GERMANY AND SOUTHERN BRAZIL
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
Sm,—Some ten years ago I met in Dresden a German advocate who had settled in Rio Grande do Sul, and who was very frank in his state- ments regarding the prospects and intentions of Germany in South Brazil. He claimed that there were then some half-million Germans in that part of the world; that they constituted nearly one-third of the Population of the four southern provinces ; and that, although still in a minority, they were by their superior organization and intelligence, and by their support from the home authorities, already the prepon- derant power. They had about fifty German "colonies," or settlements, each fully organized with schools, churches, banks, newspapers, and even police. Their numbers were steadily fed by means of the Han- seatische-Kolonization-Gesellschaft. They could put, he said, " an army corps " of trained men in the field, and were ready to take over the government of South Brazil as soon as they saw the United States sufficiently engaged elsewhere to prevent any danger of the Monroe Doctrine coming into active play.—I am, Sir, &o., J. R. F.
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