FOREIGN INTERESTS IN PERU—IMMIGRATION AND COLONIZATION
[Illustration: COLONISTS OF THE SIERRA.]
The amount of foreign capital invested in Peru runs far into the
millions. North Americans have led in the successful inauguration of
large foreign enterprises, though English, German, Italian, and other
European nations are represented among the owners of industrial and
commercial establishments of increasing importance. During the year
1907, thirty new enterprises were initiated by Peruvian and foreign
syndicates for the exploitation of the national products, two-thirds of
the number being devoted to the development of the mining and rubber
interests of the country. Several existing companies augmented their
capital and enlarged the scope of their establishments, looking forward
to an increase in their business as a consequence of the improving of
facilities for transportation now in progress.
The most important British interests in Peru are in the hands of the
Peruvian Corporation, which, as elsewhere stated, has the control of the
principal railways and of a large share of the guano production for a
term of years, in accordance with their contract with the Peruvian
government. This powerful syndicate is interested also in colonization
in Peru, having established a foreign settlement on the banks of the
Perené River, in the valley of Chanchamayo, where the corporation owns
three million acres of land, ceded to it by the Peruvian government for
the purpose of colonization. The Perené colony was founded in 1892, a
hundred Italian immigrants being brought over under contract to clear
the land and cultivate it, to build roads, put up necessary dwellings,
and establish their homes there. They were, at first, maintained at the
cost of the Peruvian Corporation and received wages for their labor,
being at no expense for utensils, materials, etc., which were supplied
by the company. But as this support was gradually withdrawn, the
colonists became dissatisfied and many of them abandoned the settlement;
so that, five years later not more than half a dozen of the original
hundred remained. The colony has since grown and flourished, however,
its coffee plantations now extending over a large area and yielding a
valuable harvest annually. Besides coffee, the colonists of the Perené
also cultivate sugar, cocoa, and other products of the Montaña.
German interests in Peru are almost entirely of a commercial character,
though German colonists have taken up land in the Chanchamayo and other
valleys of the interior, and are engaged in agriculture. The first
German colony in Peru was founded in 1858, at Pozuzo, near Puerto Mairo,
in the department of Huánuco, on a branch of the Pachitea River. It now
numbers about a thousand, many of the original immigrants having
separated from the parent colony in 1891, to form a new settlement at
Oxapampa, in the Department of Junín, midway between Pozuzo and Cerro de
Pasco. Both the Pozuzo and Oxapampa colonies have grown, and the latter
has become very prosperous. “Oxapampa” means “a plain covered with
pastures,” and the name is well applied to this district, on which the
flocks and herds of the colonists increase rapidly and thrive with
moderate care. The people of Oxapampa cultivate everything that they
require, and are able to provide themselves with food, clothing, and
shelter from the products of their forests, pastures, and plantations.
The settlement is located on the margin of a river, a branch of the
Chorobamba, which feeds one of the numerous tributaries of the Pachitea.
Situated on the lowest slope of the oriental chain of the Cordilleras,
where the region of the forest begins, its resources include those of
both the semi-tropical and the tropical zones. Sugar, tobacco, yucca,
and plantains grow on its plantations. The colonists’ houses are built
of wood, and the sharp spikes of a native palm, the Batrix ciliata, are
used as nails for fastening the boards together. Some of the haciendas
of the colony have established sugar mills and manufacture _aguardente_,
literally “fire-water.” Others supply Cerro de Pasco and neighboring
towns with butter and lard. Cigars of a good quality are made in the
colony. The most urgent need of these people seems to be a better
opportunity for education and more facilities for travelling.
The Italians have been very successful colonists in all parts of South
America. In Brazil and Argentina they have become an important factor in
the development of industry and commerce, and in Peru they have
established successful enterprises of various kinds. Formerly the great
tide of Italian emigration was toward the United States, but of recent
years Italians have been finding their way to Brazil, Argentina, and
other Latin-American countries in increasing numbers. Peru has been too
remote from the transatlantic ports to secure a large proportion of the
immigration to South America, and its foreign population does not
approach that of the republics on the Atlantic seaboard; neither has
Peru sought to introduce great throngs of immigrants without considering
their desirability as citizens; the result is that those who have come
to the country are thrifty and industrious, a real acquisition to the
industrial population. The last census, taken in 1900, places the number
of Italian residents in Peru at ten thousand, but it is certain that the
census now in preparation will show a notable increase, as the
Department of Lima alone has more than five thousand Italians among its
residents.
[Illustration: IN THE HEART OF THE MINING REGION.]
The Italians have shown both initiative and energy in their various
enterprises in the republic. They are identified with some of the most
important improvements made in the capital and in Callao, besides which
they have established large factories in several cities. In the southern
coast region, the Italians are the chief owners of the olive groves and
other fruit orchards. In the city of Lima their bank and insurance
company are important institutions of credit. The capital owned by
Italians and employed in industrial and commercial enterprises in Peru
is estimated at about thirty million dollars, gold.
