THE REMARKABLE SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN AT RIO DE JANEIRO which elected some man because he refused to wear a cravat, or did not wear socks, or went without a collar. I was assured that in Brazil any effort to curry favor with the people by antics of this kind would merely excite derision. If a man were a very able man, then he might be pardoned an idiosyncrasy of a laughable character; but he would be lost if for a moment he was believed to be affecting such conduct under the impression that it showed that he "sympathized with the people." A few of the public men I met were men of good private fortune, although of course not rich men in the sense that our multimillionaires are rich. Most of them were men of moderate means. They were not only very courteous, and obviously on the whole cultivated, but they showed an innate refinement that made it a pleasure to meet them. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Lauro Müller, widely known to our people by his visit to the United States last summer, is of German parentage. I can perhaps give the best idea of him by saying that as a statesman and man of the world he reminds me more of the late John Hay than does any other public man of any country. Yet Mr. Müller's grandfather was an ordinary peasant immigrant who worked with ax, pick, and shovel, and his father was a small shopkeeper (I repeat this with his consent). The future Foreign Minister began in a store at $8 a month, and his career has been just such as that of the men who because of their careers we like to think of as typical of the United States. He studied at night, he attracted the attention of his employer by the excellence of his work, he managed to get admitted to a military school, and did so well in it that he secured a commission in the army, and became colonel of engineers before he went into civil life. He is as enlightened and progressive, as energetic and capable a public servant-in short, as useful a public servant- -as we can show in all the United States. Throughout my stay in Rio I had detailed to me as aides Colonel Pederneiras, of the Brazilian army, and Lieutenant Moreira, of the Brazilian navy. The Colonel is now the head of a smokeless powder factory modeled on the best factories in our own country. The Lieutenant is a graduate of the Brazil Naval School, which in its turn has been modeled on Annapolis-for whereas in the days of the Empire Brazil was apt to look to England for example, so during the days of the Republic she has been apt to look to the United States both in matters governmental and in matters industrial. Intellectually France has always been the model in Brazil, and my experience leads me to believe that among most of her people of all classes, ranging from statesmen and scientists to young girls, French books are even more commonly read than Portuguese. I visited the Naval School, and was immensely struck by the personnel and equipment. Evidently the training is good. the training is good. As for my two aides, I need only say that I felt that they were like the best of the men in our own servicesand to those who know the United States army and navy as well as I do there can be no higher praise. I feel that I ought to keep a check upon myself so as not to be overenthusiastic, and I am writing after only a brief experience. Yet, looking at things as coolly as possible, I do find it difficult not to use superlatives when I deal with the beauty and healthfulness of the surroundings of this city, the cleanliness and the progressive spirit of the city itself, and the charm and power of the public men I met. The immense strides that have been made both in private business and in actual public business of the practical type, such as the turning of Rio into a modern and in most respects a model great capital, impressed me more than I can well say. It has been said that Brazil has not developed a national type. I do not agree with this view. Doubtless the type is not as clearly fixed as in the United States; and equally without doubt, as in the United States and in every other country which is growing, the type itself tends to change. But the change is due to growth, and does not mean any break in continuity. There is a well-marked Brazilian type, the foundation of which is the old Portuguese stock modified by three centuries of colonial existence and one century of freedom. The great European immigration of the last few decades, which is mainly from the Latin countries, but which has also included Germans and Slavs, has modified this type, but has not fundamentally changed it. The sons of these immigrants become Brazilians precisely as the sons of the immigrants to the United States become Americans. They lose their separate languages and fuse. This applies as much to the German and English immigrants as to the children of the Portuguese, Italians, French, and Spanish immigrants. There is nothing more absurd than to talk of the possibility of any European power obtaining possession of any portion of Brazil. The sons of the immigrants from the very nation itself would be the first to take up arms on behalf of Brazil against that nation. I met men of high position who were the sons or grandsons of Germans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Spaniards. All were Brazilians and nothing but Brazilians. All conform to the national type, though doubtless each strain has contributed something of value to that national type, exactly as has been the case in the United States. Altogether it is impossible for the observer to visit Rio de Janeiro without being struck by the extraordinary progress that has been made of recent years. The city is one of the most beautiful, attractive, and healthy of all the great capitals of the world. The other cities in the country districts are following in its wake. Brazil is throbbing with the energy of a new life. The only possible threat to this new life and to the immense progress accompanying it would come from disorder and turbulence-that is, from any outbreak either of revolutionary or separatist activities. I do not believe that there will be such turbulence or disorder. If there is not, the immense territory, much of it virgin and of extraordinary fruitfulness, which lies within the boundaries of Brazil will witness a literally astounding development during the next two or three score years. Unless all signs fail, the twentieth century will be the century of the growth of South America. A A GOVERNMENT SKY-SCRAPER BY W. CORNELL APPLETON LTHOUGH commercial buildings of the tower type are no longer a novelty, it will doubtless surprise many to learn that the United States Government is building a "sky-scraper " Custom-House in the heart of historic Boston. It is not probable, however, that it is but the first of a series of Government towers, as the result in this case is due to peculiar conditions not likely to be duplicated elsewhere. For many years Boston, which stands second among the ports of the country, has been too big for its Custom-House. The large force of officers and clerks necessary to handle the business of the port was crowded into the same building that was first occupied in January, 1849. The Old Stone Fort," as it was familiarly called, was designed by Ammi Brigham Young, and was a carefully studied example of Greek Doric architecture, its dignified simplicity making it one of the ornaments of the city. The tall granite columns which surrounded it were all quarried at Quincy and hauled over the road. In the first story, reached by a flight of steps extending the entire width of the portico, was a circular columnar hail crowned by a low dome. The beautiful marble columns were evidently copied from the monument of Lysicrates at Athens, and the room was of striking beauty even in recent years when crowded with the desks of the Customs officials. Less than fifty years ago Boston Harbor came to the door of the Custom-House. The accompanying reproduction from an old engraving gives a good idea of the building in its relation to the water-front and to State Street, at the other end of which stands the old State House, a reminder of Colonial days. It had long been apparent that the business of the port could no longer be handled in such crowded quarters, and in 1908 the business bodies of the city were confronted with the problem of finding a site for a new building, the cost of the former to be not greater than the half-million dollars which had been appropriated by Congress for the purpose. A joint committee considered all available sites, and held meetings with the Collector of the Port, Congressmen, and officials of the Treasury Department. It was found that no site that could be obtained for the amount appropriated was satisfactory from both the standpoint of convenience in location and as a proper setting for a Government building. Such sites as could be recommended would involve a probable additional outlay of at least three-quarters of a million dollars, and, as the temper of Congress at that time was to provide for few new enterprises in the |