The San Francisco call., 1909-03-03
LIBERAL RULE
IN COSTA RIGA
BRINGS PEACE
One Central American Republic
Where Editors Do Not Go to
Jail for Criticism
Population Descended From the
Spanish, and the Women
Are Beautiful
Nation of Generous People,
Fond of Pleasure and
Much Ease
By Frederick Palmer


through the rest of Central America,
you recognize q familiar face, for the
sight OF which you have grown eyesick
the face of civilization. Among all
the countries. island and continental
whose shores are washed by the Carib-
bean, Costa .Rica is a law unto itself
being really a republic.
Consider this fact: on the Costa
Rican side Of the boundary river. the
san Juan, land is worth four and five
times as much as ON the Nicara guam,
though the soil is equally fertile on
either bank. Or consider that the an
nual trade pee capita in Costa Rica is
Sz5 TO SalvadOF's s12, Nicaragua's SIS
and Guatemala's IS. annually, and you
have the story.
They have lots Of money in Costa
Rica, but no great man, sir. like Ze-
laya," said one Of Zelaya's henchmen in
Nicaragua For IA. years Zelaya has
kept his power. Let a man raise
hand or speak word and Zelaya sees,
Zelaya hears-and there's an end of the
fellow That president of Costa. Rica
is Of no account. He hasn't the courage
10 put an editor in jail or shoot a rival
You'll see, he can not even re-elect
himself Fifty other men are just as
smart as he. Any one of them might
be president. Costa Rica has never. had
great man and our Zelaya is a lion"
When I smiled the Zelayan office
holder asked me if L did not admire
great men, He was wholly unconscious
OF the picture he was drawing in a for
eigners mind. But in Costa Rica they
understood the comparison. we aren't
going 10 have any dictators in our
country" say the Costa Ricans, why
should we when we have. plenty of
good presidential materiaI?' How
many centuries Of progress in constitu-
tionsI government this idea represents
IS not within the bounds Of calculation.
WHITES IN
THE MAJORITY
From the Rio Grande to the coun-
tries Of South America, including ali the
Caribbean countries. Costa Rfea is the
one country which has preponderantiy
white blood. Here in the highlands
you may see-what exists nowhere else.
In a tropi8l country TO my knowledge
white men bending over the hoe on
their farms instead Of playing. the lord
over native labor. This they have been
doing here for centuries, and they are
a vigorous race, descended from the
Spanish immigrants, who did not have
10 kill OF the Indians to make room,
for the Indian population was small
Altogether there are only 4OO. 600
Costa Ricans, and this includes the
larial country Of the east coast where
the jamaican negro is the labOrer and
being q foreigner, has no part in poll
tics. The people who spring from the
vigorous blood Of the north Of Spain
live mostly in the valley OF San jose.
They have had no sanguinary revolu-
tions for 60 years, no foreign wars
since their independence except that
with Walker. the dlibuster. Their re-
lations with the rest of Central
America are simply todd. They are
too clannish and they value their own
way Of living too highly 10 invade their
neighbors' countries.
II you travel as had to, when the
railroad was washed out by the most
severe rains for 20 years and the high
way was impossible, and meet the men
who till their little coffee plantations.
YOU viii understand why the bare
footed conscript mobs from other ceun-
ties know better than to attack Costa
Rica- Every Costa Rican would at
once become a soldier. IN this respect
the Costa Ricans are like the Beers
but Beers plus prosperity and culture.
san JOSE
CAPITAL OF LUXURY
In San Jose you ride on the first
trolley car after leaving the City of
Mexico. I know Of no city in the United
States Of its size $4,000 inhabitants.
which has SO many fine stores. with
such varied and rich stocks as the.
stores Of this capital, where all. the slife
Of the little nation centers. They make
the capital OF Guatemala, with its 100. :
600 people. seem miserable.
Your Costa Rican is as extravagant
as he is generous. The upland climate,
where you sleep under blankets the
year round, inspires natural optimism.
Next years coffee crop viii wipe out
hn debt 1a+ L. -
we I've Money which would go into
coal for the furnace in our country
here goes into luxury.
The best food products that come
canned or otherwise presery ed, from
Europe have market Madame and
her daughter must have Partisan gowns
for the high mass and church parade.
Women walk alone in the streets at
night without thought oof molestation.
Costa Ricans boast rightly of the beau
~ Of their women and of their opera
house Costing over a million dollars
that national theater is, without doubt
architeeturally the foremost playhouse
on the North American CONTINGENCIES
located IN that little valley near the
isthmus. unknown to North American
calculations.
STATE AND
INDIVIDUALS ExTRAVAGANT
The state built and maintains #
Marble for It's grand staircase and its
splendid, ornate foyer oand artists to
decorate il with pictures of the coffee
and the banana pickerss at work and
other native scenes We're brought from
abroad Some travelling companies
from Spain and Italy. which do the
Spanisil-American circuit play every
season. The. Costa Rican's musical
taste is high. Only the classic operas
are given. Between the acts. from the
staircase you may watch the parade Of
Costa Rican beauty IN the lobby below
Not all are dark. Some have the blue
eyes and fair hair Of the north of
spain-another boBst Of the Costa
Ricans.
And the state is asp extravagant As
the individual. It does not stop with
opera houses. There is a national fond
ness for beautiful parks and Impressive
public buildings. A national library is
building; an enOrmons penitentjary. i'm
posing to the eye. stands outside the
town as an example of architectural
pride. Future generations may grow
UP to It. At present the guests are as
lonely as the scattered. few in a sum-
mer hotel just before the autumn clos
ing time.
The insane asylum, set in a garden