The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-12-10
Our Newest Neishbor Republic.

Washington, Nofa s3a.-coffee
made for culture, bananas for=-Wora
ncighborliness, ard volcanoes Ter
tilized the soil for tie new RepuD-
lie Of Central America. Such gen
erali: ations leave many facts ur-
told. but this one provides de-
pendable handle for essential rae
tors in the developments of the
three states, Guatemala, Honduras
and I'll Salvador, which now ma ke
up the newest American republic.
according to q bulletin from the
Washington, D. c., headquarters OF
the National Geographic Society.
This new nation has an area
approximately that ofgColorado and
population greater:ttlan that or
!, Massachusetts. It's mapped outline
resembles nothing SO much as a
sleigh, with the runners on the Pa
cific Ocean and British Honduras
perchcd in the drivers seat. It's
surface Conformation, maybe COM
pared to an A tent, with, one, SIDE
s!oping much more gradually than
the other, and this longer side sag
ging and almost touching ground
toward its edge. - -.
Where Atlantic is North Of Pacific,
'"one's geography gets twisted in
thinking Of Central America as be-
ing to the south ofz=Rs:: which Is
we'll enough, if it be remembered
that an east and west line running
! through the new republic couid
touch Nicaragua and Mexico at
the ends, and that going from the
Atlantic to the Pacific means
| trip due south.
The ridge pole of the Guatemala
Andes, as the Central American
cordillera sometimes is called, lies
much closer to the Pacific than to
the Atlantic. Along this range vol
canoes go sky rocketing with dis
concerting frequency. They wipe
out cities, at times, as when Guate-
naala's capital was all but destroy
ed five years ago, and San Saliva
dor has won the nickname of the
swinging hammock. y volcanoes
are the friends Of these states. They
are veritable gushers Of clements
which, entering into the soil, have
made the vegetation luXusfant.
Bananas Couricrs of Civilization.
THE sagging side of our tent
slopes gently toward the Atlantic.
Toward it's edge are the fowlands
::rhich Cortez raively described as
covered with awfulfy miry
swamps.' Scattered tribes Of primi-
tive Indians and refugee negroes
from the West Indies once eked
out an isolated existence here. Now
the region is blanketed with banana
fields. This crop has bound the
Caribbean side of Guatemala and
Honduras to the United States by
those invisible but enduring ties,
steamship lines. e.esas
"The nickname, Guatemala An
des' does not indicate that these
mountains are a continuation Of the
iSoutil American Andes, nor arethey
the southern foothills, of: the Rocky
MCCuIdllS. IL LIS OSSAts IL t.sN~ -
out that should the major CONT
mental ranges be extended in their
normal directions they,wouid pass
each, other, in the latitude OF
Guatemala, some 1000 miles apart.
What sugar was to C;tta during
! the second decade of the twentieth
hcentury, coffee was,ito Gaatsa1ala
and Salvador during the last ce-
cade Of the nineteenth. The break
fast beverage Of millions Of Amer
leans helped erect magniacent pi'b-
lie buildings in Guatemala Citg;and
San Salvador, and placed pianos.
Photographs, and other luxuries in
many a Central American home.
It likewise sent suddenly inereas-
ed number Of Latin Americans to
colleges and universities of the
United States to return better
equipped for leadership III: those
political and civic ideals which their
countrynen already were trying to
follow. sae1'i-''