its surroundings and hygienic conditions. The São Paulo of the old colonial days was far from attractive. It consisted of two quarters, one lying between the Tamanduatehy and Anhangabahu streams and the other on higher ground. The former quarter was a mass of unhealthy residences, narrow, unsanitary streets, and illkept workshops. The latter was superior in that its thoroughfares were broader, its houses more spacious, and its architecture more or less attractive. But, as might have been expected, epidemics of contagious diseases were frequent and the general condition of the city unsatisfactory.

The all-important change was made eighteen years ago, when Dr. Antonio da Silva Prado was Prefect, or Mayor, of the city. Dr. Prado is alive today and is venerated as the Father of the City. Under his leadership, the municipal authorities re

modelled São Paulo. They established a new and efficient sewerage plan; they drove broad avenues through the city; and they planted the sidewalks, outside the limits of the business quarter, with thousands of trees. São Paulo boasts of no fewer than fifty-five tree-lined aven idas today, and in this respect is perhaps not surpassed in South America. But to complete the story: Pools of stagnant water were filled in; unsightly holes and portions of waste ground were transformed into palmclad plazas or public gardens; narrow streets were widened; new edifices. were built on modern lines. The city expended money, but it was well spent: a statement that requires no proof beyond stating that the death rate now averages a fraction under 16 per 1,000. Such was the work of Dr. Prado; and although the city of São Paulo as it stands today is the best permanent monument he could

have, the authorities paid him the additional honor of naming the principal square in the centre of the city, the Praça Antonio Prado. Still further to show their appreciation of the man who had made the modern Capital, the people insisted on Dr. Prado remaining as Prefect for four terms, his term of office covering the years 1899-1910.

Unlike many modern cities, São Paulo has not been built upon any pre-conceived plan: like Topsy, it "just growed." The parallel system which characterises Buenos Aires and part of Rio is not seen; and the only definite atempt made in the beginning consisted of the establishing of a triangle, formed by the three principal business streets, from which other thoroughfares radiate in all directions. The triangle (it is colloquially referred to as such) is intersected by two narrow streets devoted almost exclusively to importers' houses and banks. Its base is formed by Rua Direita, in which are a large British department store and numerous drapers' establishments, the left-hand side being Rua 15 de Novembro, the widest and most important street in the city. Here are numerous banks and better-class shops. The righthand side is formed by Rua S. Bento, a busy shopping and commercial thoroughfare. This area may be said to be São Paulo, viewed commercially, although there are perhaps four or five other streets, lying out of the actual centre of the city, which are increasing in commercial importance every day. This, of course, is inevitable, for the congestion of the centre and the rapid increase in business activity is making the development of streets outside of the central zone a matter of growing necessity. Incidentally, it may be remarked that the tramway service in and around the city is Canadian-owned and American-managed. It has 221 kilometres of track.

Residential São Paulo will compare favorably with any city in the world. A majestic avenue, the Avenida Paulista, was driven several years ago through the southwestern corner of the city. It and its immediate surroundings are at a considerably greater altitude than the business quarter, whose twinkling lights in the darkness of the evening may be seen lying far below. The Avenida Paulista is the pride of the community. Wide and well-asphalted, it is flanked on either side by the palaces of the wealthy citizens for a distance of one and a quarter miles. On the side away from the city commence rolling plains, with bluish hills lying far away in the distance. The bright skies and brilliant sunshine, which are a feature of Brazil, make the view from the Avenida one of singular beauty-a fact that is not lost sight of by the aristocratic Paulista families, whose pleasure it is to drive daily in the "corso," or slow procession of private automobiles which is a feature of São Paulo society life in the cool of the late afternoon. In and around this district are numerous lay and religious educational establishments, education being one of the aims in life of the Paulista. The city is well equipped to meet the needs of its citizens in this branch of human activity. The São Paulo College of Law has earned a national reputation; the College of Pharmacy provides excellent instruction in pharmacy, dentistry and obstetrics, while the Lyceo has earned encomiums in numerable for the skilled technical training which it gives to the young student. Another institution, the Alvares Penteado School of Commerce, was founded some years ago by a wealthy member of one of the older famlies in São Paulo, and is performing excellent work in equipping young men for commercial life in the city. Foreign organizations also playing their part in moulding

the mind of the São Paulo youth are the Mackenzie and Anglo-Brazilian Colleges. The former institution was founded more than 50 years ago by a group of Americans and is now part of the University of the State of New York, while the latter, as its name. suggests, is conducted on English lines, the staff being graduates of English universities.

Also educational to some extent, yet at the same time performing a task that commands the skill and attention of expert scientists, is the Instituto Serumtherapico, situated situated close to the city. At this institute are a body of medical men whose lives are devoted to the analysis and preparation of serums of every class; but it is primarily because of the discoveries made in the preparation of antidotes to the bites of venomous snakes that the staff has gained fame. The Institute, situated in the suburb of Butantan, possesses a completely equipped snake garden, in which are housed under conditions that afford absolute safety to the onlooker, yet enable the snakes to live a life in the open, specimens of the numerous venomous species known to Brazil. Poison is taken from the fangs of the living snake in view of the visitor and the serum prepared is on sale at various stores for the convenience of the public. An Institute of Hygiene and Medical Research Department, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation, have also been established.

Music, painting, the drama, and journalism, also play their part in São Paulo life. The São Paulo Conservatoire is famed for the brilliance of some who have been its pupils; and the theatre-loving public has reason to be proud of the handsome Municipal Theatre, a costly edifice that was erected while Dr. Prado was Prefect of the city. Newspapers are numerous. Many of them are short

lived, but in the Estado de São Paulo the city boasts of an organ which has the largest sale of any publication printed in Brazil.

Of the parks, plazas, and clubs much might be written, but all that need be stated here is that São Paulo is proud-and has every reason to be-of her possessions in each of these spheres. The Automobile Club is one of the most costly and luxurious in South America, while such institutions as the Jockey Club and the numerous boating and athletic clubs are models of what such establishments should be. The English-speaking colony enjoys the benefits of golf, athletic and social clubs in or near the city.

To survey a city and to indicate its principal features within the confines of a short article is not a simple task, and let it be said that the omissions. from this sketch are many. The policy adopted, however, has been to emphasize the all-important and immediately impressive fact about São Paulo its industrial development. From day to day it is lessening the lead in mere size possessed today by Rio de Janeiro; industrially it is in the ascendant already. And there are not wanting travelled experts who believe that the time is approaching when São Paulo will be not only the greatest city in Brazil, but also the greatest in the continent. The proud position held by Buenos Aires as a great port and capital of 1,600,000 inhabitants is one that will not be surrendered lightly: but Brazil is only on the threshold of development. She is progressing more rapidly than has any other Latin American land in the past; her people are alive to her wonderful potentialities; and if anything is certain, then it is that the future of Brazil will be one of the grandest known to history. In the race toward the realization of greatness, São Paulo occupies a place in the van.