URUGUAY RIVER 



6009 



UTAH 



Buenos Aires. After 1750 Uruguay was a 

 separate dependency of the Spanish crown, with 

 Montevideo as its capital. This city was cap- 

 tured by the British in 1870, but their occupa- 

 tion did not last long. 



The independence of Uruguay was declared 

 in 1826. Two years later the young republic 

 refused to join any of its neighbors when fed- 

 eration was urged by them, and in 1830, with 

 its own constitution developed and formally 

 promulgated, it entered upon its career of self- 

 government. Its history, however, like that of 

 most of the Spanish-American republics, was 

 long a record of internal contention, many 

 >tm -ing for power by unscrupulous means. Be- 

 sieged by the Argentines, Uruguay fought for 

 its existence from 1843 to 1852. For five years 

 before the overthrow of the dictator Lopez of 

 Paraguay, in 1870, Uruguay was forced to resist 

 his aggressions. 



A better period seems to have arrived for the 

 domestic affairs of the state, and there is little 

 likelihood that the disorders of the past will 

 recur, owing to improved conditions and the 

 progressive character of the administrations. 



In October, 1917, Uruguay severed diplomatic 

 relations with Germany, not because it had re- 

 ceived any direct offense, but because it de- 

 sired to be enrolled with the defenders of 

 democracy and justice. H.M.S. 



Consult Martin's Through Five Republics; 

 Vincent's Round and about South America. 



URUGUAY RIVER, a river of South America, 

 important because of its navigation facilities, 

 its fisheries and its rich, fertile basin, which 

 produces an abundance of timber. Its source 

 is in the province of Santa Catharina, in 

 Southern Brazil. It follows a westerly, then 

 a southerly direction, forming the partial 



boundary of Brazil and Argentina and com- 

 pletely separating Uruguay from Argentina, and 

 discharges into the estuary of the La Plata 

 River. Navigation is practicable for large ves- 

 sels as far as Paysandu, and for smaller vessels 

 to Salto, where the rapids of Salto Grande oc- 

 cur. In periods of high flood, steamers pass 

 over the obstructions and resume navigation for 

 300 miles. In the lower course the river becomes 

 a lake, varying from four to seven miles in 

 width. The entire length of the river is about 

 1,000 miles. 



USURY, u'zhuri, in present usage, interest 

 in excess of the legal rate. The principles in- 

 volved in the taking of interest were not 

 well understood until recent times; conse- 

 quently, it is common to find usury and inter- 

 est used in the same sense by early writers. 

 In Biblical times a money lender was a usurer, 

 and in Old English usage no distinction was 

 made between the taking of interest and the 

 exacting of usury. This confusion of ideas con- 

 tinued until the rise of the modern industrial 

 and commercial systems familiarized men with 

 the practice of borrowing money, not to relieve 

 desperate need but for the purposes of i 

 ment. The reasonable sum demanded for ih 

 use of such money came to be known as interest. 



Laws have been passed by most states of the 

 Union and by the Canadian provinces to safe- 

 guard the borrower, and penalties have been 

 imposed for the exaction of exorbitant rates of 

 interest. They are called usury laws. In a 

 few instances no penalty attaches to usury, hut 

 the penalty nearly always ranges from fine and 

 imprisonment to forfeiture of principal and in- 

 terest. For the legal rates of interest in 

 the United States and Canada, see INTER- 

 EST, page 3012. See, also, MONET. 



TAH, popularly known as the SALT 

 LAKE STATE, is one of the Rocky Mountains 

 of the United States. It was named for 

 the Ute, or Utah, tribe of Indians, the name 



:u highlandcn. The Mormon founders 

 thr *tate DESERET, a t.-nn which was used 



in the Book of Mormon to signify industry. 

 They adopted this word as the state motto. ?!,. 

 beehive as the symbol, and the sego lily, whose 

 roots nourished them during the early years of 



fanmir. MS thr >t;it<> flower. It has been 

 through their energy and thrift that the state 



