The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-28

slruction of a railroad running soufheast- cry from the capital of Bolivia to a dis
 triet which was believed to contain as r'eh petroleum resources as could be found any yWhere in the world. Farquhar prom ited 10 demonstrate to Bolivia the nat urai wealth which was in these undeyel oped oil lands. In order to do that, he purchased drilling apparatus and caused IL to be transported from Argentina through lower Bolivia to the presu1nptive OH neios. The cost of this transporta- ton, exclusive of the machinery itself,
 was s4O,0oo. Within short time after the drilling began. oil was reached and there was great flow of 1t. This demon stration persuaded Bolivia that she had acted wisely in granting a concession to farquhar for the construction of rail- Toad 10 the oil fields and ~also for devel- oping the oil properties.
 In the northern part of Bolivia, the streams which flow down from the Andes mountains and have been flowing for ages have been demonstrated to contain rich deposits of gold which has been washed by the action of the streams from the mountain sides. But 1t has been impossi- ble to work these rich placer deposits to commercial advantage because there is no transportation. The streams them selves are not navigable and the placer nelds are hundreds of miles from the nearest railway station. Among Farqu- mars other plans to be worked out at :, later date than those which entailed inn mediate consideration was the construc- ton of railroad which would touch. by means of branches from the main line, these alluvial gold fields
 In eastern Bolivia there are vast tracts of wild coffee. These coffee lands belong to the government. Samples of the cof- Tee have been tested in the United States and the tests have shown that it is of su- perfor qualiy. probably better than any other coffee grown on the American con- tinent. But this resource is unavaila ble because there Is no transportation for 1t. MT Farquhar had in mind the construc- ton of railroads which would reach the coffee fields.
 A Sudden Cheek
 For this undertaking, vast as 1t was, Bolivia was asked to contribute nothing excepting the concessions. These having been obtained, Farquhar undertook to se- cure the necessary capital from time to time as 1t was needed in London or upon the continent of Europe. Ills credit was high and the concessions were themselves an excellent security. The particular. form of financing which Farquhar under took was matter of only passing inter. est to the Bolivian government It was enough to know that he was obtaining the money and was expending it in strict ob- servance with the terms of the contract.
 Two years ago Farquhar was in need of additional capital and called upon hls Flu ropean bankers for advances, offering adequate security as he thought. He was told that money could not be loaned on any kind of security. The Balkan war had shriveled credit and the people of Europe were hoardng money so that it was Impossible to consider the financing of any proposition with fresh capital.
 80 It happened that both Farquhar and Bolivia were in an impasse, but there was nope that after recovery had come from the effect of the Balkan war, new capi- 'al supplies could be obtained. They were about to be obtained when the continen- tai war of Europe began.
 It should be said that Farouhar kent to the letter and spirit of his contract with Bolivia until at last conditions over which he had no control made it impossible for him to do that. He Is presumed to be waiting somewhere until normal condi- tions are restored. Meanwhile Bolivia is making advances to the United States and the 1ntlmations are strong that if Amer lean capital avails itself of present on portunities our commercial and financial relations with Bolivia will in the course of Few years become as large as any we can establish with any of the South American nations. This Bolivian sirua. ton Is one of the most impressive obiect lessons which show the effects of tha European war upon nations which are strictly neutral and are remote from the fields of war