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RESOURCEFUL CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 By JOHN BARRETT, 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF THE 
 AMERICAN REPUBUCS. 
 
 [Reprinted from THE AMERICAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS. July, 1907.] 
 

 
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RESOURCEFUL CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 15Y JOHN HARRF/I'l'. 
 
 (Director of tlic International Bureau of tlie American Republics.) 
 
 '^HE best way to understand or study any 
 section of this world which may be 
 little known is to locate it on the map clearly 
 and then make comparisons as to its size with 
 sections better known. 
 
 Central America is sometimes described as 
 all that portion of the North-American con- 
 tinent lying between the Rio Grande and 
 the Atrato rivers; the former dividing Mex- 
 ico from the United States and the latter 
 forming practically the boundary line be- 
 tween Panama and Colombia. Politically, 
 however, it comprehends the five independ- 
 ent states of Guatemala, Honduras, Sal- 
 vador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. In the 
 order named, they lie directly south and east 
 of Mexico, between the Caribbean Sea and 
 the Pacific Ocean. Salvador is the only one 
 of the five that borders solely on the Pacific, 
 or that has not shores washed by both waters. 
 
 As the average newspaper reader sees the 
 names of these republics mentioned in the 
 dispatches he thinks of them as indefinitely 
 existing somewhere to the distant south of 
 the United States. He believes that they are 
 nearer Mexico than Patagonia, but he hesi- 
 tates before he goes on record to that effect. 
 
 In fact, all these countries, grouped as 
 Central America, are so close at hand that 
 they are within a few days’ steaming N^vy. 
 Orleans, Mobile, or Galveston. They are 
 much nearer geographically to our gulf 
 coast than Panama, which, on account of the 
 advertising it has enjoyed from the canal, 
 now seems only a few hours from New York. 
 Panama, as it looks on the map, should be- 
 long to Central America, — it certainly is 
 not part of South America. Having for- 
 merly been a portion of Colombia, the greater 
 part of which is in South America proper, 
 
 it naturally has never been classed 
 
 as belonging to Central or North 
 America. 
 
 APPROACHES TO CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 A Strong influence that has worked 
 to make Central America seem far 
 away has been the necessity, in the 
 past, of reaching the different capitals 
 or principal cities either by sailing 
 from San Francisco on a journey oc- 
 
 THE INDEPENDENT STATES OF CENTRAL AMERICA, SHOWING THEIR RESPECTIVE CAPITALS. 
 
 
 *2 
 
70 
 
 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY REHIEIV OF REHIEJVS. 
 
 THE OLD MODE OF TRANSPORTATION IN NICARAGUA. 
 
 cupying from ten days to two weeks down 
 the Pacific Coast past Mexico, or by crossing 
 the Isthmus of Panama and proceeding north. 
 The physical conformation of Central Amer- 
 ica is such that the high and accessible lands 
 suitable for cities and the better classes of 
 population are much nearer the Pacific Ocean 
 than the Caribbean Sea. The shores and 
 the interior facing on the latter sea are 
 generally low, and, until recently, when 
 banana cultivation began to open them to 
 the world, they were a wild, swampy, mos- 
 quito jungle. 
 
 The few railroads have started from the 
 
 Pacific Coast and wound their way to the cap- 
 itals and commercial centers, but now rapid 
 progress is being made toward rail connec- 
 tions with the Caribbean side. Costa Rica is 
 already well provided in this respect, and its 
 beautiful capital of San Jose is easily reached 
 in a day’s ride through impressive scenery 
 from Port Limon. Guatemala hopes to have 
 its railroad to the Gulf of Honduras com- 
 pleted next fall. Nicaragua is planning a line 
 that will connect the Caribbean Sea with its 
 great interior lake, while Honduras has be- 
 gun a road that is destined to provide an ap- 
 proach on the same side to Tegucigalpa. In 
 a few years it should be possible to cross by 
 rail each Central-American country from 
 sea to sea. An era of continued peace, which 
 ought to be at hand, would see this desired 
 condition of communication soon accom- 
 plished. 
 
 COMPARATIVE SIZE OF CENTRAL-AMERICAN 
 STATES. 
 
