DR. LIMA ON LATIN AMERICA

Dr. Manoel de Oliveira Lima, Minister Plenipotentiary of Brazil to Belgium, delivered an address in Emerson D last evening on "The Independence of Latin America, and its Evolution in the Nineteenth Century." Dr. Lima discussed the two principal forms of thought and action, in which the movement for freedom has proceeded in the more southerly countries of this hemisphere. The one is reactionary, having Napoleon for its prototype, and the other is liberal, being formed after the example of Washington.

Among other things he spoke of the general culture of the people in the Southern nations, Latin America is too unjustly thought of by the rest of the world, and does not deserve the ridicule which is often heaped upon it. Contrary to popular belief, its inhabitants are not mentally inert, and stagnant in action. Those who travel there are surprised at the intellectual vigor displayed in matters of science, literature, and judicial culture. It is true that this activity has as yet no solid foundation, and that the masses need to be further educated. But this end is being rapidly accomplished through the medium of an efficient school system. Instruction is being steadily extended to the rural districts, and advanced professional and scientific courses are already a reality. For this branch of progress Dr. Lima finds the United States an almost ideal model.