The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-29
Praying That His Administration May
Come to an End.
IN SEVERE FINlECIAL STRAITS.
4 Country Which Has Been Looted Of
Nearly Three.StOre Millions by
Three Presidents.

with Mexico has been nlDteu dG quIte 4Ao-
ouently. AS matter of fact, Guatemala
is in no position at present to wage war
against any nation. Not only her troops
are inadequate in point of number to face
the Mexican foe, but they are unequipped
and lack the necessary drilling to prepare
them for the field. Another reason in sup
port of the theory that Guatemala must be
a good little republic and keep out OF
trouble is that she is as poor as JOBS
turkey, which, so it is said, had to lean up
against the fence to gobble.
This state of financial depression is the
logical result of about fourteen years OF
the severest drain upon the treasury and
the pockets of private individuals by the
three rulers-Barillas and the two Barrios.
Rufino Barrios, the dictator, died IN
war, assassinated, so it is said, by his own
soldiers, who, like everybody else, were
chatting under his arbitrary demands, call
ing for the sacrifice OF honor, life and prop
erty, to satisfy his profiigate or grasplng
inclinations The dictator accumulated
over $4,000, 900 in less than six years,
every dollar of it in gold, which he shipped
ont of the country. His young and pretty
widow is now enjoying the fortune in New
York. where she has taken new husband.
Barillas, the next President of Guate-
mala, more than duplicated the dictator's
Illegal appropriations, but, while he has
shipped his available gold to foreign
shore, he has still vast interests in Guate-
mala coffee fincas. Barillas holds forth at
Quezaltenango, the next largest city in
Guatemala and the hated rival of Guate-
mala City.
On top of these two grasping presidents
came Jose Reina Barrios, a nephew of the
dictator He is younger than either of the
first when they took Office, but he is more
than their equal in the knowledge of bleed
ing his people. In the past three years it
is estimated, he has shipped more than
$4,000, COO gold to New York and Hamburg.
Is it astonishing then that Guatemala is
poverty stricken? Three individuals have
ground out of it $4,000, Co., in fourteen or
fifteen years, without counting the millions
purloined by half dozen heads of depart
ments, who have followed in the footsteps
of their masters.
1t is interesting to note with what accord
these three Presidents have shipped their
gold to place of safety. There is never
any telling in Guatemala when revolu-
ton might occur, and each President felt
that his successor would ask for nothing
better than to confscate his property for
the benefit of the republic.
"And the republic, that's mel' as Rufino
Barrios used to declare.
The people of Guatemala do not want to
go to war, for they are fully aware of what
would be the result-a sound drubbing,
and, ultimately, a call upon them to pay a
heavy war indemnity. 1t is not to the
natives that Barrios' Government would
look for relief, but to the foreigners who
have settled in the country either in vast
coffee fncas or in commercial pursuits.
The natives as rule, that is, 50 per cent of
them, own absolutely nothing, and are
tolerated to the extent of being suffered to
live in little huts on the land of the for
eigners. In the cities the men and women
natives nearly all work for pittance as
mozos at the beck and call of any one hay
ing trunks or heavy packages to lug from
place to place. The more enterprising of
these mozos invest their small earnings in
market stuff and try to get out of their
daily drudgery.
A series of peculiar transactions which
came to the knowledge of the writer in No
Tember last goes to corroborate the frank
statement made by some of the leading
people of Guatemala that they would hail
with delight any change that could be made
from the Barrios administration. Annex
alton with Mexico would be preferable to a
continuance of the republic under Barrios,
or, If he resigned or a revolution came
about, some equally obnoxious ruler.
One of these peculiar transactions, not to
call it by harsher term, was in connec-
ton with the granting of a concession for
an electric light and trolley plant. A prom
inent German capitalist named Altschul
secured the concession from President Bar
rios. It was understood the concession
was to be an exclusive one, and that Ait
schul should pay Barrios 100000 for it and
half interest in a certain property called
Ell Salto, where was located the only avail
able water power.
The first payment of $4,000 was made,
and before the second was due Barrios
broke faith with Altschul by granting three
more electric concessions for stipulated
amounts to other people. Altschul, how
ever, felt strong in the knowledge that he
owned half of the only water-power in the
country, when he was promptly disabused
by the autocrat, who declared that he only
had sold him the sugar-cane on the finca,
not the water rights, and the Presidents
dictate is law
Altschul's experience is but one in many,
and there is absolutely no redress. The
foreign Governments seem to assume that
if their subjects are fool enough to dabble
in Guatemalan enterprises they should
take the consequences. At least the expe-
rience of number of out-and-injured
people has been that neither Germany,
England, France, Belgium nor the United
States representatives at Guatemala could
induce their home Government to take anv
steps to right their wrongs.
Another case is that of Mr.. Prinz, also a
German. For certain sum, said to be
100000, Mr.. Prinz was granted an s'exclu-
sive" concession to conduct a banking
business in Guatemala City. Several other
exclusive" concessions were in existence
at the time. Mr.. Prinz was willing to 90
into the business nevertheless, providing
the selling of concessions ceased with his
grant. Three weeks later Mr.. Prinz
learned that the President had on the
fapis some business arrangement with