Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-30

comforts of narrow gauge railway TOT
much of the distance, and for more than
a thousand miles would ride through
alkali deserts and the not ianos y
Mexico It is now possible to go from
Guatemala City to Washington by RAIL-
but nobody ever does it.
Many people in Guatemala nave mace
money by lending money to the govern
ment and in dealing In It's seculel. 15;.
Usually they are financial geniuses OF the
German-American variety. The head ana
front of this aggregation are the otaHs,
of the Banco de Gautemala. MOI iois
ago some one began to get toselheI Ine
bonds of a certain internal loan wnlcn
had long since been repudiated. They
were bought up for song and pracccaiiy
the whole issue was concentrated "l.hou.
any one suspecting the character OF the
financial maneuver going on a ittis
later IT was announced that they would
be redeemed at par. Then 1t was iouiu
out that the bonds were in the hanus OIL
the Stalls Opinions differ as to whether
or not President Cabrera got part of the
profit of this deal.
It is said that Cabrera looks to the
Stalls whenever he becomes involved in
any PR ing
Export Duties financial diff
Security for Loans. rovernment
maintains running account with the
Banco de Guatemala, and whenever Ca
brera needs money the bank lends 1t to
him on the security of the collections of
the export duty on coffee. The Stalls
take the collection of these duties prac-
tically into their own hands. Sometimes
Cabrera feels a bit independent of them
for a little while, and then the foreign col!
ony says it looks as IL the Stalls have lost
their pull with Cabrera. But the next
time he needs some money he forgets his
Impotence with them, for they are about
the only people who will make other
than forced loans to the government.
The need of Guatemala, if it is to make
the most of its opportunities, is millions
Of dollars of foreign capital, to be used
in the developmentof it's resources. Cuba,
with a smaller area than Guatemala, has
q foreign trade fifteen times as great in
bulk and twelve times as great per capita.
Where the per capita exports from Qua
temala are about So, those of Costa Rica
are $50 per capita
Our own little Porto Rico, which could
be tucked away in. corner of Central
America, has a for
Foreign Trade eign trade one and a
fourth times as large
VI AOAS AsAso' as the entire country
between Tehuantepec and Panama. With
an area twelve times as great as that of
Porto Rico, Guatemala has a foreign
trade only one-fifth as large. In other
words, the average square mile Of terri
tory in Porto Rico produces sixty times
as much foreign trade as the average
square mile in Guatemala. And yet Qua
temala is quite as rich in natural re-
sources So long as present financial
conditions prevail in Guatemala and the
other countries of Central America there
is no hope that such a glorious chapter
Of commerce can be written as has been
written in Porto Rico and Cuba, and as
is being written in the Philippines. Only
such capital as is willing to take the
gamblers chance goes there. That CAPT.
tai, as a rule. never counts like safe and
conservative investments. 1t must ex-
plot both the people and the government,
for II 1t does not the profits are not
large enough to justify the risks it takes.