| Show t THE RUMORS OF WAR I The Revolution in Bolivia and its Probable Outcome PACTS ABOUT THE PRESIDENT The Culture of Cascarilla or Cnincorna From Which jnliiine Is Extracted r TIle Profit If Yields LA PAZ BOLIVIA May 31 1S90 Special Spec-ial correspondence of THE HEPALDJ That the rumors of war an this alleged republic re-public which by this time must have r reached the United Slates are not without fouqdatton l may be seen in the fact that all public mention of tho movement move-ment by Bolivian telegraph or newpapers has been rigorously suppressed and that most of the available troops have been sent from La Paz to various points of danger It is extremely difficult to get reliable information in-formation from either side since it is the presidents policy to preserve secrecy and he has AfiSOkUTi COXTROL or THE 1KESS and tho wires and also because the towns are Icng distances apart with comparatively compara-tively uninhabited stretches of deserts and mountains between The first battle of any consequence between be-tween the insurgents and government troops is expected to take place immediately immedi-ately somewhere in the neighborhood of Sorrato a mining village at the foot of the celebrated mountain of the same name about twentylive miles from Lake Titicaca which great inland sea forms a boundary line between Bolivia and Peru It is authoritatively stated that a large number of La Paz most prominent citizens have I secretly left to join the revolutionary Ir forces and that more than two thousand I volunteers have already come over from Peru 6 where hu President Arce is particularly I UUPUPUUU UWIng W DiS actIons during the late war between Peru and Chili at which time ho was Bolivias minister in the latter country It is asserted that Peruvians not tho government but private parties wills will-s > General Comacho the revolutionary leaaer with funds and arms to carry on the war smuggling both over the border in re mote and unguarded places Tho Bolivians nave SEVERAL CAUSES FOlt DISAFFECTION the main one being that in spite of all pro tests the President keeps in his cabinet a most unpopular Jesuit a sanctimonious but crafty person who is devoted to his order and therefore likely to subserve the public interests to its good The country too feels very sore over the loss of its small strip of sea coast which Chili now claims believing that Arce sold it to that govern ment for value received To be sure it was only a worthless bit of land north of the Atacama desert ana had but one indifferent port called Cobija but it furnished Bo livia with an outlet of its own to the Pacific infinitely better than being com pelled to carry all exports and imports through a rival republic and pay whatever duties may be imposed Last week two unoffending Americans mining engineers named Thompson and Williams were assassinated near the Bo livian border by a company of Peruvians on their way to join the revolutionary army simply because they the Americans re fused to shout Viva Comacho I when commanded The other day a Bolivian hardware merchant was put into prison for having sold a lotof rifles to unknown par ties presumably rebels The schemes of the latter came to naught inone instance as follows The government A LARGE AMOUST OF ARMS AX1 AMMUNITION stored at Oruro where a considerable gar rison is maintained Coffiacho wanted these to carry on the war and his friends bribed the commanding officers to come over to their side Among the latter how ever was a traitor of double dye who having accepted the bribe and promised allegiance to the enemy and listened to all their plans went to the president and sold his intonation for more money thereby causing the arrest and probable execution of his fellow officers and rendering his own life of little account in the present dis i turbed state of affairs The president has one immense advan toga over General Comacho for while the latter is as poor as a church mouse depend ing for funds upon friends nearly as poor as himself Arce possesses a very large for tune the monthly dividend fidm his mines alone being sufficient to carry on the con filet to its bitter end should the public treasury fail him Comacho may be best described as a wornout politician whose day was long since supposed to be done in Bolivia a chronic revolutionist who has given the country more than one scare in times past Some years ago he was ban ished from his native land on account of political misdemeanors but it is not impos sible that he may yet have the pleasure of turning the tables and sending his banisher into exile A FAMILIAR FIGURE ON THE STECTS OL LU laz io l resdent nitc it corpulent darkeyed middleaged gentleman in plain black suit and tall silk hat always attended by a bodyguard of four or live goldbe dizened soldiers He was not called to the executive chair by a grateful country in ac knowledgment for services rendered in peace or war but he seems to take wide in tho fact that he bought his elevation by the power of wealth In his electioneering speeches he did not