The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-03-08

Lima, Peru.
7 HAVE just returned from tho Ma
ttonal Palace. where 1 have had n
= long chat with Senior Guillermo
Billinghurst, the President OF the Pc
ruvian Republic. Tho National Palace
stands on the Plaza Mayor. ut right
angles TO the great cathedral tina, was
found by Pizarro In 1898. The palace
itself WAS built about the same time.
and IL has all the features OF the Span
ish architecture OF the days OF Colum-
bus. Ii covers whole city block, and
its ground floor area must be six
eight acres 1t has two stories, and
il consists Of large rooms with wide
marble stairways leading to the second
floor. The building runs around patios,
and in these are royal palms and tropi-
cal flowers On my way In | was
shown a fix tree that wns planted by
Pizarro. 1t is more than 800 years old.
and is still bearing fruit
arranged by the American minister to
Peru, Mir. Benton McAlillin. and we
went To the palace together. Passing
the soldiers ut the cntra nee. NC walked
through the hall iii which Pizarro was
killed and assembled a marble stairway
,o tho second floor Here we met Mr.
Cisncros. the secretary Of the Prest-
dent. and moment later were shaking
the hands Of the man whom I might
call the Theodore Roosevelt of Peru.
President Bllnghurst Is m aggrcs-
sive and progressive ruler. He is n
fighter. a man of the people and he
believes III the masses. Like ME.
Roosevelt. he has had a military career
ana has won his spurs on the hattie
field. He Is not afraid. He told me
that tho danger Of revolutions as far
AZ Peru Is concerned Is over ana that
.IN,
something like 100000 hard listed men
who would come to the supper, OF the
administration. The President told ma
that he was elected without applying
for the Office. He did not want to 10
President. and was about to retire from
active business. His support Was So
strong, however. that he was induced
10 head the presidential ticket. ana he
Is now putting in fourteen hours OF
hard abor each day in serving his
country. lie is a progressive Presi-
dent. and has under Way reforms
which include tho building up of tho
rational credit and the development of
Peru along modern lines.
President Biliinehurst is Judge,
about fifty years old. He is Of medium
height and weighs perhaps leo pounds
His head Is large and his face fun.
with high forehead and twnkliug
hlack eyes. lie speaks English fluent
IL, and our conversation was carried on
In that tongue. The fret subject was
the present condition OF Peru. The
President said:
one OF the great troubles Of Peru
Is that IL Is coveted by the countries
about her. We have an enormous ter
ritory. Our country Is one-sixth the
size Of nll Europe, and parts OF 1t are
exceedingly rich. We havo about us
smaller countries the most of which
look With longing eyes upon our pos
sessions. We are, in fact. in tho same
position ms the rich man versus the
poor man. Tho rich man has many
lawsuits. Ills ncighbors covct his pos
sessions and dispute his titles To them
That Is the condition OF Peru We
have had trouble with Ecuador. CO.
lonhia. Rrnzii. bolivia and Chile as tn
our boundaries. and in many Of, these
cases the exact territory of each coun-
try is still unsettled. Nearly every
country is trying to claim some thing
that VIC think is our own; and VIC have
been kept so busy III trying to hold to
our rights that we have not had the
opportunity to develop our resources =
we are willing TO arbitrate matters
with Ecuador, but tho Ecuadorans
seem afraid 70 risk such decision
our records indicate that our bo,,n-
daries extend almost to Quito. and they
fear the result. The Colombians hold