CHAPTER X

PRESENT CONDITIONS AND FUTURE POSSIBILITIES

THE foreigner in Guatemala is absolutely safe, and travelling in that country is as free from danger as in our own land. Sensational rumours sometimes appear in American newspapers about the imprisonment of American subjects, but, if the reports are true, the persons arrested no doubt deserve punishment, for meddlers and persons seeking to escape punishment for wrong-doing in other lands frequently seek an asylum in the Central American republics. Were they innocent our own officials would be called upon to right the injustice, and this government has not deemed it necessary to interfere. The country is practically free from robbers and it is absolutely unnecessary for the traveller to make of himself a walking arsenal before visiting Guatemala. The natives are harmless and trustworthy. One can entrust thousands of dollars with a cargador to be carried across the country, and, if he is informed that he will be held responsible for his charge, the native will accomplish his mission or die in the attempt. This trait of fealty to trust is a striking characteristic of the native character.

The cause of education has been promoted very much in recent years and schools have been established in many of the villages. The “Festival of Minerva” was instituted as an annual commemoration in the interest of education. It was thought that a popular celebration would draw the attention of the people to the value of education and would stimulate the desire for greater learning. To a certain extent it has succeeded, and there is no doubt that a larger percentage of people can read and write to-day than was the case a decade ago. At least limited facilities for primary education exist in most of the villages, but the schools are entirely inadequate to accommodate those of school age. Education is compulsory in theory, but practically voluntary in practice, because of the non-enforcement of the laws. The appropriations are wholly inadequate for efficient results.

There are six papers published in the capital. “The Diario Official” is a government organ. Then the other more important publications are the “Diario de Centro-America,” “La Republica” and “La Nacion.” In all there are about thirty papers published in the entire republic. All of these newspapers are subject to strict government supervision and censure. Any mention whatever of a revolutionary movement would bring severe punishment upon the head of the offending editor. It is even forbidden to give an account of murders and assaults that take place. It is easy to see that an editor’s position is not an easy one, for his range of news is limited and an overslip might lead to confiscation and imprisonment.

The fluctuating value of the currency of the country is an unfortunate condition. There is absolutely no silver or gold money in circulation. A customs examination of my baggage upon leaving the country caused me to inquire the purpose of it. The reply was that the law forbids the taking of silver out of the country. As I had not seen a silver coin in circulation this explanation made the examination seem like a jest. Paper certificates issued by the banks, together with minor coins of alloy, constitute the sole currency. The value of these dollars fluctuates from six to eight cents on a gold basis. This is rather to the advantage of the investor, however, as he pays for all native supplies and labour in the depreciated currency of the country and sells all his productions at gold values. The wages of unskilled labourers are very low, averaging from one to two and a half dollars in paper per day, or from eight to twenty-five cents per day. The best results are obtained by assigning a task to the peon. He will perform the allotted task, but extra pay is no inducement for him to work overtime. The only consideration that will move him to do extra work is the promise that the overtime will be credited on another day in order to give him an extra holiday.

The foreign trade of Guatemala slowly increases each year. The last year for which statistics are available, 1907, show total exports amounting to $10,174,486 and imports of $7,316,574. Of the exports, the bulk of which is coffee, Germany is the largest consumer, taking 53.79 per cent. of the total, while the United States uses only 21.6 per cent. In the matter of imports the proportion is different and the United States has a fair proportion of the trade. Of the total imports the United States furnished 58.1 per cent., and its nearest competitor is England with about 22 per cent. to her credit. Spain, the mother country, brings up the rear with less than two per cent. of the whole. The value of the goods imported from the United States for 1905 was only $1,442,000, and those sent in return $2,292,000, showing a considerable balance of trade in favour of Guatemala. The chief imports from the United States consist of foodstuffs, hardware, railroad supplies and cotton goods. Germany has the lead in machinery, and England provides by far the most of the cotton manufactures, furnishing at least three-fourths of the entire imports of that line of goods.

Guatemala, because of its nearness to our seaports, ought to be an unusually good market for the United States. With the opening of the new railroad to the Gulf, the Capital, which is the chief distributing point, is placed within such easy communication of our southern ports, such as Galveston, New Orleans and Mobile, that Europe can not successfully compete if all other conditions are made satisfactory. American concerns ought to furnish practically all the manufactured articles needed by Guatemala, and can do so if the business is properly looked after. Upon this subject a recent consular report says: “If this field is properly worked and sufficiently long credit is given, practically nothing but American goods need be found in the markets of Guatemala, for they are generally conceded to be the best. The market is worth cultivating, for the next few years will see great development here. Everything points that way, and the national resources are great. Packages should be very firmly nailed and bound by band iron, so that they would be difficult to open, as there is much complaint about goods being stolen from boxes in transit. It will pay exporters to pack well everything they ship. Dollars spent in this line will bring hundreds in profits.”

Another report says: “It must be borne in mind that the importers of this republic are for the greater part Germans, and their interest and inclination lead them to trade with the fatherland. England also is preferred over the United States, possibly because Guatemala merchants can more easily identify themselves in England, and get better credits. American goods therefore are imported only when their quality places them so far ahead of the European article that the merchant is almost compelled to have them in stock. The American manufacturers should become better acquainted with this trade, ascertain who are worthy of credit, and extend it. The long voyage and delay _en route_ compel the importers to ask long credits. It is sometimes two or three months after shipments destined for this city leave the manufacturer, before they can be displayed in the store of the importer. The custom duty on about all cotton goods is collected on gross weight of the package. Great care should be taken with invoices for custom-house purposes; the goods must be described in exact phraseology of Guatemala custom tariff.”

A credit of nine months is generally asked, and this is readily granted by European merchants, but Americans usually demur at this long credit and trade is lost. Furthermore, American salesmen seldom understand the Latin nature or even the language, and endeavour to hurry sales. They want to get away by the next train or steamer, while a European drummer will cultivate his trade leisurely. In the end the sales are large enough to justify his methods and very little is lost by failures if reasonable precaution is exercised.

The conquest of what have heretofore been regarded as the unhealthful and disagreeable features of the lowlands of the tropics is now at hand. Those localities where yellow fever has prevailed and that troublesome mosquito, the _stegomya fasciata_, has heretofore held sway, will soon come into their own. The transformation that has taken place at Panama, Colon and Havana will be repeated along the whole Caribbean Shore and great and prosperous ports will take the place of the little towns which are now found. When modern methods of drainage and sanitation, sewerage, and water supply have been installed, those coasts will be the site of prosperous cities almost as desirable as those more distant from the equator.

The possibilities of life in the tropics are so favourable that an almost unlimited population can be supported. The island of Java, with an area scarcely as large as Guatemala, supports a population of twenty millions of people. Bangkok, the capital of Siam, located at sea level, about the same distance from the equator as Guatemala, is a city of wealth and good sanitary conditions and has a population of about four hundred thousand. These comparisons might be made in great numbers, all tending to show what capabilities of development now lie inert right at our very doors.

The Spanish-Americans have a great many good qualities which we have heretofore failed to appreciate. Americans are too much inclined to thoughtlessly criticize everything and everybody that is not as we would have it. The world would be a prosaic world indeed if all nations were alike, just as it would be if all individuals were cast in the same mould. Environment and heredity have given them different characteristics which will always prevail. We should look upon our Latin neighbours with more sympathy and aid them wherever possible, for Americans themselves, though an especially favoured people, are not perfect. The Spanish-Americans have an innate courtesy which is sadly deficient in our own land, and they admire Americans, but they resent that superior, not-as-good-as-I attitude adopted by so many of our people.

We assume to exercise a guardianship over the Latin-American republics. Whether the Monroe Doctrine is a good thing for those countries or not depends upon ourselves. It can be made a good measure or it may become a curse. European domination would be better than political chaos, and the Latin-Americans resent the Monroe Doctrine. It is advisable for us to study our wards. It behooves all classes, professional and business, to realize the importance of Latin America, which comprises three-fourths of the two Americas, and study her economic and political needs. In that way any barrier that may still exist will be broken down. Seventy millions of people are found among those nations and such an aggregation of people are worthy our interest and friendship.

“_Mañana_” and “_no es costumbre_” are expressions that explain two of the elements in the Spanish-American character which account for his non-progressiveness. The first is the “to-morrow” spirit—the desire to put everything off until the future. It is almost impossible to get him to do anything promptly, but it is delayed from day to day in the blandest way imaginable. It can well be called the land of “to-morrow” and “wait-a-while.” The other expression means “it is not the custom” and illustrates the adherence to usage which is so prevalent. If you attempt to do anything in a different way, and even a better way, he is not interested because it has not been the custom to do it that way with his forefathers. He meets your argument with the terse expression “_no es costumbre_” and the matter is dismissed. It is for this reason that a crooked stick with an iron point is still used in plowing, for that has been the unchanging method since “the memory of man runneth not to the contrary,” as Blackstone, the great law giver, would say. This habit makes the Guatemalan slow to adopt new devices, even though they might be a convenience and labour-saving. He is satisfied until his neighbours adopt it, and then his pride is aroused and he will begin to use the articles or adopt the new methods himself.

Guatemala will never be a manufacturing country unless coal is found in greater abundance than has yet been done. Even the fuel used in locomotives is imported, and it becomes very expensive because of long and difficult transportation. Some waterfalls exist which might be utilized to develop electric power. This would be a profitable undertaking at this time as some small factories for domestic needs always exist, and electric energy for light and electric street railway system is needed. The only factories that are now found are for the manufacture of coarse textiles, hats, pottery, foundry products and the necessary railway repairs. Pottery ware in the average home is used for flour barrels, cisterns, stoves, baths, stew-pans, coffee-pots, dishes, lamps, floors, etc. The looms in use are of the very crudest pattern, being simply two harnesses worked by the foot of the weaver, and the bobbins are wound on bamboo sticks which are shoved in and out through the web.

The mineral riches have been practically unexploited. The mining archives of the old colonial government show that during the three centuries of Spanish occupancy more than thirteen hundred mines of gold, silver, lead, copper, tin and iron were successfully worked and were a source of great revenue to both church and state, and that enormous quantities of gold and silver were taken from those mines. From one group of mines the records prove that nearly fifty millions of dollars in silver were coined besides large amounts that were shipped to Europe in bullion. From 1627 to 1820 more than thirteen hundred mines of valuable metals were discovered and worked under the Spanish domination, for that government kept an elaborate and accurate record of the mines of the precious metals. On the banks of the Montagua River a few gold mines are being worked. Judging from the few American miners I met, not all of them, at least, are getting rich out of the precious metal. Guatemala is not as highly a mineralized section as Mexico. Little scientific prospecting or exploiting has been done as yet. In Honduras several valuable gold mines are being worked, and Guatemala, sandwiched in between that country and Mexico, must contain some gold. Silver mines are being worked profitably in some parts of the country, and very rich veins of argentiferous lead have been located. Lead, tin, copper, antimony, marble of superior quality, sulphur, asbestos and alabaster have been discovered, and coal in small veins. Mining experts have reported extensive veins of all those metals, but little has been done since the establishment of the republic in working them. These mines will offer great inducements as soon as the transportation facilities are improved and new cyanide mills constructed for the thorough and economical working of the raw ores. The very isolation of the mines and difficulty of establishing communication have heretofore prevented the working of the veins already known. The small quantity of coal is a serious detriment to the development of manufactures, for fuel becomes an expensive item in manufacture. There are a number of waterfalls, however, which might easily be used for the generation of electric power for manufactures and railroads. This field remains entirely undeveloped at the present time, but it is certainly worth investigation.

Railroads are now needed more than anything else. Only four hundred miles of railroad in a state nearly as large as Illinois illustrates the difficulty of communication. For instance, the distance from Guatemala City to Totonicapan, a city of twenty-five thousand people, is only one hundred miles, yet it requires almost as long to travel this distance as it does to go from New York to San Francisco on one of our express trains. A mule path is the only road, and the average traveller will not make it in less than four days. Five hundred or a thousand miles of new railway lines would do far more to develop the country than anything else, for the telegraph and telephone would follow the iron rails. At present there are about three thousand miles of telegraph and a few hundred miles of telephone wires that spread over the country. These improvements would also go far toward establishing peaceful conditions, for they would enable the central government to learn promptly of any disaffection, and hurry troops there before the movement could become at all formidable.

Guatemala is a land of possibilities. Everything that can be raised in the temperate and tropical zones will grow here. If irrigation is provided in the _tierra templada_ there need be no unproductive season for the warm air and bright sun will propagate the seeds that are sown at any time of the year. Two crops of wheat and three crops of corn will reward the industry of the planter. Fertilizers are unnecessary, for the heavy rains of the rainy season wash down the rich soils from the sides of the mountains and fertilize the plains. The great secret is therefore for the agriculturist to adapt his cultivation to the nature of the climate and soil and his success is assured. Greater success will be realized on plantations where a colony of peon labourers is maintained, however, because otherwise it is difficult to secure labour when needed, and the farmer can not expect to do as much with his own hands as in a cooler climate. Continued peace, stability of government, construction of more railways and the investment of foreign capital are the four essential needs for the growth and prosperity of Guatemala. No one can travel through that republic, or the neighbouring one of Honduras, and note their nearness to the great markets of the world, variety of climate, wealth of natural resources and vast areas suited to profitable agriculture and not be deeply impressed.

Stability of government will come, I believe, very soon. The Spanish-American character is developing. The prosperity of Mexico and railway connections with that country will have a far greater influence in bringing about that result than any one other condition. The peace conference held at Washington in 1907, composed of prominent representatives of all the Central American republics, was a notable event, and will have a far-reaching effect in bringing about permanent peace among those turbulent states. The meetings were characterized by an earnestness of desire and seriousness of intention that were pleasing to one interested in the welfare of those countries. Already many millions of foreign capital, including about eight millions of American gold, are invested in Guatemala, and the aggregate is increasing each year. Tourists and commercial salesmen are going there in greater numbers, and each one comes back enthusiastic over the possibilities of development of that country.

Guatemala is the most important of the Central American republics and is the nearest to the United States in geographical situation. It is a short journey for the traveller in search of new and novel sights, and should not be overlooked by the merchant or manufacturer on the lookout for new fields of conquest. The near-west is just as good a field as the far-east and the exertion is less. The land is yet virgin, for the wants of the people have not been developed. The leaven is working, however, and the transition period is near at hand. It began in Mexico and is slowly working its way downward toward Panama. Its progress can be hastened by judicious and studied effort. It is not a thankless or profitless task, for the returns will compensate for the effort expended.