Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-07
ABOUT COSTA RIGA
A Model Little Spanish
American Republic.
KEEPS OUT OF BR0ILS
HAS HAD THIRTY YEARS OF
DOMESTIC PEACE.
It's People Are Landownsrs-Its Capt.
tai, San Jose, Described as Pro-
gressdvs Municipality.
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
SAN JOSE. Costa Rica, December q, 1903.
This model little Spanish-American re-
public grows on one. have followed north
latitude TO- from Port Lmon on the Attain
TIC or rather the Caribbean. to Puta Arenas
ON the Pacific. That Is the terse direction
usually given for seeing Costa RIGA. The
distance across Is less than 200 miles. Most
Of the developed country and therefore OF
the population is along this line.
1t also is what railroad advertising agents
would call the scenic route. The peaks are
In sight. The mountains are green clear to
the tops. Luxuriance OF tropical forests
abounds. The streams are mirrors of this
luxuriance. The gorges canyons and "a.
vines are carpeted with verdure till their
harshness is lost. The skies are steel blue
The sunsets are crimson and purple Ine
mountain mist is veil Of violet. palpable-
almost. Away from the baked or steaming
coasts the climate. was going to write, Is
healthy, but in the descriptive vein 1t would
be better described as salubrious.
This for the tourist traveller. But nature
alone does not form model republics. More
often its frodigallty causes patterns OF mis-
government. Some other elements enter
into the composition of this model common
wealth. It's anatomy may not be dissected,
yet some of the elements OF its being may
be analysed.
Physically the country does not differ
from it's neighbors of Central America. The
cordillera Of the northern Andes Is Its back
bone and its ribs. AS to area it compares
with the state of Indiana few hundred
acres more or less. The population by the
last census Is $4,000.
The inhabitants are of type which has
much to do with the stability that has given
Costa Rica SO good name. The republic
manages to keep pretty well out Of broils
with her neighbors. She keeps the peace
within. Thirty years Of domestic quiet gives
her the right to be called the pattern Of
Spanish American republics. An election
row at times quickly smothered garrison
revolt. few political prisoners arrested or
released-none of these occurrences has
reached the stage of revolutions Costa
Rica IL known among her neighbors in Cen
trail and South America as the cold storage
plant Of government upsets. In her borders.
though 1t is the torrid zone, political revolts
have not the dollhouse growth Of the
tropics
People Are Landowners.
The people are landowners. An unusually
large proportion Of them have holdings Of
from 40 to leo acres. They till their own
soil and they are reasonably Industrious.
Many large haciendas or plantations exist.
but these are not at the expense of the
small farmer. The Inherent vice Of the old
Spanish system of taxa ton which encour-
aged immense holdings without development
and at the expense Of the agricultural
classes did not get SO strongly stamped In
Costa RIGA as In the other colonies.
1t Is. furthermore, true that the popula-
ton Is homogeneous. There is no African
intermixture. The percentage Of native In
dian stock which survived the conquest and
mingled with the blood OF the conquerors
Is 80 small that IT is not perceptible. It Is
the Spanish race In remote generations, to
q III wat n ha ami tam
that 10 working out the problems of sue
cessful government and giving the lie to
superficial and academic talk about the In
capacity for popular institutions which II
80 often shown by the people Of Spanish
blood being ineradicable. Practice under
the fairly favorable conditions which have
obtained in Costa Rica Is proving that this
theory does not hold.
Public affairs seem to be conducted with
modesty and economy. The pomp and
parade which in some Of these countries are
in inverse proportions to their strength are
not found here. Simplicity is the rule. Blu
reaucracy and ofdciafdom are not promi-
nent.
called on President Esauivel in COM
pany with Minister Merry. His official res
idence is comfortable house in no way dis
tinguishable from scores of other private
residences. Two or three members of the
municipal police force and a single military
aid in uniform were on duty. It was al
most as simple as the White House In
J
by profession and land owner. His ad-
ministration IS that OF a liberal with con-
servatiye tendencies.
The building which 10 known as the tri-
bunal OF justice-in other words the courts
Is a single-story structure. The cabinet Of
fcers are all housed in two-story build
Ing. This also Is the meeting place OF the
national legislature or the congress.
This Costa Rica congress Is another proof
Of the modesty OF the commonwealth,
thiugh in its composition does not differ
from the other Central American republics.
Instead OF house and senate, there Is a
single legislative body or assembly of dep
uties. The deputies number twenty-five.
They do all the lawmaklng that the coun-
try needs both in domestic and In foreign
affairs. In consequence there Is much de-
liberation, but no deadlocks. The system
works well
These mental notes Of people and govern
ment / made after seeing something of the
country. as well as going through the
regions and up among the coffee planta-
lions. Native Costa Rica hardly is seen on
the Caribbean side. That is more Jamaica
with suggestion Of the United States
Port Limon was vessel landing place Tor
many years. but American enterprise Gre
ated the port and made habita.ble town
out of the swamp. The brains and capital
were from the north and the labor from the
West Indies.
The banana industry, which Is monopo-
liked by the United Fruit Company, has
gone forward rapidly. The shipping be-
tween Limon and New Orleans. New York
and Boston is making great advances. ia
maica blacks built the railways which made
the rapid development Of the fruit culture
possible, and many Of them now work in
the banana plantations. That Is why the
real Costa Rica IL not seen on the Atlantic
coast
Upon the mountain sides where the coffee
Is grown and In the valleys and clearings
the cabins and even better dwellings of the
Y o mil Thoyy SrIxy
of the number Of small land owners. The
population concentrates. though 1t does not
congest in the plateau of San Jose and the
valleys Of the Rio Grande.
San Jose, the Capital.
San Jose claims no special merit in being
the capital 1t IL set In q diadsm Of hills
and mountains which form the real attrao-
ton. and being the seat of government
adds nothing to Its natural beauty Of Local
ton. Yet for town Of 25,OO0 1t has some
grounds Of pride. The old capital was
Carriage. fourteen miles away. which II the