296 
GUATEMALA. 
purer religion may rebuild these fair temples and call 
within their walls all the Guatemaltecan children of 
the Great Father, to be refreshed with new life and 
courage. 
In sad contrast with the religious life of Guatemala is 
the military vigor. It is difficult to obtain the exact 
statistics of the army, even in a time of peace; but it is 
said that the standing army numbers twenty-five hun¬ 
dred rank and file, with eighty jefes and two hundred 
and fifty-three other officers, while the militia, including 
all males not physically exempt, between the ages of 
eighteen and fifty, amounted in 1883 to 49,835 men. 
Under control of the War Department are the police, 
street-lighting, and the Polytechnic School. While it is 
possible that the army does not cost so much in propor¬ 
tion to the population as in some of the other Central 
American republics, it is nevertheless a terrible drain 
upon the resources of the people, apart from the bad 
moral effect of a military life, as seen in all history. 
May the time soon come when this beautiful republic 
shall throw off the incubus and devote all her energies to 
the development of her vast resources ! 
I pass to a more agreeable theme, the foundation- 
stone of a republic, — public instruction. On Dec. 13, 
1879, President Barrios by decree established the present 
excellent system of compulsory and gratuitous elemen¬ 
tary education. Under this in the primary schools are 
taught reading, Spanish, knowledge of objects, writing 
and linear drawing, geography, history, morals, and po¬ 
liteness. 1 For those who wish to go beyond these elements, 
1 “ Lectura, nociones practicas de la lengua patria, conocimientos deobjectos, 
escritura y dibujo lineal, geografia e historia, moral y nrbanidad.” 
