Evening star., 1919-05-11

! leaped 10 the rfont rank in supply
ing these imports and there is no in
dication that II proposes to reduce
it's hold. AS a matter OF fact IL IS
| making extensive plans to increase
| its activities.
/ Some idea of Brazirs promising
| future may be derived from The mos
| recent figures of its commercial sta
tistics. Its total imports during 1917
/ amounted to S194.5S2. .000. an increase
| of more than SIS. .000. O00 over the pt.-
ceding year. It's exports Were $2i..-
| $4,000. representing an increase al
| more than SIS. .00n. 600. OF the import
| business the United States supplied
41.25 per cent. which was an increase
| of nearly 200 per cent over its ship
ments TO Brazil at the outbreak Of
the war. The United States received
1919 per cent of Brazirs exports. N
the outbreak of the war it received
only 1884 per cent.
The total extent of railways of
Brazil according to most recent fig
, ures was 1880 miles. More than
and 1000 miles additional are pro-
5ected. All of which means that the
United States will benefit to a large
extent in the supplying of equipment
for these enterprises.
History Reads Like Fiction.
7 The history of the rspublic of Brazil
| is highly interesting. and, peculiarly
enough, is little known to the average
American. II reads like romance, and
to tell it properly would consume far
more space than is permitted here. But
briefly, credit for the discovery of Brazil
is usually given to Pedro Alvares Cabral.
1 a Portuguese navigator. who. on April
%. 1900, landed not far from the present
site of the city now known as Bahia.
! He took possession in the name OF the
King of Portugal. and to this day Por
| tuguese is the national language. No
| attempt was made to settle this un-
known country until 15i9, when Thomas
de Souza was appointed governor gen
eral. The country had then bscor'e
known as Brazil from the red dyevood
| found in its forests. which, at thst
time, was. brought from the east and
was known commercially as Brazil
wood"
The Portuguese king divided the
great domain. making large grants OF
| land to Portuguese mobiles, who were to
settle and colonize and who received
a number of Indian slaves in addition
| to the land. With de Sousa came the
| first Jesuits. who were most helpful and
who succeeded in obtaining complete
control over the aborigines
To prevent the native Indians being
recommended and fostered the importa
tion of African slaves during the next
| two centuries. The country suffered
numerous invasions from the Frenc'i,
| Dutch and the British between The
years 1855 and 164O but all efforts 10
gain foothold on this Portuguese ter
ritory were in vain. In 1910 Brazil be-
came a vice royalty, with Rio de Janeiro
as the capital.
| When Napoleon invaded Portugal,
| early in the nineteenth century, the
Portuguese king fed to his American
Kingdom, where. with his family and
court, he lived thirteen years.
1t was during that time that he
Il ~rt L.
commerce of the world. When he re-
turned to Portugal in 1921 he ap-
pointed his eldest son. Dom Pedro. re
gent of Brazil. The latter was in sym
pathy with the movement for the
country's independence and on Sep
tember I. 1922. he formally proclaimed
Brazil to be independent and was a
month later crowned as emperor He
fabdicated in 1881 in favor of his son
Dom Pedro III. who reigned until 1883.
when the people of Brazil resolved to
| change it's form of government from
a monarchy to a republic. This was
accomplished on November Is, 1883
| According to the constitution adopt
ed in 1891 the republic of Brazil be-
came a federal union of states. Its
government corresponds closely ="
! that of the United States. 1t is IN
vested I'm the executive. legislative
and judicial branches. There are
president and vice president elected
|
! vote but who may not be reelected
for the term Immediately following
{ their own. The president Is assisted
by a cabinet of seven ministers whom
he appoints.
Armed Strength of Brazil.
The regular army of the republic mas
! a peace strength of 52,ooV. AS NIL
tary service is compulsory from the
twenty-flrst to the forty-fourth year
the war strength of the republic prom
ably exceeds 100000 men, The navy
consists of fifty-seven vessels Win
| COMPLEMENT of 10000 men.
| There are more than 800 post Of
| fees distributed throughout the ma
| tion. There are more than $1,000 miles
| of telegraph lines and nearly loo'oVo
| miles of telephone lines A.
! world better watered than is braZil.
| 1t has small regions OF drought, pus
! there are no extensive deserts. anu
| throughout the country there are
| great river systems. most promihent
of all being the Amazon, the great
| est river on the earth's surface. lWo-
/ thirds of the main stream OF the AM
azon flow through Brazil: For SOME
| Illustration of the size or this river
| it might be mentioned that it is so
great in longth that were 1t stretch
| ed out straight from end to end IL wouio
reach around the world. The main
| stream and its tributaries are haNi-
| gable for more than 10000 miles.
| The republic is composed OF twenty
| states and one territory Some Oh
| them are enormous and others COM
| pare in size to the smaller states or
| this country. although none Is as
| small as Massachusetts.
J Sac Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are
the principal coffee producing states,
! with the first named ranking hrst IL
| alone produces three-fourths of the
/ coffee of the world besides growing a
| million and a quarter bales OF cot
| ton, to say nothing of several mil
| lion of pounds of tobacco and thou
| sands of sacks of sugar.
! The greater portion of BraziTs pop
| ulation is of Portuguese descent.
| There are less than 100000 native In
! dams remaining. In the southern area
! there has been the greatest influx or
| foreign immigration. There are prob
| ably more than 100000 Germans in
! that district. In other parts there are
something like 100000 Italians.
/ There are approximately 100000
Spar settlers. There are compare
| lively few Americans and British res
| fdents in Brazil.
| Cleanest City in World.
| BY far the larger part of the popula-
| tion is found in the territory along
/ the seacoast. There are a number of
large and interesting cities. the most
notable being the national capital,
Rio de Janeiro. 1t lies at the south
end of the Bay of Rio, which is con-
ceded by authorities to be the finest
4