The Ordway new era., 1913-11-21

-n3AvELERS from this country
cross continents and seas TO
find nothing Ihore curious or
picturesque than may be found
on the west coasts Of Central
America and Mexico. comparatively
close at hand. To be sure. accommo-
dations for tourists are few. There Is
nothing luxurious about the hotels AZ
all, but the traveller sees land OF
quaint customs and interesting people
and sees It Just AZ 1t is. writes G. n.
King in Grit.
within the next few years there Will
certainly be a wonderful change IN
conditions along this coast With the
opening of the canal will come new
steamship lines, lower freight rates
and increased travel. Probably the
cities along the coast will lose some
of their picturesque characteristics.
Travellers sailing through the canal
In the days to come will see but little
Of the real Panama. The trip across
the isthmus by train allows opportu-
nifty for seeing the sights at each emo.
It is q surprise to most passengers
who sail from Panama for California
ports to find that the boat does not
start west but south. 1t is commonly
supposed that the isthmus has west
ern and an eastern coast. AZ mat
ter of fact, It has q northern and q
southern coast why. see that SUM-.
cried one of the passengers on my
boat, 'it is coming up on the wrong
side" 1t was difncult to realize that
We were sailing due south to round
q huge boot top.
l had taken . slow boat instead OF
an express steamer. because wanted
to stop at the various ports along the
coast. The repubiiA. big and little.
strung along in this order-Panama.
Costa Rica. Nicaragua. Honduras. Sal
yador. Guatemala, Mexico. Honduras
has only a few miles on the Pacine
shore. and Salvador no Atlantic coast
line at all. Most Of the republics have
been torn by revolutions. beggared by
graft and kept back BY lack OF educa-
tion to an extent which can scarcely
be realised in this country, near neigh
bors Of ours though they are. There
IA a tribe Of Indians in Panama which
has never been conquered and which
II quite independent Of the govern.
ment, boasting that NO woman in the
tribe has ever borne child to white
man, and obeying laws Of their own
making.
Immense Tracts Of Fertile Land.
Much of Honduras is wilderness.
In Nicaragua and Guatemala are i'm
mense tracts of land of the most fer
tile character and in the finest eli
mates simply waiting the development
which shali come with peace and pros
perity. slavery b an actual II not an
admitted fact in many Of these repub-
lies. The law says that q peon shall
|. remain in the service Of his master 30
long as he il in his debt, which is
ali the time. Further, the law says
that the debt il inherited by the name
descendants and kdnsmen. Peonage is
really slavery.
The fault of the system lies, how.
ever, in the fact that a few men own
all the land and that the peon sees
nothing ahead but a continual round
of labor. When. as in Mexico, all the
land 10 In the hands Of 5000 individ.
1 u1l9. W0lle tn0 SOtdl ROpulhSiOu II ~.
,ooo, 900, there u little future for poor
man.
Costa Rica il the one country in
Central America which seems to have
solved the land problem. There the
government IL the supreme landlord
and the land II parceled out in small
1pts to families who will actually work
IL As a result Costa Rica IL made up
OF small farmers and IL prosperou.
and happy, the serenity of its afYairz
being disturbed only by an occasional
revolution engineered by an ambitious
politician.
Conditions in Nicaragua, next door
10 Costa Rica. are about as different
an can well be imagined. Nicaragus
IL land Of revolutions. bloodshed and
mad debts. Yet Its natural resources
are beyond estimate. Its climate Il
delightful. 1t has coast line on two
oceans and good steamship connec
.tions. Some sday 1t may prove an E
Dorado. Already the need Of progress
.fs felt and the government has signed
lie contract with an American com
pany fo- more than half million dol