The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-03-27
CANAL WONDERS TOLD
BY RETURNED VISITOR
Rp " b. Taft

By ". h. Iaft
Thinking that an account oil my tflp
Itater tbjs winter might be Of some
interest 10 the readers Of your paper,
Isnbnit the following narration 0i IN
cidents, beginning with my departure
from San Francisco. 90
Ne left that city January 20 on me
Pacific mail steamship, San Juan. Al
ter SIX days sailing over pleasant
sea we arrived at Mazattan, Mexico,
a distance Of 1916 miles from Frisco;
Here we went ashore and stayed all
NIGHT. and in the morning took a car
risge ride around the quaint old Span
II ish city with lis narrow streets and
ore.story houses; but, compared with
soua of the cities further south, 1t was
very well kept up. On the seashofe
there was a broad walk with settees
that looked quite modern. The snip
had TO anchor at quite a distance from
| the shore and used lighters TO as
charge and take Cn freight.
our next stop was at Acapulco, MeX.'
/ a distance of $40 miles from Mazatlan.
/ Here is very fine harbor, completely
! land locked, but no dock. Lighters
we're used. Here we took on coal. 1t
was Sunday and rooster fighting
seemed to be the whole program, so
we went up to see the sO-called sport.
/ The r1osters would be armed with a
steel scimeter about three inches long,
fastened to one leg. and after holding
them towards each other and pulling
their neck feathers to get them mad,
they were put eli the ground for the
frav. Generally one fy-up settled 1t
either by the death of one or both
birds. Those scimeters did the work
in about ten or fifteen seconds. We
soon had enough of this kind of sport,
so went out and walked through the
poorest part of the town, and such filth
and saualor | never saw before. A lit
tie circle of stones in front of the door
was where the cooking was all done.
The houses had no floor, no chairs; all
sitting on the ground, and hogs and
chickens running around with the rest
of the family. There are no toilets
and no sewerage system applies in any
of these towns. There had been lit
tie disturbance, but Uncle Sam s war
ship, Denver, was IN the harbor and
had a very quieting effect.
Our third landing was at Salina
Cruz, $50 miles from Acapulco. Here
is very fine dock, the best between
San Diego, Calf, and Panama. IT.
has been made by the British, and is
the southern end of the railroad that
runs across the isthmus between Mex
leo and Yucatan, also built by the
British. 1t is said that forty millions
of English capital is invested here.
We landed next at Champerico, Gau
temaa, 262 miles from Salina Cruz
This is very small place and has a
railroad that runs to Guatemala City,
Is miles in the interior and nearly 5000
feet above the sea. The captain in
formed US that we could go up to the
city from here and come back to San
Jose, and have three days to make the
trip, so a dozen of US made it and
found it to be most interesting, the
first of it being through a regular trop-
ical Jungle, with a growth of plants,
vines, trees and weeds of all kinds, so
dense a bird could not fly through
them. Then the banana plantations,
with their great lunches of bananas
growing at the top Of the plants, one
bunch to the plant. which is about 10
to l2 feet high. The laDurers here get
10 cents, in gold, per day and small
plot of ground for their own use.
think 25 cents would buy all the cloth
ing worn by large family. Further
on were coffee plantations, then sugar
plantations. Guatemala City has about
| Is, 900 population and is typical
| Spanish city, with narrow streets and
sidewalks on which two persons can
hardly pass. One story buildings with
grated windows, predominate. Here is
one of the finest, if not the finest, Gem
etery in the world (they claim the
latter. The vaults are made as fine as
money can make them and have to be
seen for one to realize their beauty.
Here is where high cost of living"
rules with a vengeance. | will give a
few prices: Hair cut and shave, S4
supper, lodging and breakfast, $40;
one pint bottle of beer on train, Sc
automobile per hour $50; very com
| mon cigar, So little better grade, S4.
| Now, how do these prices appeal tC
| you? These are what we actually
| paid, but it was in Guatemala paper
/ money and it takes $40 Of 1t to buy one
| dollar in gold, and all u. S. money
goes as gold, so when we get it figured
II down it is not so bad. All the other
/ countries that we visited were on a sill
II yer basis, aud the ratio was two t
II one. All through Mexico, when YOU
II ask the price of anything it is always
j Zone dollar gold, two dollars MeXi
can. One of our silver dollars, NJ
| larger than a Mexican dollar, will buy
| Just as much as two Of theirs.
l The rest of the towns visited were
/ repetition Of those already seen. l.
! any difference, the inhabitants go
more lazy and squaIIid One thing
! which the women balance and carr,
| everything on their heads, water Jars
baskets, immense wooden bowls file,
| with fruit and vegetables, boxes u
: fact anything and everything is car
ried on the head.
We reach Balboa, the western, O
. really the southern end of the grea
canal, and you really think you hav
run into an American town. Th
=. houses all look modern, with wild
porChes screened in and everythin,
: neat and clean. Parts uf Panama cit
have improved a whole lot since UncI
Sam took hold there, but the narrog
. streets and dobe houses show th
Spanish architecture.
Now we start on an excursio
through the canal with a spieler O
each car, with megaphone to explai
.NN