The Holbrook news., 1912-07-05

two parts, that Wn1cn IS the
 A scene of the operations of the A United Emit company, and
 that which is not The first is becoming Americanized; in the sec ond, European nations now have the advantage in trade.
 In the banana country the fruit com pany is everywhere and as a common carrier it has a powerful influence in he coffee country. It has developed he Atlantic coast of Costa Rica and probably has done more than any oth- sr single agent for the prosperity and commercial development of this small republic Costa Rica Is by far the most prosperous of all the Central American republics, and has not had ! successful revolution in more than 30 years, the correspondent of the New York Sun, writing from San Jose, says. Americans living here and Cos ta Ricans are convinced that the ab- sence of revolutions and the prosper llty of the country are in the nature of cause and effect
 l The bananas and coffee sent out of Costa Rica represent practically the | G4pOII 0dQ0 Ol lA4c CO0A| The value of the banana exportations average about s4.OO0.000 year, and the coffee a little more than half as much. The fruit company either grows or buys and transports and sells all the bananas and carries all the coffee produced in Costa Rica. In doing these things 1t has developed a great number of side lines of activity, which make it the great power 1t is in Costa Rica. These other activities include railroads, stores, telegraph and tele- phone systems, light and power plants, hospital, schools and various forms of agriculture and stock raising. In ad- dition 1t has its fleet of ships, car rying both passengers and freight
 Bananas Cost 40 Gents a Bunch.
 The company owns over 100000 acres of banana lands on the Atlantic seaboard of Costa Rica. On these lands it produces about A per cent. of all the bananas grown in the repub- lic It buys all the bananas that na- tive growers can produce The an- nual shipment is about s10,000,000 punches, bought by the fruit company at a fixed price of 30 cents bunch. For handling the bananas the company allows 10 cents a bunch, and the de- clared export value of bunch of ba- nanas is fixed at 40 cents.
 The outlet for both the coffee and the bananas is Port Limon. on the Caribbean. When Secretary Knox and his party arrived there recently s1. = In rOrf awaiting cargoes of bananas.
 To tap the banana districts the main line of the railroad, leased and oper- ated by the United Fruit company un- der the name of the Costa Rican Northern railroad, extends from Port Limon to San Jose, the capital, 10S miles distant and 5000 feet above the sea. From the main line extend a num- Der of branches and from these branches other spurs and tramways, the whole forming system of veins and arteries for the transportation of bananas Every effort is made to get the banana from the tree to the ship as soon as possible and with the min lmum of handling.
 The main line is common carrier of both passengers and freight. Dis elimination by the fruit company is impossible under the terms of its lease. At Port Limon the company has built a number of steel piers from which the ships are loaded with ba- nanas and coffee by special machin- cry. The company has large offices at Port Limon, and has in addition a wireless station, hospital, quarters for it's employees, light and power plants and wholesale and retail stores.
 The Costa Rican government has CO., operated with the fruit company, has put in many public Improvements and keeps the city clean. The govern ment receives a direct, as well as an indirect, revenue from the fruit com pany through an export tax of cent gold upon each bunch of bananas sent out of Costa Rica-
 The big banana growing districts practically end in the foothills of the mountain range which divides Costa Rica, and where bananas stop coffee begins. The hills and mountains for more than 50 miles along the railroad from Port Limon to San Jose are GOV cred with coffee plantations, many of them thousands of acres in extent. These are practically all owned by the Costa Ricans, many of them wealthy.
 Costa Rican coffee is considered by many to be the finest in the world.