The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-05-07
AMERICANS BACK
PERUVIAN ROAD
limited States Business
Men Furnish Funds
for Rail Line
MAY SETTLE DISPUTE
Controversy Between Chile
and Peru Centers About
Building Of Road

FORT WORTH. Texas The old
est International dispute In the
western Hemisphere, which for
nearly half a century has kept Peru
and chile on the verge of war and
,,bIeh recently has strdined relations
20 breaking point. cdnters more or
loss around a railroad bac&ed by
American interests, which. when
rompIc.Cd, is calculated to make
Peru mo leading South American
republic. Tho controversy directly
concerns the possession of Tacna
and Arica. The railroad line Is TO
run from the Pacific coast for $50
miles to the Amazon river and tap
a country rich In minerals. agricul-
ture and timber.
Fnanciors Of Texas Denver. Chi
cae0 and New York have subscribed
10 "A I2UO0O.000 fund to build the
line. The promoter is Senator II. c.
Ztgarra. Of Lima. an engineer of re-
putr and formerly minister for Peru
IA Washington. He IS well known in
tho United states. His son is a
graduate Of the Texas a. * NJ, coll
leGo
poru for more than 40 years has
been kept I'm the background as
result Of her war with Chile, which
began in 1879. Chill eXaCting from
the conquered country the most
drastic treaty ever signed In the two
Americas. This treaty completed in
1884, stipulated that not only Peru
must surrender the Tacna-Arica re-
gon but further provided that for a
period Of so years Peru must not
iortify any Of its ports and that for
40 years it must not build up any
kind of navy.
Foreign Trade Neglected.
So Peruvian ports, navy and mari
time trade have been neglected. But
that was not all. The same treaty
provided that after 10 years n pleb-
isCite in the TaCna-AriCa territory
should decide to which republic the
region should permanently go. The
plebiscitc was supposed 10 have
taken place in 1894. but when the
question bobbed up at that time
Chile insisted that everyone there
should be allowed to vote, and Peru
was firm in demanding that only
those citizens who were there when
the treaty was framed should be al
lowed TO cast ballots. In the mean
time Chile had been busy colOnizing
and thousands of Chileans had taken
up residence in the conquered terri
tory. The government finally retain
ing the province was to pay 10000.
GOO indemnify
Apparently Won Tirpitz was not
the originator of the "scrap of pa
per- idea, for Chile prevented the
plehiscite from taking place and
kept the province. Neither did It
hand over to Peru S1O.OO0,000. The
two governments were at "loggors-
heads so in 1898 the convention
hl ~. - II.
tago. Chile, but still Ii was delayed,
and two years later the Chilean con-
gress rejected the convention agree
ment. Then the quarrel was re-
sumed and lasted for II years, tn,
two countries severing relations in
1910.
Chile Retains leadership.
At the start Of the World war
Germany was getting nitrates from
the Tacna region. still, Of course,
under Chilean dominion. Early in
1922 the last advices from Lima are
70 the effect that Peru insists that
Tacna and africa are her property
and wants international arbitration
to settle the question, to which de-
mands Chile has turned a deaf ear.
After Peru received it's setback
chile became the leading country on
the west coast of South America,
and In recent years. when Peru
made strenuous Efforts to throw off
the yoke, the southern republic
looked upon these efforts anything
but kindly. What would boost Peru
would harm Chile, her poll -lans
Then along came Senator zegarrn,
For 20 years he had been inves-
tsatlng, exploring and laying plans
10 mako good - I,F
uon-to give Peru a great trunk line
from east to west-one that would
run through the richest part OF the
country and reach the Amazon. The
line goes through territory having
enormous quantities of gold. silver
copper, coal, timber rubber and
asllcultursl products.
Hegarra could not handle the
proposition alone. The Peruvian
government gave him all the con.
VesSlons he wanted to make 1t an at
sga,uVe proposition to United
states flnancicrs, so he returned tc
ms country 10 solicit assistance and
got II. j. w. Flanagan, j. s. GULL.
ran and John Kirby Houston capi-
.alsts, whom he knew. were The
iirst TO join him. Flanagan and
NeEhrra went 10 various large cities
IN the north and east and at the
conclusion of their trip announced
mat the s30,000,000 was obtained
Terminals Near Close.
Iaena and africa are close 10 the
Iaclilc port whore will be the west,
eIn terminus OF the Americana bull
railroad, and in Chilean hands 4
constitutes a menace. The province
or course. will benefit largel,
through the new line, as its products
Hiso VIII be transported over Tho