The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-28

with Since 1 came here some weeks ago, I have devoted my time to learning about the country and people. l have met men from every large city, and with the maps before me have gone over the country with Don Manuel Vicente Bolivian, the chief of the bureau of statistics. l an surprised at the size of the republic and at it's enormous undeveloped re- sources.
 I have called Bolivia the Tibet of South America. Of all the lands upon earth, it kisses the sky next below the Himalayan highlands. It has more high mountains than any other country outside of Asia, and its mighty plateau is excelled in altitude only by that of Tibet. Within it's borders are more than a score of mountains that approximate four miles in height, and, upheld by these, a great ta- bleland twice as far up in the air as the high plateaus of the Rockies. Over looking the plateau from the west are the snow-clad peaks Of Pomerape Parin- acota, Sa1ama and Huallatiri, all ranging fro m20,00O feet to 21.s0o feet high, and there are four other volcanoes that are almost as high. On the way to the ocean you pass several smoking volca- noes; and, scattered over the country are mountains that surpass anything on the North American continent excepting Mt. Mckinley, Alaska The plateau itself is almost 13.oOo feet high and in many places ii rises far above that.
 This gives one some idea of the gen. eral altitude of the republic. It must be remembered, however, that Bolivia has also vast tracts of lowlands. On the east the land slopes down to some of the large tributaries of the Amazon, giving it every fruit of the tropics and the tenn perate zones. Right here in La Paz you can buy bananas and oranges. and also apples. peaches and pears. Quinua, a grain that win grow only at 12.Oo0 or LOCO feet above the sea level grows well on the plateau, and at the same time Bolivia has the rubber, coca and coffee which require tropical heat. The country has all attitudes, all climates and all sorts of resources. It can produce every crop known upon earth, and prospectively 1t Is one of the richest lands of the world
 l wonder If you have any idea of the size of Bolivia. Situated here in the heart of the continent, with a great desert be- tween 1t and the ocean. 1t Is the third largest of tho South American republics. It contains altogether more than 700,O0o square miles. It Is one-fourth as big as the United States proper, six times as large Great Britain and Ireland, more than three times the size of Germany or France, and three times big Aus tria-Hungary or the Spanish peninsula, The republic extends from north to south as far as from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and 1t is almost as wide as from New York to Detroit. All of our New England and middle states and all of the southern states except Texas, taken to- gether, would just about cover Bolivia. and the high plateau upon which I am writing is so large that 1t would make more than eight Massachusetts, without touching the slopes of the mighty peaks that skirt some of it's edges.
 This mighty country is yet In the mak- ing. In other letters I shall describe Its enormous resources in tin, copper, silver and gold, and also its vast pastures, upon which hundreds of thousands of cattle are now running wild. Bolivia is one of the most thinly populated of the good lands still left upon earth. It has, all told, less people than the city of Chicago, and the most of these are Aymara h. dians who work for the whites and mixed breeds, and who are of no creative force whatsoever The country has only two or three people to the square mile.
 Bolivia has no large cities. This town of La Paz has perhaps soo0O, and the next town in size, Cochabamba, has only about one-third as many. This is so not withstanding Cochabamba is located in one of the most fertile valleys of all South America. Sucre has less than 5000. and Potosi, which has added more than $3, 000,- 000,000 in precious metals to the wealth of the world, is still smaller. Oruro, the chief tin mining center away down in the desert does great deal of business. but it has very few people. and altogether there are probably not more than 100000 in all of Bolivia who are living in towns. Outside are large tracts that are given over to the Indians and in eastern Bo- livia are pampas covered with grass that are equal to the Argentine republic in their wonderful fertility. Indeed. the whole of the republic is full of agricul- tural and mineral possibilities, and it awaits only the advent of capital and enterprise to make it become live, ac- tive force in the work of the world.
 The movement toward the taking up of the wild lands of Bolivia and the in vestigation of their resources has al- ready begun. I can see that great changes have been made within the past