Arizona republican., 1914-08-17
POLITICAL RULE HOLDS BACK AN AMERICAN
 EMPIRE

The probable beneficent effect of the Panama canal the countries of the Caribbean is told by William J. Showaer in a communication to the National Geographic Society, Washington. He de- scribes the wonderful changes that have been wrought in Porto Rico and Cuba since the advent of the United States government in those islands.
 Tt would require six Salvadors make Honduras, and yet Salvador has three times much population and three times much foreign com Honduras he says Costa Rico is less than half s big Nicaragua, and yet it has three times much foreign commerce as Nicaragua And yet when Salvador and Costa Rca are compared with Porto Rico, they, in turn. to be slow in their development Porto Rico is small that islands like it would be required to cover equal to that of Costa Rica, yet it has foreign trade five times as great as that of the banana empire. Porto Rico is less than half as large Salvador yet it has foreign trade seven times great.
 Little Porto Rico is small that it could be buried in single Central American lake. It would take fftyseven islands of It's size to equal Central America in area, and yet Porto Rico produces more foreign trade than all Central America together. The reason? Because Porto Rico has ideal govern ment. The trade of the island has nearly quin- tuped since Uncle Sam took possession there. The number of children enrolled in the schools has in- creased skiold. The wages of the laboring class has multiplied threefod. Porto Ricos prosperity is in the sugar fields, where four tons of sugar produced where dozen years ago, and where the Porto Rcan people receive s6 for exported sugar where they received $1 only a dozen years before. Coffee production has quadrupled since the beginning of the century. The production of anges has increased sevenfod in ten years, pine apples twentyfold in four years and grapefruit twenty -fivefod in three years"
 Similar comparisons made between Cuba and the six republics. With fifth great, it's foreign commerce is three times that the six. One might with these comparisons indef- ntely the lesson of them all being that prosperity cannot exist where good government does not tinues the writer.
 With deposits of minerals, untold thou Of fr11it nd table lands in the world, and vast areas of magnf- cent grazing and coffee lands Honduras is our very doors. It is Chicago than San Fran cisco is A stable government for Honduras and it must become kingdom plenty instead of a principality of poverty! Nicaragua is in the same condition Honduras.
 Tt is unreasonable to that if the people of middle America get fair and proper government conditions after the completion of the Panama canal, they do what Cuba has done in the thirteen years since the first American in tervention. Since that time the number people able to read and write has increased 40 per cent The mortality rate has been cut down from 33 6S per thousand 12.69 The balance of trade has risen from deficit of s27,O00,OOO year to a sur plus of $30000000 Assuming that Central America be brought up to Cuba's standard today it's foreign trade would to a full billion dollars year instead of beggarly S65 900 900 today It would have 10000 miles of railroad where it has less than 1000 miles today It would have 5000 miles of macadam roads as compared with few hundred It would have population of 100000 as con- pared with 550O000 today.
 This and will certainly come 10 Central America if good government there comes apace with a completed Panama canal"