The Republican journal., 1897-05-27
There are eighteen additional schools of

VI uotCHuold oNGS W DdlllOS, ucSpOL and
tyrant though he was. He found the
country as Richelieu found France. a
weak and tottering fabric, and in brief
time he made her the most prosperous
and progressive of the Central American
States. His methods were decisive and
in some cases inhuman, but the results he
achieved almost justified the means.
When he assumed the role of despotic
chief, whose word was law and whose will
no man dared gainsay, the country was
going backward, crab fashion, to the
dark days CT the Spanish dominion :;
the people were slavish, superstitious
and densely ignorant, devoid of hope
or ambition, the majority of them mere
beasts of burden. In those days pack
mules were hardly known, much less the
modern means of transportation. The In
dams and half breeds did all the carrying
IN city and hamlet, and in conveying all the
/ products and merchandise between the
coast and the interior, fastened to their
head and backs by leathern straps. Bar
rios said, 81 will not rule animals. but
human beings, and one of his first orders
was that the people should cease making
themselves beasts of burden. At first
this was regarded as a great hardship.
/ The common people knew no other mode
OF earning living, and looked upon the
| Importation of mules from Nicaragua and
Honduras as absolute ruin to themselves
and their families The Dictator pointed
I to the rich virgin soil and commanded
each man TO till a small section of land
| and to plant a given number of coffee,
rubber and banana trees, and to report
each season. The order was absolute,
and they sullenly obeyed-the few who
dared to do otherwise being brought in
and logged At the end of the second
| year, the few who still disobeyed his COM
mands, We're brought before him Then,
IN that dramatic way which this famous
son OF CASTLE affected, he would silently
sep to his desk, dip two fingers in the
lnkstand, and walking to the culprit
make the sign of the cross on his fore
head and order him to immediate death
In THIS way he struck terror to the hearts
| OF dellnquents and Guatemala began to
flourish like we'll kept garden There
was no temporlzlng, no pardoning, no
Judge or jury: cold, pitiless and inexor-
able as tate, Barrlos carried out his will
and heaven only knows how many hun
dreds of men were done to death in the
| great prison of Guatemala city. Not only
IN the matter of planting, but in all other
walks OF life, Barrios pushed his methods
OF Improvement. He commanded the re-
generation OF church and State, establish
Ell schools, made education compulsory,
and even susplcion of disloyalty to him
sell or the State was met with prompt eX
/ ecuton. At first hated and feared, he
began to be respected. His masterful
mind and strong will, which permeated
the entire social and political fabric, his
| physical bravery and brilliant theatrical
/ displays, could not fail to win the admira-
/ ton, if not the love. of this emotional
I people. Terrible as We're some of his
/ methods, they saw their neglected coun-
try poisoning as the rose under his rule
-llcA col1ee estates, sugar plautat ions
! and rubber groves displaciug the arid
wastes ana notous jungles, the credit of
Guatemala restored by careful re- adjust
/ Ai.N ~ " rs iiilu4lCtS. IOdtMdNS CONSTRUCT
! ed, stage routes established railroad
contracts made, telegraph lines erected,
and all modem facilities introduced In
religious reforms, too, Barlios adopted
( equally heroic measures-eXpelling monks
and nuns, c0ntiscating church property,
loOolng the priests of their power, and,
! ke Juarez OF Mexico, iberating the peo-
/ pie from the servitude they had suffered
; since the original settlement of the colo
1 mes. lie visited the United States and
Europe TO study the sciences OF govern
ment, and sent men abroad to be educat-
ed in the arts and science and political
economy at government expense, and on
their return placed them in high posi-
tons. He offered such generous indu ce-
ments to emigrants that the country rap
4 IDLY filled up with agricultural settlers,
mechanics and merchants; in short, Qua :
temala had ''boom,' the like of which
was never seen before, SO that to day.
while the other Central American sta ties
remain much in the condition they were
hundred years ago, it alone has become
rich, powerful and progressive.
Having overthroWn the religion of their
ancestors, Barrios recognized the neces-
sity of providing the people with a sub
stitute. Through the British Minister, he
invited the Established Church of Eng
| land to send missionaries to Guatemala.
Owing to the disturbed condition of the
country at the time our Episcopal brother
en- thought 1t advisable to wait a while be-
fore entering the field and thus the gold
en- opportunity was lost. In 1888 Barrios
visited New York, where he had a confer
ence with the Presbyterian Board of For
elgn Missions, with the result that the
Reverend John c. Hill of Chicago, W no
was en- route to China, as recalled and
sent to Guatemala. Mr.. Hill came back
with Barrios, who not only paid the
travelling expenses of Mr.. Hill and his
family, and the freight charges on his
furniture, from his own pocket, but equip
ed the mission house and school with
every thing needed. The President had
been absent nearly two years, and his re-
turn to his native land was made like a
triumphal march, In all the honors of
the royal reception, he insisted that Mr.
Hill should have share. Again and
again the modest young minister found
himself escorted through the streets to the
music of bands, and upon flower decked
platforms where the President of Qua
temala introduced him to the cheering
populace as his personal friend All this
demonstration had its purpose, and re-
| par i