The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-18
SIDE LIGHTS ON NEW YORK.


United States proposes to pay Colombia
that modest country would grab on II
It had a chance" said a New Yorker
who has been down there along tne
Magdalena River valley prospecting.
But / am willing to say how much In
diy1dual Colombians will grab Off OF the
helpless foreigners they get In their
clutches who have business there and
have to stay there to look after II.
"Of course transportation is the chief
expense and the steamboat companies
on the Magdalena and its branches,
owned by Colombians and principally
under German management, seemed to
want to get out of Americans all they
think we possibly could owe them for
the Panama transaction Fare on the
boats to El Dorado, say Ave hundred
miles up the river and half as long
coming down as going up. is $50 in gold
each way and no excursion rates Once
] had occasion to make "A trip requiring
a day and half up river and about
three hours down-boats never run at
nghr-the fare being 50. Going up
] got four or Ave meals, but coming
back | didn't get anything except pas
sage, and the fare was the same.
Another time I was booked to 90
from Caceres to Porto Valdevia on the
CauCa River fare $3.50. The water
was low and starting out late in the
afternoon we went about hundred
yards and stuck in a bend in the river.
We put back. the captain saying he
would have To wait for more water.
! We waited two days and no water com
| ing the captain said he would go back
| down the river and we could go on up
| 10y canoe We did. but did the company
! ha
did It give us back the $3.50 we had
| paid for tho three hundred foot ride II
| had furnished. We objected--there
| were three or four of us to go up
| river and the captain said the company
| couldn't return fares nor did u feel
under any obligations to pay for our
canoe travel
Law? Oh, well, you won't try
| Colombian law more than once 7 guess
| When Il comes 20 freight charges, good
lord, there isn't any limit. Freight
from Baranquilla To Caceres about
three hundred miles is s25 a ton and
passenger fare the same-not per ton,
| per person.
| Just the same It's great country TO
| make money in for those who go at II
right. Foreign capital there now is IN
dredge mining, but there are thousands
sugar lands which can be had for prac-
ucally nothing and the rice OF that
| country is about the finest grown. while
the market is there in Colombia for all
that would be raised for years TO come.
Sugar the same and coarse brown
| sugar sells in quantity NJ seven cents
| a pound and | paid 20 cents n pound for
| sugar for my own use. There Is
million dollar sugar plant in operation
further down the river and n small
one with s125,000 Colombian capital Il
to be put in operation later. That is
all the competition for thousands OF
square miles Of territory.
at is n healthy enough country 60
I've In and you never feel the heat as
YOU do IN New York city. But don't
look for society along the Nechi River
where | am. Our biggest town has
about five hundred population. and to
Barranqullla. our nearest real town. II
;hrec hundred miles by river. II we
go 70 Medellin. about the same distance
! air line, It Is mule back and you get
81 there when you get there"
: A Brooklyn clergyman, who does no,
permit his cloth 10 hide entirely his
sense OF humor. was among those Amer
leans abroad who were caught in the
war washout and he took the first train
headed toward the rear. He reports II
Z packed full. not only OF tourists. but Of
natives as well. and they were not all
= first class passengers,
"You know" he said with a twinkle
E in his eye when narrating his train cx-
periences, that cleanliness is believed
to be next to godllness; but after riding
seventy-fvc miles with forty or fifty
, Of those peasants sardlned around me
q am prepared to assert without fear
= Of successful contradiction that my par
! ticular godliness was not next to any
2 cleanliness that / was aware Of"
n Another New Yorker, home from the
0 wars, described the unfortunate tour
lists as more warred against than
warning"
: 1T had a queer experience on train
out West not long ago" said a drummer
:. for New York grocery firm.
81 thought you had been on the road
J. so long you couldn't have n new one"
Y Interrupted n listener
- That's what / thought until this
Y happened. II came unexpectedly too
y. There were two New Workers. on boa rd
i west of Chicago and we got TO talking
. Maybe you wouldn't believe IL. but both
q of those chaps talked TO me at least
@ half an hour before they told me they
o were from New York Now what do
i you think Of that?"
i mo more fiery nat for me in the
4 hot summer days have to stay in New
g York" said an uptown man who can't
+, get out OF town until It is cool enough
y to remain at home comfortably, land
y ! have called the turn on the heat ny
8 a very simple and inexpensive process
How did I do Il? Listen: You know
how they cool roof gardens by turning
water on the glass roofs? Well. have
q rugged little sprinkler pipe along the
i top of my windows above the awnings
). and hot days and nights | turn on Just
d enough water to keep the awnings
= always moist. or course evaporation is
!. bound % follow and the air coming
y through is delightfully."- cool.
II Just as II Is In n small way when
swrltering sleepers on hot nights try
a 70 ameliorate their Internal condition
e by stringing wet towels in the windows
a ! adopt the same principle, but | have
% some method in mine and the result ie