 Very few people have a correct impression 
 of the size of Central America as a whole or 
 of its states, taken separately. California 
 seems like a large State. It extends 770 
 miles along the Pacific and has an extreme 
 width of 375 miles. If California were laid 
 end for end on Central America it would 
 cover it with the exception of Salvador, which 
 is just the size of New Jersey and occupies a 
 little over 7000 square miles. Stated in an- 
 other way, if Central America were lifted up 
 bodily and laid down on our Atlantic Coast 
 
 ONE OF THE OLD MISSION CHURCHES OF NICARAGUA. 
 
RHSOURClih'UL CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 71 
 
 A TYPICAL GROUP OF COSTA RICANS. 
 
 It would just hide all New England, New 
 York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. In 
 short. It has a combined area of approximately 
 167,000 square miles. Individually, aside 
 from Salvador, already mentioned, the states 
 could be compared as follows: Honduras to 
 Pennsylvania, 45,000 square miles; Guate- 
 mala to Mississippi, 47,000; Nicaragua to 
 New York, 49,000; Costa Rica to Vermont 
 and New Hampshire, 18,000. 
 
 Data as to the population of these 
 states are somewhat contradictory, but 
 the official figures given to the Inter- 
 national Bureau of American Republics 
 by the diplomatic representatives of these 
 countries' at Washington are here used. 
 Guatemala heads the list with 1,364,678 peo- 
 ple. Then comes Salvador, with 1,006,848; 
 Honduras, with 543,741 ; Nicaragua, with 
 423,200, and Costa Rica, with 331,340, 
 — a grand total of 3,671,807. This 
 nearly exceeds that of either Texas or Ten- 
 nessee, and is about twice that of California. 
 Such a population should disabuse the minds 
 of many persons that Central America Is a 
 sparsely settled, savage land. Of course, there 
 are considerable portions of the low lands 
 and along the seacoasts where the Inhabitants 
 are few, and even these live In most primitive 
 manner, but on the plateaus and higher sec- 
 
 tions of the Interior are cities and towns of 
 advanced civilization, with up-to-date fea- 
 tures of municipal life, and an agricultural 
 population that leaves little valuable land 
 unoccupied. 
 
 CONDITIONS OF POPULATION AND DEVELOP- 
 MENT. 
 
 It Is a surprise to the man who has not 
 studied Central America to learn that Sal- 
 vador, with only 7000 square miles, has more 
 than 1,000,000 Inhabitants. This Indicates a 
 density of population far greater than that 
 of New Hampshire or Vermont, and means 
 that there are not many “ deserted farms ” 
 for sale In Salvador ! Guatemala, with an 
 Increasing population that, since the last cen- 
 sus, has probably now reached nearly 1,500,- 
 000, cannot be regarded as a land of untrav- 
 ersed jungle, for the density of population Is 
 greater than' that of Louisiana. Honduras 
 has the largest area of unused country, with 
 Nicaragua next, but the development of the 
 banana Industry and the demand for valuable 
 timber grown In the low Interior sections are 
 destined to make every unknown part accessi- 
 ble and open to exploitation. 
 
 Too strong emphasis cannot be placed on 
 the varied riches and possibilities of these 
 five republics. Taken as a whole, they pos- 
 
72 
 
 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY RENIEW OF REVIEWS. 
 
 sess more agricultural and timber wealth than 
 mining potentialities, but they are developing 
 rapidly along all three lines in a way to 
 prove that they have not been appreciated 
 heretofore, either in Europe or in the United 
 States. 
 
 The number of recent disturbances in Cen- 
 tral America has given the Impression abroad 
 that these nations are always in a state of 
 strife, and hence that commerce and material 
 progress have little to encourage them. A 
 consideration, however, of the figures of their 
 foreign trade with the world at large, and 
 with the United States in particular, demon- 
 strates that despite warlike struggles at fre- 
 quent intervals they have time and money to 
 do a very fair business with the outside world. 
 
 CLIMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CENTRAL 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 People are always asking: What is the 
 climate of Central America; is it not un- 
 favorable to North Americans or to per- 
 sons accustomed to a temperate climate ? 
 Were the entire area of Central America sim- 
 ilar to the part along the Caribbean coast, I 
 should be inclined to speak disparagingly of 
 it, but it must be remembered that large sec- 
 tions are located either at such an altitude or 
 in such relation to prevailing winds that the 
 temperature seldom becomes too hot for ordi- 
 nary comfort, and never too cold. Even in 
 the lower and so-called fever, malarial, and 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL AT GUATEMALA CITY. 
 
 mosquito districts, it is wonderful what a 
 change can be wrought by clearing away the 
 jungle, providing good sewerage and pure 
 water, and generally developing a sanitary 
 environment. Then, the terrors of excessive 
 heat seem to disappear and the tropics become 
 a source of delight. 
 
 What has been done at Panama can be 
 duplicated everywhere in Central America if 
 the same methods are 
 employed. There is 
 hardly a depressing, 
 forbidding port of 
 Guatemala, Honduras, 
 Salvador, Nicaragua, 
 and Costa Rica which 
 could not be made 
 healthy and habitable 
 for foreigners if a well- 
 developed plan for 
 sanitation were carried 
 to complete execution. 
 This is sure to come 
 some day, with the re- 
 sult that the whole 
 so-called “ Mosquito 
 Coast ” and the re- 
 mainder of the Carib- 
 bean shore of Central 
 America will be busy 
 with prosperous com- 
 m e r c i a 1 entrepots, 
 which, in turn, will 
 be connected by rail- 
 
 THE NATIOXAL THEATRE OF COSTA RICA AT SAN JOSE. 
 
RESOUKCHFUL CENTRAL AMERICA, 73 
 
 roads with all parts of tlu* hitherto iiiipen- 
 etrahle jiiii}2,ie, as well as with the moun- 
 tain capitals and towns. In fact, 1 look to 
 see, diirinjz: the next twenty years, a trans- 
 formation in CefUral America which will as- 
 tonish the world and make it difficult to 
 realize that, in 1907, it was commonly rc- 
 pirded as a terra inco<rnil(i. 
 
 HOW' TO REACH CENTRAL-AMERICAN CITIES. 
 
 The query is often propounded to the In- 
 ternational Bureau of American Republics: 
 
 How^ does a visitor go to the principal cities 
 of Central America, and what are the condi- 
 tions of travel ? The best w'ay to-day to 
 reach Guatemala City, the capital of Guate- 
 mala; San Salvador, the capital of Salvador; 
 
 Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and 
 Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, is either 
 by the way of Panama and the Pacific or by 
 San Francisco and the Pacific, except that 
 the new rail route across the isthmus of Te- 
 huantepec may presently provide connections 
 that wdll be quicker than the route via San 
 Francisco or Panama. San Jose, the capital 
 of Costa Rica, has direct rail connections with 
 Port Limon, on the Caribbean shore, and will white house, san Salvador. 
 
 soon have a through railroad to Punta Arenas 
 
 on the Pacific Gulf of Nicoya. The port of ern Guatemala is reached through the ports 
 Guatemala City is the town of San Jose, from of Ocos and Champerico, and a railroad ex- 
 which a railroad runs to the capital. The tends from the latter place to several impor- 
 line from the Caribbean, soon to be com- tant towns of the interior. The principal 
 pleted, begins at Puerto Barrios. Northw^est- port of Salvador is Acajutla, from which a 
 
 railroad carries one, in 
 five hours, to the city 
 of San Salvador. From 
 La Libertad there is 
 a fair mountain road, 
 but it has been little 
 used since the raihvay 
 w^as completed. 
 
 The capital of Hon- 
 duras has its port at 
 Amapala, on the Pa- 
 cific Gulf of Fonseca, 
 and a good macadam- 
 ized road extends from 
 San Lorenzo to Te- 
 gucigalpa, on which 
 automobiles are oper- 
 ated. A railroad is 
 planned and partly 
 constructed to connect 
 Tegucigalpa not only 
 wdth the Gulf of Fon- 
 seca, but also w ith 
 Puerto Cortez, on the 
 Caribbean Gulf of 
 
 THE BANK OF COSTA RICA. 
 
74 
 
 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY REHIEIV OF REVIEWS. 
 
