The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-30

Gambling Is the bosetting national sin
and upon the feast days Of
the church is carried on openly
in the streets. The average native
knows little of the plans devised for the
development of his beloved country; per
haps he cares less; at all events ! found
the foreign residents better informed upon
the subject and ready TO eXpatiate upon
the resources and future of the country.
What that future must be win be clear
to any man who knows anything of the
agricultural possibilities of Honduras,
and, / confess, have my opinion of any
country which grows sugar cane as thick
as stove pipe, lines as big as lemons,
and where orange trees, without fertilizer,
become as thick through as flour barrels.
The soil of Honduras, like
that of Florida, is varied, but is in all
its grades of a much higher character
Generally low, the river valleys are
fringed with a heavy growth of pines,
standing in a strong clay Interspersed
with gravel. These forests also clOthe
the sides of the hills and mountains that
lend a character so picturesque and TO
mantle to the scenery of HOuduraa; but it
is in the strong hammock soil and
heavy allnyial lands of the river bottoms,
that the backbone of the country is to be
found. The hammocks are especially
adapted to the growth of citrus fruits,
which, untouched here by frost, grow
with care to an enormous size. Upon the
alluvium of the river bottoms are grown
the best bananas, and the lack of trains
portation is all that holds the country in
the back race for agricultural supremacy,
POOR MANS COUNTRY.
Honduras is not without rich men, but
it is, first of all, poor mans country.
There are no taxes, the government de-
irving its support solely from the duty on
imported goods. Lands may be had in
any quantity, and of any quality, for - a
manzana, ana as a manzana is equivalent
to two acres and the dollar of Honduras
is worth but sixty cents in gold, no man
need lack the dignity Of a landed pro-
prietOr
Bananas bear in a few months, and may
profitably be set among the coffee
plants of a young plantation which
require a number of years to
reach maturity, but which may depended
upon to yield an annual income for many
years These industries are capable of
almost indefinite expansion, and with the
extension of the present inadequate rail
road system, the growth of the country
is assured. At present Honduras is alive
IN spots alone. The exertions of its pop
ulation of a half million are necessarily
confined to the vicinity of its solitary
railroad, its swiftly flowing rivers and
irregular coast line. The rivers and the
coast line are in the hands of providence
the railroad is said to be in the hands of
the Southeran Pacific railroad, and ]
find the former much more to my taste.
This railroad was constructed by English
capital, but is, as matter of course, OPP
Grated by Americans, who lend to the
country what little animation and spirit
it has
But the resources of Honduras are too
great and too various for these conditions
to long continue. Her coffee and fruits
would alone secure her future, and her
great forests of mahogany and dye woods
are as yet practically untouched. Labor
here is cheap and must long remain so
the native population of Caribs, of In
dians ana the strange mixture seen only
in Spanish America, is large, and eff
cient hands may be had for Sl5
month and rations. The health of
the country is excellent, the rains are CO
pious, and the little toy revolutions
which pass idly over the heads of the
masses are as far removed from the rea'
life of the people as our own ward poll
tics,
LITTLE MALARIA.
In word, life and property and health
are safe in Honduras. 1t Is true
that in the low lying river bottoms and al
certain points along the coast, fever may
be contracted upon easy terms; it is true
that official corruption is general, and
that revolution is at any moment to be
expected. But what of it? have heard
faint whispers of malaria in Florida; the
official corruption consists simply in the
taking of brides, for no
service is ever rendered and no
stately functionary ever bought; and as
for these terrible revolutions, let me say,
that in the last event a desperate engage
ment between two armies, lasting over
five hours, resulted in the loss of but five
men-one an hour! In war, as in COM
merce, Honduras is behind the times.
All this, however, is certain to change,
and it is for this reason that the intelli-
gence of the country is ready to welcome
the Louisiana lottery. They are not i'm
moral, they are simply too anxious to get
ahead to scrutinize closely the steps that
arise before them So far as Florida is
concerned this latest movement
upon the commercial chess board means
almost as much for her as for Honduras
IF the lottery company is successful in
creating at Puerto, Cortez or Truxillo a
pleasure resort with one half the at
tractiveness of Monte Carlo, the golden
tide of travel must enrich the sands of
Florida With travel will come under
standing, with understanding capital and
enterprise; and it is quite within the
bounds of possibility that the efforts of
a lottery company to escape repres-
sive legislation may prove the means of
enabling Honduras to escape from the
more CALLING bonds of isolation and neg
lect.
l believe in any man who can feed him
self, believe u any country that can
feed men. Therefore, l believe in Hon
duras-a land where the sun always
shines, where the fruits of the tropics
and the spoils of the temperate zone grow
side by side in a soil whose fertility is
practically inexhaustible. And most of
all do l believe in the future of Florida
and Port Tampa, through whose gates
musHpass the deep stream of commerce
froutJa source not yet unsealed. l admire
the sagacity that has perceived
all this, the courage that has opened the
way, and l look forward to seeing in the
next few years an increase in the popu-
lation, the commerce and the wealth of
Tampa and her port such as no other city
in the state has yet known. s.
Summer Weakness
and that tired feeling, loss of appetite