but few of the Indians go to school. and not one in a hundred has any ambition to rise above his present condition.
 One of the new movements for the elevation of the Indians has to do with the reorganization of the Bolivian army. Military service has been made compulsory for all between the ages of 1s and 21. The selection of the troop is made without regard to race -pd in this way thousands of Indians Are being brought to the military bar racks and schools from every part of the republic. Here they are drilled by German officers and instructors They are taught to obey, and they learn to read and write and do primary sums in arithmetic They are kept from drink Ing. and they acquire such civilized tastes and wants that when their mli- itary service is over they are not con tented to go back to the selni-savage life of their villages. Those who do go carry the seeds of civilization with them. and. crop of news ideas and new customs is beginning to sprout.
 have seen a great many of these Indian soldiers during my stay. They are fine-looking fellows and are said to have good fighting qualities. They have great powers of endurance and are noted for their frugality and patience. The only trouble is that the army is not large enough to take in more men and there has to be some weeding out of those who volunteer to go into the service. At first the Indians were afraid of the army. but they are now keen to serve.
 All the above statements relate to the Aymaras. They are the chief na- ton of red men upon the plateau of Bolivia. They are numbered by hun dreds of thousands, and altogether are twice many as the Indians of the United States. They belong to a race that is said to antedate the Incas, and to have been so powerful that the In- cas were never able to subjugate them as they did the other Indian nations that populated the western part of the South American continent After the Spaniards got possession of the country, the Aymaras were enslaved and they are in what might be called a condition of debt slavery today It is a state of peonage not unlike that which prevailed in the days of feu- dalism. Much of Bolivia is still feu- dal country, and the men and women are practically boughts and sold with the farms on which they live The fact that the law permits them to leave upon the payment or transfer of their debts does not alter the natter; for 1t Is known that their attachment to their homes is such that they will not do SO Many of the Indians on the industrial farm near Lake Titicaca, whom our missionaries are now trying to civilize, have belonged to that farm for generations, and they have always done a certain number of days work every week for the right to stay there and cultivate the lands allotted to them.
 The same conditions of tenure prevail upon mots of the large Bolivian farms The Indians give two or three days of each week to the owner of the land, and they are allowed the remaining days for