Concerning the Countries Individually.
Ecuador. In Ecuador, it may be noted, the United States stands second among importing nations. As a place for investment, enterprise, and residence, it has advantages and disadvantages. The coast region, on account of excessive rainfall, humidity, and heat, has a less agreeable and healthful climate than the rainless Peruvian shores with their moderate temperature; malaria and yellow fever being endemic in Guayaquil, though probably not everywhere on the coast.
The sierra and montaña regions of the two countries are quite similar, the high valleys of the sierra district enjoying a healthful and delightful climate. The natural resources resemble those of Peru, although the chief exports are dissimilar. Ecuador’s cocoa plantations are her largest source of wealth and supply her principal export. Vegetable ivory, fruit of the tagua palm, is another important article of production, most useful in making buttons. The manufacture of Panama hats is an industry long flourishing. Some coffee and rubber are exported, also hides; and sugar cane is raised. Rich mineral resources are undoubted; gold, mercury, copper, iron, coal, lead, platinum, and silver; these still undeveloped; petroleum and sulphur are found. Many manufacturing industries are carried on in a small way, but such goods are mainly imported: textiles, food stuffs, clothing, drugs, boots and shoes, paper, leather, crockery, vehicles, etc., are some of the importations, with material for railroad building and rolling stock. As the development of the country is regarded as twenty-five years behind that of Peru, it would naturally afford better opportunities in some directions and poorer in others. Railroads are planned in several directions.
Peru. The Republic of Peru presents probably the greatest variety of climate, soil, and productions, to be found in any portion of the globe. Along its 1200 miles of coast may be raised in the irrigated valleys nearly all tropical and temperate products. In the sierras will be found practically every variety of mineral, and in one place or another climates to suit every taste. Whatever one may desire is therefore to be procured within its borders, although not all points are equally accessible.
The coast lands present unique advantages for agriculture, in that the climate may be depended upon; there is no fear of drought, of sudden storms, or of frost, and though within the tropics there is no excess of heat.
Of 50,000,000 acres capable of irrigation in this section but 2,000,000 now have the facilities, and of these not all are employed; hence there is ample room. The difficulty is lack of capital and sometimes of labor.
The chief export of Peru is sugar; and if our Louisiana planters on account of tariff reduction feel like making a change, they will find in Peru an ample field where four tons to the acre are produced and a price of 1½ cts. a lb. will bring a profit.
Cotton plantations offer excellent opportunities; the best qualities grow well, Sea Island, Upland, etc.; also the native Peruvian which brings the highest price of all, being hardly distinguishable from wool. Yet, as it takes several years to come into bearing (it lives 10 or 15 years), the Upland which bears in six months is preferred by many. In southern Peru vineyards and orchards are a specialty, fruits most delicious, figs, melons, grapes, chirimoias, olives, and paltas, with vegetables, and with alfalfa, wheat, and maize. Tobacco is raised in various sections and coffee in many, none finer in the world.
The sierra country is full of minerals: gold, silver, lead, copper, quicksilver, tungsten, cinnabar, vanadium, anything you can mention. Every kind of coal is found, though as yet the mines are mostly undeveloped for lack of transportation facilities; oil of fine quality exists along the coast in Tumbes, in Puno near Lake Titicaca, and in other sections; borax in the Arequipa district; iron in many quarters; peat in Junín. On the plateau, besides minerals galore, are excellent cattle lands; many sheep are raised, Scotch shepherds and collies here looking after them; the native breed is crossed with imported merinos, making good stock, furnishing 5 to 8 lbs. of wool per head. Alpacas every two years yield from 6 to 9 lbs. of better wool, while the vicuña furnishes a smaller supply of still finer grade.
The east side of the mountains is rather difficult of access, but not too far down, affords a delightful climate; a colony willing to work would find pleasant homes in various localities. In valleys near Cuzco is the finest of cocoa, in the Chanchamayo or Perené Valley back of Lima and Oroya are millions of coffee trees, lower down is plenty of rubber. Some is exported by way of Mollendo from the Inambari, Timbopata districts, more by Iquitos and Pará from the Ucayali, the Putomayo, and other sections. While men frequently say that they do not go to such countries for their health, it is indeed a pity that some seem to forget that they are human beings and treat the inoffensive natives in a manner far worse than savages. In these regions the heat and humidity are unpleasant and in limited sections unhealthy, though the dangers are by some over-estimated. Many papers and magazines publish sensational stories of adventure, often knowing them to be exaggerated; all books do not justly represent conditions. Many stories of hardship, when true, are merely evidence of ignorance and bad judgment, utterly foolish conduct quite inexcusable, in sections where others have experienced not the slightest difficulty.
