The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

(AeGS.l and his native home is Nash vile. Tenn. He has long been figure in American politics and for many years he was one of the leading democratic members of Congress. He was an asso- ciate of President Mckinley. wheu the latter was still in the House. 1 remcm Der that when l first met him Tom Reed was still speaker and Roger e. Mills of Texas and William R. Morrison of llh- nois were Joined with him as the leaders of the opposition l knew him later when, after about % years in the House. he re- signed to be governor of Tennessee. and ! noss find him here 100 or s00 miles south of the equator, active as ever. repre- sentng our interests In the republic of Peru.
 called upon AIr. McMillin at the Amer ican legation. He has rented for this pur- pose one of the finest houses of Lima. It is known as the Quinta Heron, and IS situated in Carmen Alto in beautiful semi-desert oasis which makes up the city. About it are royal palms a hundred feet high, wide-spread,ng magnolias ana tropical trees that bear beautiful flowers. The building itself is Of a brilliant rose color If covers q great deal of ground, and seems very tall in this town of low structures. In the center of the house is a tower over the front door of which hangs the United States coat of arms. ' with rooms on each side, about 20 feet high. The building is furnished with Spanish chairs and sofas, that date back to the days of the inauisition. and with antique rugs from Morocco and Egypt. It is on the whole. exceedingly comforti- blc. and Mir McMillin tells me he is de lighted with the social life of Peru. He hns his wife and daughter with him, he has already established the closest re lations with the President and the leading men of the country.
 MT McMillin tells me that the Peru vians are friendly 10 the United States. They expect to reap much from the Pan anna canal, and the President of the public is planning 10 spend millions upon great brea<water to connect the Island of San Larenzo with the port of Callao, and thereby create the finest harbor of the eastern Pacific
 In my talk with the minister We went over the general movements now going on for the increase of American trade He thinks the commerce between the two countries might be greatly deVel- oped, and urges our manufacturers and exporters to send down agents and prospect the field. He says they must have men on the ground and that they should establish agencies here with Spanish speaking Americans 4n charge.
 The foreign trade of Peru now amounts to between S60,000, 900 and $70,- 000,000 a year, and of this the United States has just little more than one fourth. 1t stands next to Great Britain in the amount of it's commerce. and Is far ahead of Germany or France. our exports. however are much less than our imports. They amounted in 1911 to only about $6,0000 000, whereas those of the United Kingdom were at least two millions more. As to the goods bought of Peru the United Kingdom takes al- most one third of all the country sells and Uncle Sam gets one-fourth. The trade of the United States has been steadily increasing, and with the open ing of the canal we shall probably lead.
 Just now some of the biggest things in Peru are owned by Americans, and the machinery and supplies imported by them are a travelling commercial mn scum showing the benefits of American trade Take the mines of the Cerro de l- -Pasoo, the officials of which are spend ing millions of dollars year in bring ing in and distributing supplies They have great warehouse al La Fund.- cion, on the very top of the Andes, where they carry everything In the shape of mining and smelting ma chinery. as well as all sorts of supplies for their men, They have company store at which the natives can get American goods and they are importing all sorts of materials for use in their work
 Take the item of lumber. As l visited the mines, l saw near the shaft whlch IS now taking out something like 4oOoWo pounds of copper a month, a great lum- Der yard, stacked high with oregon pine, and I was told that it was cheaper to bring the timber over its long ocean ride and then carry il up the Andes by railroad than to freight in the eucalyptus, which Is far away from the railway, but not over POO miles from the shelter.
 1Igp N~i "a of American manufacturers is the Cerro de Pasco railroad. This runs on the Amazon slope of the Andes from Oroya, which has an altitude of 12o00 rect, to Cerro de Pasco, a miles away and 2oVI feet higher. The road is made of Ameri- can steel and the ties are of Oregon pine The track is as smooth as that of the New York Central from Buffalo to Al bany and it has comfortable cars ol American make. The bridges come ron the American Bridge company at Pitts burg and it's locomotives are BaldWins and Rogers The engineers and conduc' tors on the road are Americans, but the road was built by natives under Amer1' can superintendents and the firemen ano all the common employees are Cholos ano Indians. l am told that the road paid fol itself within the first two years afte building, and that its traffic steadily grows
 Nearly all the leading railways of Pert were planned by Americans. The Ia nous Central road back of Lima, whici | have described, was the creation O Henry C. Meiggs of California. and this Il so of the Southern railway of Peru an' of nearly every line in the country. Slnc' Meggs' death there have been many eX tensions Most of the roads use Amer ican rolling stock, and are run ate American methods With the exception of the Cerro de Pasco lines they are un der the Peruvian corporation. financia institution with it's headquarters in Lon don, but the subordinate officers arr largely from the United States The su perintendent and general manager of th Central is MT J. T. F'eehan, an American who was for a long time one Of the chie officials of the Mexican Central, and th' Southern railway is under the superin tendence of MT. l.. s. Blaisden, Texan who has also been connected with rail roads in Mexico
 Peru has now a number of railways II protection in which Americans are in terested. It has planned several exten ,sions from the tops of the mountains t' the Amazon valley, and what is knowi as fhe Mccune scheme requires only thu signature of the President to bring it into existence This road is to extend iron the Cerro de Paseo line to the Ucayal river, d distance of a little more than 20 miles. l am told that it will cost some thing like s1100o,OO0 to build, and tha arrangements have been made for Amer ican capital to undertake the work a soon as the concessions have been com tad iq