The Ordway new era., 1921-06-24

were of equal density we would have
population of 7OO,OOOOOO In the con-
tInental United States; and, although
nearly half of the country is noun
famous, the people are normally able
to get their living out of what they
produce and still have a comfortable
balance of trade In their favor
The Salvadorean people are differ
ent from those of any other Central
American state. They have a middle
class. There are thousands of little
farms not much larger than a good
sized city block, and yet it is here that
the real prosperity of Salvador is
created. In no other way could a mil
lion and quarter souls find sub
sistence on 5000 square miles of ter
ritory, nearly half of 1t mountains.
Nicaragua and Revolutions.
Nicaragua is In much the condition OF
Honduras. There have been revolu-
tions there since the memory of the
inhabitants runneth not to the con-
trary. Here one sees a thousand op-
portunities for the development of
great wealth. Virgin forests of all the
precious woods in the category extend
ing for miles on end; coffee lands
where millions of pounds Of splendid
coffee might be grown; sugar lands
which might yield hundreds Of thou
sands Of sacks of sugar; and yet all
stand idle. Why7
Ask the American coffee growers of
the Matagalpa district; ask the
cotton growers Of Campo Santo. The
revolutions come along and leave their
coffee to spoil ungathered and their
cotton to go to waste unpicked. Ask
the financier from New Orleans who
spent 20 years of hardships there try
ing to gather together a competence,
and who finally found his business
wrecked and in the hands of the re-
ceivers.
Given good governments, then, no
countries on the map would afford
greater opportunities for profitable in
vestments than those of Central Amer
lea. With such governments as some
of them have had heretofore all their
natural wealth cannot Offset the dis
advantages of those governments, and
an investment at per cent in the
United States has often been preferred
to- one yielding 100 per cent in some
of these countries.
When we come to Costa Rica, things
are beginning to be different, and
Costa Rica does not like to be reck-
oned in the same class with Nicaragua,
Honduras and Guatemala. Until re-
Gently she has had scarcely a revolution
in generation.
Panama which is geographically a
part of Central America. though 1t has
not been politically so since independ-
ence, was gained from Spain, is blest
with some very fine farming and fruit
lands in the region next to Costa
Rica; but nearly all Of the Panamans
have gone down to the canal zone re-
gion for the time being. Some Of the
most beautiful terra templada lands
in America are to be found In the
Chiquiri country, and when the people
Of the United States get acquainted
with the possibilities there, some Of
them are going to settle in that re-
gion and make 1t splendid example
of the possibilities Of tropical Amer
lea.
1t Is not improbable that one Of the
results of the completion Of the Pana-
ma canal will be the realization by
the people of the United States that
its safety depends in no small degree
upon the good conduct Of the govern
ments of Central America. That will
mean demand for a new order Of
things In these countries. which in
turn will mean safe Investments for
American capital.
Then will dawn an era OF develop
ment in Central America comparable
to that which has taken place In Porto