Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-10
Turbulent Central America
V-Gautemala = Leader of Republics
Rv Er0deric T. HaSkin
Bv Frederic j. HaSkin


rum and $4,000 gallons of milk The
regular force on this plantation varies
from 900 to 1900 hands. Coffee is the
principal crop of the country and
amounts to about 75,OOO,OOO pounds an
nually.
The government is trying to encour-
age the growing of hennequen, a variety
of sisal' hemp, and is Offering a bounty
on all that is exported. AT the same
time all machinery for the growing oC
hennequen and the manufacture of it's
fiber is allowed to enter the country
free of duty. The growers are also
given military exemption in proportion
TO the number of acres of this crop they
cultivate. There are nearly $50 medi-
einal plants which grow in Guatemala.
besides 140 kinds of commercially valu-
able wood. Altogether it has 400 species
of trees.
| Guatemala was settled in 1922. and
since that time there have been some
hlty important volcanic eruptions
within its boundaries. Fully half of
these were eruptions by Fuego, one of
the most remarkable volcanoes on the
globe. 1t is noted for the regularity of
us minor eruptions and for its rum
phngs. Some 300 important earth
quakes nave also occurred in Guate-
mala during the same period. In the
centuries before the Spaniards came to
Central America, the Indians sought to
appease the wrath of the volcanoes by
throwing maidens into the fiery craters.
After the Spaniards came the priests
blessed the volcanoes and received
them into the church. But even Santa
Maria, for centuries regarded as ex-
tinct, had a case of backsliding that
caused the death of many poor souls.
yellow fever epidemcs have seldom
aHected Guatemala, and deaths from
other tropical diseases are more infre-
quent than would be supposed The
greater part of the country has consid-
erable elevation, and it is said that an
ascent of one mile is equivalent, in
climatic change, to travelling north
ward thousand miles from the equa-
tor Hence it is that one may find on
the high plateaus some of the most
pleasant regions in the world
The railroads of Guatemala have
been greatly improved in recent years.
Formerly when it became necessary to
supply the engine with water the crew
and passengers had to form a bucket
brigade from an adjacent stream to the
tender. Many of the railroad men are
from the States. They are we'll paid,
but there are 50 many drinking places
and other attractions that they have
little of their wages at the end of the
not long ago that he had been trying
for three years to save enough to pay
his transportation back to the States,
but that he was still broke. Next day
he was seen at tine bullfght tossing
dollar bills to the small boys.
The Guatemalan dollar is worth only
about s cents. In other words, a So
gold piece in American money is worth
upward of $50 in Guatemalan money.
The Gambia de moneda," or money
exchange, occurs almost as frequently
as the "cantina," or drinking saloon,
and even the bootbacks keep as close
watch on the fluctuations of the money
market as Wall street brokers when
things are doing on the street. The
president of Guatemala was asked by
an American why gold and silver were
discontinued as money, and he replied
that it was on account of the poor
classes, to whom $50 looked larger,
even If it were Guatemalan paper,
than So in American gold.
No other country is more famous for
its holidays. 1t has been jocularly
stated that each year the people there
have 365 holidays, exclusive of sun
days One of the most beautiful of
Guatemalan holidays is the fiesta of
Minerva, when the children of the re-
public celebrate in honor of the public
school system. Near the temple of
Minerva, where these celebrations oc-
eur, is a relief map of the republic.
done in brick and cement. 1t is of
eighty square meters, and is a graphic
study of the geography of Guatemala.
That Guatemala is progressive is
shown by the fact that it has estab-
lished a Pasteur institute, and that
vaccination has been made compulsory
by the national congress. One begins
to realize that this little country has
history when it is recounted that its
first capital had a hundred thousand
inhabitants when Boston was but
village, and New York little more than
a Dutch trading post. In the eight
eenth century its capital was the third
city on the western hemisphere, only
the City of Mexico and Lima, Peru
outranlling it.