Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 168, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1915 — Paraguay and its Resources [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Paraguay and its Resources

IN order to study the trade situation In Paraguay. M. Drew Carrel, commercial representative of the Buenos Aires branch of a New York bank, recently made a trip through that country, and in The Americas he writes entertainingly of what he saw there. His article is thus summarized In the bulletin of the PanAmerican Union:

The only practical routes of access to the country, the heart of one of the richest agricultural regions of South America, are the river and the railway running from Buenos Aires, a thousand miles away, if Asuncion, the capital and chief city of the republic, be taken as the traveler’s destination. There is direct connection between Buenos Aires, via the Argentine Central, Entre-Rlos, and Paraguayan Central railways, and Asuncion. trains leave once a week each way. ‘ Oft from Buenos Aires betimes, the train arrives at Zarate early in the evening, some sixty miles up country where the expanse of the River Plate haa narrowed into the Parana, Here all except the engine is run on to a huge iron ferryboat for a four-hour voyage up and across the river to Iblcuy on the eastern shore. Nearly all day Saturday is spent journeying through the flat country of Entre-Rlos. The orange groves increase, with here and there tobacco fields, giving way as the tropics are neared to numerous royal palm trees. Posadas, the last station in Argentina, is reached and the train is again run upon a large ferryboat and carried across the upper part of the Parana river to Encarnacion in the Republic of Paraguay. The level of the deck of the ferry is some fifteen feet below the level of the roadbed, on both sides of the river, and it is necessary to lower and raise the trains down and up an incline by means of cables and steam winches to the proper level. After running over a switch-back on the Paraguay side, Encarnacion is reached, some 150 feet above the level of the river. Room for Many Immigrant*. All through Paraguay to Asuncion

the road runs across vast tracts of luxurious grazing land, broken here and there by lines of low, timber-cov-ered hills. Buildings and other evidences of development are few and far between, compared with the extent of the country, and one is impressed with the fact that there Is ample room there for thousands of home-seeking immigrants from the congested districts of Europe, who would find an agreeable climate and soil fertile and extensive enough to feed not only themselves but many of the other inhabitants of the world. Timber is so plentiful in the Paraguayan country that the railways use It for fuel. At every railway station are huge logs and squared timbers ready for shipment. On the hillsides where clearings have been made, as well as in the bottom lands, besides the rich grass, the corn, the alfalfa, and the tobacco, healthy sugar cane Is seen. Arriving at Asuncion at 8 p. m. Sunday, the train runs into a large terminal station which, though modern in appearance, is said to be the first railway station built In South America. A British engineer constructed it about fifty years ago, and the girders and other parts of the framework, which at a hasty glance one would say are iron, are in fact wood that is as sound today as when the building was erected. Asuncion is an Important port for river movements. The larger vessels from the River Plate bring their cargoes to Asuncion, whence merchandise is taken overland or transshipped in smaller boats for points farther up the river. Although it is a river port, over a thousand miles from the seacoast, the size and number of large vessels at the dock, or at anchor awaiting their turn to go to the docks, and the many smaller craft, as well 88 the large and commodious harbor, give it much the appearance of a seaport Enclosed by Big Rivers. The* Republic of Paraguay Is almost completely surrounded by water, being bounded on nearly all sides

by the great rivers Parana and Para* guay or their tributaries, which furnish transportation to many interior parts of the country and provide abundant irrigation and adequate drainage. The soil is typically fertile, consisting for the most part of red clay mixed with sufficient sand to make it porous, and covered with rich alluvial deposits. The area of the country is estimated at about 170,000 square miles, and it is divided into two parts by the Paraguay river. The southeastern part, which is inclosed by the rivers Paraguay, Parana, and Apa, contains most of the white population. The northwestern part, known as the Gran Chaco, is inhabited mostly by nomadic tribes of Indians, and contains vast expanses of grazing land and Immense forests awaiting exploitation. The resources of the southeastern section alone, however, are sufficient to engage the attention of the inhabitants for many years to come. It is estimated that the country has about 1,000,000 Inhabitants, and the government has been encouraging immigration as much as possible. Immigrants who have settled in the country have done well, especially those from Europe. The climate is a happy medium between temperate and tropical, the average temperature being 79 degrees Fahrenheit Summer begins in October and lasts until March; winter starts in April and lasts until nearly the end of September, with an average temperature of 64 degrees. Rarely have there been frosts and on few occasions has the thermometer registered as low as 24 degrees. Asuncion a Busy City. Asuncion, with about 80,000 inhabitants, is the capital and principal business city of the Republic., It is about 850 miles north of Buenos Aires, and is located upon a bay-shaped enlargement of the Paraguay river, about two and a half miles long and one mile wide, which affords ample shelter and accommodation for many vessels. Being at the head of river navigation for the larger river steamers, and the place of transshipment for points

farther north, as well as the place from which the principal highways and trails into the interior diverge, it is a center of commercial activity. It is the terminus of the railway frcm the south. It has four banks, numerous industrial plants, Including sawmills, ship repair and building yards, soap and candle factories, shoe and cigar-making establishments, two breweries, and many pretentious wholesale and retail mercantile houses. i Most of the larger cities and towns of the country are located either on the Central Paraguayan railway or on the Paraguay river. The most important of these is Encarnacion, at the southern boundary of the republic, where the railway trains are ferried across from Argentina. It has about 16,000 Inhabitants. The principal industries of the district are grazing, timber-cutting and the preparation of yerba mate. Encarnacion is a port of entry and is the distributing point for the southern portion of Paraguay. The town of Paraguay, north of Encarnacion of the railway, has a population of about 11,000, and is located in a rich cattle and timber region. Luque, a town of 14,000 inhabitants, a short distance from Asuncion, is In a district from which tobacco, and miscellaneous agricultural products and alcohol come. The other places along the railway range In size from shipping points for large estates to small communities more or less Interested In grazing, agriculture and timber cutting. On the Paraguay river from south to north among the places of importance may be mentioned Pilar, with about 7,000 Inhabitants. North cf Asuncion is Villa Hayes, with a population, including that of the adjacent country, of 30,000. It Is on the west side of the river In what is known as the Grat. Chaco country. The principal industries are grazing and agriculture, Including a cane-sugar mill and a distillery. Farther north on the river Is another cattle district in Concepcion, haring about 15,000 inhabitants.