The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-07-08

days of New Orleans--a journey which
now occupies 10 days, via Livingston. the
mail route. If ever completed, this road
will beyond doubt, become a formidable
rival to that of the Isthmus, for its north
ern branch into the coffee district will
divert the bulk of that trade to the At
lantic seaboard. The government is
building it, and as it is "a pet measure of
the president, who wants to emulate his
illustrious relative, the dead dictator, and
give Mexico race in rapid progress, it
is being pushed as vigorously as any
thing can be in this land of Manana.
Talking the other day with the Minis
ter of ''Fomento' public works, agri-
culture and commerce., he gave me some
new ideas on Guatemala. His statements,
which were no doubt correct, were in sub
stance as follows: Guatemala is one of
the few countries in the world which
has not felt in the least degree the bust
ness depression of the last few years.
Such a thing as failure in business is al
most unknown. The silver trouble does
not touch Guatemala. because they do not
produce silver in any quantity, They ex-
port more than fifty million pounds of
coffee every year, and all that they sell
for gold. Thus they may be said to grow
gold, land theirs is the only country of
the Western Hemisphere which produces
much more than it consumes, their ex-
ports being double their imports. But
Guatemala is greatly hampered by a labor
questionable very opposite Of that which
is vexing the United States In this
favored land there is plenty of work, and
an unsatistied demand for people to do it.
1t is difficult to get the crops harvested
for lack of hands, and in every branch of
industry in the towns employment is al
ways seeking labor. If 10O,0 600 honest
and industrious Americans We're landed
in Guatemala morrow, all of them
could find work Immediately. With a
few thousand dollars in gold, you may go
to Guatemala and make large fortune in
few years. You can get, for little or
nothing, tract of fertile land on which
to plant coffee. For half a dozen years
You receive practically no income from
the investment, but at the end OF that
time you are rich man. Thousands of
Americans now reside in Guatemala. They
came poor, and already nearly all of them
are rich. Such opportunities as are Of
fered for the investment of capital in
Guatemala cannot be found anywhere else
in the world.
The name Guatemala signifies full of
trees" The whole country is mountain
Gus and the declivities generally are COW
cred with magnificent forests of valuable
trees. Two-th of it is yet untitled,
and much of the far northern portion has
never been explored.
In the department of Peten. at the
north, tribes of savages dwell who are as
fierce and intractable to- day as before the
conquest, THEN appetite for gore being
such as to discourage any curiosity on the
part OF the white man concerning the
geography and natural history of that
section. That is one reason why the
boundary line between Mexico and Guat-
mala has been SO long in dispute; nobody
cares to invade the painless forests and
mountain fastness of the unconquored
Indians TO settle the question. The pop
ulation Of Guatemala is about million
and half, and of that number over a
million aIe full blooded Indians. More
than half of the remainder are of mixed
blood, the low class whites and Indians
having largely intermarried For the
most part, the Indians are fully civilized,
being descended from the ancient Aztecs
who had no mean civilization of their own
before the Spaniards reached the New
World. The whites, of course. are main
ly OF Spanish descent, and the language
OF the country is Spanish; yet any foreign
Ell can get along in Guatemala, on his own
language, and particularly well if he
knows a little French or German. Eng
lish- speaking people are found every
where, and the educated better classes al
ways learn one or more languages besides
their native Spanish-notably French and
German.
Guatemala has never known the mean
ing of ''hard times" She has an upfail-
ing revenue of about Sc, 900, 900 a year
1t costs for government 81, 600, 900 annu-
ally, and 81, 900, 600 for the service of it's
national debt There is no standing army
to support, but every male citizen is a
soldier, liable to military duty whenever
required. Guatemala has no ships, but
having plenty of money she can afford to
buy them i'll case of emergency. This,
and much more, said the courteous Min
lister of Fomento. Possibly the tale is
somewhat highly colored by the gentle
mans natural Partially for his own coun-
try, and needs some grains of salt in the
taking;-but if the half is true, this tiny
Republic is in some respects the most
wonderful on the face of the earth.
The government of Guatemala consists
of the usual three powers, legislative,
executive and judiciary. The Legislative