Persons with moderate capital not interested in mining or agriculture might find it profitable to undertake manufacturing in certain lines. There are now in the country a few factories for cotton, woolen, biscuit making, chocolate, fruit preserves, cocaine, and matches; also flour mills.
There is opportunity for electrical power in many places, for installing electric lights, sewers, water pipes, etc.
Provisions are in certain sections extremely cheap, in others very dear, on account of transportation difficulties. Lima is called expensive and it would seem that eggs and chickens might be profitably raised near by, also dairy products and other supplies.
At present the chief exports from Peru in the order of their value are minerals, sugar, cotton, rubber, wool, petroleum, guano, Panama hats, hides and skins, ice, cocaine, coca, coffee. The leading imports are textiles, coal, machinery, etc. from the United States, machinery, wood, drugs, meats, bread-stuffs, shoes, coal, hardware, arms and ammunition, soap, vehicles, instruments and apparatus, general merchandise.
It should be noted in connection with Peru, that machinery and supplies for railroad construction and for mining are admitted free of duty; also as an item of great importance, that the export tax on rubber is less than one-quarter of that exacted by Brazil and a little smaller than the one fixed by Bolivia. For this reason the country is especially favorable for the extension of the rubber industry.
Bolivia. The products of Bolivia are like those of Peru except that its agricultural resources are as yet little developed. Hence there is more importation of food stuffs; flour is an article of export from the United States, as well as preserves and suet. Canned stuffs are useful to the mining and railroad people. Cartridges, leather goods, soap, kerosene, furniture, clothing, dynamite, firearms, copper wire, iron and steel, vinegar, Florida water, wood, agricultural tools, mining machinery, lard, cotton, cameras, sewing machines, typewriters are other imports.
Bolivia presents excellent opportunities for mining. Tin of first importance, silver, copper, and bismuth are now the chief mineral exports, although rich deposits of gold are attested.
The montaña country presents conditions similar to Peru, for the rubber industry, for the raising of coffee, coca, quinine, and other products. A grain called quinua, cultivated on the plateau, is said to be more nutritious than wheat. The alpaca and vicuña here flourish, the former supplying 15 lbs. of wool every other year. Persons who find the plateau region cheerless might enjoy the agricultural section part way down the eastern slope of the mountains; thus a San Francisco gentleman, many years resident of the Garden City, Cochabamba, over whose climate and future prospects he speaks with enthusiasm. Tarija, farther south, has a delightful climate and equal prospects.
One American living on the plateau has been doing a thriving business by making monthly trips to the interior 150 miles to the east, selling goods at the haciendas and the Indian villages, $10,000 worth on a trip, and bringing back fruit and vegetables to the cities above.
The several lines of railway just completed and several more in construction make certain the immediate development and rapid progress of this country. The possibilities for the production of wool are very large and also for cattle raising. The climate of a large part of the country is healthful and agreeable, and residence in La Paz and other cities is enjoyed by many Americans. Bolivia’s rapid development and prosperity is assured.
Chile. The country of Chile, curiously unique in shape, being excessively long and thin, extends over 2000 miles from north to south, with a width of from 105 to 248 miles from east to west. Although so narrow, it has each way three well marked divisions: from north to south, the rainless, desert and nitrate region, within and near the tropics; the temperate central section, a rich agricultural district with considerable rainfall; and the southern portion, with too much precipitation, rain, snow, and fogs, largely a forest land with some swamps and grazing country. Along the entire shore runs the Coast Cordillera with an altitude ranging from 1000 to 6000 or 7000 feet; then comes a plateau or valley, in the far south a drowned valley with straits and fjords, and at the east the great Andes Mts., the height of which forms the eastern boundary line.
