FROM PANAMA TO PATAGONIA 



The following article is abstracted from "Panama to Patagonia/' by Mr 

 Charles M. Pepper, recently published by Messrs A. C. McClurg & Co., of 

 Chicago. It is a very timely volume, tilled with useful and interesting information 

 about the west coast of South America. The quotations are copyrighted by A. C. 

 McClurg & Co. 



THOUGH it is desirable to know 

 Spanish, which is the idiom of 

 South America with the ex- 

 ception of Brazil, the chance traveler 

 who wants to go down the coast, or 

 even take an occasional trip into the 

 interior, can get along with his stock 

 of English. In all the seaport towns 

 are English-speaking persons, mer- 

 chants or others. On the ships English 

 is as common as Spanish, and in some 

 of the obscurest places the tongue of 

 Chaucer may be heard. In one of the 

 most out-of-the-way and utterly for- 

 saken little holes on the coast I found 

 the local official, who was sovereign 

 there, teaching his boy arithmetic in 

 English. He had been both in England 

 and in the United States, and while his 

 own prospects now were bounded by 

 the horizon of the cove and the drear 

 brown mountain cliffs that shut it in, 

 he was determined that his son should 

 have a wider future. There are also 

 many young South Americans who 

 have been educated in the United States 

 and some of whom are met at almost 

 inaccessible points in the interior, 



CONSERVATIVE PERU 



In Lima, Peru, the Italians are by 

 far the most numerous among the 

 Europeans. They have largely the re- 

 tail trade and they are property-holders 

 in an unusual degree. A Little Italy 

 lies across the Rimac River. 



A very large Chinese population ex- 

 ists in Lima. Much of it is the second 

 and third generation. Originally the 

 Chinese were brought to Peru as con- 

 tract coolie laborers, but of late years 

 the immigration has been of a normal 

 kind. The Chinese of this period have 

 discarded the queue and have adopted 

 the conventional dress. Some wealthy 



Chinese merchants have an appreciable 

 influence in the commerce of the coun- 

 try. China keeps a consul-general in 

 Peru with semi-diplomatic functions, 

 and usually he has enough to do. 



Peru is almost exceptional among the 

 South American republics for establish- 

 ing and maintaining the gold standard. 

 This is a brilliant and instructive chap- 

 ter of financial history. The beginning 

 was made in 1897, following the presi- 

 dential election in the United States. 

 General Pierola was president and was 

 strongly in favor of the gold basis. 

 Though Peru was a silver-producing 

 country, a law was passed providing 

 that gold should be the sole standard, 

 that the customs duties should be thus 

 paid, and that there should be no fur- 

 ther silver coinage. 



In the ten years following 1895 the 

 banking capital of Peru increased at 

 the rate of 150 per cent, while the de- 

 posit accounts ran up from $4,500,000 

 to $14,000,000. The banks pay divi- 

 dends of 14 to 16 per cent. Volumes 

 might be written about the causes 

 which are leading to the commercial 

 and industrial prosperity of the country 

 and contributing to the political stabil- 

 ity. The convincing evidence of the 

 fact is the growth in the bank deposits. 



VALPARAISO 



Valparaiso (Vale of Paradise) is the 

 largest place on the Pacific coast, with 

 the exception of San Francisco, and it 

 is equally as fine a metropolis. Its 

 population is 140,000. The city lies at 

 the foot of high hills, which no one 

 climbs, because there are ascensors, or 

 elevators, as in Pittsburg and Quebec. 

 Unhappily it has not a Golden Gate and 

 a sheltered harbor. The finest part of 

 the city is the Avenida, or Avenue 