hesitate to < say This is a campaign of money and for money alone Hs who has the most money can pay most for votes and will bo likely to do i the most for the people after his election 4nd he has done a good deal in the way of f expending his private means for public workswhere his own interests were also involved as for example the construc tion of roads in the direction of his mines and in other parts of the country where he r has property Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown and Areas caput is no exception There is always a revolt somewhere and schemes for his assassination are frequent Not long ago a young man belonging to one of theleading families of tha interior was sent to La Paz for the express purpose of i4 killing the president Finding no other opportunity for accomplishing his mission be obtained an Invitation to a banquet that waf about to be given at the palace but beforehand incautiously wrote to his back ers detailing the plan saying that he should I SHOOT THE lJtISIJ > E > Tin T-in the course of the evening and endeavor to in the confusion escape that would ensue en-sue The letter was intercepted as suspected I correspondence certain to be in this coun + A 4 = h uuu Ltu UW Lue uanos 01 tne 1ntendld 1 victim Nothing was said about it now ever the banquet came off according to the programme the young man pale but resolute was there revolver in pocket i When the guests were seated around the table waiting for the first course to appear the president courteously sent a silver salver to the wouldbe murderer on which lilY his own letter opened Now said 4 Aroe in a cheerful voice is your oppor tunity to assassinate me Why dont vou begin The young man quite taken by surprise I stammered some inaudible excuse Ah you falter said the president in the same I I light tone This is no place for cowards I You have two hours in which to leave the j i country If you are found at the end of I that time or any time thereafter while 11 J j j am at the head of affairs you will be shot on sight I I The constitutional capital of Bolivia is I I not La Paz where the government is now 4 located but Sucre formerly called Chu I quisaca pleasaut little city away off in the interior to be reached only by a long I jouraey on horse or mule back Though at an elevation of 10500 feetcn the ridge that forms the water parting between tho Madeira and Paraguay river systems has AMUCH MILDER CLIMATE I J than that of La Paz andjs altogether a more agreeable placeof residence except I for presidents who find it more convenient < 1 1 c I I to live near tho border so they can skip out in case of emcreency When Bolivia gained independence tho first Congress convened the village orchuquljjaca and having changed its iiaiiio to > ucra in honor of a local celebrity they decreed in the constitution con-stitution that it bbould remuin the federal capital for all time to come Naturally the people of Sucre aro much incensed because the seat of government has been removed Cut really one cannot blame the president for not wishing to live among them considering reception they gave Him on ihe occasion of his visit there two years ago rue citiyens gotiip revo l tioll and sallied forth to assassinate him He barely escaped by taking refuse a caurcu under toe wing 01 a inenuly priest from whence ho was sneaked outat night disguised as a begging monk of the order of San Francisco gray gown cowl rope girdle and all Accompanied by one faith I ful servant he traveled on foot for many days through untold difficulties und dan gers until at last eyhausted aud nearly starved he reached tho distant hacienda of a friend where he remaihed concealed un til sufficient force arrived to escort him to La Puz < PRESiDENT AltCUIS AS POBGLAlt ICJIILt as he is unpopular in Peru and Bolivia The quid nuucs prognosticate that in the event of r serious revolutionary troubles Chili will come to the rescue in which case it is probable that Boljvia will lose her autonomy altogether being torn piecemeal and divided up between Chili Peru and the Argentine Republic The leading articles of export from Bo livia are copper a little gold silver and tin furof the vicuna and chinchilla sheeps wool chiefly alpaca guano sarsaparilla and spices Formerly the wealth of tho land lay in tho mines though these are still very little developed The best mineral districts lie at long distances from the cul tivated provinces almost the sole means Of transport being beasts of burden Potosi once so celebrated for its silver mines lies at an elevation of 13000 leet above tho sea and has a present population of about 2000 Oruro at the same altitude sup plies its minersas does also P6tosi with wheat flour corn barley meat and other necessities from the market of Cocha bamba The latter important city with its population of 10000 or mere lies near the eastern plains and though at an elevation of over eight thousand feet has a most do lightful climate Tho citizens of Cocha bamba are mostly halfbreeds of the Qui chua race thriving and industrious but not