Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1902

Mr. Bryan to Mr. Hay.

Legation of the United States,
Petropolis , April 30, 1902 .

No. 411.]

Sir: I have the honor to state that, having received many written inquiries concerning the opportunities for Americans to earn money in the rubber-producing region of the Upper Amazon, I deem it my duty to report to the Department the real conditions confronting settlers in that territory known as the Acre.

While rubber is abundant, with the chances great of ample returns for its exploitation, the climate and topography of this remote country are such as to imperil life even during the briefest sojourn for those unaccustomed to uninterrupted equatorial heat. Swamps, miasmas, numberless mosquitoes and venomous insects, none but foul water to drink, insufficient nourishment, torrential rains, all contribute to a mortality which is conservatively reckoned at two lives to each ton of rubber exported. The deadliness of this climate explains the anxiety of the Bolivian Government to rid themselves of the direction of the Acre territory, where they could not induce either soldiers or customs officers to go, the reports from the few survivors of early expeditions thither having been tragic in the extreme. Such statements are confirmed by a notice, which I herewith send, from the Brazilian Review of April 29. The Brazilian expedition under Dr. Cruls, recently sent to determine the boundary lines between this country and Bolivia, lost 12 men, despite the utmost care.

There is an area of the Acre where more favorable conditions exist than those herein described, but just where the land rises the rubber growth decreases.

Large rubber companies can doubtless derive great profit from their investments, but it will be to their advantage to employ acclimated natives in this section of Brazil rather than laborers imported from northern countries.

In view of the facts given and of other dangers that confront the foreigner in this remote region, I earnestly warn our countrymen against emigration to the Upper Amazon country.

I have, etc.,

Charles Page Bryan.

[Inclosure.]

Extract from the Brazilian Review, of Rio de Janeiro.

April 29, 1902.

River Acre.—Reports in regard to the sanitary conditions of this river are very unfavorable. Beriberi and fevers prevail throughout the country. The steamer Brazil had on board 38 Bolivians, mostly officers of the army, who were suffering from beriberi, and were consequently leaving the country. One of these passengers, the commander of a battalion of infantry, died on board and was buried on the bank of the Purus.