Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 222, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1919 — BRAZIL: Melting Pot Like the United States [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BRAZIL: Melting Pot Like the United States

to the people of the United I j States these days. It is in (T ./ the that America and Brazil are to become better acquainted before reconstruction days are over. And if for no other reason Brazil is interesting to us because it is, like the United States, a melting pot of the nations. When President-Elect Epltacio Pes•oa was here recently he said, in a public address: “Having in mind the close relations which have always existed between our two countries it is not surprising that the entrance of the United (States in the great European conIBict should have had a decisive Influence on Brazil’s procedure. To the precious title of JMLcmL uniting our (destinies and claiming our share of •effort and sacrifice, we added,that of pily —allied to the nation which has Just furnished to history th,e most brilliant examples of ability and force. “Now that the monstrous scourge bas disappeared from the face of the civilized world, and nations, Impelled by accumulated energy in the making •up of lost time, are to resume their old life of peace and toll, Brazil will rejoice in continuing to develop more and more the relations of every kind (which bind her to the United States, and to strive for this end will be one of the fondest'errdeavors of my” government.’* It is thus of particular importance that the United States endeavor to un•derstand the conditions of life in this «rast melting pot of the nations. The 1 melting pot of Brazil Is not just like ours. It seems, however, to be quite as complicated a boiling. The racial diversity in Brazilian society is as protiodnced as is the variety of its geographical groups. A study of the home life is a study in ethnology. The original Portuguese stock is found in all phases of transition from unadulterated purity through partial and complete mixtures with native Indian and megro and -fusion with foreign nations —Italian. German. English, Spanish and American. The Brazil of today Is a melting pot of races and nationalities as heterogeneous as it is distracting to the chance traveler, says iClayton S. Cooper in New York Sun. 1 On beginning to ask questions one Hinds himself entangled in an intricate pmaze of fusions between Portuguese KBd Brazillan-Portuguese, foreigners ■and Brazilian foreigners, Brazilians urho are Brazilians and Brazilians who •re ethnologically cabocios or mestizos, ■ »r sertaos; or Brazilians who locally ior historically are Paulistas. Germanpßrazilians, Dutch-Brazilians, pureblooded Indians, or sons and daughters tof a half a dozen foreign races or nations, who are Brazilians because they {were bom in Brazil. The visitor freshly landed and

plunged suddenly Into this diverting congeries of human, national and racial amalgamation, is inclined to sympathize with the probable enlightenment of Colonel Roosevelt, who Is reported to have Inquired of a sea captain concerning the population of a certain West Indian island, when the old sea dog replied: “Weil, there are some Spanish, a few French, some Portuguese, a few Dutchmen and a dozen other races the Lord didn't intend.” The amazing wonder of all (especially to a North American less familiar with European races, and holding decided views concerning color lines, etc.). Is the manner in which this country ts stowty, and apparently with harmony and democratic social and racial relations, evolving a distinct Brazilian type. The salient characteristics of

what Is heeomingto he known ns the true Brazilian character Include the aristocratic culture and high intelligence of the old family Portuguese stock, at once Latin and Moorish by inheritance, the exaltation, daring and passion of a vigorous aborigine's blood, softened by the affectionate, emotional strain of the African, especially in north Brazil —the whole shot through with typical modernity and enterprise that marriage and general contact with European races have afforded. With such elements, the national home life of Brazil is being compounded. The Latin races aresald to trig in homelike qualities, as compared with English or Teutonic peoples. Moreover, the Portuguese, who gave Brazil formative principles, were more truly the copyists of Roman civilization than any other European stock, and the Romans were fnmous for their slight attention to the home. Yet Portugal has been ever a land of homes and her new world Brazilian daughter has inherited her instinct. It is a land placing great emphasis on family life. There is always danger, in writing of a subject like Brazilian home life, for the narrator to overgeneralize. Home and family life is, like the civilization generally diverse, and it is necessary to decline the stratum of life one is talking about if an attempt is made to find universal characteristics. There is the home of the seringuero or rubber gatherer in the lonely fastness of the Amazon wilderness. „ and the tepee of the still savage Indian of the forest jungle. The fisher folk, a considerable clan scattered along the Brazilian coast from the extreme north to the Argentine boundary, have a life distinctive. bringing their .hauls of fish ashore in frail looking boats and in light hearted talk and-song sit about their rude huts at twilight to sup on a bit of farina, a drop of native whisky and some of the Brazilian dried beef —to the accompaniment of the violao. Should one be just to the many sided home and social life of this gigantic country, he must needs write also of the occupations of the gaueho,

or Brazilian cowbo'y* living his daring and picturesque existence apart on .this southern interior plains; then there Is the important section of Brazilian society best sedn in its original home In the state of Minas —the fazendeiro, or caipira, as he is sometimes called, the country magnate whose wealth Is his proud plantations, and who lives also more or less Isolated with his family, constituting his own kingdom independent and free and hospitable as was any of our old southland planters, or any medieval baronial lord,—lt is this, land holders class that makes a strong appeal to young and old Brazil alike.

This king of the land and horses and wide dtstancesTasdnates and calls forth something inherent in the Brazilian character. This country is first of all an agricultural domain of colossal area, and the fazendeiro still holds in his hand the nation’s key. Of him one has said: “Such authority as he, knows has vanished perhaps from the greater part of the world, but In Brazil it rules unquestioned, forming a powerful bond between the soil and its owner. “In his powerful soljtude the land owner Indulges in his love of intellectual culture, he Inclines toward philosophy ; he possesses a certain natural eloquence. This Brazilian aristocracy enjoys political as well as social power. They form the structure, the framework of all party politics; they are It* strength, itp very life; It is they who govern and administer Brazil.” One is confronted here with the remnants of a feudal oligarchy, with the culture and refinement belonging to It in the middle ages of Europe, but with the striking difference that this older and influential Brazilian social order Is being voluntarily changed and mixed with tv complex variety of mass population, slowly but surely forming a democratic society. In which the spirit of republicanism and equality is stronger even than the spirit of the national religion. , Any concrete description of a home of the herrer class is a biography of the life and characteristics of the Brazilian woman—the wife and mother. Domestic existence is peculiarly her sphere of action and influence, and from this throne of home life she rules, and also shines. Brazilian women are not only nice to look at and intelligent conversationalists ; they are furthermore “the mothers of men.” It Is p land of large families, eight and teq children 1 being no exceptional thing in .n Brasilian home. The upbringing off childreh is not attended with-any modern eugenics, twilight sleep, birth control, together with other reforms of our northern ‘‘efficiency" civilizatiop. are as yet unknown. « |