The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-06
A VISIT TO PARAGUAY IN 1915

with walls of stone which are roofed with palm bark. The larger cities have parks or plazas and Asuneion is quite up-to- date. It has electric lights and electric street cars, and some of it's public build ings are fine. l shall write further of ir in the future
 There are large parts of Paraguay that have no inhabitants whatever More than half of the land still belongs to the gov ernment. which is anxious to eolonize it. It has been endeavoring to do so for years, and there are now a number of col onies of Italians, Germans and English scattered here and there throughout the republic. One German colony has 700 in- habitants. It is composed of Germans. Austrfans, Paraguayans and Brazlians or German descent. Another colony is at San Bernardino. This is the chief sum mer resort. being situated on a beautl- ful lake. There is another German colony about SO miles from Villa Rica little north of here, on the other side ol the river is a settlement named after Presi- dent Hayes. on account of his decision or territorial dispute between Paraguay and Argentina in Paraguay's favor. The col- ony is called Villa Hayes, but the words are pronounced here as though they were spelled Villa Eyes. for that is the way the Spanish pronounce Hayes President Hayes ran a temperance administrations and it will be remembered that he shud- dered when it was proposed to put wines on the table at the White House. The city named after him has sugar plantations about 1t, and 1t is now grinding the cane through sugar mills made in Cincinnati, and distilling the juice into a rum that will kill at 40 rods.
 Another colony of note is that named The Twenty-ffth of November It is on some of the land that was originally given to the New Australian associa- tion. It has several thousand head or cattle and mules, and its inhabitants are 5000 Parag guayans, with only few foreigners among them.
 As to the New Australian colony It. self, that still has some of the original members who have come down to mod ern business principles and have es- tablished sawmill and several stores They have a school with an English person as head teacher, and services are held at a central point every week
  land. It has 4000 or 5000 head of cattle, and something like 1000 horses.
 This colony was established many years ago, by some Australians who came to Paraguay to live together after the principal of the Golden Rule. They sold out their property in Australia and put their money into general fund They used part of this to charter a ship, and saved the rest to go into farming in Paraguay In order to have the more money upon landing they concluded to do the greater part of the work on the ship themselves and allotted certain duties among the diff ferent members of the colony. They had hardly left Australia, however, be- fore dissatisfaction arose, and the Golden Rule was kicked into the air higher than the tops of the Andes. There was quarrelng from start to fin ish and one of the recreations during the meals of the voyage was throwing the dishes on the table at one another When they got to Paraguay the land was given to them. but it was then found that no one wanted to work, and after time the most of them left. 1 understand there are now about 70 in the colony, and that they are work ing in harmony. the lands having beeI subject to some subdivision
 The government of Paraguay is anx. ious for immigrants, and it is willing to sell its lands in large or small tracts. l am told there are great opportunities for the purchase of lands, and that tho lands cannot but increase greatly in value within the near future Indeed, 1 doubt if there is anywhere else on the globe so large a block of good, easily accessible, unoccupied country. Para quay proper is considered the garden of all South America. Much of it is high and dry, and it will raise coffee, to- bacco. sugar cane and corn. Thousands of acres are now in mandi oca, a tuber somewhat like the potato. and there are vast tracts of open country some of which are covered with cattle.
 The land seems to be the natural home of the orange. The first trees were brought here by the Jesuits not long after Columbus discovered America, and the birds have carried the seeds SO that you now find oranges growing wild in the woods. The villages are built in orange groves, and there is so much fruit that it often rots on the ground. There are great orange orchards, and during the season a fleet of fruit steamers goes in long caravan down to the Argentine. At that time the banks of the Paraguay river have mountains of oranges piled near the wharves of the towns, and you see long lines of Paraguayan girls carrying the golden fruit in baskets on their heads to the steamers. The oranges are brought