^=;6 



The Review of Reviews. 



December J, l$Ot, 



directors in this City of London. Out yonder we 

 have lost business chiefly because we were too 

 hi:'nest to bribe the Custom officials. Our competi- 

 tors shrug their shoulders and say. as it is the cus- 

 tom of the countrx', they need not be too squeamish. 

 So we get left." 



" Are there any signs that John Bull is waking 

 up in Bolivia ?" 



"Alas' no; and the result is he will be hustled 

 out of the country before he has time to open his 

 eyes. Take this illustration. The only railroad in 

 Bolivia is an English line. It has a monopoly — has 

 had it for years. It has earned a dividend of from 

 ID to 12 per cent., and therewith was content. 

 Owing to its monopoly it dominated Bolivia. It 

 had only to keep pace with the times, to meet the 

 growing needs of the country, to have retained its 

 position. But the British Board did not see why 

 they should not let well alone — lo per cent, was 

 good enough for them. They did not wish to sink 

 more capital in branch lines that might not pav lo 

 per cent. And so it has come to pass that their 

 monopoly is breaking down. The Chilian Govern- 

 ment has guaranteed ^2,000,000 for making a new 

 railway to the coast. New railways are being built 

 from Peru and the Argentine. So our British line, 

 like British traders, will get left, and more enter- 

 prising competitors will forge ahead." 

 "How are the finances of the country?" 

 " You almost need a microscope to see them. 

 Imagine a country three times the size of Germany, 

 with a total national debt (internal and external) of 

 less than a million sterling, and an annual revenue 

 of about half a million. The whole population of 

 the countrv is under 2,000,000, of whom the 

 Indians number nearly one half." 



'■ The Indians — are they increasing?" 

 " No ; they are drinking themselves to death in 

 cheap alcohol imported and retailed by the Gov- 



ernment, which has a monopoly of the supply of 

 intoxicants. Next to nothing has been done for 

 them, and they are in a worse state than they were 

 when the Spaniards landed. They cultivate the 

 land with wooden ploughs, and are steadily denud- 

 ing the hills of their forests in order to make pas- 

 ture land for their goats. They are mist-rably 

 poor. 



" What about the general morality of the Ar- 

 cadians?" 



" Owing to the high marriage fees charged by 

 the priests, 75 per cent, of the children are ille- 

 gitimate. The Church hitherto has prevented civil 

 marriage. Bolivia this year, I hope, will obtain re- 

 lease from the absolute monopoly hitherto exer- 

 cised by the Catholic Church." 



"Is there any hope of an improvement?" 



" From the Church, none. Many of the priests 

 are drunkards. Nearly every priest has his con- 

 cubine, and some more than one. Little or nothing 

 has been done for education. Fortunately, the 

 Liberals, who are now in power, are anti-clerical, 

 and they may follow President Diaz's example in 

 founding a progressive State upon an anti-clerical 

 platform." 



"You have been in Mexico?" 



" Yes, I know it well, and esteem Diaz to be one 

 of the greatest rulers of the New World. No priest 

 is allowed to appear in canonicals in the public 

 streets. All the monasteries are suppressed. 

 Church and State are separated. But there is a 

 school in every village of one hundred houses, and 

 all the children are taught English and Spanish. 

 Mexico is destined to be to Spain what the fnited 

 States is to Great Britain. And if the South Ameri- 

 can States have to prosper, like Mexico, they must 

 follow the example of Diaz in dealing with the 

 Roman Church." 





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