Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-11-10

and give it peace and good government it
will be the paradise OF the North American
continent 1t is already a Garden OF Eden
as far as its natural resources are concerned,
and American money is beginning to make
some parts of it blossom like the famed rose
bush Of Pasadena, Cal. | have never seen
land richer than that which l came through
on my way up to Guatemala City. l landed
at Port Barrios, on the Caribbean sea, and
came up the Motagua valley to the foot OF
the mountains through region of bananas
and junges as fine as any to be found on
this continent. Five years ago that country
was nothing but jungle. 1t was tropical
paradise, with palm trees over 100 feet high,
and a mass OF vegetation like that of the
lower slopes of the Himalaya mountains or
of the well-watered valleys of Africa Amer
leans have already cut down about 10000
acres of that region and have planted it to
bananas.
As | came into Port Barrios. saw ship
going out which had 100000 bananas in
its hold and was told that the output for
this year will be enough to give three ba-
nanas to every man, woman and child IN the
United States, and leave some to spare.
Since coming here have taken run down
to the Pacific slope, and | find the lower
lands there exceedingly rich. A great part
OF my journey on both sides of the noun
tains has been through coffee plantations,
which are growing fruit superior to that of
Brazil and equal to that of Arabia and Java.
Guatemala in 1912.
But before go further let me give you
of Vo,, cyatt the
size from any book of statistics. Guatemala
contains over $4,000 square miles. 1t is as
big as New York or about equal to the
states of Ohio and Massachusetts combined
It is bigger than any other Central Ameri-
can republic and it contains, in fact, about
one-fourth of all the land between Panama
and Mexico. 1t is three times the size OF
Salvador and twice as big as Costa RIGA.
Guatemala has more people than any
other Central American state. 1t has over
100000, but six out of every ten of these
are Indians, and the country is run by the
descendants of Spaniards and half-breeds,
who make the Indians do the work Alto
gether there are more Indians here than the
population of Philadelphia, and there are a
little more than half as many who are half
breeds or Ladinos. The Indians and Ladi-
nos are very interesting, and I shall write
more of them in the future.
The Worlds Biggest Relief Map.
AS to Guatemala itself we can see it best
at the race track in the capital. This track
is known as the Hippodrome, and it incloses
mile ring with various embems of science
and education inside it. Just opposite the
grandstand is stone temple, put up by the
president in the interest of education, to
the goddess Minerva, and on one side of this
is the biggest relief map of the world
This relief map covers several acres, and
by climbing the platform at the side of it we
can see Guatemala in miniature. The map
is made of cement plaster and other mater
ials which the weather has turned to stone
1t is connected with the water works, and
as we look the man in charge turns crank
and real mountain water begins to flow
through the miniature rivers and fill the
lakes. On one side we can see the waves O
the Caribbean sea. now a great expanse O
silver land on the other the waters of little
Pacific ocean dash upon the shores All o
the ports are marked by landing piers ane
strips of steel wind their way over the coun
try, representing the railroads. Along tn.
Pacific slope you can see the Pan-Americar
railway which is fast approaching compile
ton. and which. as soon as Mexico is quiet