The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-10-03
GUATEMALA.
Cultivation of Coffee Results in Neglect
of Other Resources.

"Guatemala. which has been ecOnomi- !
cally and in military sense one of the
most powerful of the five Central Amer
lean states ever since it was the seat of
the old Spanish viccroyal government for
the entire region, is a country both
blessed and cursed by coffee" says the
bulletin. Coffee Is n blessing to Guate-
mala i'm that it has brought much money
into the country and has made the plan
tation-Owning classes exceedingly pros
porous. The United States is the chief
source Of this prosperity. for the greater
part of the coffee produced is exported
thcre-CnOugh in 1919. figuring 40 cups
to the pound. to furnish more than 3
00O0O0,0OO portions of the steaming bcv
cragc. about 30 cups for every person in
the United States.
Coffee may be considered i'm sense Il
curse to Guatemala because its prcduc-
ton dominate. every other activity in
the republic. and is the indirect reason
therefore. for failure to develop most of
the country'S other resources. Though
the plateau country Of the southwest APP
parCntty could b. made to produce wheat,
-four Is imported \ number of other
food products that could be produced are
also brought in from outside Cotton
could be grown on large areas but only
Il comparatively small amount is pro
dUCcd. The greater part Of the cotton
cloth and warn needed is imported. The
raising Of cattle and sheep. the growing
of almost all tropical. semi-tropical, and
temperate zone fruits, and mining are all
industries that could be developed most
protitably. North American enterprise
has in recent years built up n heavy pro-
ductIOn Of bananas in the hot plains
along the Atlantic coast. in region for
meTly covered with jungle and considered
practically worthless. The value of
= bananas exported now is second only to
that of coffee. In connection with the
deyclopm mt of the banana country,
Guatemala has obtained an ocean to
ocean railroad, one of the two transisth-
nian railways in Central America.
Tho dominance of the coffee growing
/ industry, and the fact that the Indian
population of Guatemala was much
greater than that of the territory of the
ether four Central American states when
the Spaniards came have had noticeable
effect on the coUntTys institutions.
IeJnagc, the modern American feudal-
ism. is. widespread.
MANY of the Indian agricultural la
boreTs, though legally entirely free, are
habtuallv in debt to the owners of the
great coffee plantations. and are brought
back by the military and police if they
escape. the cost of their apprehension be
ing added to their debts. The only ah
tcrnatives for the more ignorant of the
Indians are to work under similar con
ditionS for another proprietor or to be
impressed into the army The wages re
ceiycd by the agricultural laborers are
the equivalent of only few cents Il day
in the money of the United States.
"Comparative immunity from civil war
up to 1920 has been aScribcd i'm large
part to the relatively large standing
army of the country. The percentage Of
iIItCracy in Guatemala is high. Flee
tions are held, but the party in power
and usually as long as he DESIRES the
president in powCr-haS seldom had any
effective opposition.
"GuatcmaIa has an area of 1920
square miles, slightly larger than that Of
the state of New York. 1t has Il popu-
latiOn of about 100000 which is APP
prCXimately 40 per cent of the entire
population of Central America. \ large
part of the population of Guatemala is
of Indian blood unmiXed with the blood
of Europeans. I'm this respect Guate-
mala differs from its four neighboring
republics in three of which the majority
of the populace is of mixed blood. and i'm
enc of which the Indians were cxtcrmn-
atcd
On the west and north Guatemala is
IN contact with Mexico. It has both an
Atlantic and i Pacific coast line the
latter the more extensive. The bulk of
/ the population. as in the other Central
American states. lives close to the Pacific
coast on the slopes Of exceedingly fertile
volcanic mountains ON the noighboring
platoaus, and in the valleys. The people
Of this populous region have frequently
suffered from disastrous volcanic crup-
I tions and earthquakes"