| Show THE PRESIDENT OF PERU lima peru april 27 1898 it was in company with mr richard IEL neal the secretary of our legation at lima that I 1 called upon the president this afternoon his excellency b bad appointed 2 p rn m tor for the audience All and allday dat at that hour we entered the vast low one story building which forms the he white house and government offices ces of this republic soldiers in uniforms of white duck with guns at their sides guarded the doors and as we entered the he hall ball we passed by a company of infantry ready tor for immediate action in case of revolution additional dit ional guns stood in racks against the walls and my surroundings were those el bf a fortress rather than a where the people are supposed to rule this is you know a land of revolutions president came in after many months of hard fighting and in the houses and churches of lima you may yet see the marks cannon balls and bullets went crashing through for days the president besieged L the city the opposing factions had gatling guns trained upon apon one another and they swept the streets the dead were carried out each morning by th the cartload and there were so many dead horses that they were not buried but were covered with coal oil and a match having been applied were thus consumed with the new president pierola Pl erola in and the old president caceres banished ther was peace and a new government and there is peace today the present administration has haa been in power for several years it is more progressive than any administration peru has had for a long period and under it the country is steadily improving there Is an opposition party however and president la Is too good a soldier to sleep on his arms he keeps his troops in good order and you find soldiers almost everywhere present A As we went further into the palace ire We passed a number ot of officers ili ift um form orm and then proceeded through one atoil room after tl nother until we came into the office of the presidents Cs private secretary the J addison potter porter of peru this man faan was even more cuave suave than our mr kr porter he told us that the palace the president and himself ere at my disposal that his excellency cel lency would receive me at once he Ven tout out and a 9 moment later ushered mt mr neal and ana myself into a large hall furnished not unlike one of our public rooms at Wea hington in the fhe of the room as we entered stood a straight hande ftfe man with an eye ab bright ah aa that ahat of an eagle his were striking and his strong hoft and mouth those of a leader of dr inea neto hla hio was vm very high and dmd att white curl which hung down upon it ft W was twisted about after the style or br tor dult onoe ronde american dictator hrisco conkling hila while 71 brown bete re 1 fiffer 1 I ahw I 1 idt was laula 11 vole 0 it sw th samna VM taft tl ti onist the president of peru he to IB now I 1 judge between fifty and sixty years of age probably nearer the latter year than the former he la Is about five feet six inches in height but his military tary bearing makes him look taller he was dressed in a black broadcloth suit with a cameo medallion upon his white tie he stepped toward us as we came in aan shook hands with me upon my pre he asked me to hakea seat on a sota sofa and with his own hands brought a chair and sat down beside me he chatted for some time with me as to my trip and said he was glad to have an american journalist come to peru as he felt that his country was not properly known in north during the conversation in which secretory secretary neal acted as an interpreter his excellency 7 referred to the wonderful mineral and possibilities of peru he said that its mineral mine rail regions had not been nare carefully fully prospected that its surface was hardly scratched and that if it had the proper amount of capital and the right sort of immigration it would be one of the richest countries of the continent upon my asking askin ghis his excellency how he regarded the introduction of AmeT american ican money he replied that peru would be glad to welcome c any americans that might come an and d that there were many sate safe investments here which would yield a profitable return he was anxious he said to see an increased trade between the sister republics ot of the united states and peru and hoped that one of the canals would be pushed to its completion with that end in view during the audience I 1 told bas excellency of a chat I 1 had with president mckenley aey just before becom leaving washington in our Pre president siderA stated his anxiety that the two continents should have better trade relations and that the busl business bushness ness between them should be greatly kiy increased in his talk with me president stated his position on this matter in aprong terms say saying ng that the foundation for all such relations was wa peace and W id friendship and that I 1 might state his hove hope that peace would continue for without it business asHness bi could not endure Pl erola heartily assen assented teo to atias 98 lie he said he W was ame able to state that peru was in a R safe and settled condition and that he t thought it would bivenue so ao he referred to th the monroe doctrine with which he sal said d he was in thorough accord saying tat the republics