Arizona republican., 1909-12-16
REPLY I:l'l TO INJURIES.
 ABOUT NICARAGUA
Information Furnished By Bureau of
 the American Republics.

(Without taking any side in the present discussion regarding Mica
 raguan politics, the International Blu
 reau of the American Republics. an institution devoted to the develop ment of better acquaintance among American nations. gives out the fol- lowing data in response to hundreds
 of inquiries being recsfved each day
 at it's offices in Washington concern ing Nicaragua
 Everybody seems to be asking. in view of present developments. what. exactly, is Nicaragua, how large is il, what are it's resources. commerce and climate? Some interesting compari-
 sons and facts. prepared by the In ternational Bureau of American Re-
 publics. will help to answer these
 pertinent natural questions.
 There is only four square miles diff ference between the area of Mica
 ragua and the state Of New York.
 Take Connecticut out of New Eng land. and Nicaragua would cover the
 rest of it. It is approximately half the size of the state of Washington T0--be exact. it covers 49.200 square miles. which is larger than Holland. Belgium and Denmark combined. It has remarkable extent of coast line on two oceans On the Carib- bean it reaches nearly 300 miles due north and south; on the Pacific 1t extends 225 miles. Its greatest width is 215 miles. or approximately the
 distance from Washington to New York. Its least width is 125 miles, or approximately the distance from Chicago to the Mississippi river. :t has the smallest population of any Central American country. but IS correspondingly capable of great ma terial development. There are only about 900 people within its limits. Of these, five-sixths are upon the western or Pacific side. The eastern or Caribbean shore lies low and IS drained by many rivers. The only industry of this section is the grow ing of bananas. which were shipped in 1908 to the number of 1.51O.G09 lunches. valued at 90 cents a bunch The principal town here is Bluefields. little south of the center. having 5000 inhabitants. It is 1.lS6 miles
  Colon. The only other important places on this east coast are Grey town. at the southern point. with 2,OOo inhabitants. near the mouth of the San Juan river. which was to have been the course of the Isthmian canal if built through Nicaragua. and Cape Gracias q DiOs. at the northern point. with only 1.500 people. On the populated Pacific slope the chief cities
 are Leon. the historic and interesting
 old capital. with 60.000 inhabitants. , Managua, the present capital. wItN 10000; Matagalpa, with 160O0; Grit- nada, with 12.000, and several other towns of from 5000 to 10000. The principal port on the Pacific side is Corinto. near the northern end. with
 only about 2.000 people. At the southern end is the harbor of san Juan del Sur.
 There is one railroad in Nicaragua.
 which starts at Corinto and runs to Managua and thence across to Gra-
 nada. on Lake Nicaragua. which is
 the largest inland body of water in all Latin America If one wishes to go to Nicaragua, he can take steam CTS on the Atlantic side from New York, New Orleans or Mobile. Going | by Pacific he will take steamers from San Francisco or from coast points
 of other countries. Perhaps the quick | est way to reach it today is either through Mexico by rail and by steam
 CT from Salina Cruz to COrintO, or | by steamer from New Orleans direct | to Bluefields. The latter journey gen. orally takes about four days. If, however. one lands on the east coast. | it is practically impossible to go to | the west coast, on account of the
 lack of railroads and other facilities.
 A common way to go te the west coast is via Panama and the Pa cific side.
 The total value of the foreign trade
 of Nicaragua in 1908 amounted to
 $7.500.0O0. of which exports were
 s4.5OO,0 900 and imports s3.OOO.0O Mica
 ragua bought from the United States ! textiles, clothing. machinery, etc,
 valued at $I,300,00O She sold to the
 United States bananas. coffee. rub
 Der, mahogany. cattle. hides, etc. val
 ued at s1.050.O 900.
 Nicaragua has a president. a cabi- | net with Tive ministers or SecretarlcS, | thirteen departments or states, and | five divisions like our territories. Its
 national assembly consists of only
 one chamber, which is now in ses-
 sion.
 Lying between 10 degrees A min
 utes and IA degrees D minutes north
 lataitude. and between S2 degrees II ! minutes and S7 degrees 40 minutes
 west longitude, it is located all within
 the tropics, but it has 2 considerable
 variety of climate. Although the
 east coast is low-lying and very warm
 the central and western sections are
 in parts so mountainous and elevated
 that the temperature never reaches q high point and the climate can be
 considered salubrious. The western
 section. in which the greater part of the population is located. has such