New Britain herald., 1928-12-11
BOLlVIA AND PARAGUAY

populaCc-three out of four of those
 who work being employed as car
 ricrs in lieu of railT 'ads-scelns quite willing for cnange in occu- 10 be the popular cry. and. as Para
 quay happens to be next door neishbor and one not strong enough
 10 offer resistance totalling more
 than q sporting chance for success.
 the yell IS 10 declare war and put
 the neishbors in their place.
 The reason for the apprehension in
 Bolivia is not far 10 seek. Troops of
 the two nations had few disagree
 ments on the border. and such diplomacy as exists seems stretched to the breaking point.
 Bolivia cannot afford war. It
 stands virtually mortsaged 10 the United States interests. 1rrcnspon- . clflt SoN'I iliflllS pl Nf' past hn " 1 borrowed s,irh huge sums that the national de cannot be paid off within q rc, ny. Its high plateaus
 are rich in ea. producing 5o.ooo i tons anually-the worlds second
 largest production. Once the nation owned an outlet to inc Pacific. but Chlli fought war over it and now i owns the great nitrate fields along
 the coast. II was during this war
 hat Chili also obtained 1arapaca. 1 Africa and 1acna from Peru, as well
 IS the region of Antofagasta from
 the helpless BoliNians.
 [ In loo years Bolivia has had So dirtators and three constitutions. II IS divided by nature into two parts. beautiful lowlands and almost inac- cessihle plateaus. where tin js abund- ant, It's ci'izcnry is composed of small Spanish descent ruling class i and Indians living in peonase. The one aim Of the Spanish ruling class 1 is 10 keep the Indians low down. The abortiye revolt last year. when ! 50,o0o hat-st3ryed peons tried to i throw off their yokos. was puelled with guns. Bolivia describing the af- 1 fair as "communstlc" II is queer countrN 10 be nam"d after Simon i Bolivar, who ended hc rule of Spain in the south American continent. Paraguay is not much better off than Bolivia being auong the worlds most backward lands. If poSS"sscS rivers. however. which are the most important highways. It is smaller than Bolivia but has ad- Nan'ag"S of transportation. Its his tory records one of the worlds most terrible personagrs. Francisco l.op"z, who Was tn" son Of bcncNo- lent dictator US4o-G2) who made Paraguay into d flourlshing state. l pou the death of the benevolent dictator, however, Francisco Lopez turuW the land into q series of such ! useless and ruinous wars that the population Of 1900 ,u00 was reduced , in eight years to less than 50. .0nh men. and 900, oo0 women and chiI- drcn. Never in history. perhaps, has ] War-naJ monarch so completely i >uined his country. Since that time i Paraguay has been slowly recover ing,
 These two nations. Of the type Of comic opera republics one reads about occasionally, now want 10 1 ll"ht another useless War. Tho pco- pie are said 10 want the conflict: thut We doubt that greatly. pre-
 f'rring to think that the popula-
 ton. spread over many thousands of
 square miles, does not know 10 this
 day what all the excitement is about,
 and probably doesn't care. If one
 wishes 10 take seriously what the
 nJco people in l,araz. tochabamha.
 Sncr", rotosi. Turiia think about it
 or those in Asuuciou. Villa Eica.
 San Salvador and Conccpciun---thcn
 that is q different matter. These
 would not participate in the fight
 inI except 10 grab war profits and
 S,c 'hH ordinary folk degraded even
 more att"r one side or the other won
 fin" honorable victory calculated to
 settle nothing, not cvon the war 'a.bis.