418 



GUATEMALA. 



GUTZKOW, KARL F. 



the construction of the road, receiving very 

 liberal terms from the Government. With the 

 completion of the Guatemala Central, the sea 

 route between San Francisco and the Atlantic 

 cities of the United States would be shortened 

 bv from 1,500 to 2,000 miles, and the additional 

 advantage would be obtained of an extensive 

 local trade which the Panama railway is pow- 

 erless to favor. 



A wagon road, now for a number of years in 

 course of construction, will soon open up the 

 interior to commercial enterprise, and place 

 the Atlantic port of Santo Toinas within seven 

 days of New York. This new facility, added 

 to those of the harbor of Santo Tomas itself, 

 will remove all difficulties hitherto impeding 

 the extension of trade with the Atlantic shore 

 of the republic, no small element of which 

 would be the immediate introduction of Amer- 

 ican supplies for the mines, for the rich gold 

 districts watered by the Motagua River, and 

 but two or three days' journey distant from 

 the port, are attracting considerable attention, 

 since the favorable report given of them by an 

 American mining engineer, who surveyed them 

 at the President's request. But trade with the 

 United States would not be limited to any par- 

 ticular branch. American manufactures of all 

 kinds are in Guatemala preferred to European, 

 and the demand for them will increase with in- 

 creased possibilities of transport. Some twenty 

 thousand American breech-loading rifles are at 

 the present time in use in the Guatemalan 

 army. 



Aware of the benefits to be derived from 

 immigration, General Barrios's Government 

 has taken steps to attract American settlers; 

 and a decree issued in August, 1878, offered 

 numerous and substantial inducements to for- 

 eigners disposed to engage in the cultivation 

 of certain staples of the country sarsaparilla, 

 cacao, India-rubber, etc. The decree is to re- 

 main in force for 10 years, and it may not be 

 inopportune here to enumerate a few of the 

 more important clauses thereof: Probational 

 gift of land in proportion to applicants' means 

 of cultivating it ; title to the same in perpetu- 

 ity on proof that the ground has been planted, 

 or forfeiture of right to title in the event of 

 failure to cultivate a reasonable proportion of 

 the holding within the first two years of occu- 

 pation of the same ; a premium of $50 per 

 thousand for cacao and India-rubber trees 

 planted and thriving, or of $25 for a like 

 number of sarsaparilla shrubs; no premium 

 for any larger number than 12,000 trees or 

 plants. 



The telegraph lines (the property of the 



nment), some 1,100 miles in length, with 



stations in the most important parts of the 



country, have proved a profitable enterprise. 



e gross receipts for the month of March, 



"?' We /no $ /' 92 ^ 84 ' with expenses not ex- 

 ceeding $6,345 The number of messages was 



.847, of which 3,357 were on Government 

 service. 



Public instruction, interesting details con- 

 cerning which were published in the "Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1876, continues to be the ob- 

 ject of assiduous attention on the part of the 

 Government; and it is proper here to observe 

 that of 68 recompenses of merit awarded to 

 exhibitors from Guatemala at the Paris Expo- 

 sition in 1878, where the republic made a 

 creditable display of various productions, one 

 was a gold medal for primary instruction, and 

 another, honorable mention for maps and geo- 

 graphical and cosmographical apparatus. An 

 agricultural school recently established under 

 the patronage of the Government is reported 

 to be productive of most satisfactory results. 



The establishment of a court of appeal in 

 the western department, and one of higher 

 jurisdiction in the capital, is spoken of as very 

 important, as providing means for the more 

 speedy trial of civil and other causes, which 

 have been in litigation for years. The want 

 of proper and sufficient tribunals has been 

 severely felt for many years, particularly since 

 the large increase in the population of the 

 western department, owing to the remarkable 

 development of coffee culture within the past 

 few years. The scarcity of common courts 

 and those of superior jurisdiction has been 

 such that the trials of both civil and criminal 

 cases were almost suspended. Litigants and 

 their witnesses were forced to travel long dis- 

 tances to try their causes, and often obliged to 

 submit to tiresome and expensive delays. This 

 evil has been remedied to a considerable de- 

 gree, the administration of the courts, pro- 

 vision for their establishment in outlying dis- 

 tricts, etc., having received the special atten 

 tion of the Minister of Justice. 



GUTZKOW, KARL FERDINAND, one of the 

 foremost representatives of modern German 

 literature, born in Berlin, March 17, 1811, 

 died at Sachsenhausen near Frankfort, Decem- 

 ber 16, 1878. His life was almost wholly de- 

 voted to literary activity. In 1847 he succeed- 

 ed Tieck as Dramaturg at the court theatre of 

 Dresden, a position which gave him but little 

 influence, and which he only retained two 

 years and a half. In 1862 he was appointed 

 Secretary- General of the Schiller Institution 

 in Weimar, but this position likewise, though 

 one of greater Influence, did not satisfy him, 

 as he disagreed on many important points 

 with the Council of Administration. He fell 

 for a time into a state of deep melancholy, and 

 in a fit of insanity made an attempt upon his 

 own life at Friedberg in 1864. He recovered, 

 however, after a while, and a "Gutzkow ' 

 Fund " which was established at this time, and 

 to which the first theatres of Germany con- 

 tributed, assured him of his continuing popu- 

 larity. Gutzkow frequently changed his place 

 of residence. During his youth he lived in 

 Berlin, Munich, Frankfort, Hamburg, Dresden, 

 and Weimar. After his recovery from the at- 

 tempt upon his life he resided in succession in 

 Yevey, in Kesselstadt near Hanau, in Bregenz, 