famed for honesty or sobriety TilE RIChLY WOODED REGION known as Yungas is really the southwest ern limit of the great Amazonian forest Watered by numerous tributaries of the Madeira river systems it surpasses most South American lands in fertility and na tural resources If the projected railway around the Madeira rapids is ever completed i com-pleted it may enliven trade as then the I rich agricultural country east of the Cor dilleras will have easy access to the navigable navi-gable Amazons and thence by that great water way to the Atlantic The agricultural industries of Bolivia comprise but three articles of consequence v iz coffee chincona bark and cocoa The best coffee comes from the valley of the Yungas Though a very small white bean it possesses a peculiarly delicate flavor and commands a higher price in market than any other The narrow valley however how-ever produces 12000 arrobas a year 23 pounds to the arroba or about onefourth of Bolivias supply The province of Mapiri produces three times as much but its coffee brings less money being of in ferior quality The average value of Yungas yearly crop is 100000 pesos aurana or S000 bolivi anas the dollars of the country A boli viana by the way is worth 25 cents less than the sol dollar of Peru and tho Bolivian peso is worth 25 cents less than the bolivianos while every American dol lar in gold or paper commands 8180 in Bo livian h currency TO TRASSPOHT THE Ycr > GAS COFFEE over LUO mountains to Ja Paz costs toe pro ducer about two bolivianas and 40 cents ocr quintal The average price of coffee at La Paz is 24 bolivianas per hundred weight The freight on it from La Paz to tho coasts i coast-s 5 bolivianas per hundred pounds while from the coast to Europe all the way around by sailing vessel it is only 1 bolivi ana Luckily there is no export duty on coffee though at present barely enough is grown for home consumption Doubtless the output will soon be greatly increased as many of the largest chincona planters are now planting coffee instead of the quina tree since tue latter has become literally liter-ally a drug on the markot Though the coffee bushes of this section seldom yield so profusely as those of Costa Rica Mexico etc they begin bearing re markably early a bush two years old averaging aver-aging half a pound at a picking while an eight yearold tree yields about two pounds Rice bananas pineapples cocoa and sugar cane flourish besides the coffee and among other useful products of the tropical wilderness may be found the copal tree whose resin is so easily extracted It is used by the Indians for a variety of purposes pur-poses including the lighting of their huts THE PRODUCTION OF CH1XCOXA BARK or cascarilla as it is here called from which the alkaloid quinine is extracted was for many years Bolivias most important industry in the agricultural line but dur big the last four > ears it has proved unprofitable un-profitable owing to competition in Java and the British provinces in Southern Asia That class of individuals known at home as smart Alecks are found even in this outoftheway corner of creation One of these is ah certain ScOur Shucroft who was a iuuvy JJIUH LUI uj uibuiiiiiiu it few years ago prosperous and presumably happy One unlucky day the idua struck him of sending a quantity of jnina seed to his hoirie government that of Holland there by gettmghimself intp the papers and win I mug tho gratitude of posterity In un calledfor generosity he sent I very large I amount of seed wild minute direct olls for its treatment derived froinns owftoxrieri encc and the suggestion that experiments be made in Java < The remarkable success of chincona in that island led the British government to encourage its planting in India and already the business is ruined everywhere by over production Mr Shucroft received a little gold medal from the Dutch King in ac knowledgment his enterprise but at the same time he lost all his fortune by having made valueless has own extensive cascarilla plantations BOLIVIA CAX XEVEU COMPETE with those countries that now take the lead in chincpua production because of her immense im-mense disadvantages in the matter of transportation trans-portation All her products must cross the successive Cordilleras of the Andes on their way to the sea mostly on muleback at a cost of transportation not less than 11 bolivianas per hundred weight an expense I live times greater than that of carrying it from the coast around Cape Horn to Europe On the other hand the bark produced in India and Java yields only twothirds as much sulphate of quiniflo as that grown in this part of the world Wily nill tenths of Bolivias cascarilla is of the red variety known as quina morada As an example of the rapid depreciation in the price of bark may uu mention me J ricicspn plantation which was valued at a million ana a half bolivianas fic cars ago and is now offered i for sale at less than a quarter of that I amount but cannot liufl a purchaser The number of quina trees now under cultivation in Bolivia is i said to exceed 