El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-06-12
Frank G. Carpenter

and has usually paid big dividends
The rate is now in the neighbOrhOod Of
I u percent. The Agricultural bank
which was organized 10 help the farm
ers, has a capital OF S14-50O.0O0 in cur
rency, and there are number Of Othel
banks as we'll
Asuneion lies in the heart of the con-
tinent halfway between the Carib-
bean sea and the strait Of Magellan II
IS about as Ear east from the Atlantic
as the distance between New York and
Cleveland and about as far from the
Pacific as from NeT York to Detroit
The country is in the great Parana
basin, which at this place is only two
or three hundred feet above the sea
i lies on the east bank Of the river,
which is here more than a half lile in
width. The houses skirt the river
for four or five miles and run far
back into the country.
Red Palace Of Lopez.
The principal buildings face the Par
aguay. Coming up on the boat, you see
the great red palace of the govern
ment, which was built by the dictator
Lopez when he and Mime. Lynch were
carrying on their carnival OF tyranny,
bloodshed and destruction. 1t is now
occupied by the state, war public
works and other departments.
A little further on are the houses
OF congress. which are being repaired,
and still further is the great theater
which Lopez started. but did not com
plete- 1t is now used as a tobacco
warehouse by the government, all Of
the tobacco passing through IL for
revision and grading before being ex-
ported.
Back Of these great buildings is the
city proper. The houses are mostly
of one story. Their roofs or efl;t
They are made Of red tiles or gaIvan-
lzed iron, but you can see this only
by looking down on them from above.
LOT the front wall Of anrh hnrrea
up a little higher than the roof. hiding
II from the street The most of the
houses are built close to the sidewalk
IN solid blocks, forming a one story
wall along the streets with here and
there door or iron barred window
You can tell where a house begins and
ends by its color. It may be rose
red. sky blue. blood red, a bilious yell
low or jealous green. The market
mouse Is painted rose pink. the cathe-
dral is the color of rich Jersey cream
ana the palace IS red. The houses Of
congress are lilac, while one Of the
newspapers is printed in a monastery
Ike structure Of Indian red.
Fine Homes in Outskirts.
On the outskirts OF the city there are
many Ilne houses surrounded by gar
dens- They are chiefly of Spanish archf-
lecture, consisting OF one story build
lngs Of these same bright colors. A
villa may be of sky blue rose pink or
golden yellow, but Notwithstanding this
IL seems to harmonic with its sur
roundings. We are here on the edge Of
the tropics, and there are all sorts of
palm trees and tropical plants One
beautiful tree is the Cape Jassemine,
and another is the Paraguayan cedar.
Ihere are gorgeous flowers everywhere
ana luXuriance Of vegetation such as
Few capitals have. The finest residence
street of the city is the Avenida de
Asuncion- 1t runs from the city about
TOUR miles nttO the country. being lined
with fine homes all the way. Its width
IS nearly 40 feet and il is paved with
broken stones. 1t leads out to the GEM
etery.
In the Market Place.
Leaving the cemetery I went to the
market This covers a whole square
IN the heart Of the city. 1t consists
Of shed of galvanized iron with a
floor space Of about an acre This is
ulled with women who sell meat veg
etables, fruit and wares Of all kinds.
There are also hundreds OF peddlers
seated on the cObblestones outside the
shed, and on a busy day the market is
frequented by thousands
The most OF the buyers and sellers
are women, and in the early morning
the square is covered with them Near
" all are barearmed and bareheaded
and many barefooted. Some of them
wear black shawls which fall down
over their bright colored dresses hid
ing everything but their chocolate col
ored faces and arms The most Of the
peddlers are in their bare feet and
some sit lat on the ground with their