464 



GUATEMALA. 



31, 20 per cent., this additional duty to be col- 

 lected on goods arriving by steamer from Dec. 

 15, 1885, and by sailing-vessel from Feb. 1, 

 1886. The additional 20 per cent, is to accrue 

 in cash to the International Bank, which will 

 pay with such funds the creditors of the state. 



Education. There were, receiving gratuitous 

 instruction, in 319 primary schools in the eight 

 departments of the central section of the re- 

 public in 1883, 19,272 pupils, taught by 465 

 teachers at an expense during the year of $122,- 

 698; in the eastern section there were 205 

 schools, 8,903 pupils, 212 teachers, and the an- 

 nual expense was $38,159 ; in the western sec- 

 tion, embracing eight departments, the number 

 of schools was 326, of pupils 11,647, of teach- 

 ers 360, and the expenditure $69,693; there 

 were consequently altogether 850 schools, 39,- 

 642 pupils, 1,037 teachers, and the aggregate 

 expenditure defrayed by the state in that year 

 was $241,500. Of private primary schools 

 there were 55, with 193 teachers, and 1,870 

 pupils; the expense was $84,154. 



There were five schools devoted to second- 

 ary instruction, with 707 pupils and 81 in- 

 structors, at an annual expense of $79,528, to- 

 ward which the state contributed $51,583. Of 

 professional institutes, such as law, medicine, 

 and engineering, there were four, with forty 

 professors and 133 students; the annual expen- 

 diture being $24,904. There were five special 

 schools, one being devoted to the teaching of 

 music and declamation, one to commerce, one 

 for deaf and dumb, one school of design, and 

 one in which mechanics and the fine arts are 

 taught. In these there were twenty profess- 

 ors ; the total number of pupils was 242, and 

 the aggregate expense $21,726. 



Railroads. In June the Government made a 

 contract for the building of a railroad from La 

 Antigua to a point between Palin and Amatit- 

 lan, or to either of these towns. Another con- 

 tract was made in September, for the comple- 

 tion of the Northern Eailroad of Guatemala, 

 for a term of ninety-nine years, on the expira- 

 tion of which it is to become national property, 

 with all its rolling-stock in a complete state of 

 exploitation. During twenty-five years from 

 the day it goes into operation, no other line 

 shall be allowed to be operated between the 

 capital and the Atlantic coast. The Govern- 

 ment pays the company a subsidy of $10,000 

 on every mile between Puerto Barrios and the 

 capital, in sections of ten miles, as they are 

 completed. The Government grants the com- 

 pany 4,000 caballerias of vacant lands, half of 

 which are in the department of Pet en and the 

 remainder are on the line ; all railroad material 

 to enter duty free as long as the line is building 

 and continues in operation, with freedom from 

 all taxation, and gratuitous use of the national 

 telegraphs and post-offices. 



Steamship Service. In July the Government 

 made a contract with the firm of Anderson & 

 Owen,^ agents ^ of the British Honduras Royal 

 Mail Steamship Company, to the effect that 



the steamers of this line touch three times a 

 month at the port of Livingston, the steamers 

 to take gratuitously the correspondence for 

 Puerto Cortes, Balize, New Orleans, and New 

 York, and pass free to New Orleans the agents 

 and employes of the Government. 



There was, furthermore, in July, a project 

 on foot to subsidize lines of steamers on the 

 Atlantic and Pacific, provided the other repub- 

 lics were willing to contribute their share. It 

 was estimated that monthly net earnings of 

 two per cent, could be realized on such lines, 

 if they were economically managed. 



Events of 1885. The idea of cementing the 

 five comparatively small and weak Central 

 American republics into a strong Union is by 

 no means novel, nor is it believed to be un- 

 popular. The geographical importance of this 

 narrower portion of the New World, since the 

 advent of steam and electricity, and since a 

 canal is being dug at a point where the two 

 oceans approach each other nearest, has been 

 gaining steadily, and so has its strategical and 

 commercial importance. Hence the interest 

 attaching to movements initiated to bring 

 about such Union. Central America separated 

 from Mexico in July, 1823, and a confederation 

 of the five states was formed. This existed 

 until 1839, when the federation was dissolved, 

 and each state adopted an independent gov- 

 ernment. Since then the history of Central 

 America has been written in blood. Wars 

 and revolutions have been plentiful. Bold and 

 ambitious men have risen up like mushrooms 

 in a night. They have gathered around them 

 followers as bloodthirsty and desperate as 

 themselves, and the result has been anarchy 

 and rapine. On Sept. 15, 1875, Guatemala in- 

 vited the four sister republics to re-establish 

 the Union and bring back the days of harmony 

 and prosperity. The proposition was favor- 

 ably received at first, but local considerations 

 and ambitions prevented the plan from being 

 realized. Meanwhile the master spirit of 

 Guatemala, who had been the promoter of 

 the idea, Gen. J. Rufino Barrios, President of 

 that republic, was not discouraged, but re- 

 solved to rule the country under his charge so 

 well, and raise it morally and materially to 

 such a degree of superiority, that it should be 

 a model among Spanish-American republics, 

 and in this he succeeded. 



Preparatory to his Central American Union 

 scheme, and in order to prevent, as he thought, 

 Mexican intervention, he settled the frontier 

 question pending between that country and 

 Guatemala in 1882, by making liberal conces- 

 sions. He next made friends of the Presidents 

 of Honduras and Salvador, and had interviews 

 with them. 



Under date of Feb. 28, 1885, he issued the 

 following proclamation : 



ARTICLE 1. The chief of the Eepublic of Guatemala 

 proclaims the union of Central America as one repub- 

 lic, and initiates, protects, and sustains all working, 

 operations, and movements, to effect the same, and 