 Honduras. When these roads will be com- 
 pleted is, however, uncertain. The chief port 
 of Nicaragua is Corinto, on the Pacific side. 
 From this port, a railroad runs to Managua, 
 and thence to Granada, on Lake Nicaragua. 
 
 PRECAUTIONS FOR TRAVELERS. 
 
 The capital towns of the Central-Ameri- 
 can republics var)^ in population, but all pro- 
 vide hotels and clubs that are comfortable. 
 New’ York and Paris hostelries do not 
 abound, as there is no demand for them, but 
 unless a man is a chronic “ kicker ” he need 
 not be unhappy in his Central-American sur- 
 roundings. Whoever goes there should be 
 provided with an abundance of light cloth- 
 ing, such as white duck, brown khaki, or thin 
 flannel. He must guard against the sun in 
 the middle of the day, and should wear, un- 
 less he carries an umbrella, a pith hat or 
 some kind of sun helmet. After the sun is 
 well down, the air cools ol¥ immediately, .md 
 the nights are generally cool. Except in ♦■ne 
 higher altitudes, a mosquito net is absolutely 
 necessary, and no traveler along the coast or 
 in the low interior should be caught without 
 one. If any time is spent in this section, it is 
 
 also well to take regular doses of quinine, ac- 
 cording to one’s capacity or health, in order 
 to guard against malaria. Ordinary care 
 should also be exercised in the kind of food 
 consumed, and even more care in the kind 
 of w’ater that is drunk. 
 
 I do not wish to frighten anybody or make 
 it appear that there is any particular danger 
 while traveling in these countries. I desire 
 rather to make a few ^ simple suggestions, 
 which, if followed, will make travel and life 
 there more safe and agreeable. As to myself, 
 I can say that during many years’ residence 
 as United States Minister in different tropi- 
 cal countries of the Orient and America, in- 
 cluding a year at Panama (before it was 
 m.ade healthy and sanitary through the great 
 work of Colonel Gorgas), I never experi- 
 enced a day’s sickness from any kind of trop- 
 ical complaint. I exercised common-sense 
 care of myself, and nothing more. To-day, I 
 visit the heart of the tropics with far less hesi- 
 tation than I do New England in winter. 
 
 TRAUE^ COMMERCE^ AND FINANCIAL STATUS. 
 
 That this discussion of Central America 
 may contain some exact information about its 
 
 ONE OF THE ROOMS IN THE COVERNMENT PALACE OF HONDURAS, AT TEGUCIGALPA. 
 
RHSOURCHFUL CFNTKAL AMERICA. 
 
 ir) 
 
 SORTING COFFEE, SAN SALVADOR. 
 
 trade, commerce, and general business, the 
 latest statistics and figures, prepared in the 
 International Bureau of American Republics, 
 of which the writer is the director, are given 
 in summarized form. The total foreign 
 com.merce, exports and imports, of the five 
 republics amounted last year to the consid- 
 erable total of $56,133,000. Of this, exports 
 were $32,170,000 and imports $23,963,000, 
 or a favorable balance of nearly $10,000,000. 
 The share of the United States in the above 
 trade is interesting to note, because it aver- 
 aged about half. The total was $26,376,000, 
 of which exports to the United States were 
 $14,992,000, and imports from the United 
 States $i 1,384,000. 
 
 Taking each country in turn for the pur- 
 pose of providing accurate and specific infor- 
 mation, it is noted that the total trade of 
 Guatemala with the world is $15,082,000, 
 of which $6,844,000 are imports and $8,238,- 
 I 000 are exports. Of this, the portion of the 
 I United States is $5,582,000, divided as fol- 
 ; lows: Imports, $2,707,000; exports, $2,875,- 
 1^ 000. The budget for 1906-07 estimates the 
 
 revenues of the government at $25,000,000. 
 
 Salvador enjoys a foreign commerce of 
 $9,986,000, divided into exports of $5,640,- 
 000 and imports of $4,346,000. The share 
 of the United States is $2,580,000, with ex- 
 ports of $1,225,000 and imports of $i,355,- 
 000. The annual budget for 1906-07 esti- 
 mates the national revenues at $8,644,295. 
 
 Honduras conducts an external trade with 
 the world of $7,857,000, of which exports 
 are $5,564,000 and imports $2,293,000. 
 The United States’ proportion of this trade 
 is valued at $6,322,000, or much the largest 
 part, of which exports to the United States 
 are $4,632,000 and imports therefrom 
 $1,690,000. The last budget places the reve- 
 nues at $3,043,000. Although the foreign 
 debt is heavy, Honduras has marvelous re- 
 sources, which, developed, will enable her to 
 meet her obligations. 
 
 Nicaragua’s foreign commerce reaches a 
 total of $7,128,000, of which $3,926,000 
 represents exports, and $3,202,000 imports. 
 Of these, the share of the United States is 
 nearly half, as the total is $3,757,000, 
 
76 
 
 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY REHIEIV OF REVIEIVS. 
 
 with exports at $2,089,000 and imports at 
 $1,668,000. The annual income for gov- 
 ernment expenses is about $20,000,000. 
 Nicaragua gives every evidence of being 
 on the highway to great material progress, 
 and is offering exceptional opportunities 
 for the investment of capital in both min- 
 ing and agriculture. Great public improve- 
 ments are also contemplated that will add 
 much to the prosperity of the country. 
 
 Although Costa Rica ranks fourth in area 
 among the Central-American republics, she 
 stands a good second in foreign trade. This 
 amounted, in 1906, to the large sum of $16,- 
 000,000, of which the exports were $8,802,- 
 000 and imports $7,278,000. The United 
 States shared to the extent of about half, or 
 $8,135,000, with exports and imports, re- 
 spectively, at $4,171,000 and $3,964,000. 
 The revenue for 1906- ’07 is estimated at 
 $ 3 , 372 , 795 - 
 
 Everybody who visits Costa Rica carries 
 away a good impression and has great con- 
 fidence in its future. The banana business 
 has grown to such size that it has become a 
 decided source of wealth to the country and 
 people. Mining has not been conducted on 
 a large scale, but considerable mineral wealth 
 is believed to exist in the mountains. 
 
 PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS SOLD AND BOUGHT. 
 
 The character of the trade of Central 
 America with the world and with the United 
 States can be best appreciated by noting some 
 of the principal articles which are exported 
 and imported. Central Americans sell abroad 
 coffee, bananas, rubber, cacao, dyewoods, 
 valuable lumber, like mahogany and other 
 cabinet woods, hides and skins, rice, sugar, 
 indigo, balsam, tobaccO, and minerals. They 
 buy cotton and woolen cloth, machinery, rail- 
 way, electric and mining outfits, wheat flour, 
 drugs, and medicines, iron and steel manu- 
 factures, sacks for export of coffee and fruit, 
 canned provisions, and a host of lesser arti- 
 cles. The list is long enough to show that 
 there are great opportunities in Central 
 America for the manufacturers and exporters 
 of the United States if they will make vigor- 
 ous efforts to exploit it along legitimate lines. 
 As this trade will next year reach a total 
 valuation of $60,000,000, it should be care- 
 fully investigated by all those interested. 
 
 The principal centers of trade and indus- 
 try in Central America include Guatemala 
 City, which has 96,000 people ; Coban, 
 Toonicapan, and Quezalten^ngo, in Guate- 
 mala, with about 25,000 each; Tegucigalpa 
 
 MERCED STREET IX GUATEMALA CITY. 
 
RFSOURCIiFUL CENTRA I. AMERICA. 
 
 77 
 
 with about ,^4,0(X'), aiul C()inaya(2:ua with 
 i(),(XX), in Ilonchiras; la'oii with ()(),()() 0 , 
 (naiiada ^^’ith 40, (XX), and Maiiaj^iia with 
 25, (XX), ill Nicaragua; San Salvador with 
 ()0,(XX), and Santa Ana with 48, (XX), in Sal- 
 vador, and San Jose with 25, OCX), Heredia 
 with 10,000, and Limon with ycxx), in Costa 
 Rica. Many of these towns are also seats 
 of notable institutions of learning, such as 
 the schools of law and medicine at Guate- 
 mala City, the Institute of Jurisprudence and 
 Political Science at Tegucigalpa, the Na- 
 tional University at San Salvador, the 
 scrhools of law, medicine, and pharmacy at 
 Managua and Leon, and the schools of law 
 and medicine in San Jose. 
 
