The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-04-23
COSTA RIGA LEADS.
MOST ADVANCED OF THE CEN.
TRIAL REPUBLICS.
Married Men Favored, They are Given the
Prefs renee for Public Ofice-Character-
istics of President Observation-Disclosures -
ton Of Justice-Railways and Tele crap
CONTINUED fron End Dol

are called ''Dlputados' and are elected for
four years. Under the present law there is
one deputy for every 5000 inhabitants in
each province; but If the population of the
or more above the rate mentioned, one more
| deputy may be elected. Thus there are now
seven Diputados from the province of San
Jose, four from Carriage, etc., making twenty
six in the present Congress 1t meets only
once a year, and during its long recess is
represented by committee of its own choos-
ing, called the comison permanente,
whose duty Is to attend to- everything OF
| urgent character.
Government of Costa: Rfcn.
Costa RIGA, $4,000 square mills Of area, is
divided into five provinces and two comarcas
! -eQu1valont to our states and territories
and these are subdivided into. cantons (coun-
| tles), and again into districts. The two ter.
| ritolies, Limon and Puntarcnas, are rcpre-
scented In Congress, each by one diEutado.
| At the head OF each province and comarca
| there is Governor, appointed by the Presi-
dent, and in each canton a local executive
| authority, subordinate to the Governor, and
also appointed by the President who is known
| as the Jefe Politico.
Justice is administered by d we'll ganiz.d
system of courts and tribunals ana under
written laws as wise and we'll suited to
| the necessities OF civilization as in any of
the nations of tho world. Capital punish
ment cannot be inflicted; private property
cannot be confscated for any reason what
ever; no person can be tried by commits
sloners or extraordinary courts; individual
liberty Is guaranteed by the writ CT habeas
corpus; trial by jury'is established fer Grim
inal cases, and 10 discrimination of any
kind can be made between citizens. native
or foreign, in the courts.
In each city and town of the republic are
Judicial functionaries, who are called alcaI-
des. VINO are appointed by the Supreme
court, one, two, and three for each locality.
as its necessity shall dictate. They have
jurisdiction in the first instance in all civil
cases in which the amount involved does
not exceed $3.50. They have also power to-
settle the estates of deceased persons, should
no contention involving larger amount than
$3.50 arise among interested parties. In each
province there Is also a court Of first in
stance fer civil and criminal matters I'm
San Jose is court of claims to try cases in
which the government has to appear as a
party. The Supreme court consists of ff-
teen Justices, appointed for four years by
congress- Municipal taxation is very mod
crate, the owners of real estate alone being
Obliged to pay for street lighting water sup
ply, and the maintenance of the police
The religion of the country is of course the
Roman Catholic, but the exercise of all others
IS tolerated under the laws. There are I'M
UNCONVENTIONAL Protestant churches in Sail
Jose and Puerto Limon. Official -statisttes
show that about $4,000 year is contributed
out of the national treasury for the sup
port of the state church. Ever since 1851
Costa Rica has had treaty of friendship.
commerce, and navigation with the United
states. She has similar conventions also
with Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Great
Britain, the Netherlands, and some of the
South American republics.
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD.