The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-07-09
good and then go after him.

" dS II 4 ldlIuClh, ANCh ObloCy ~
Was returning from a visit to her son
i'm costa Rica. Costa RIGA is me OF
the first countries to the west of the
Panama Canal Zone and one that will
ereatly benefit by the increased trans,
uurtation facilities which are bound
tD follow the opening of the canal
20 traffic. The lady from Plainield
to.d me that when preparing 10 visit
costa Rico she was astonished at the
auOranc" CT people in relation to
tai, country. Half of her friends had
never heard of the country and the
other half were perfectly positive that
She was going to visit Porto Rico. Such
a. .onishing ignorance is not confined
10 Plainheld. Not one person cut of a
thousand at the average breakfast
taDle can tell where the bananas come
from which they are drawing them
selves over like a boot. To this end |
am going to give a brief description of
this rather remarkable country. Costa
Rico is the southern state in Central
America and is surrounded by two
oceans and several Latin American
r,solutions. 1t is shaken down oc-
G.. ionally by earthquakes and all the
time by the United Fruit Company
who are said to own everything in the
country except the gold lace on the
presidents uniform.
However this may be it is a fact
that this company owns the railroad
and the electric light privileges and all
the fruit land. Their rival, the At
lantic Fruit Co, tried to get a foothold
here but were crowded out. | was
going to say froze out but that don't
sound just right in Costa Rico.
Costa Rico is one vast garden spot,
where the largest fruit in the tropics
grow. Besides fruit they raise vast
Quantitie. of coffee.
In this country where the American
dollars have done so much in the way
of development, the Americans them,
selves are not held in high esteem,
but they are tolerated because they
have taught a new standard of living
and the American is something of a
necessity whether they like him or not.
The native Costa Rican mas a ma
tural dread of fire. They know the
horrors following earthquakes and ac-
cordingly have come to do without
fire wherever possible. They do not
mind the house falling down so much
as they do what nm after. To this
end such cooking as they do is done
out doors, and they wash their clothes
in cold water. Since the American in
vasion they have come to use electric
cooking and heating devices and as
current is sold very cheap this has
to be the standard wherever pos
sible to get the current. In San Jose
the capital city electricity enters into
the necessities of everyday life with
the great majority of the people.
I am one of those who do not ap-
prove of Americans t%rotting over to
Europe to gaze on the stage settings
as prepared by the innocent natives,
not at least until the sights worth
on this side have been ex-
hausted.
For instance in San Jose they have
one of the finest theatres in the world.
1t was designed by the architects who
the congressional library. How
many of our European travellers have
seen this theatre? Probably there are
of Americans who know all
about the cathedral at Milan who have
never heard of Costa Rico and some
who know nothing of the Congress.
sional library.
A peculiar custom in San Jose is
the municipal wash tub. AS above
the natives dread fire and
will not put a hand in hot water. Ali
duuuI yluS Is uOue III COlu water. One 1
e kl!o sql 9Ae5 sls9yId eql 10
wash tub which consists of cement
basins fed by mountain streams. Each
has a compartment and here in
the center of the city the native wo-
gather and do their l%aundrying.
While nothing but cold water is used
is said the laundry work of these ma
tive women surpasses our northern
methods. The clothes are alternately
bleached and sprinkled and allowed to
spread on the cactus bushes
for three days before ironing.
l met a native Costa Rican at Colon
and learned that he lived at an alti-
tude Of six thousand feet. He is high
enough to be in the temperate zone
and raises many crops such as we
in New York state. Below him
he can look down on the coffee planta.
tons and or other tropic vegetation.
He can view two oceans from his front
porch and II he were cross eyed could
look down two sides of a continent at
the same time. His particular avoca.