 If any one assumes that because there are 
 occasional revolutions in Central America 
 and the climate is somewhat tropical, there is 
 not a considerable element of highly educated 
 and refined men and w^omen in the chief 
 cities and towns, he labors under great error. 
 A large proportion of the well-to-do people 
 have traveled abroad and send their sons or 
 
 NATIVES OF SAN SALVADOR. 
 
 men, who are well knowm throughout all 
 Latin America and who are becoming 
 better known in the United States. The 
 society found by the visitor in the Central- 
 American capitals is always more interest- 
 ing and cultured than he expects to meet 
 before he has acquired familiarity with 
 actual conditions. Guatemala City, for 
 Instance, is a remarkable capital, with 
 nearly 100,000 people, which will become 
 a popular point for travelers and tour- 
 ists from the United States when the Pan- 
 American Railroad or the new line from the 
 Caribbean shore is completed. In fact, 
 Guatemala has a splendid future before it, 
 but the world has only recently begun to 
 appreciate its resources and possibilities. 
 Much might also be said of the conditions 
 and attractions of the other Central-Ameri- 
 can capitals, like San Jose, Managua, Teguci- 
 galpa, and San Salvador, but there is not 
 space in this brief article. 
 
 IZALCO VOLCANO, SALVADOR. 
 
 BENEFITS OF AN INTERCONTINENTAL RAIL- 
 
 daughters to the United States and Europe 
 for educational advantages in addition to 
 their home schools. Each country has pro- 
 duced writers, historians, poets, novelists, 
 jurists, doctors and surgeons, as well as states- 
 
 WAY. 
 
 No matter how many steamship lines may 
 be put in operation between the Pacific, 
 Gulf, and Atlantic ports of the United 
 States and Central America, the principal 
 
THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SAN SALVADOR. 
 
 cities and points of this section of the 
 North-American continent will never be 
 reached rapidly and by large numbers of peo- 
 ple until the Pan-American Railway .system 
 is constructed from Mexico down through 
 Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, 
 and Costa Rica to Panama. The line now 
 reaches practically to the border of Guate- 
 mala, and there are no insurmountable diffi- 
 culties in connecting it with the small systems 
 already in operation, or in course of construc- 
 tion, in these different states. If the move- 
 ment which has been so strongly urged by ex- 
 Senator Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia, 
 and which has been approved by the different 
 Pan-American Conferences, is carried to a 
 consummation, it will be one of the greatest 
 forward steps to Pan-American unity. In 
 ten years, it should be possible for a traveler 
 to start out from New York and make the 
 journey to each of the Central-American 
 capitals in comfortable Pullman trains. 
 
 For 300 years Central America was under 
 Spanish authority, beginning with the in- 
 vasion of Pedro and Jorge de Alvarado on 
 the north and Gil Gonzales de Avila on the 
 south. The former came down from Mexi- 
 co just before the latter came up from Pana- 
 
 ma, taking possession of what is now Costa 
 Rica and Nicaragua. For long years. Central 
 America was known as the Kingdom of 
 Guatemala, with governors appointed by the 
 Spanish Government. After their independ- 
 ence was consummated in the year 1821, 
 and, until 1847, these countries remained as 
 one republic. Since they separated there have 
 been various efforts to unite them again into 
 one nation, but none of these has been com- 
 pletely successful. 
 
 THE BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS. 
 
 The International Bureau of the Ameri- 
 can Republics, in Washington, which has the 
 twofold purpose of developing commerce and 
 trade and of promoting better relations and 
 closer acquaintance among all the nations 
 of the Western Hemisphere, will be glad to 
 answer any inquiries from the readers of the 
 Review of Reviews about the resources, pos- 
 sibilities, and general development of the Cen- 
 tral-American republics which maybe suggest- 
 ed by this brief description, while the able 
 ministers in Washington and consuls-general 
 in New York City of these countries are al- 
 ways ready to consider legitimate and serious 
 questions from those who may be interested.