Bolivia

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1, 7 January 1909, Page 9

Bolivia

According to Disraeli's Young Duke, there is no greater sin than to be trop prononce, <or greatly exaggerated in praise or blame. ' During the course of the past year we dealt with sundry, flagrant ' cases of ' the latter form of 1 this ' greater sin '—namely, wild ' and exaggerated onslaughts upon Catholic persons and Catholic institutions. One of these was a high-pressure stream of vitriolic speech with which, in an Otago contemporary, a missionary, on a collecting tour in New Zealand, .hosed the Catholic ..Church in far-off Bolivia. Our readers may recall how the accuser's readiness- to fling • dishonoring accusations was only surpassed by his significant unwillingness to make them good, and by the rather desperate character of , his effort to keep from Otago readers the evidence (if any) on which a specific item in his story was alleged to 'have been" based. One of the less bitter items of this, 'missionary tale' from a far-off land was- to this effect: that ' C ° P e l jl ad never so - much as raised its little finger for the education of the native' race in Bolivia, ' and that the very 'first school for Indians' in all the history of that country was opened by the Government in July, 1907. We pointed out a.t the time that the' Statesman's Year Book for 1906, 1905, and so on back to 1898 '(how far further we could not say) clearly distinguishes' the various elemonts m the population of Bolivia— whites and negroes (who are comparatively few), and^ Indians and cholos (halfbreeds) who form the vast bulk of the, population: We also added that the same publication ' (basing- itself on Bolivian official and semi-official literatures) states expressly that, for a long time past, there .have been, Catholic missionary and other schools 'for the rural Indian population.' The Encyclopedia' Britannica (cd. 1906, vol. xxvi., p. 290) also mentions a number of Catholic missionary and other 'schools for rural . Indians ';•' and\ so, likewise do 'a numher of other publications that we : were able to consult, for dates as far back as 1896.' - We have now before us a large volume written not later: than 1905 and published by A. C. McClurg and Co., of Chicago,^ in 1906. It is written by Charles M. Pepper, while on a" diplomatic mission through the Western South American republics, and is entitled Panama to Patagonia. .On pages' 304 and 305 we find the following statement in connection with the author's visit to the Aymara Indian -town of Sicasica : 'I • wandered into a girls' school, - where the little maids were . seated on vicuna skins, and,*, rocking forward back- • ward, were conning their lessons aloud while the woman teacher accompanied- their sing-song, standing. . . The primer was in Aymara [by far the most extensively spoken language in Bolivia], and seemed to correspond to Noah .Webster's spelling-book.' The author (who is by no means well-disposed towards the Catholic faith) finds the Bolivian school system ' a creditable one '' (p. 345). ' The Bolivian Government,' says he (pp. 339-40), f.has handled the Indian problem very well — much bettor than it has been handled in the United States.' * Here we find an Indian school, with Indian text-books, in full operation in Bolivia at least two years before the date assigned by the missionary for the" opening of absolutely 'the first school for Indians' in all the history of that difficult country. / We- have not- referred to the splendid work of civilisation and education which the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and 'the Salesians have done or' are doing among tho Indian peoples in every country of Central and South America — including the'Mojos and the Chiquitos- of the Bolivia of two centuries ago and. more, and the red tribes-people of that country in the present-day. On these two latter subjects we hope to have more to say in detail at a later date. Bolivia has been • styled, , on account of its - peculiar physical configuration,, the Mexico of South' America. From the point of view of. the outside . inquirer, it may be almost termed the Tibet of South America, on account of the slowness and difficulty.,, of securing replies to correspondence. . But even that difficulty will, in our case, be overcome in -due course. " •> ' .