The Raymer enterprise., 1921-06-30

Scene In Settled n
tfrsvsrsa ~ the National osographis ~
cfsty. Washington. d. CT
The creation Of United States Of
Central America" and troubles be-
tween Panama and Costa Rica which
almost led to war. have drawn atten-
ton to the countries south Of the
Caribbean sea recently more strongly
than at any time since the completion
Of the Panama canal. Nowhere else
In the world has Nature been more
bountiful In her blessings Of natural
resources than In the Caribbean re-
gi0n. Everything that her treasure
house holds has been bestowed with
lavish, and also with impartial. hand.
Someone has observed that II you
tickle the ground with hoe It smiles
back with yam and certain 1t IL that,
In any one Of these countries the
ground Of natural resources may be
tickled with the hoe Of foreign capital
and 1t smiles back with yams Of
wealth.
These countries are nearly all ia
y0red alike In natural wealth. but
there Is vast difference In the de-
yelopment of that wealth--a differ
ence that may be attributed almost
wholly to the character Of the govern
ments In the respective countries.
In some Of these lands the milk and
honey Of plenty flows in n bountiful
stream. Others are In wretched
poverty, where the masses never have
enough to keep the gaunt wolf Of
hunger from gnawing at their vitals
day and night and year In and year
out. In travelling through these coun-
tries, one Is impressed with the fact
that prosperity abides with good rule
and poverty dwells with misrule.
Differences In Development.
Starting out with the easily demon.
strated fact that thsre Is very little
difference between these countries IN
their natural resources. 1t b interest
Ing to look around and notice what a
vast difference there IL In the use that
II being made Of this natural wealth.
One need not 60 out of the confines
Of Central America to see this It
would require six Salvadors to make
one Honduras, and yet Salvador has
twice the population Of Honduras and
larger foreign commerce. Costa
Rica Is less than half as big as
Nicaragua, and yet its foreign COM
merce Is greater than that country's.
And yet, when Salvador and Costa
Rica are compared. with Porto Rico,
they in turn seem to Be slow In their
development. Porto Rico IL so small
that seven Islands like It would be re-
quired to cover an area equal to that
Of Costa Rica, yet It has a foreign
trade more than fifteen times a. great
as that Of the Banana Empire. Porto
Rico Is less than half as large as
Salvador. yet 1t has q foreign trade
over thirteen times as great.
Little Porto Rico Is 80 small that It
could be buried In a single Central
American lake; 1t would take 81 Is
lands Of Its size to equal Central
America In area and yet Porto
Rico enjoys about three times as
much foreign trade as all Central
America together from Tehuantepee
to Colombia. The reason7 Because
compared to these Central American
republics Porto Rico has an ideal gov.
ernment. The trade Of the island has
increased sevenfold since Uncle Sam
took possession there. The number Of
children enrolled In the schools has
Increased skiold. The wages Of the
laboring class has multiplied three
fold even before the war.
Hsnduras 10 Lagoard.
Hesduras In some ways lags behind
ito neIghbors. And yet It ID rich In
natussl resources almost beyond I'M
asinetion.
Win vsst deposits Of minerals Of
oil tinds. with untold thousands Of
acre. Vt ~ finest tropical fruit and
vegetable Iards In the world and with
vast arsas Of magnificent grazing and
coIes lands. Honduras 10 at our very
dosrs. Il II 100 miles nearer to Chi
caSo thau that city is to San Fran
ciseo; It 10 closer to Washington than
Dssvsr h: II ID farther from New Or
leans to Chicago than 1t is from Puer-
y Barfios and Livingston to New Or
ieana With stable government,
Uonduras must become q kingdom Of
plenty instead Of . principality Of
poverty.
AGREES the border 10 prosperous lit
tle Salvador. It Il a. different from
Hosduras q night u from day. II
~ POPULATION y dsnss that 4 ssEs
---.- = 49, - ~-