Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-02-23
MOST PROSPEROUS OF THEM ALL
THAT'S THE KIND OF A NATION
GUATEMALA Is.


the most wonderful country on tho
face OF the earth. She is beyond doubt
the most prosperous nation In the
world at present. Just now she Is
building n railway to connect the At
lantic and Pacific oceans. which is q
marvel Of engineering. and promises
10 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 Arriaga. Said he pecently.
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
in case OF necessity, for we have plenty
| OF money. While all the rest OF the
world has been suffering from business
| depression, we have not felt IL at all.
During the last 1--WE years there has
not been failure In Guatemala. The
silver trouble does not touch US, be-
cause We do not produce silver In any
quantity. We export more than 90, OOO.-
OOO 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 eN-
ports are double our imports. 3
I'VE have labor question, but II Is
the very opposite OF that which is max
ing so much trouble In the United
States. in Guatemala there Is plenty
| OF work and an unsatlshed demand for
| people to do 1t. II is difficult to get the
| crops harvested for lack of hands, and
! In every branch OF industry in the
| towns employment is seeking labor. II
100000 honest and Industrious Ameri-
cans We're landed In Guatemala tomor-
row, all of them could nnd work I'M
mediately. With n few thousand dol
lars In gold you may so to Guatemala
and make "A fortune In few years.
| You can get FOR little or nothing II
| tract OF fertile land, on which you plant
coffee, For half a dozen years you re-
celve no income from the Investment.
but at the end of that time you are u
| 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 Guatemala for the Invest
ment Of capital cannot be found any
whore else In the world.
1.-TWO years hence the Trans-Guate-
malan railway viii be completed. join
ing the Atlantic ocean with the Pa
dcrful work OF engineering this will be
you must remember that the road has
to climb over the range of lofty noun
tRins which forms the backbone OF
Central America. on lofty plateau
of this range In situated Guatemala
city, the capital, From san Jose. the
I principal seaport on the Pacific side,
the railway has already been built to
Guatemala City. In II distance of sew
| enty-one miles II ascends to an nlli-
tude of 5000 feet. This part OF the rail-
way has been constructed by Ameri-
cans, with American money. The 9TH
cr part. which Will connect Guatemala
City with the Atlantic coast, a dis
lance OF 200 miles, Is being built at gov
eminent expense by American engin-
GERS Trains drawn by locomotives
| made In Philadelphia are running be-
tween Guatemala city and san Jose.
This road Is destined to be the greatest
pathway of trAfiic across Central Amer
lea. having marked advantages over
the Panama and Tohuantepec lineH,"
Gutemala ls tho mort pornerly ot the
I'VE Central American states, adjoining
the southern boundary OF Mexico. II
Is this boundary line that IL now In dis
pute. II has q population OF million
and u hall, two-thirds OF the people be-
ing white and the rest Indians. The
whites. however. are largely OF mixed
]
Indians pretty generally. These In
dams are for the most part quite civil
iged. being descended from tho an
uient Aztecs, who had no mean civil
ization OF their own before the Span
iards reached the shores OF the new
world The whites, of course,h are fnhln-
ly of Spanish descent. and the language
NJ Inc country is Spanish. The women
of the country are particularly beau
tiful. Minister Arrlaga showed to tho
writer n collection OF photographs or
pretty girls OF Guatemala CITY, whlph,
as an exhibit OF female pulchrlluds'
could not be equnflcd In New York,
Philadelphia or Baltimore, nor yet In
Ct Louis or san francisco.
Two-thirda OF Guatemala IL untitled,
nnd much of the far northern part has
never been explored. In The depart
ment OF Peten. nj the north, dwell
tribes OF savageF, who are herce ana
intractable, their appetite FOR gore pc
in- Auon as TO discourage travellers
,viib n thirst for knowledge respecting
geography and natural history. me
country is generally mountainous, the
declIvlties being covered with magnln-
cont forests OF valuable trees. The
name Guatemala signifies 'ful OF
trees" The climate Is not hehithy ~
the iowlands. but is more saiuDrlous N
tho higher attitudes On the way from
san lose 10 Guatemala CITY the puH-
senger iourneying by rail passes WITH.
In three hours through variety OF
climates, each marked by us proper
vegetation, as he ascends from the
,ronical 10 the temperate zone.
The country was conquered by AZ
varado. who was ono OF the lleutenants
~ coriez He was very handsome
ana pifted man. equally p'ous aud cruel.
AMER he had killed many thousands OF
tbe natives and had established con-
trol no was made governor Of the eoun-
trv by me king OF spain. lie lost nus
lie by an accident while on warlike
eyoedition. and his wife Beatrice as
e1,rned the reins OF government. The
ssnitai was then at Antigua, and dur
tng ,be excitement which followed the
Saeth az Alvarado the city was de-
strored by q volcanic disturbance.
Raj rlce was killed, and 600 spaniards
ioet their lives as well as 1000 Indians.
me town was the headquarters OF sew
eral powerful monastic orders. From
the tower Of the cathedral of Antigua
today may be seen the ruins OF forty
ove ehyrches. nearly every one OF
,vhieh mad monastery or con-
Vent attached 10 II. Spain governed
central America for three centuries
tIer domInation ended In 1924, when
a. = H.