The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-02-03

splendid man of the whole country.
A certain recent transaction with refer
ence TO the disrupted strip is relied upon
by Guatemala as inferential proof of her
rights in tho promises. Ten years ago
Janet, Sastre &c Co. of Probasco, largo
wood exporting firm, applied Tor and
were granted a lease OF tho forests be-
tween the two rivers for tho purpose of
cutting the rosewood, mahogany. Spanish
cedar. sarsaparilla, cocoa, Brazil wood
and other valuable trees, the contract
obliging them TO pay to the Guatemalan
government 80 cents per tree. Tho logs
were floated down tho tributary streams
to the San Pedro, and so on to the coast,
where they were exported at great profit
to the company. In June or last year the
lease expired, and the Frenchmen sought
TO renew the contract on the Same forms.
"No, you DON'T" says Guatemala, which
had long before regretted tho concession,
you've been having too good n thing of
it. We want Sl50 log IN future"
Tho economical Frenchmen said they
would see tho Guatemalan government
elsewhere before Their would pay 1t and
went to the Mexican authorities, remind
ing them that tho land really did not be-
long to Guatemala at all.
Mexico claims to have notified her
neighbor at the time tho contract was let
that the latter had no right to make it, but
Guatemalan officials now inquire signiii-
cantly why Janet, Sastre d. Co. paid the
royalty so willingly.
Both Guatemala and Mexico have large
forces OF men on or near the disputed ter
ritory. Their positions are not enviable
ones. There are no roads in the country.
Aside from such means of locomotion as
up and down the rivers, n few mule trails
only are at the disposal of tho traveller, be
he soldier or civilian. Opportunities for
stragetic maneuvers would be limitless.
"The Paso del Mar" would be repeated in
n thousand skirmishes. 1t would be an
Indian warfare-ambushing from rocks
and trees, forcing men of precipices and
into rivers, or shooting them as they adj
vauced along narrow paths in single file.
The war must IN fact become, in many
localities, a nero succession of duels.
In 1873 a company OF Mexican federals
800 strong invaded the Guatemalan bor-
der by means of the Juarez stage road
and trail, which Is accounted the best and
most open of the several routes leading
over to Mexico. A handful of Guate-
malan soldiers started for the heights
above the pass. They took no guns. AS
the Mexican fcderals passed below them
along tho road the Guatemalans rolled
stones and powders down upon them un-
til the last Mexican was crushed to death.
Tho Guatemalan officers claim to rely
largely upon tue natural defenses of their
country. "Wo know those mountain fast
nesses," say they land the MeXicans do
not. Let them enter at their peril"
On the other hand, Mexico boasts of a
Iii
, guerilla warfare that is not TO be over
matched by mere roughness OF battle
ground.
As a matter of fact, the soldiers of both
countries arc used to fighting in the mar
row deiilcs of the Cordillera. They have
become Injured to it during tho almost un-
ceasng instructions and petty uprlsings
in both countries, especially in Guate-
mala. The MeXlcans, too, are essentially
fighting people. Tho race that inhab-
! tied the Mexican plateau Mt the time of
| the conquest was a martial race. CorteZ
| could never have completed the subjuga-
| ton of the Aztecs had he not taken adj
| vantage OF tho internecino warfare by
which he found the country distraught.
| After independence of Spain was
achieved civil wars ragged for nearly half
n century; and later, in their many bat
ties with tho trained French troops of
| Macmillan the Mexican soldiers acquired
| a steadiness and n GOODNESS under fire
| which have become, by tradition and
| training, characteristic of the army as
| whole. And that witness for which the
hardy and frugal Mexican gendarmeric
and infantry are so noted might be OK
| pected TO count for much in frontier war
| with Guatemala. 1t is noteworthy that
the women and children used often to
march with the soldiers.
a comparison of the military strength
and tho resources of the two countries is
not encouraging To Guatemala. 1t is
true, Honduras, Nicaragua and Salvador
are said to have pledged their aid, which
would, of course, be considerable. But it
is not to be supposed that Barrios has
sufficient influence with these states to
draw them into an actual conflict to a
finish. The question is, however, an i'm
portant one.
IL General Hidalgo is TO be thanked for
emaucipating Mexico from tho Spanish
yoke and Juarez for the movement look
ing TO the organization of a modern con-
stitutional republic, POrfirio Diaz must he
given the credit of making that republic n
practical success. And in no department
of public affairs has he succeeded in intro
ducing more marked improvements than
In that of the army. The regular army of
Mexico consists of a permanent division,
a reserve Of the permanent and n general
reserve. In the permanent division are
5000 men, while the whole military force
OF the republic numbers 100000. OF these
10000 are infantry, 10000 cavalry and
400 artillery. These troops are distrib.
uted among the II military departments
into which the republic is divided. At the
excellent military college a. Chapultepcc,
81 officers graduate yearly. The training
given is similar TO that received AT West
Point. The 1000 new rifles which have
been ordered by the Mexican government.
according TO recent dispatches, Will doubt.
less be made at the Fabrica dc Armas
which is the national armory, located in
the City of Mexico. There is also ma.
tional foundry near Chapultepec where