of this hemisphere support odd aid wid and batta at its bead abid ana came ze abler salt timer in the prote protection etton of as free fie governments at bils point the naw minister from bolivia Whose reception had been fixed to follow was announced and out our talk was brought to a uld lff the statesmen of south ameca ame have much more eVent eventful full lives J maio df af the t pr k sa 14 s1 cam b ups ate ai ian of 4 a fl oba ate beur meur his of a university and a coworker co worker with humboldt sir humphrey umphrey davy and dr von the noted austrian iao philosopher and traveler president gierula was educated in europe and while a student in parts paris he be mar the daughter of the emperor of mexico he began his lifes wor as an editor hore here in lima but the president he supported support xI was ousted by a revolution under gen pardo anh pierola was banished then them there was WAH another revolution with president balta at its headband head and Pie rela oattie back to lima as a secretary of the treasury he was secretary at time that meiggs the american inaugurated augu rated a great system of and public improvements and aad together toge they abey made the money flow tester fiLoW th thai the river in trying to clover peru peril ex president pardo now again appeared with another army aad drown balta and pierola phenola out TIUs this was WAB j just twenty years ago go several years 4 later oame came the war with chile and pierola was called back as one of the eoln corn manders of the peruvian troops flifle to army was defee defeated Aed and it ft was VMS charged at the time that he had sold out o ut to the chileans Chi leans in the meantime president pardo had fled the country and pierola became dictator the challans chileans Chi ChA leans having conquered refused to recognize him as they knew he would not consent to give up the rich nitrate fields were the real cause of the wax they then put up one of their own tools as president and ana pierola was banished A third time he fled to prance france and dl not return until gen caceres woo president in 1886 caceres was I 1 aut aitt told a highway robber of the ft magnitude his wife who wa was originally a rabona a woman ihfe army was with him in his tind and concessions conces sons and privileges privilege wey sold by them the fund fundy pocketed aal the money sent to paris to be deposited od to larceres Car ceres private a there such actions created a strong anti caceres party and pl wola cagne ba baxt to run for president deryL caceres wa afraid of him and having con concealed eted some guns on Pie rolas olies otate seat soldiers to find them and charge pierola with treason this wal done and pierola was w brought to lima and aad hen confined tn in the palace one flay day a 1 11 french lady called copon topon mm she was admitted she changed with tn n his cell and when hen the ta guards later on they found that pierola hafl passed tout out in lb law clothes and ehlt all that th at araca left vt at efm were ma his brown whiskers lying tat the floor where chere they had d drop when tee he had aut them off 0 o I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 pierola fled to he mountains rus raised 4 I 1 anargy wid and declared war e I 1 in the mountains for some months la later terIn in atop b UMA with 2800 men 1 4 dent Ca eresto come out oot caceres had sold terii ned the city kv and jid icem remain 40 in ii aw 0 at lt da ti 4 erss made ade hit his way ri front of we the palace TO ga gement and he was driven back a block or so ao to the square of the merced church here he tore up the pavement and made barricades he put his cannon in the church towers and foi fob three days lima was filled with fighting soldiers the stores were all closed the people did not daxe dare to venture out on the streets and such as showed their faces at the windows were fired at by the caceres soldiers caceres was not at all popular with the people and many of his officers were shot from the second story windows by those who sympathized with pierola at the end of the third day the foreign legations took the matter in hand and told caceres the revolution must stop olas men sald said that they would cut the water pipes and fire the town it caceres did not abdicate and between the two caceres was forced out ot of office moe and a provisional government appointed until an election could be bad at this election pierola was waa chosen president by an overwhelming majority this was waa about two years ago W and he has still almost two years yeara to serve when he goes out one of his hie men will probably take his place though I 1 am told that caceres is now in buenos ayres plotting how he may again get into power peru is one of the richest countries on the face of the globe and today the peruvians axe are comparatively among the poorest of peoples I 1 say comparatively for they have been so wealthy that what seems poverty to them would still be riches to others by the Peru peruvians vlana I 1 mean the aristocracy and the ruling classes the people who own peru are chiefly those of spanish descent some of these are crowed with the indians but the chief property holders and the men who have now and have always had the cream of the country are the pure whites these are very few no where in the world will you find such a condition