The Washington times., 1915-03-31

the gold standard; but the method by
which 1t was attempted was wrong.
basis Of the circulation, and today Bra
I'll Is on paper basis, Some classes
or It's currency are nominally convert.
ibfe into gold; but there was not
enough accumulation % of gold to insure
structure. with ali tho world just now
employing every possible device to In
crease and to hold gold stocks, the
weak and debtor nations Of Latin
hmer1ca have poor chance to get their
snare; ana SO they are suffering:
IN the days Of Brazil's monopoly OF
ruooer. the country looked like the
greatest proposition on earth. It be-
ileved In it's own destiny. 1t failed
70 appreciate the Importance Of diversi-
iyins It's interests. Plantation rubber
and the tropic two-thirds of the country
suffered and still suffers.
but, confident Of rubber and coffee as
staples from which 1t would always
Tha Isr,Ve q huge revenue. Brazil plunged.
vent into building Of highways; the
FEDERAL government granted immense
bonuses to get railroads constructed.
Ihe she grants to railroads In the United
states were insignificant compared to
Controlled BY Government,
~ was In this era that the IIoyd
Braziliero was established, a great cor
por9tion, controlled by the government,
which sought to open up the commercial
possibilities Of the Amazon river system
ana at the same time link that syston
with the coastwise shipping business of
the country. At one time a. line IF
vessels vas operated by this companv
TO New York; others went to European n
ports. The coasting trade was largely
taken over by these boats.
IL is dlfncult to conceive to what ex-
tent this project was pushed. Hundreds
Of boats, big and little, were bought and
put INTO trade. Routes were established
20 SATISFY political influence People
with pull were able to get service: the
country was booming. there seemed no
limit to the possibilities of its future,
The acknowledgment of the steamship
business especially on the rivers was
very similar to the building of
Grafton ago. Just as the frontier rail-
roads. built far ahead of the dema rois
OF development, had to 60 through re-
peated receiverships and reorganiza-
uons' so the Lloyd Braziliero discovered
that 1t could not earn money without
business.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were
invested, on government account. in de-
Vetoplng this steamship system The
business was in thoroughly bad condi-
ton before the European war: now.
steamships by hundreds are tied up,
rusting and rotting. The corporation is
anxious to sell them because they will
be a total loss II they are not sold and
It Is very we'll known in Latin american
inside circles in Washington that this
corporations vessels were expected to
be taken over. in considerable number,
by the United States in case the ship
ping bill passed.
Keep Proposals Secret.
For some reason the Brazilians seem
to have been unwilling to let their pro-
posals become publicly known; but one
OF the senatorial speeches on the ship
ping bill conveyed tho information that
an important shipping corporation in
South America had a large number of
vessels that were available for purchase
by the United States. That statement
was correct; the ships were those of the
Lloyd Braziliero.
Government ownership and operation
of steamship lines Is not very much
strengthened by study of the Brazilian
experience. 1t Is understood that while
he is in South America Senator Burton
will make some study of this Brazilian
operation. and be prepared to tell ali
about 1t next session II occasion re-
CURES.