The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-08
PARAGUAY IN 1915
Frank G. Carpenter Describes a Great Meat and
Fruit Land of the Future

carries, jaguars. monkeys and Mild
hogs. ON the opposite banks in
Paraguay You now and then pass a
small town and here and there see a
farm that has ben cut out Of the
woods. Here and there are cattle
feeding along the banks. but often
YOU travel for miles with no living
thing but the alisators IN sight
The Paraguay river runs through
, one Of the forest regions of this part
Of the world. As seen from the boat
the trees are knotty and gnarly and
foot in diameter. They are "ound to-
| gether with vines Farther inland
is dense jungle Of Vegetation
| through which it would bt mpossi-
ble 70 make your way without an *
or a knife. AS You approach Asun-
cion the land rises and the boat now
and then, stops at a Paraguayan
town whose only communication with
the outside world is the river Such
towns have unpaved streets, in which
the grass grows. The houses are
all Of one story They are mostly
Of stucco. They have roofs of rcd
tile and they are painted ir the
brightest Of colors. Continuing your
voyage, you By and hy, land at Asun-
'lon, the capital Of Paraguay. It is 4
city Of about 100 900 people and is
the social, political and financial cen
Ter Of the Upper Parana system
But before l describe the Para
: guayan capital want to give you a
6 general idea of the country In the
first place. its location. Paraguay
lies in the heart of the South Ameri-
q can continent. much the same as ILL.,
9 nOlS lies in the heart of the North
n | American continent It is at the
n junction Of two mighty rivers. havin Z
: great waterways that carry its pro-
/ ducts out to the sea
V The country is divided into two
e psrts by the rivers that wash it. ON
the east is Paraguay proper, a terri
e tory more than twice the size Of IN
e diana, lying in the arms of the Para
s aguay all told contains 17l.000
e on the west running northward to-
: ward Bolivia, bordered on the south
\. by the Pilcomayo is the vast wilder
$ ness known as the Chaco, which
a would make two Ohios and leave
e some to spare The republic of Par
T. asuay all told constants 171.00O
square miles 1t has enough land to
make three Alabamas four Virginiae
20 or three Kentuckys, with Arkansas
- thrown in for good measure. None OF
~ ! the country has been carefully sur
" veyed, and some Of it has not been
4s explored 1t has millions Of acres as
,r wild as when Sebastian Cabot first
at sailed up the Parana; and some OF
"a llS territories nave never bttn lION
N den by the foot of white man.
he
y. And still great country ha.
m only a few more people than eithel
st Baltimore or st. Louis. It has perhaps
er 500 900 and there there are in addi
10 ton about 5000 wild Indians who's
IS census has never been taken. Tn
,h | bulk of the inhabitants live in Para
!! quay proper. They are a mixture 0
40 whites and of cross between tn
~ " hite race and the Guarani indians
. The first whites were Spa nlards. man
=; | of whom intermarTled with the Qua
~, | ranis, and it is their descendants ant
o. those Of the Spaniards who form tn
g Paraguayans Of today In addition
al to the native population there ar
of perhaps about 25, 900 foreigners mad
lie up Of Italians ArgentinOS, BraZllians
he Germans, English and French. Their
are 10000 Italians. d little over 800
Argentinos, perhaps $500 German
r and not to exceed so Americans. TIL
tn Americans are chiefly in the norther
ay part of the country, where a colon
is OK them has large cattle lands. Thei
RS leader is G.. L. Rickard, who is sal
as to have made a large part Of h
ne money as the promoter OF the JEFF
IN I'm s-Johnson prize fight.
re The most Of the population Of Par
- aguay is scattered widely over tn
AZ AZ country. There are but few cities c
- size. Asuncion has nearly 100000
,rs | Villa RiCa, which IS several hour
- - | back from the river by rail. has 25
DO 600 and villa Conception, thUt
lse hours north Of Asuncion by steame
ne has 10000 or more. Altogethe
id there are a half dozen other town