15000000 about two thirds of them being in i the province of Mapiri near the northern north-ern border whose business centra is SOl rato The department bf Yungas culti yates halt a million trees and a great many are grown m the Beni province farther to I I the east It is impossible get any relia I ble statistics regarding Benis productions because they all go to the eastern coast of i i the continent via the Amazon and its tribu tjfries Indeed there arc no printed statis tics of any kind concerning Bolivias cx I j ports or imports and no history of the country was ever written except one Small i j and very incomplete edition in Spanish I I published fortS years ngo I AS TO TilE TREATMENT OrCJIINCOXA I at this distance from the equator will i not grow at a greater elevation than 5000 feet nor lower than 3000 Tho seeds which are sown in beds arc so very small i j lighter than the lightest thistle down that the least breeze will blow them iaway i necessitating great care in the handling I When the y lants are about one foot high I i i they are trans antedtive or six feet apart to the sunny side of a mountain It is as1 sorted that virgin soil is absolutely neces1 1 I 0 f 0 siry and that the addition of any kind of fertilizer would be ruinous Twice every yea r the earth betWeen the trees is siglitiy dlturbed 1jy tbd prinJithc plows of thai country j and that9s all tHOu ultivaUo they rcijuiri At the age of eight yours the tsoss are ready to strip or if the oher j nard up as is usually the case a part i them may < be utilized sooner and young plants put in their places In some sections it Is customary custom-ary to remove from each tree about a quar ter of its bark every year but hero the tree is cut down to the ground its trunk and larger limbs peeled andtho smajlesl branches carefully scraped clear to th6 ileaves An Arflitt nnrnli tree viplflQ from p n twelve to fifteen pounds of bark which in the present depressed state of trade is worth only about 75 cents IF TilE IEELEDOFF HARK HAPPENS TO GET WET it loses much of its alkaloid quinina hence I every planter has to build ample Sheds in which to dry it The trunk of the tree after having bean peeled is entirely value less not even good for firewood in a country coun-try where fuel is scarce The cost of cut tine drying and packing the bark is about SlDU per hundred weight The process of packing is as follows A box is lined with coarse sacking and then a layer of banana leaves The bark is put in and presto down with machinery until the box will hold no inoreand the scale indicates exactly one hundred pounds It is then removed l from the box banana leaves and all a second sack is added and the whole bound tight with rawhide throngs There are no fewer than twentyone varieties vari-eties of the qtiml tree some worthless others ranging in the amount of quinine contained in tho bark from y per Vent toper 7 to-per cent The buyer mustknow his business busi-ness for if not an expert he is likely to be badlysold Thogold brick swindle hn not been so often perpetrated In the United 1 States as that of selling for cascarilla the worthless bark of some other tree A well known dealer of La Paz who ought to have known what he was about after years of experience recently LOST 160000 AT ONE FELl swooP on ship load of bark su > posed to be cascarilla cas-carilla but which when arrived at the Bag lish market turned out to be a species of pak good for nothingat all The only wa to test the bark is by tasting it That which gives out a bitter taste immediately on being taken into the mouth will yield a comparatively small amount of quinine while the best must be chewed before the auinine taste is apparent Not an ounce of Bolivias cascarilla ever went to the United States it is all sent to Europe via the straits of Magellan Notwithstanding Not-withstanding the vast number of quina trees in the country and the cheapness of the raw material there is no spot on earth where quinine as prepared in the form of medicine is so expensive Though the people require a great deal of it in cases 01 mountain fever tercinana etc none is made in Bolivia When the bark that is i I grown here and exported for next door to nothing gets back in the form of quinine it becomes a foreign product has exorbi tant duties to pay and sells accordingly Whereas in other lands it yields the drug I i gist a profit of about bO per cent when re tailed at a cent a grain itsells in La Paz at the rate of 10 cents per grain If some en terprising northerner would set up an establishment in this country for extract ing the alkaloid from the bark his fortune would soon be made FANNiE B WARD Yon Take No Risk jii buying Hoods Sarsaparilla for it is everywhere recognized as the standard bnildiifgup medicine and blood purifier It has won its way to tho front by its own intrinsic merit and has the largest sale of any preparation of its kind Any honest druggist will confirm this statement If you decide to take Hoods Sarsaparilla do not be induced to buy anything else instead Be sure to get Hoods 30 |
