Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-22

are patios or little courts filed with
palms and other tropical plants and in
some cases with q fountain or So The
rooms run about these pa;ios and face
upon them. and the ordinary fine house
is Just one room deep all the way around
The poorer dwellings, soInetmes have q
garden at the back. but more often they
consist of merely one or two rooms fac
ing the street, and with no back outlet
whatever
The stores are scattered all over the
town. with the best not far from the
post office i'm the heart of the city. There
are many large establishments among
them San Jose is the business center
of all Costa RIGA and the most of the
wholesale and retail business is done
right at the capital Not a few OF the
firms turn over a half million dollars
year and I know OF one little drug store
which does a business of over s2oO,0oo
per annum
There are some stores with plate glass
windows which would fbe of credit to any
city in the United States of four times
the size. and the goods within them,
while the prices are double our prices
at home, are the best of their kind and
have come from all over the world.
Many of the merchants are Germans.
some French and some Spaniards and
not few Costa R!cans. The large: Places
have fixed prices and they seem to work
on the principle that everything should
pay profit of at least 100 per cent The
necessities OF life cost far more here than
at home, and the Injuries are proper
tjonateIy higher Salt costs > cents
pound. sugar 10 cents and bread. weight
for weight. about three times as rnucn
as I pay in Washington city. | bought
a haf-pint can of strawberry Jam TINS
morning to eat with my bread and coffee,
fr- I,-n.l L. "a a
the leading hotel. It cost me A. cents, or
three times what I pay at home.
But we can see the native business OF
this country hest in the market. Every
town has its large market building filled
with stalls and shops of all kinds and 1t
is there that the common people go to
buy and to sell. The markets are much
like the bazaars of the orient. or those
which were so Co-.11on all over Europe
at the time OF the middle ages. The in
dividual store is an evidence of civiiiza-
ton and progress The business of all
savage and semi-civilized people is done in
stalls at one common center. and in the
evolution OF trade it seems that We are
coming back to the same conditions. The
modern market is known as the depart
ment store, and individual merchants and
clerks work for the owner
The market at San Jose covers a full
city block. 1t is surrounded by rows of
wide stores forming the outer wall. with
other rows of stores or shops running
along narrow aisles through the court
within from one side to the other.
The outer. wall of stores is about thirty
feet deep. and those within are much
smaller. They sell everything under the
sun. One section is devoted to shoe
shops. another to tailor shops, and
third to leather wares. including the sad
die bags which every Costa Rican peas
ant carries when he rides to and from
home.
Standing at one end of the market and
looking down these covered streets you
that the walls are hung with goods
of all kinds. The merchant tailors have
their coats and trousers right out on
the aisles and the men come and are
fitted in the sight of the pasSersby. In
some places the tailors have their sew
ing machines on the street, and all sorts
of work are to be seen going on.
Here is a locksmith. Next door is d
girl selling pottery and further on is
section where the men are dealing in
nothing but sugar. The sugar is put up
in loaves about the size OF an Edam