[Illustration: A FOREIGN COLONY IN THE RUBBER COUNTRY.]
The Department of Loreto is a promising territory for colonization. As
it lies entirely within the region of the Montaña and directly over the
equator, it is generally supposed to be a land of fevers and other
tropical diseases; but Colonel Palacios Mendiburu, who has travelled
throughout this part of the republic and has spent much time in studying
its conditions, says there are three points, “and only three,” in the
entire Department of Loreto in which malarial fever, known as
_paludismo_, is prevalent. These malarial districts are: San Antonio, on
the Marañon; between the mouth of the Pastaza and that of the
Cahuapanas; and along the Yavary and the Tigre Rivers. The humidity of
the atmosphere and the intensity of the heat have a debilitating effect
in the lower plains, and anemia frequently attacks the over-energetic
and those addicted to alcoholic stimulants. But the tales of terrible
diseases, attacks from cobras and boa-constrictors, as well as other
sensational experiences reported to be everyday occurrences in the
Montaña, are woven chiefly of the fabric of fancy. Colonel Palacios says
that the serpents and other poisonous creatures of the forest flee from
man; though he explains that it is advisable to travel always with one
or more companions, as a person alone is likely to meet with
disagreeable encounters in the _bosque_, where jaguars abound. The
natives of the forest find abundant game in this region; a successful
hunter will bring home a variety of meats, the monkey providing a
favorite dish. Fish are found in all the rivers, and turtles are
abundant in many localities. For a more vegetarian diet, the Montaña
supplies plenty of cocoa, the tree of which grows wild here; and the
bread-tree, the papaya, the pineapple and other tropical fruits are
found everywhere. Cotton grows wild, totally neglected in this remote
region.
[Illustration: A FERTILE VALLEY FOR COLONIZATION IN THE APURIMAC
REGION.]
According to the recent land law, especially designed to cover the
region of the Montaña, presented to the senate by the representatives of
Loreto in 1907, the state lands of this territory may be ceded to
individuals for exploitation and profit by sale, denouncement,
adjudication, or contract. When ceded by sale, the price is five sols
per hectare (two and a half acres), in consideration of which the
purchaser acquires perpetual and irrevocable possession of the lands,
the proprietorship of the trees found thereon, etc. Not more than five
hundred hectares can be sold to the same person without legislative
authorization. If, after ten years, the purchaser has not at least
one-tenth of his land under exploitation, it becomes again the property
of the state; but if, in addition to satisfying this obligation, the
owner has planted rubber trees, he receives a premium from the
government.
By denouncement, lands in the Montaña may be acquired as concessions
from the government, not to exceed a thousand _pertenencias_, the
_pertenencia_ for this class of property being a hundred hectares (two
hundred and fifty acres). In case a concession of more than a thousand
acres is asked, the granting of it depends on Congress. As elsewhere
stated, a half-yearly tax of two sols and fifty centavos (one dollar and
twenty-five cents, gold) is levied on each _pertenencia_.
The government may concede lands by adjudication gratuitously, up to
five hectares for each person, with the obligation to cultivate, within
three years, at least the fifth part of the land granted. Failing to
fulfil this demand, the colonist loses his claim. The concession of
lands in the Montaña may be made by the government in the interests of
public works, such as road-building, etc., or for purposes of
colonization on a large scale, as has been done in the case of the Inca
Mining Company and other enterprises. The funds arising from the taxes
on adjudicated lands are employed in the improvement of highways and in
the payment of premiums to the cultivators of rubber trees.
The government desires to bring into the country a good class of foreign
labor, and facilities are granted to colonists who come of their own
accord to settle here, especially to those who establish themselves in
the Chanchamayo valley and other regions of the Montaña. Two hectares of
land are granted free to each person, and his passage is paid from the
port of Callao to Oroya by railway, and beyond that point to his
destination by muleback; a monthly subsidy is also granted for a year,
consisting of three pounds sterling to each family, and one pound to
each individual without a family, the first quarterly allowance being
paid in advance.
It is recognized by all the countries of America that only by increasing
their population through immigration can their territories be developed
and made to yield the riches which a beneficent creator meant they
should. As the Argentine statesman Alberdi wrote, more than half a
century ago: “To populate is to civilize. Bring immigrants to make of
them good Argentinos.—Bring colonists, not to be exploited by the
capitalist class, but that they may here set up their domestic hearth,
and live among us as one of ourselves. The laws should amply favor these
new brethren of ours who come to earn their living by the sweat of their
brows, and they should have ample liberty, if they wish to fix their
permanent residence in the country and to contribute to the development
of the nation.”
[Illustration: AN INGENIOUS PROSPECTOR’S HOUSE IN THE FOREST.]
[Illustration: THE VICTORIA COTTON MILLS, LIMA.]