The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-01-28
(Copyright, 1912, by Frank G.. Car
penter.)

In this my last letter from Central
America / shall deal with business
conditions and the possibilities of the
countries il they can be placed upon
"A sound financial basis. The present
situation Is abnormal. Central
America Is the richest part OF b
North American continent. and its
whole hemisphere. It's mountains
have gold, silver and copper. and its
hillsides grow the best coffee on
earth. 1t lies in the front dooryard OF
the United States. the worlds greatest
market, and 1t can produce tropical
fruits which would bring in gold oy
the millions. Nevertheless h bulk
<ign bOndhOlder hangs around its neck
more heavily than did tn Old Man
Of the Sea around that Of Sinbad the
Sailor.
The Empire Of Central America.
Central America should be the in
dustrial empire Of the North American
continent, and its population as inch
as any on the "a Of the globe. LOOK
at it! The country begins at Mexico
and runs to the !sthmus OF
1t skirts the Pacific ocean Tor a dls-
lance as great as from New York to
Detroit, and it's extreme width is as
far as from Washington city to BOs-
ton. 1t has 20 much land that, In the
words Of John Barrett. our great spe-
cialist on all things concerning Latin
America, III it could be lifted up and
laid down on our Atlantic states II
would cover all Of New England ana
leave enough over to make a blanket
sufficient to tuck in New York, Penn
~sylvania and New jersey" AS to the
individual republics. Honduras is al
most AS big as Pennsylvania. Guate-
mala almost the size OF Mississippi,
Nicaragua is equal to New York and
Costa RIGA to Vermont and New
Hampshire combined, while Salvador
is about the size of New Jersey.
This territory has a population
which is fast crowding four millions.
Here in Guatemala we have eighteen
hundred thousand. Salvador has more
than Il million. Honduras over five
hundred thousand and Costa Rica and
Nicaragua have, respectively, -four
hundred and FIVE hundred thousand
The only country that is at all thick
" peopled Is Salvador. Our New Eng.
land and middle Atlantic states arr
about equal in size to Central Amer
lea. They had at the last census Z
population Of 3~7.000,000, and there i
no oub but that Central Americs
could support ten millions or SO mor'
than it has.
Loaded With Debt.
And now let me give you some ide;
of the mighty debt load which hang
from Central Americas neck. TIL
money was borrowed for railroads an,
other developments, but the most o
IT has gone into the pockets OF tn
officials, and today there Is hard1.
a government here which is no
~honeycombed with corruption an
bribery.
The debts are enormous. Here i
Guatemala the gold loans have ru
high into the millions. They amount
ed to more han $14, 0O0, 900 in 190l
The local currency Is now worth
cents on the dollar, and one Amer
lean dollar Is equal to eighteen g
the dollars OF Guatemala.
In Honduras the situation is wors'
That country has q population Of lie:
than 500. 900. and its foreign debt
sl26. oOo. 900 and more. II the pee
pie should pay it in full they woul
have to be assessed $250 per heal
or about $3.50 per family, a thin
which 10 evidently out Of the Questio
when we remember that many Of thel
work for only a few cents . day.
10 you wonder that Honduras can
pay its interest? The bulk Of i
debt was contracted more than fort
ear ago. and It has paid no intere
HdlCVCI 6luGO OS AAAOOAe ~
most OF the debt is interest. The orr,
inal loans footed up only about so
600, 900, but the interest has climbs
until il is nov more h three tim
the amount of the original loans.
Nicaragua has a foreign debt
nine or ten million dollars. the Sa
vador debt is about eleven million
and that Of Costa Rica in 1910 ",
more than fifteen million. Of While
six or seven million dollars was i
terest. In addition to these vast sur
every country has its internal de
AMI in most Of them the currency
far below par.
Where Uncle Sam Comes In.
Mo now let US see where Uncle Sa
comes in. In the first place he il i
terested in the present situation
of the Monroe doctrine. y
cannot have European nations int
ferring with affairs in southern Nor
nnoo and nOnnrio11v - 80 =