GUATEMALA. 



417 



agency in the city of San Salvador. It is rec- 

 ommended by some to organize in connection 

 with the establishment a savings bank. 



The exports for the year 1877 were of a total 

 value of $3,773, 183.74 ; comprising coffee ($3,- 

 858,956.16), cochineal ($181,693), woolen goods 

 ($115,939.20), muscovado ($28,303),hides ($62,- 

 343. 8-i), etc. These commodities were distrib- 

 uted among the various markets as follows : 

 Great Britain, $1,073,977; California, $1,037,- 

 531 ; New York, $193,252 ; Germany, $819,- 

 910; France, $311,870 ; Belize, $181,660; Cen- 

 tral America, $127,308 ; South America, $30,- 

 909. The chief sources of the imports and the 

 values of these were as follows in the same 



Er: Great Britain, $1,208,894.87; France, 

 8,162.44; Germany, $317,367.60; United 

 tes, $378,753.21. "Commerce generally, 

 in Guatemala," writes a journalist under date 

 of June, 1878, "as in all parts of the west coast 

 of America, feels the effects of overtrading. 

 "Were there more producers and fewer middle- 

 men, there would be more of the material of 

 commerce to handle and larger gains for those 

 able to handle them skillfully.'" A decree has 

 been issued by the Government granting a pre- 

 mium of four reals per quintal (100 Ibs.) of 

 muscovado sugar exported. The cultivators of 

 sugar in Guatemala have enormous difficulties 

 to contend against as compared with Peru or 

 the West Indian Islands. The price of labor is 

 so much higher than cooly labor, and the 

 freights both on land and sea are so much 

 heavier, that it is only by the most determined 

 perseverance and industry that they are able 

 to obtain a scanty recompense from their crops. 

 A privilege had been granted for a term of five 

 years to a company for the introduction of 

 machines and the establishment of factories 

 for the manipulation and perfection of manu- 

 factures from the textile plants of the country. 

 These exist in great abundance in several of 

 the departments, and the inhabitants have to 

 some extent endeavored to utilize them. The 

 concession in question is not intended to inter- 

 fere with the employment of the methods now 

 in use by the Indians and others, but rather to 

 improve and perfect them, or, so far as the con- 

 cessionists are concerned, to adopt those that 

 may be new. The privileges received guaran- 

 tee freedom from all duties on machinery and 

 materials, and also from export duties on all 

 fabrics, etc., which may be made and shipped 

 abroad by them. A concession has been made 

 to encourage the manufacture of cigars and 

 cigarettes, after the methods employed in Cuba, 

 and, with a view of exhibiting those methods 

 to the public, the introduction free of duty of 

 50 cargoes of Havana tobacco is permitted. 

 These different concessions are made as aids 

 to the development of the industries of the 

 country. 



There now seems to be little doubt that Gua- 

 temala will shortly have a line of railway trav- 

 ersing the republic from the Caribbean Sea to 

 the Pacific. Toward the end of the year it 

 VOL. xviii. 27 A 



was reported that the work on the road was 

 actively progressing. To encourage the enter- 

 prise, the Government is said to have offered 

 a cash advance of $210,000, payable in sums 

 of $25,000 on every three miles during the 

 progress of the work, and to guarantee to the 

 stockholders an annual profit dividend of 12 

 per cent, on a fixed cost of $1,000,000. Loco- 

 motives, rails, etc., were expected to arrive 

 from the United States during the month of 

 January, 1879. Track-laying, ballasting, etc., 

 were to commence as soon as the rails and ties 

 were on the ground. A force of Chinamen 

 from California was to perform that part of the 

 labor. The rates of wages paid to laborers on 

 the railroad in the coast section are consid- 

 erably higher than those current on sugar or 

 coffee estates. Six reals per day is allowed 

 them, with rations, etc., while on the estates 

 men receive but three reals. It was intended, 

 however, when the works should be completed 

 to Naranjo, to reduce the wages one half. It 

 was understood that about March, 1879, a pre- 

 liminary survey would be made between Es- 

 cuintla and the capital, to ascertain the proba- 

 ble cost of completing the railroad to the latter 

 city, and strong inducements were held out to 

 the company to build the extension to the cap- 

 ital. Two routes are proposed. One is by 

 Antigua, and has the advantage of passing 

 through a fertile and populous country, whose 

 products are sugar and coffee, while the other 

 and the easiest route is via Amatitlan, skirting 

 the shore of the lake, which it passes on the 

 southeast side, and thence up through the val- 

 ley on a gradual ascent, until the plateau upon 

 which the capital stands is reached. The first 

 route will be doubly more expensive, as there 

 are several ridges to surmount, and one or two 

 rivers to bridge, but in a business point of view 

 is preferable to the other. On the Amatitlan 

 route no serious difficulties are encountered, 

 and the work would be comparatively an in- 

 expensive one, which should yield a revenue 

 to the company, besides being a vast service to 

 the country. Though the name of the line is 

 the " Central Railway of Guatemala," it is 

 very commonly spoken of as the " San Jos & 

 Escuintla Railroad," from the names of the 

 two towns which will be the termini of the 

 portion now in process of preparation. The 

 grading through the mountain passes between 

 Escuintla and Guatemala City will be a formi- 

 dable undertaking ; but the sound financial 

 condition of the country, thanks to the policy 

 of President Barrios, will enable the Govern- 

 ment to secure an admirable road-bed on the 

 most economical terms, and with the greatest 

 possible dispatch. The line is already looked 

 forward to as one of material advantage to 

 American shippers, particularly those sending 

 merchandise from San Francisco, between 

 which port and several of those of Central 

 America there is a brisk and ever increasing 

 traffic. Indeed, it is affirmed that more than 

 one Californian firm has advanced material for 



