In addition, official lists give another 200,000 of “diversas” nationalities and a margin must also be allowed for persons who did not enter as immigrants.
Where is the future immigrant of Brazil to come from, and to what part of the country is he to go? I have put this question frequently to Brazilians, and have almost invariably received an answer to this effect: “We want white immigrants, and they can settle healthily either in the cool south of Brazil or on the high interior uplands.” The sertões of Matto Grosso and Goyaz will not attract foreign settlers until there is better communication; the land is there, but the markets are not available. But there is land and to spare still in São Paulo with its network of railways and good riverways, and there is excellent cereal and cattle land in Paraná, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul, for the northern-born, who cannot face a semi-tropical climate: for him who can face it—as the Texas cotton grower should do—there are extensive regions farther north in Pernambuco and her sister states. The extreme north is not fitted for white, Anglo-Saxon or Latin, families, and although single men can live healthily in such latitudes for many years, the life of such tropic exiles is not good for the individual or for society. Coloured or Asiatic colonists have been suggested for the Amazonian valley, but it is at least doubtful whether the Brazilian Government would favour such plans, or whether, in view of the fertility of the native population, such introductions would be necessary; saving babies by improved sanitation would solve the problem better than any other method of populating.
The question of where white immigration is to come from is a difficult one; after the close of the European War, there was an exodus from Russia and the most troubled regions of Central Europe. But on the other hand the formation of new States created an appeal to national feeling that kept at home as creative builders many men who would otherwise have been, probably, among the emigrants. São Paulo received in 1920 nearly 45,000 immigrants, the bulk of all entrants, and has added considerably to the southerly Japanese colonies producing rice, silk and tea; and the conclusion, in late 1921, of an emigration treaty between Brazil and Italy immediately set flowing a strong tide of Italian workers.
Many ex-service men with camp experiences are still looking about them for the country offering most to farmers and stock-raisers. To such men there are few parts of the world which offer as much as does Brazil, with her sincere invitation to foreigners, square dealing, stability, and rewards for enterprise. The lack of development along certain definite lines is Brazil’s best recommendation to the enterprising and persistent.
No seeker after dolce far niente should come here. No thought of tropic paradises should obscure the vision of the newcomer. Brazil is a good country for the worker, with wide southern lands where careful cultivation will bring excellent results; it is a really free country of tolerant views as well as of wide spaces. The foreigner who comes here to work, to develop, will feel himself remarkably soon at home in a friendly atmosphere, and if he cares to identify himself with progressive movements he will be warmly welcomed; a very long list could be made up of high-class foreigners who have attained not only to wealth but to positions which proved the open mind and confidence of the Brazilian authorities. Naturalized foreigners are eligible to the legislative assemblies of Brazil, and whether naturalized or not foreigners enjoy precisely the same rights and privileges as Brazilians before the law.
The Barra Road, Upper City, Bahia.
Resaca along the Avenida Beira Mar, Rio; Morro da Gloria in background.
On the Upper Amazon.
For the mining engineer, the stock-raiser, the expert agriculturist, the fruit-grower, there is plenty of room in Brazil; along certain special lines his work is much wanted, and he can look forward to getting a better return for his investment of personality and cash than in most places in a world that has not many great untouched spaces left. The pioneer, hardy and determined, has still a chance in Brazil.
CHAPTER III
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
One afternoon I sat in a street-car of the Copacabana line running to and from the heart of Rio de Janeiro city. As we approached the Avenida and paused at a sharp turn at the regulator’s signal, a small boy poorly clad in cotton clothes got on to the front platform with a dinner pail in his hand. He set it down, removed his cap, and bent his knee as the motorman, with a swift smile at the child, extended his right hand. The boy respectfully kissed it, replaced his cap, and jumped down.