Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-03-04

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, d. c.
Costa Rica, whose resignation from
the League of Nations has just been
announced, furnishes one Of the best
demonstrations to be found among the
republics of the New world that
countrys development may be strik-
ingly affected by geography and eco
Monies.
Most of the other Latin American
countries were built up on the basis
of the labor of large numbers Of ma
tives, and with this assistance they
have utilized considerable areas. Costa
Rica has had to depend since colonial
times largely on the labor of its col
onists Of European descent, and the
development of the country has been
until lately In a restricted territory
In most of the other Latin American
countries there has been very
marked admixture of the blood of the
Spanish settlers with that of the ma
tive Indians but since most of the In
dians in the part Of Costa Rica settled
by the Spaniards were exterminated at
an early date, relatively little of their
blood was absorbed by the immigrants,
and the population of the republic has
retained a European character to a
greater extent than the populations of
some Of it's neighbOrs. The country Is
not free from mixed-bloods, to be sure
In the outlying districts peasants,
chiefly of Indian ancestry are predomi-
nant in the village life and many have
made their way to the cities.
Because of it's fundamental economic
differences, and because also Of
geographical isolation for a long pc
riod, Costa Rica differs In many ways
from Its neighbors. The republic is
more than twice the size of Belgium
and approximately equal In area to
West Virginia, but practically the gov
eminent is that of the people eoncen-
trated on mountain-fringed plateau
in the center of the country, not much
over fifty miles square. The great ma
iority of the half-million inhabitants
live ON this small plateau. Next In
Importance are the sections which,
added to this central area, would make
a narrow band across the country from
Atlantic to Pacific. Even this belt Of
greatest population constitutes hardly
a quarter Of the area of Costa RIGA.
The regions bordering Nicaragua on
the northwest and Panama on the
southeast are almost uninhabited ex-
cept for the few Indians living there.
Country of Small Farms.
Costa Rlca has always been a coun-
try of "little landers" as contrasted
with the countries of huge estates
about it, The early colonists had a
most difficult time making a living In
their Isolated position. They were cut
of from commercial intercourse with
the Atlantic by the lowland jungles to
the northeast, and less effectually by
mountains and upland plains from the
Pacific. They had no products suffi-
GENTLY valuable to export even If COM
mercial channels had been available.
1t was necessary to live almost wholly
on their own products. They became
poverty-stricken; and the name Costa
Rica, which means Rich Coast" came
to be regarded as joke.
The introduction of coffee early in
the Nineteenth century had much to do
with lettering the country's prosperity.
A cart road from the plateau to a
Pacific port was constructed in 1915
and coffee exports grew steadily. The
Central plateau became more and more
densely populated and now almost
every square foot of it is devoted to
small farms. A high percentage OF
Costa Ricans are landowners. Natural
ly, this has made for comparative sta
bnity in government, and Costa Rica
has had fewer civil wars than most OF
the Central American governments
bur It has not been altogether free from
military coups.
San Jose, the capital city, with 90,
600 inhabitants, including its suburbs
Is set near the center of the republic
In a broad valley surrounded by pic