A variety of climate and scenery is obviously presented, agreeable to dwellers in the Temperate Zone. Aside from the strictly tropical productions, almost everything found in Peru and Bolivia is here provided; minerals galore, especially copper, iron, and coal, with gold, silver, etc., in addition to the world famed nitrates, and iodine. Petroleum and natural gas have recently been discovered. Noted, like California, for its fine fruits and vegetables, the central section affords ample field to increase their production. Here, too, the raising of grain and of forage plants is extensively practiced; stock farming is a great source of wealth, Chilian horses are of noted excellence, and cattle flourish. Viticulture and apiculture are profitable, the export of honey being important. At the south, the growing lumber business offers a fine field to experts, as well as the valuable fisheries. The already large sheep raising interests are chiefly in the territory of Magellan. The canning industry both as to fruits and fish may be developed with great profit. Manufactured goods are produced to the extent of $130,000,000 worth a year. Railway building, which has been rapidly progressing, will for some years continue to be an important field of labor. The Government has planned to expend within this decade many millions of dollars for public works, hydraulic and maritime, for irrigation, public buildings, and railways.
The imports include such things as sugar and coffee, also petroleum from Peru; from the United States, mineral products, especially steel and coal, with machinery of various kinds, paper, vegetable produce, textiles, chemicals, etc.
Presenting conditions similar to our own West Coast, including the earthquakes, the British and German settlers in the country have as much enthusiasm for their new home as have immigrants to California. In scenery, climate, and opportunities, Chile offers unusual attractions.
I had forgotten to state that valuable oyster beds exist in the Gulf of Ancud, and that on the island of Chiloe two crops a year of excellent potatoes may be grown.
Argentina. Argentina with its great plains is entirely different from the West Coast countries. From its configuration, its development, especially its railroad building, has been a far simpler proposition. It was easy to raise cattle and with the profits thus obtained to cultivate immense agricultural properties. Almost every kind of vegetable production is to be found in this great Republic, and the rewards of agriculture and stock raising have been quite equal to the wealth of the mines elsewhere and far more useful.
The plague of locusts is an occasional drawback, but not serious enough greatly to interfere with the grand total of production. As the boundaries on the west extend along the height of the Andes, some mineral wealth exists on their slopes, but the possibilities in stock and wheat raising have been too attractive for much attention to be devoted to mining matters. The agricultural products, wheat, oats, and linseed run up into millions of tons; the quantity of exports of these surpasses in value those of the United States, while that of meat exported is vastly greater. With their small population relative to the extent of territory it is certain that for many years Argentina will raise cattle and sheep enough to help out the more thickly settled portions of the globe. To enter into such enterprises today of course capital is needed, though some of the present day millionaires went thither with nothing and worked their way to fortune. Wages for mechanics are good, and in some other lines, but expenses also are large. According to the number of inhabitants Argentina has more railways than the United States, though not in proportion to the extent of territory. Almost everything is imported into the country except meat and agricultural products, our share of the imports being less than half that of Great Britain.
The northern and southern sections of Argentina still afford splendid opportunities to the pioneer, presenting a wide choice of climate and variety of employment. In the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the north are immense forests for exploitation with quebracho, laurel, palms, and woods in endless variety, lands suitable for the culture of coffee, sugar cane, yerba mate, cotton, rice, hemp, mandioca, and banana, and in places farther south or on uplands, soil for barley, wheat, corn, alfalfa, tobacco, the vine, etc.
The central pampa is of course the especial region for cereals, wheat, corn, and flax, and this is not entirely pre-empted. In Patagonia at the south there is a great field for raising cattle, sheep, goats, horses, guanaco, and the ostrich, as for alfalfa, wheat, and barley, though in the greater part irrigation is necessary for agriculture. With moderate capital pioneers of experience and skill should be able to amass large fortunes.
From lack of coal, if not of water power, it is probable that agricultural and animal products will long continue to be the chief exports of Argentina and that manufactured goods will be the principal imports. Textiles and manufactures of these are of the greatest value, iron and steel articles come second, railway cars and equipment and other vehicles third, then come building materials, earth, stone and coal, and so on, every kind of merchandise in use in a civilized country. Goods that sell in New York and Paris are likely to sell in Buenos Aires, only—the Pure Food Law is strict. Chicago hams are barred, though British hams are admitted.
Our farming machinery and tools have been largely sold, yet by some the machinery is called too light to last and an English make is preferred. An Australian machine, called a cropper, a thrasher and harvester combined, has been received with much favor. Duties generally are very high.
For successful competition in foreign markets, the highest grade of our goods must be presented and business contracts strictly carried out.
