8. MANUFACTURING AND MINING.
Labor.— Labor problems, with good reason and in a very special sense, claim the attention of all who would study intelligently the present conditions of Brazilian agriculture and manu facturing industries. The government, in order to encourage immigration from Europe, guar antees free passage and a homestead to bona fide settlers, the ultimate aim being to build up a class of peasant proprietors whose services may, at least in part, replace the migrating hordes of landless workingmen. In the north ern states of Amazonas, Park Maranhao, Piauhy, Rio Grande do Norte, Parahyba, Per nambuco, Alagoas and parts of Matto Grosso and Goyaz, a large part of the food must be imported or brought from the southern states, paying high freight rates. The cost of living is, therefore, high and labor correspondingly ex pensive. In the central states labor is more abundant, the cost of living is not so high, and naturally there is a lower rate of wages. In the three southernmost states the lowest rate of wages prevails; labor there is both plentiful and satisfactory; a large part of the working class is of Italian or German origin. In Brazil, as in Latin America generally, skilled labor, workmen of experience in mechanical indus tries, are scarce. °New industries are nearly always started with imported labor under con tract, the foreign foreman having to train men for the work which they are expected to do. This is noticeably the case in the textile in dustry, which is largely manned by English or other contracted foremen and headweavers. The lighter work of these factories to a large extent is carried on by women.' For the erec tion of large machinery °it has always been the practice for the contractors to send their own engineers and skilled mechanics. In most cases the buyer contracts with the machinery maker for the permanent service of one or more competent mechanics? Graduates of those pub lic institutions in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and other large Brazilian cities in which the skilled trades are taught have seldom been appointed to the highest positions in the factories. °The Brazilian agricultural laborer is generally the descendant of slaves or an Indian half-breed, and although ignorant is a fairly good worker?) It has not been found convenient, as a general rule, to entrust the Brazilian laborer with the running and care of machinery because it is a to which he has never been trained. Yet Latin America has produced excellent en gineers, and trained natives are being success fully employed as engineers of locomotive and stationary engines on railways, in factories, on plantations, in mines and electric-light plants where these are owned and operated by natives.
Manufacturing Industries.— The restric tions indicated in the foregoing paragraph are, to some extent, offset by the determined efforts of national and state governments, with the co operation of foreign investors. Resultant
achievements, although actually small for a land so great and naturally so rich, have nevertheless attained proportions which surprise visitors from the north. The manufacturing industries of the country as a whole are varied and con stantly increasing, and every city of importance in Brazil has its manufacturing plant of one kind or another. It is only 20 years since the first Brazilian textile mill was started. This industry has increased remarkably in the two decades, owing to Improvement in machinery and to new transportation facilities which bring the mills, the cotton-fields and the consumers closer together. °In most of the large cities the necessities of domestic life are made in fac tories, and foundries for simple metal-work ex ist, but, as a rule, complicated machinery, pre served foods and the so-called luxuries are still imported. The textile industry is perhaps mak ing greater progress than any other. Five of the larger cotton mills in the Federal district employ 8,000 operatives and have a yearly out put of over 80,000,000 yards. Another mill em ploys 1,500 operatives and utilizes 1,500 horse power. Four mills in Petropolis manufacture an average of 18,000,000 to 19,000,000 yards, while 24 mills in Sio Paulo produce 83,00,000 to 84,000,000 yards. In the district of Rio de Janeiro the establishment of new and the en largement of existing factories have caused the Rio de Janeiro Tramway, Light and Power Company to enlarge its plant from 50,000 to 80,000 horse power to meet the increasing de Sao Paulo compares favorably with Rio de Janeiro in industrial importance. In addition to the power plant of the Sao Paulo Tramway, Light and Power Company at Para hyba, which has a capacity of 32,000 horse power, the construction of a new plant of 62,500 horse power was begun several years ago for the purpose of supplying additional power to the city of Sao Paulo and neighboring towns and cities. The importation of modern Amer ican machinery has given a new impetus to the lumber industry in the state of Parana, where large saw-mills have been recently erected. Brazil produced in 1915 linen to the amount of 66,632 metres of crude textiles and 223,265 of finer dyed textiles, for the manufacture of the greater part of which the raw material was imported. However, under the encouragement of the government flax growing has already begun in the southern part of the republic where it gives signs of being able within a few years to supply the home demand. Linen weav ing is carried on in Brazil principally by the cotton factories; but one large factory, Com panhia Tecido de Linho Sapopemba, is devoted altogether to the linen industry.