Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-03-10
FAIR HONDURAS.



Young Amercans-and old ones, too
who are longing for new lands to
conquer and who have the ambition to
accumulate enormous wealth. will be
Interested In the following facts relat-
ed by Gay l.. Schiller, who has just
through Honduras. Mr.. Schiller went
down into this South American coun-
try In the interests Of the Central and
South American Mining & Develop
mont company. which Is controlled
largely by American capital, although
there are several natives having
small interest In the company. Mr.
Schiller returns thoroughly convinced
that FORTUNES await those thrifty. hust-
ling Americans who are willing to
bury themselves for few years In or
dor to acquire the riches which this
country possesses.
When seen yesterday he said:
There is great opportunity for
American capital and American indus
try In Honduras. While 1t IL true that
the native Is jealous of us. at the same
time. he Is afraid Of Uncle Sam and
when you have person In a state OF
abject fear, you are fairly safe from
molestation. l believe that our inter
ests viii be safe for this very reason
In spite o. the fact that the government
is torn every now and then with inter-
nal dlssenslon.
Revolutions occur 80 frequently
there that 1t is difficult to keep posted
But they seldom amount to much, and
the fighting. II any, IL confined to the
capital, the Inland sections feeling no
effects of the struggle which this party
or that party may be making for SUI
premacy.
IGNORANT. LAZY NATIVES.
81 found the natives. as a rule. ignor-
ant, lazy and dirty" said Mr.. Schiller
The houses are all one-story affairs,
and sometimes II whole family OF ten
or dozen people win live In small
hut along with the pigs and other do
nestle animals. They are extremely
hospitable and the traveller has only to
halt Mt the door and enter. Room will
be made somewhere for him to sleep,
and food, such as it is, will be provided.
II was too dirty for me and / often
swung my hammock out in the open
air In preference to enjoying the cover
of roof: for the nights are cold and
damp, and several times when the ther-
mometer had been 20 degrees Fair.
during the day, | suffered at night from
the cold In spite OF the two big blank
cts which l had wrapped around me"
The area of Honduras is about 5000
square miles II is about equal in size
the total population is given MS 33i. gl7.
of which II was estimated that there
We're i,033 English, 1856 Americans. II
Spaniards, ~ French and AZ Germans.
That was over ten years ago, and many
changes have occurred since then. Mr..
Schiller said that the number of
Americans had greatly Increased of
lgte. The building of the railroad by
the syndicate In which John Jacob
Aston, washington Valentine, the
Vanderbilts, Morgans and other big
capitalists are Interested, has required
the skilled labor of many Americans,
and they have moved there in many
Instances with their families. II Is ex-
pected that when this railroad Is COM
pleted the country Will be developed
rapidly and at an enormous proiit. The
great difficulty in the past and the
main obstacle resting in the way of the
Industrial progress OF the country has
been lack of means of transportation.
This has been done largely by pack
mules.
THREE CROPS A YEAR.
"The soil Is the richest | have ever
seen" continued MIR. Schiller. "a Geor-
gia man has been carrying on expert
ments there during the last few years,
and II Is found that three crops of cot
ton and wheat can be raised and har-
vested year. The lands need irrigat-
ing to reach these wonderful results
hut there is plenty of water In the hills
and there Is not much expense In ac~
complaining this. At present the coun-
try imports flour from the United
States paying at the rate OF SIC or slS
n barrel. This Is explained by the heavy
cost Of inland transportation from re
ceiving ports.
"There is a splendid field for grain
growing In Honduras, and one of
the objects of my recent trip was to OBJ
tain from the government concessions
In the way Of wheat lands" said Mr..
Schiller, enthusiastically. Our pur-
pose IL to build n first rate mill down
there, grind the wheat grown on our
own lands and supply the demand
which now makes possible an import of
ilour from the United States our COM
pany already has n grant OF mining
land three miles in extent and one and
one-hulf miles wide. The hills all
through Honduras are rich In minerals
Mining machinery must be transported
In pieces on the backs of mules, and
the silver and gold when obtained, is
carried to shipping points in bars in
this drawback mine would be per-
feet bonanza.
WILL BE a Rig COUNTRY.
"There are large banana plantations
and n steamer plies twice n week be-
tween Puerto Cortez and New orleans.
I find that coffee growing Ia increasing
each year, with the prospects that some
day Il will be q large and important in
dustry. The coffee Is of fine quality. |
never enjoyed n more delicious bever-
age than n cup made from the native
bean. Some one has been keen enough
to see the possibilities Of rubber grow
ing, and several large plantations have
been set out. As It takes from six to
eight years for n rubber tree TO reach
its period Of usefulness II will be some
time before supplies from this source
can he expected
1.-THE United States sends cnrgoes of
vegetables In the way OF potatoes, cab
bages, canned goods. etc. but I must