The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1919-12-05
Amazon Valley Has
Wonderful Resources
Waiting Development

l-(ASSOCtated PreSS)-BuSiness con-
ditions in the Amazon Valley are be-
ginning to recover from the disturb
anCe of commerce caused by the war.
Rubber estate owners and business
men generally, realize that the com
petition of Oriental plantation rubber
which has forced the market price of
that article down to about the actual
cost of gathering wild Amazon rub
Der is really a blessing, in disguise,
since it is bringing about the develop
ment of the other natural
left untouched so long as rubber ono
polized all attention in the valley.
Foodstuffs that used to be imported
from abroad, or from other parts of
Brazil, are now being raised locally,
A party headed by Henry S. Flem-
ing, of New York, which has been
investigating the commercial possibili-
ties of the Amazon Valley has return
ed to this city after a two-month tour
of the Amazon and some of its princi-
pal a%ffluents, nearly 5000 miles of
rivers being covered in the sourse Of
the trip. Mr.. Fleming is receiver of
an American company with extensive
docking, %shipyard, and navigation
property at Para.
The main river was assembled for
over $500 miles. as far as Iquitos,
Peru, and also the Javary, Purus,
Negro, Xingu, Moju, Tocantiins and
other rivers for varying distances. A
vast amount of caluable information
and data has been gathered as a re
suit, which is being placed free of
charge at the disposal of American
manufacturers, importers, exporters
and others interested in the develop
ment of the Amazon Valley. Many
inquiries have recently been made by
Americans seeking information re-
garding lands available for cattle rails
ing, grain growing, and minerals,
which indicates an awakening interest
in the United States in regard to the
Amazon country.
Food Stuffs Increase
According TO Mr.. Fleming the most
encouraging sign noted on the trip
was the increase in the production of
food stuffs of all kinds. Mandioca
corn, sugar cane, rice, beans, bananas,
melons, fruits of many species, and
occasionally tobacco and cotton, have
been planted in small patches along
the river banks near the towns and
GnttippOnntc pnfnra tho u-ar nrootio-
ally all foodstuffs had to be imported
as the wages paid undergraduates was
so high as to make labor unavailable
for agricultural work. Most of this
planting is done on the low-lying
banks of rivrs, and at least two crops
OF corn, beans, mandioca, etc, ar
gathered between floods.
One of the staple products most
affected by the rubber boom was
cacao. When labor was attracted by
the lure of high wages, most of the
large cacao plantations had to be
abandoned; today they are being
cleaned and restored and new trees
are being planted.
Local cotton men are optimistic as
to the future of Amazon cotton, which
is said to be of excellent quality and
long staple. There are large, i'm
mems areas of the Amazon Valley
suitable for cotton growing, and in
many places, notably Iquitos (Peru),
Santarem, Monte Allegro, this is now
being produced in increasing quaint
ties. Last year was the first that any
concerted effort was made to grow
cotton, but the idea seems to have
taken on with many landowners.
UndeveIoped Resources
The Amazon Valley is said to be
the greatest undeveloped region in
the world today, on every side there
are natural resources, of immense
value, with commercial possibilities,
which are as yet untouched. The
soil is said to be extraordinarily fer
tile. The forests offer woods in in
~eXhaustible variety, many of them
cabinet woods of rare value. OF vege-
table oil nuts, a tenth part only is
known to the outside world. Resins,
gums, spices, medicinal plants, fibres
abound, in infinite variety. Kapok
grows along the banks of most of
main rivers, but not a pound of it is
exported to the United States, al
though America imported 1000, 900
pounds last year from far away Java.
There are mineralized areas said to
contain coal, iron, gold, silver, and
precious metals of many kinds. They
nave not yet been p~rospected.
Many merchants up river, with
whom the Associated Press CORE
enOla in Innitns Mananc