as has always existed in this country there are in peru about three million people or about as many as in greater new york of these 67 per cent are pure indians and about 23 per cent are of mixed races coming from the union of the indians and the negro ex slaves andoe and of the span lards and indians not one man in five Is pure white and of these whites there have always been a select few who have practically owned the country the story of peru and its spanish owners DW ers shows how poorly the spaniards are fitted to govern EL a people or build up a nation the story ot at cuba is not a new one when pizarro came here and conquered the incas he found a high state of civilization peru was waa then supporting a populate population aon of from tern ten to twenty millions the andes were cu cultivated to their tops and what is now largely desert was by a system 4 i of fine aqueducts and canals rich farms the masses of the people then as now worked for their rulers but the he laws were such that every one was well fed and housed and by a system of public gra granaries narles there was no want there was plenty of gold and silver but neither metal was used as money and the in fact do not seem to have had money they were hard i i working and peaceful when the span lards invaded then them and took away the richest TIC heat booty that one nation ever got by oppressing another from one inca temple mple pizarro took pounds ot of gold and pounds of silver the silver dilver nails in one temple weighed ounces you remember the room half full of gold which the inca kins king gathered for him as a ransom they collected vast q quantities juan of the precious metals from the cities temples and palaces in other parts of the country and made spain rich tor for a century or anore they enslaved the people and made them work for them and later on brought Afric africans azis and other slaves I 1 in to aid them in the mines and on their plantations they had here the richest silver mines known when silver was at par with gold and for centuries fairly rolled in wealth in addition to this they had the vast labor capital of the indians the civilized indians of peru are afe not accumulators they do not care for I 1 more than the day and they are willing to work hard for just enough to support themselves and their families these people even atter ater slavery was abolished continued to labor for the whites they are a very good class or workmen and had they been handled by english or any other anglo saxon combination peru would still be the wealthiest country of this hemisphere under the spaniards the area of culli I 1 bated land became steadily less the I 1 population fell off and there is not I 1 one third as many people here now as when pizarro came the roads notwithstanding modern inventions are not as good as they were in the days of the incas and the condition of the common people is very much worse still the spanish peruvians up until the war with chile remained rich the silver mines of cerro de pasco turned out vast sums and the government revenues were so large that there was waa good picking tor for every one with any kind of a pull one of the viceroys vice roys of the eleventh century rode from his palace to the cathedral in lima over a path paved with ingots ingols of solid silver his horse was shod with shoes of solid gold and every hair of the horses mane and tail was strung with pearls later on to the wealth of the mines was added that of the guano and peru got hundreds of millions of dollars out of her manure piles this source of wealth was being worked when the great nitrate fields were discovered and in 1878 peru exported worth of nitrate which in the then value of silver was worth nearly twice as much as all her exports in 1896 the total exports that year were and the government receipts from guano and nitrate and other sources were more than then the chileans Chi leans who were poor cast their covetous eyes upon these riches they trumped up an excuse for wax war about their boundary lines and invaded the country they had about men and they laid peru waste demanding ransom of various sections and destroying everything when it was not granted at Chim chimbole chimbote bote north of here there was a sugar factory and railroad shops filled with fine machinery imported from the united states the chilean general demanded that the owners should pay him in three days they could not and they blew up the machinery with dynamite destroyed the beautiful houses of the haciendas and killed sheep which his soldiers could not carry off the chilean army destroyed the magnificent residences at the summer resorts below lima in their fights they gave no quarter bayo nettIng not only the wounded soldiers but the defenseless civilians as well they looted lima taking the university for a barracks and destroyed the archives they also sacked the public library which contained volumes and many valuable manuscripts they even robbed the zoological garden sending an elephant to chile they cleaned out the palace and the treasury and collected millions in the way of customs getting in one year from that source alone the war lasted for nearly three years and when it was closed by the cession to chile of the nitrate territory which she coveted peru had been raked by the chilean soldiers as |
