The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1923-06-16
BELIZE At LAST
HAS REVOLUTION
Set Down Amidst Warning Re-
pubIics Of Central America 1t
Has Remained Peaceful.

S
! pubIics of Central America 1t
Has Remained Peaceful.
Washington, d. C.-Belize, which Of
hcially Is British Honduras, has rev.
olution, according TO press dispatches.
To those who know Belize this Is like
the report Of a volcanic eruption In
New York or blizzard In Death Val
5ey. A bulletin from the Washington,
d. c., headquarters Of the National
Geographic society tells why.
"Set down In the midst Of q group
Of republics In which revolutions have
been at least not infrequent for the
century Of their existence" says the
bulletin, Bellies bid to fame has
been that it was 100 per cent revolu-
tionless. Although 1t is one of the
least known and most neglected patches
of the British empire, still British law
and order lowered over 1t, and 1t has
been to a certain extent, like the Dutch
West Indian colony Of Curacao, an asy-
lum for alien leaders who were more
revolutionary than successful. .sa.a -
1.-THE country's 5000 inhabitants In
clude probably less than 1000 whites.
The remainder Of the population IL
made up of negroes and mulattos and
Spanish Indians, the latter living chief.
~ in the back country. But in the
capital, Belize. throughout the whole
coast country, and wherever govern
mental machinery has been set up, the
atmosphere, whether 1t be made up OF
business, government, or sport, is IN
mistakably British. ~ -
Few concessions have been made to
the climate. The two and three-story
houses that line the main residence
street Of Belize are Of accepted British
architecture.
Geographic Names Tell Story.
Geographic names tell Of the sud
den transition from the lands Of Span
ism culture to this little patch OF the
Spanish Main that has been Anglicized.
One leaves Puerto Oortez, Honduras.
or Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, to sail
q few miles farther on past the Cox
comb mountains, All Pines, and STAN
creek. Inland are Middlesex and
Orange Walk. Belize is one Of the
few exceptions, and even that Is said
to be corruption Of the surname Of
an early Scotch settler, Wallis.
British Honduras, q trifle larger
than Massachusetts or New Jersey, ID
wedged in between the Mexican states
Of the Yucatan peninsula on the north
and Guatemala on the west and south,
while Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador,
and Costa Rica are nearby.
1.-THE mahogany industry 10 Justly
commemorated on the flag Of British
Honduras by the representation there
Of the tools Of the trade. Mahogany
lured early settlers to Belize; put
money In their purses; furnished some
thing for them and their hacker, Great
Britain. to fight the Spaniards about;
and has ben chiefly responsible for the
lands main industry, numbering.
British Honduras came under the
British flag largely through the we'll
known 'squatters' rights grown to in
ternational stature. Spain claimed the
entire MAN, or mainland, from the
time of the earliest explorers. But
she was interested chiefly In gold and
silver; mere trees seemed beneath no
tice. So British and other adventur-
ers who cut timber on the eastern
coast Of Yucatan, the present British
Honduras, and the mosquito country,
farther south, were not molested at
first. 49,. : Il
when the settlers were seen to be
making a good thing Of their mahog-
any trade, the Spanish changed their
policy and began harassing them. A
series Of wars and treaties between
Spain and Great Britain followed. In
17eS the Spanish made a supreme ef-
fort to drive what they considered the
'squatters' out of Belize. But the set.
tiers, with a cannon mounted on
RATS and f1at-boats, had the best Of
the strategic situation and won sig
nal victory. From that time the Brit
ish claim to the territory rested on
conquest as we'll as settlement. 4
kssps American Jaws Busy.
Belize, like the other countries
along the east side of Central Amer.
lea, has a low-lying region along the.
coast with highlands farther inland
Its dense tropical forests have discour.
aged agriculture. Growth Is 20 rapid
that 1t is q task Of the utmost diff
Guilty to keep trails open. Most travel
4; is along rivers, and little 10 known Of
the interior away from the streams.
The one important exception is the
southern region tapped by the only
railroad. along which thousands of
acres Of banana plantations have been
established to supply q part Of the
market In the United States. Down
the rivers millions Of dollars worth
Of mahogany and ,logwood have been
floated' during the life Of the colony.
In late years tens of thousands of
bales Of chicle, the raw material Of
chewing gum, have joined the stream,
to be shipped north to keep busy the