BRAZIL 



903 



BRAZIL 



rich diamond mines of South Africa caused 

 those of Brazil to decline. Gold still exists in 

 large quantities, but the lack of capital and of 

 energetic legislation in favor of mining has 

 retarded the industry. Iron, lead, copper, silver 

 and a few of the precious stones are also 

 present, but the scarcity of fuel prevents the 

 development of these riches, for Brazil has 

 little coal, and what it has is of poor quality. 



Manufactures. This same scarcity of coal 

 has interfered with the development of manu- 

 factures, but of recent years there has been a 

 decided increase in these, the waterfalls being 

 utilized in many cases to furnish power. Chief 

 of the manufacturing industries is the spinning 

 and weaving of cotton, and next is the making 

 of woolen goods. Sugar is also refined, but 

 much of this work is yet done by primitive 

 methods. No goods are manufactured in suffi- 

 cient quantities for export; the exports consist 

 mainly of rubber, coffee and cotton. 



Business Opportunities. In a land so rich in 

 natural resources and so little developed, the 

 opportunities for the investment of capital and 

 labor are so varied that it would be idle to 

 attempt to enumerate them. The production 

 of rubber in the past has been performed 

 chiefly by cheap laborers who have gathered 

 the sap from incisions made in the bark of the 

 "up-river hevea" trees, generally growing wild. 

 This is by far the best rubber known. In the 

 vicinity of Ceara the manihot tree is cultivated 

 for its rubber sap; and there is also the castil- 

 loa of Mexico and Central America to be taken 

 into account. The rubber tree of Northern 

 conservatories is not one of these, and is merely 

 ornamental; and castilloa and manihot rub- 

 bers are not of the best. The cultivation of the 

 hevea in its natural habitat is highly pro- 

 ductive. 



Medicinal plants and dye woods abound in 

 Brazil. The use of nuts except the chestnut 

 as a food for diabetic persons has made of nut 

 products a food staple; and Brazil abounds in 

 nut-bearing trees. The late Henry T. Blow, 

 formerly United States minister to Brazil, con- 

 structed a reception cabinet, or chamber, of 

 Brazilian woods for his home in Saint Louis; 

 and at every international exposition there are 

 exhibits of the inexhaustible timber of the 

 Brazilian forests, desirable for use in North 

 America. The people of the United States 

 buy Brazilian products to the amount of more 

 than a hundred millions of dollars annually, 

 and sell to Brazilians merchandise valued at 

 but little more than a quarter of this amount. 



The trade should be reciprocal between Bra- 

 zil and its best customer. Commercial diplo- 

 macy must be enlisted to correct the existing 

 lack of balance in trade. Why do Brazilian 

 orders for staple manufactures and Brazilian 

 contracts for public works go so largely to 

 European competitors of North Americans? 

 In a witty Brazilian proverb, one "hears with 

 the ears of a merchant" when he pays little 

 attention to what is said. North Americans 



THE NATIONAL, FLAG 

 The rectangle is green ; the dotted center, yel- 

 low ; the globe, blue, with band and stars in 

 white. See FLAG, color plate. 



hitherto have spoken to Brazilians perhaps, 

 only with the voice of a merchant, without 

 mutual sympathy and appreciation. Social 

 qualities are essential in salesmanship, and the 

 American house which would establish Brazilian 

 trade must extend terms of credit of three to 

 six months, to meet like courtesies from Euro- 

 pean business firms. 



Brazilian money like the Portuguese is 

 counted in milreis, and the milreis, equal to a 

 fraction less than fifty-five cents, is theoreti- 

 cally divided into a thousand parts; for milreis 

 means a thousand mills. But counting by 

 thousands is not difficult to acquire, when one 

 is familiar with the centesimal accounting of 

 the United States and Canada. 



Government. Brazil is a republic, with a 

 constitution modeled on that of the United 

 States, but allowing a far greater measure of 

 states' rights. Indeed, each of the twenty 

 states is - almost independent, accepting the 

 interference of the Federal government in but 

 few matters. 



At the head of the republic is the President, 

 elected by direct vote for a period of four years. 

 His Cabinet of seven ministers is appointed 

 by him and is not responsible to the legislative 

 body. This latter consists of two houses, a 

 Senate and a House of Deputies. Each of the 

 twenty states, as well as the Federal District, 

 elects three senators, who remain in office for 