Paraguay, with a healthful sub-tropical climate, possesses splendid forests with woods similar to those of the Argentine Chaco, great plains supporting many herds of cattle, and land capable of producing excellent cotton, tobacco, fruit, and all kinds of tropical growths. The yerba mate which grows wild, but may be cultivated, is one of the chief exports, bound to increase rapidly, as the beverage, more healthful than tea or coffee, is extremely popular even with the European immigrants, and in foreign countries. Hides, quebracho extracts, and timber are exports of still greater value. The character of the imports is much the same as in the neighboring countries. Railroad building is going on, and in spite of recent war, internal development is in progress. Railway material is free of duty as is the case also with agricultural and industrial machinery, ship building material, wire fencing, etc.
Uruguay, with a fine temperate climate and a pleasant rolling country, is attractive to settlers with an eye to cattle raising or agriculture. Americans of this class, as well as business men and investors in any line, are cordially welcomed by Uruguayans, and finding the atmosphere more homelike than in some other places they are well content to stay. While agriculture and the live stock industry are the chief activities, there are local manufacturing interests which do not, however, begin to supply the market. Railway extension is in progress, and the navigable rivers are an important accessory.
By far the greatest export is animal production, including wool, skins and hides, meat and meat extracts, etc., while agricultural products are a distant second.
The imports are similar to those of Argentina, including practically everything which it does not export.
Brazil, like Peru, embraces within its borders an immense variety of resources, and a considerable though smaller diversity of climate. On the highlands of the tropics it is comfortably cool, as well as in the south. In many quarters it is temperate and even subject to frost, in a few places to snow.
The magnitude of its wealth in rubber, coffee, and all tropical and sub-tropical productions is well understood; the richness of its mineral deposits is less known. Still less perhaps is the fact that Brazil is larger than the United States proper, and that it contains six cities of 100,000 or more population, including one of 400,000, São Paulo, and Rio with approximately a million.
Everything is included within her boundaries, and whatever one’s taste in business, apart from polar exploration, there is room for its gratification here—opportunities for the settlement of colonies in delightful climate and surroundings on the richest soil, if persons care to indulge in agriculture, and locations equally favorable for entering into mining or commercial industry. Cattle raising is a growing occupation. Food stuffs in Rio being very dear, market gardening could be engaged in to excellent advantage in many spots on the highlands at no great distance by rail from the capital. A similar opportunity exists near Buenos Aires, though as land in the vicinity is held at a high price it would be necessary to go farther out on the railway, or across the river into Uruguay.
The coffee plantations of Brazil are already so extensive as to make entrance into that business undesirable if not impossible, except by the purchase of plantations already in bearing. Aside from coffee and rubber, the chief agricultural products are rice, cotton, sugar, yerba mate or Paraguay tea, mandioca, and cacao, or cocoa. Many manufactured goods are now produced, mainly of the ordinary necessities of life, leaving plenty of room for importation. It is desired to increase such industries. Inducements are offered by the Federal Government for establishing ironworks, the State of Rio has granted large privileges to the first flour mill, and a subsidy to a firm making paper from the reed papyrus which grows all along the coast. Manufactures of rubber would be very profitable on account of the 20 per cent export tax on rubber and the high tariff on imports. Steam laundries, fruit canneries, chemical works, and other industries may be inaugurated to advantage in various places.
From the United States is imported a great variety of articles, railway cars and locomotives, automobiles, machinery of many kinds, sewing machines, typewriters, apples, general merchandise, and other articles without end.
Railways are being rapidly extended and planned for the future, and aside from the rubber business every kind of industry and commercial activity may be pursued amid agreeable and healthful surroundings.
It is desirable that one wishing to enter into business of any kind in South America should make the tour and see for himself the character of the country and the opportunities offered. At the very least, he should read a number of the many books which have been written, although some of these contain a few errors and others which have been published ten years give wrong ideas on account of the rapid changes; from perusing several of the latest works a fair idea of conditions will be gained. Also the poor consuls will be grateful, both those of the United States in foreign countries and their representatives here, if people will at least use an atlas and a geographical reader if nothing more before writing letters, so that they will not bother these hard-worked officials with absolutely foolish questions. It should not be necessary for consuls to give information which every schoolboy ought to possess, although I fear he does not.
When children and grown people are ignorant of the names of the capitals of the various States in the Union, it is perhaps too much to expect them to know whether Lima is on the East Coast or the West, or whether Argentina is a breakfast food or a fish. If my labors incite others to seek further information and especially to make the delightful South American Tour, I shall feel that I have performed a genuine service.