The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19
Salvador, the Smallest of American, Republics


building which is subsidized by the city.
II will cost about 100000 francs and will
seat 1900.
President Araujo
San Salvador has numerous parks, in
which the people walk about during the
evening when the bands play. 1t is q
great club center, and is the social hub
OF the republic. 1t is where the presi-
dent lives and where congress meets. The
present executive is Don Manuel En-
rique Araujo, who was vice president un-
der the last administration. He was
elected by both parties and great things
are expected of him. He is one of the
young men of the country and has long
been noted for his fairness on all public
questions. He is a physician by profess
sion, and is well known as a surgeon.
He is also an inventor, having designed
some very delicate instruments. which are
now in common use in the big hospitals
of Europe
The Congress of Salvador
The government of Salvador. as is the
cas-, with all the Central American states
is modelled after that of our country.
The republican government is divided
intu three branches, legislative, executive
and judicial. The legislature has but
one house. which is known as the ma
OF 42 members, who are elected by pop
ular vote for a term of one year. All
males have the right to vote after they
reach the age of 49, and they are COM
PEELED to do so. There is no mugwumping
or shirking the polls in Salvador.
The executive branch consists of q
President and vice president, who are
elected by popular vote. The President 10
not eligible for reelection until four years
after the close of his term and he cam
not succeed himself as vice president
He has his cabinet. consisting Of four
secretaries, each with a large number Of
clerks
The army of Salvador is small, but
quite large enough for the country. 1t
numbers about 1900 men as a regular
force. 11,oo0 as a first reserve and 1900
as second reserve In case of war.
military service is compulsory, and the
country can put into the field on short
notice something like $1,000 men.
Up-to-D Date Sanitation
Salvador is now becoming live to tho
new sanitation. Some of the finest build
ings of the country are its hospitals.
aracng which is that of Rosales which
has endowment of more than $4,0oO,-
900. This building is situated at San Sal
vador. 1t was bequeathed to the nation
by Don Jose Rosales and was sustained
by him during his lifetime There are
other hospitals at the capital and also in
the chief towns, and something like 5000
patients are treated in them every year.
MOI far from San Salvador is tuber-
culosis sanatorium, where the open air
treatment Is employed, and the people
claim that they have q less death rate
from consumption than in any other Span
ish-American capital The number Is
little over 13 per 10000, which compares
very favorably with Lima. the capital OF
Peru, which has over So; Caracas, the cap
ital of Venezuela, which has 80, and Rio
de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile, each
of which has 3S. The mortality in Mexico
CITY per 10000 from this disease is IA.
and that of Montevideo. Uruguay, 16.
j have written of what the Costa Ri
cans are doing as to the hookworm- They
have their doctors everywhere and they
are greatly reducing the extent of the
plague. In Salvador recently it seemed as
though the country would have an epi-
demic of smallpox. The National Insti-
tute of Vaccination took up the matter
and supplied enough serum to vaccinate
all the people. The work was much the
same as that which we did in Porto Rico
at the close of our war with Spain when
we vaccinated 10000 within month or
so. The Salvador work was so effective
that within few months small pox was
wiped out of the republic.
The vaccination work was done largely
by travelling doctors in connection with
the Rosales hospital, which has fac
tory in which 1000 tubes of vaccine are
monthly prepared. In addition to this a
great deal is imported from France and
Switzerland.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.