15 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14. 



MORNING SESSION. 



President Sykes: We have with us this morning Mr. James E. 

 Downing, who is connected with the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington, under our "Uncle Jim," as we call him. He is going 

 to give us an address on "Cattle Raising in Central America." 

 You know we had him before us last year, and we all enjoyed his 

 address exceedingly, and I am sure we will appreciate this address, 

 because Central America is a country that we don't know much 

 about. I now have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Downing. 



THE CATTLE INDUSTRY OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 



BY JAMES E. DOWNING. 



To give you a more comprehensive and intelligent view of Central 

 America, it will be necessary for me to digress somewhat from the 

 subject assigned, and explain the conditions surrounding the industry 

 which you are most interested in knowing about. The one thing that 

 strikes the American who visits this country is the appalling lack of 

 advancement in all lines of civilization. And this is a country older than 

 our own. It is not confined to any one section, but exists throughout, 

 from the Mexican border to the Panama canal. What is true of one 

 is practically the story of another. However, it will not be practical 

 for me to attempt to cover the entire country, in an explanation, but 

 Spanish Honduras will be taken as an example as applying to the whole. 



Sixty years before Jamestown was laid out, and one hundred years 

 before Peter Hudson sailed up the Hudson river, Honduras enjoyed 

 thriving towns and villages. It was in the beautiful land-locked harbor 

 of Truxillo, that Columbus landed on his third voyage to this country, 

 and in the plaza square there is a cross planted on the spot where he 

 was supposed to have knelt down and proclaimed the land in the name of 

 the king of Spain. The place enjoyed for many years the distinction 

 of being not only the oldest commercial port, but the largest traffic with 

 the country inland, on the whole Atlantic or eastern coast. This will 

 serve as an example of how early this country was settled, and with 

 its wealth of natural resources, makes all the more astonishing the lack of 

 progress in every line of endeavor. 



The countries of Central America all secured their independence in 

 1821, but the internal troubles which have followed in the wake have 

 ever been a constant menace to progress. In fact, for twenty-five years 

 there has been a never-ending strife rampant in the country, and during 



