Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-09
ABB GU T G U AT e M AL A
The Minister to This Country Talks About
the Republic.
The Proposed Railroad to Join the
Atlantic and Pacffc-Boundary
Line Dispute.

Written for The Evening Star.
Little Guatemala is in some respects
the most wonderful country on the face of
the earth. She is beyond doubt the most
prosperous nation i'm the world at present.
Just now she is building a railway to con-
meet the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which
is marvel of engineering, and promises
to be the chief pathway of traffic across
Central America, climbing over mountains
a mile high.
The minister to the United States from
Guatemala is Senior Don Antonio Lazo Ar
riaga. Said he IUcently:
Guatemala has no standing army, but
every male citizen is a soldier and liable to
military duty. We have no ships. but We
could afford to buy them i'm case Of neces-
sity, for We have plenty of money. While
all the rest of the world has been suffering
from business depression, we have not felt
it at ALL During the last five years there
has not been a failure in Guatemala. The
silver trouble does not touch US, because
We do not produce silver in any quantity.
We export more than J0,0W,O00 pounds of
coffee every year, and all Of this we sell
for gold. Thus we may be said to grow
gold Ours is the only country in the new
world that produces much more than II
consumes; our exports are double our i'm
ports.
1--WE have a labor question, but it is the
very opposite Of that which is making so
much trouble in the United States. In
Guatemala there is plenty of work and an
unsatisfied demand for people to do it. 1t
is difficult to get the crops harvested for
lack of hands, and in every branch of in
drstry in the towns employment is seeking
labor. If 100000 honest and industrious
Americans We're landed in Guatemala to-
morrow, all of them could find work inn
mcdiatcly. With few thousand dollars in
f~S1l TO- ton, 10 and olxo
fortunte in few years You can get for
little or nothing tract of fertile land, on
which you plant coffee. For half a dozen
years you receive no income from the in
vestment. hut at the end of that time you
q rich man. Thousands Of Americans
now reside in Guatemala. They came poor,
and already nearly all of them are rich.
Such opportunities as are offered in Gulte-
m2la for the investment Of capital cannot
be found anywhere else in the world.
Two years hence the Trars-Gua teInalan
railway will he completed, coming the At
lalItic ocean with the Pacific. In order to
realize what a wonderful work of engineer
ing this Will be you must remember that
the road has to climb over the range OF
lofty mountains which forms the backbone
OF Central America. On a lofty plat o.
this range is situated Guatemala City. the
capital. From San Jose. the principal sea
port on the Pacific side, the railway has
already been built to Guatemala City. II
distance IF sevcntv-one miles it ascends
to an altitude of $500 feet This part of
the railway has been constructed 10y Ameri-
cars, with American money. The other
part, which will correct Guatemala City
with the Atlantic coast, distance of 90
miles, is being built at government ex
pense by American engineers. Trains drawn
by locomotives made in Philadelphia are
rUr ming between Guatemala City and San
jose. This road is destined to be the
greatest pathway of traffic across Central
America having marked advantages over
The Panama and Tehuantepec lines"
Guatemala Is the most northCfiy of the
five Central American states, adjoining tht
southern boundary OF Mexico 1t is this
boundary line that is now in dispute l.
las a population of a million ard hall,
two-thirds of the people being white anc
the rest Indians The whites, however
are largely of mixed blood, having inter
married with the Indians pretty generally
These Indians are for the most part quite
civilized, being descended from the ancient
Aztecs, who had no mean civilization o.
ttcir own before the Spaniards reached
the shores of the new world. The whites.
of course. are mainly of Spanish descent.
and the language of the country is Spanish.
The women of the country are particularly
beautiful. Minister Arriaga showed to the
ritter a collection of photographs of pretty
girls of Guatemala City, which, as an ex-
hitit OF female pulchritude, could not be
eGlaled in New York, Philadelphia or Bal
tmore. nor yet in st. Louis or San Fran
cisco.
Two-thirds of Guatemala is untitled. and
much of the far northern part has never
IL
at the north, dwell tribes of savages, who
are fierce and intractahle. their appetite
for gore being such to discourage trav
elerS with thirst for knowledge respect
ing geography and natural history. The
country is generally mountainous. the de
clivities being covered with magnificent
forests of valuable trees The name Qua
temala signifies full of trees" The eli
mate is not healthy in the lowlands. but T.
more salubrious in the higher attitudes
On the way from San jose to Guatemala
City the passenger journeying by raj
riety OF climates. each marked by it,
proper vegetation. as he ascends from tn
tropical to the temperate zone.
The country was conquered by Alvarado
who was one of the lieutenants of Cortez
He was very handsome and gifted man
equally piouS and cruel. After he had
killed many thousands of the natives and
had established control he was made gov
ernor of the country by the King OF Spain.
He lost his life by an accident while on 2
warlike expedition. and his wife Beatrice
assumed the renS of government The
capital was then at Antigua. and during
the excitement which followed the death o.
Alvarado the city was destroyed by vol
canic disturbance. Beatrice was killed
and 6W Spaniards lost their lives. as wei
as Loo Indians. The town was the head
arters of several powerful monaStic or
ders From the tower of the Cathedral o.
Antigua today may be seen the ruins o.
forty-five churches. nearly every one o.
which had monastery or convent at
tach I'd to it, Spain governed Central Amer
lea for three centuries. Her domination!
ended in 1924, when the five states declare
a federal constitution. Subsequently they
separated by mutual consent The govern
ment of Guatemala is much like that OF tbs
United States, having a president and
Congress.