CHAPTER XVIII
A LAND OF PROMISE
Wanted: ten million immigrants.
This is the cry that comes up from this great republic, for Brazil to-day possesses the greatest amount of undeveloped fertile land that is to be found in the world. The republic is still in the process of creation, but, when all the latent possibilities are uncovered, it will be a towering giant. It is in the same condition that the United States was three-quarters of a century ago. Now we have about thirty inhabitants to the square mile, while Brazil has less than six. If the workers go there, Brazil will be one of the greatest sources of food supply in the whole world long before the end of this present century. There is scarcely an article, useful either for food or raiment, that cannot profitably be raised within its borders. Great states, which are empires in themselves, are as well qualified for the abode of the white man as many of the commonwealths within Uncle Sam’s borders. The heat is not such a bugaboo as many endeavour to portray it, for the Americans who live there do not complain of it at all. There are millions of untilled acres which, sooner or later, will be centres of industry and activity. This development will be difficult with individual effort, and it will be necessary for colonies to be formed with sufficient capital for aggressive work. On the Amazon, for instance, nature is too productive, too prolific, for isolated effort. It needs united and constant work and push to conquer. When once conquered, however, this very prodigality and fecundity will reward human effort, and wealth will follow. If the engineer builds a railroad, the tropical rains wash away the embankment; if the colonist turns his back on his clearing for a few months it becomes covered with a heavy growth; telegraph poles and fence posts put forth green leaves, and railroad ties have been known to sprout in the rainy season.
Will this conquest of the tropics become necessary? If the doleful predictions of Mr. J. J. Hill and others are true, the United States will soon become an importer, rather than an exporter, of food supplies, and other sources must be looked to and new virgin lands developed. We find that in spite of the rapid development of Argentina and Canada, food supplies are advancing by leaps and bounds, and every theorist is looking for a solution. Science has provided means for overcoming the sources of pollution found in the tropics, and the development can now take place under healthful conditions. Brazil is awaiting that effort. Social conditions may seem to be an obstacle; but a colony can practically establish its own social conditions, and need not be bothered to any great extent by those surrounding it. Brazil is the only country in South America where church and state have been formally separated, and this is a good indication of progress, for any form of religion may be practised without fear of disturbance.
Brazil is a very expensive country in which to live as well as travel. Nearly every article used in the house is imported, and the import duties are very high. Not only that, but the tradesmen expect an exorbitant profit in many instances. A pair of American shoes costing not to exceed $4.00 in the States will retail here for $10.00. An American who lives there came back from a visit to the States and brought back with him, among other articles, a rug and a piano. The rug cost him $20.00 in New York, and the duty amounted to $26.00. I did not learn what the piano was worth, but it cost him nearly $200.00 to get it through the customs. All goods for ladies’ wear and men’s furnishing are sold at correspondingly high prices.
Table supplies are very high also. Most of the grocery sundries are imported and bring good prices. Even the produce of the country is dear. Vegetables in the market sell as high as with us, while fruit, in this land which nature endowed so richly for fruit culture, is sold almost if not entirely as high as in New York. Beef is the one item that is comparatively cheap. Butter retails at 50 cents and upward a pound, eggs at 35 and 40 cents a dozen in the summer season, and all kinds of poultry for the table are correspondingly high. Café prices are expensive, except for the little cups of coffee, and it is a mystery to me how the majority of the people live, for wages are not nearly so good as in the United States. Rent is another expensive item, so that it must take every dollar the average man earns to keep up, and he cannot have anything left for a savings account.
The American drummer has been down this way with some lines of American goods. Through windows, where lovers have whispered sweet words to willing ears for centuries, there comes the busy clatter of the American sewing machine; on the coffee plantations, and even in the rubber camps, Indians, negroes and whites listen to the quavering, and ofttimes grating tones, of the American phonograph; in stores where the shopkeeper and clerk sit listlessly, as though not caring whether you buy or not, the cash is guarded by the unerring treasurer, the American cash register, and the goods are oftentimes weighed on an American computing scale; dark-eyed and dark-complexioned men pound at the keys of American typewriters, and the machine is sometimes as erring in its spelling of Portuguese as English in our own land; American farming implements may be seen rusting in the weather, just as they are neglected by our farmers in Oklahoma and Kansas; children are sometimes hauled around in little American perambulators or express wagons, and cans, which have held the products of the great oil trust, are now used to carry water from the public fountains. The Yankee medicine-man has been here, although the familiar terms of “pink pills for pale people,” and other household words, are scarcely recognizable when translated into Portuguese. On the bill-boards and on walls that are centuries old, and there are many, one will see the familiar picture of a boy with a mountain codfish on his back, and the message that this medicine will lay flesh on the back of the thinnest Brazilian. American windmills turn around at the beckoning of the Atlantic breezes, and American-built engines pull the high-tariffed freight over the tortuous curves of the Brazilian railways.
Although the United States purchases almost one-third of the total exports of Brazil, yet we send to Brazil only one-tenth of the imports, and rank third in importance. This is, of course, due to the fact that it has only been within the last few years that the United States has developed into a great exporting country. It is due further to the fact that American manufacturers have not studied the markets, as have those of other countries; England and Germany in particular. British and German banks have branches in Rio, Bahia, Pernambuco, Pará, Manaos, São Paulo, Santos, and Porto Alegre, and these banks are great aids to business men from these countries. Furthermore, all of these banks make money and pay large dividends to their stockholders. At present there is no American bank in the country, or in all of South America for that matter, while Americans living and travelling there are all urging the establishment of such an institution. Personally, I believe that it would be a successful enterprise, if conducted along the lines pursued at home, for the methods of the banks working there are slow and tedious, and it requires a half hour to do what should be done in five minutes.
Another advantage of Europe has been in the matter of transportation. There are several English, German, French, Italian and Spanish lines, which run fine passenger steamers to Europe, thus giving service every few days to that continent, and affording quick transportation for freight. In addition there are many more boats, called intermediate steamers, which also carry passengers, but are slower boats and make a specialty of cargo. It is no longer necessary, however, to go to Brazil by the way of Europe, for it takes much longer and is no more comfortable. The Lamport and Holt Line maintain a bi-weekly line of steamers between New York, Bahia, Rio and Santos, and they have some excellent boats in service. The Vasari, on which I travelled, is as comfortable as any of the European boats, and has accommodation for a large number of first-class passengers. They make the trip from New York to Rio in sixteen to seventeen days, which is about the same time as the best boats from Southampton and Cherbourg, so that the passenger saves the time consumed in the transatlantic voyage. I would like to see the United States adopt the policy of encouraging a line of boats to the South American ports either by subsidy or payment for better mail service, so that there would be not only a more frequent but a quicker service. It is a mistaken economy to refuse this means of extending our commerce to the “other Americans,” who naturally, and Brazil in particular, are favourably inclined, and appreciate the fraternal tie of Americanism.