The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-11
YERBA-MATE THE STRANGE TEA OF PARAGUAY
the Paraguay river floats the stars and

 the Paraguay river floats the stars and stripes.
 About 10 hours north of Asuncion there is beef extract and meat canning com rany which Is under American manage ment and which uses American machin- cry. I understand that the capital is furnished by Germans This institution has a modern packing house outfit and when in full operation it will be killing 800 head of cattle day. It already owns 16.000 cattle and over 1500oo acres of pas ture.
 American goods seem to be popular in Paraguay. I see many things here that come from the United States. There are wind mills from Illinois and Indiana standing out upon almost every land scape and the forests are being cut with American axes. Walking along the wharves I saw several score of little steel sugar mills which came from Cincinnati. and the bank notes of the country are printed in New York.
 Just now much of the imports from Germany and England have been cut off These two countries have had the great bulk of the trade. and the war gives the United States an opportunity for the in- troduction of its hardware. textile goods, drugs, perfumery, jewelry and all sorts of machinery. Our machinery has good reputation, but we need salesmen on the ground to show how to use 1t. We need also drummers to push American trade and to create agencies for the sale of American goods. The foreign trade of this country amounts to something like s10,000.000 a year, and will rapidly grow with the development that is sure to come in the future. Our business so far has been chiefly made up of hardware and machinery. We take but few Paraguayan goods, and there is not much she makes that we want. The country is agricultu- ral pastoral and forestal. We produce in the United States nearly everything that is produced here with the excep- tion of quebracho wood and extract, which is exported to our country for tam hing.
 There is one industry in Paraguay that might find large market in the United States. I refer to the making of Paraguay lace. This lace IS called Nanduti, pronounced Nyandutee- The word means cobweb, and the comweb is the most common design in which the lace Is made, although there are others such as the butterfly the rice stalk and the star and cross patterns, This lace Is as beautiful as any that comes from Europe. It Is made by the women of the country, who have always been famous for their needlework. They spin webs as delicatey as though they were spiders and everywhere they sell these beautiful cobwebs of cotton, linen or silk. They make handkerchiefs, shawIs and embroideries and weave hammocks or cotton thread so strong that they will outlast a generation.
 Many of their patterns are taken from nature and the cobweb Is copied to life. In making the lace the pattern is first outlined In pencil on a groundwork of cotton. linen or silk. This groundwork Is put into frame and the lace stitched to the cloth When completed 1t Is re- leased by cutting the threads. In times past the best lace was made by the fash ionable women of the higher classes. It is now made by the common people every where, and little children work side by side with their grandmothers in stitch ing it. There Is a town about 20 miles from Asuncion called Itauga, which Is considered the center of the industry.
 I find the prices for Paraguay lace have trebled and quadrupled since was last here a decade and half ago This Is so in Asuncion and also in Buenos
 hiftS, Wntlt tue ldce IS seHt IOT sdle There are woman peddlers who go about the hotels and ask the tourists to buy There were a half dozen in my hotel to- day. They had hammoclls of cotton thread, for which they asked s15 apiece collars and cuffs at from s3 to s5 each and lace scarfs at s15 I bought a beauti ful handkerchief for $2.50. Among other things shown were parasol covers. made of cobwebs in patterns. l examined ont that was priced at $500 Paraguayan. Tn, girl told me 1t took six months worl to mRke 1t.
 Wages are low In Paraguay. It il
 true man may get $500 a month anc likely girl may receive as much a!
 S100 for 30 days work. The wages seen
 high, but when you remember that
 dollar is worth only cents and often times only cents in actual money tn $500 shrinks to s15 and the $200 to SIC
 Common laborers in the country dis tricts are paid about 25 cents a day
 and in the remote parts of the countr,