Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/356

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
322
GUATEMALA

proper improvements, could easily shelter a large fleet. Dis- tances from Apra are approximately: Yap, 458 m.; Manila, 1,506 m.; Yokohama, 1,353 ni.; Sydney, 3,067 m.; Honolulu, 3,337 m.; San Francisco (direct), 5,053 m.; Panama, 7,988 m. The mean average temperature is 81 F., with a mean maximum of 88 F. and a mean minimum of 72 F., but the heat is min- imized, especially during the hottest months, by a constant breeze. The chief products are copra (the only export), maize or Indian corn (introduced from Mexico many years ago and the chief food crop), rice, taro, yams and sweet potatoes, bread- fruit, plantains and bananas.

Education is in charge of a naval officer, who is assisted by a superintendent and district superintendent, as well as by 13 teachers furnished by the Federal Government. In 1920 there were 1,894 pupils of school age, 345 pupils over school age, an average daily attendance of 1,769; total number of teachers and substitutes 67, and of schools 14. The total cost of the schools to the island Govern- ment (exclusive of cost of upkeep and of four Guam Government students in the United States) was $14,500. Congress makes no appropriation directly for education purposes, but the naval station meets a part of the expenses. Instruction is in English. Consider- able advance has been made in health and sanitation work. Guam has no private physicians, and the navy furnishes all medical assistance through a corps of eight medical officers, two dental surgeons, three pharmacists, eight navy nurses, and 30 hospital corps men. The disfiguring disease gangosa is being stamped out and its effects are no longer seen except among persons over thirty. All lepers have been sent to the island of Culion, the Philippine leper colony. Intestinal parasites, tuberculosis, and various skin diseases form the greatest menace to health, while hookworms abound. The work inaugurated by the Rockefeller Institute has resulted in an improvement of sanitary conditions.

Congress has never legislated for Guam. The governor, who is also the commandant of the naval station, combines in himself all functions of government, even some judicial authority, for an appeal lies to him in almost all cases. Most of the other Government officials belong to the naval station. The law in effect is the old Spanish law as changed by the Acts of the governor. The laws are in a chaotic state and badly in need of revision. There is no legislature, but for several years there has been a so-called congress with only advisory powers. The police department is wholly native with the exception of the chief and assistant chief, who are marines. The Insular Patrol, formed of marines, has certain constabulary duties, acts as fire wardens, and aids and advises the natives in their farming and in other ways. Of the able-bodied male natives between 16 and 60, numbering approximately 3,000, some 600 are employed by the Federal or island Government, while about 400 are employed in various town occupations, leaving about 2,000 for agricultural work. An effort is being made to introduce modern agricultural methods, so that the island may become self-sustaining. Since 1916 an effort has been made to exterminate the pest of rats, and about 1,750,000 of these rodents were destroyed in 29 months. The Commercial Cable Company has a cable station with connexions to Manila, Yokohama, Midway, and Yap. In Nov. 1917 the Navy Department opened a high-power radio station. Imports for 1920 were valued at $408,263.88, and exports at $34,132.94. The United States furnished $313,212.65 of the imports and took $15,148.59 of the exports. In 1920 imported foodstuffs were valued at $147,870.74. Government receipts in 1920, $155,209.06; and expenditures, $137,205.60.

In 1914 the German raider " Cormoran " was interned in Apra harbour, and after the United States declared war on Germany was blown up by the crew. The latter were captured and interned in camps in the United States, being the first German prisoners taken by U.S. troops. All the able-bodied young men in Guam enlisted in the militia formed for the protection of the island. In July 1918 a disastrous typhoon struck the island, and in three hours destroyed all the crops and ruined many of the coconut trees. Aid was ren- dered by the American Red Cross. Since 1899 there have been 22 governors and acting governors, all naval officers.

See William Edwin Saffron, Guam (1912); L. M. Cox and others: The Island of Guam (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1917); Guam Agricultural Experiment Station (annual reports beginning with that for the year, 1910-1) ; Annual Report, Governor of Guam, 1920; Census of Guam (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1921).

(J. A. Ro.)

GUATEMALA (see 12.661). Manuel Estrada Cabrera's last election as president occurred in 1917, when he was chosen to succeed himself for the period ending in 1923. He controlled the republic for 22 years through a military dictatorship which depended upon the dense ignorance of the masses and the bitter factional strife among the upper classes. He maintained his sway by a standing army, a police force, and a secret service which suppressed and persecuted opposition. The revolt which unseated him began in 1920 with the press, which severely

criticized his monetary and administrative systems. The Government seemed impotent to repair the damage caused by the 1917 earthquake, and the press attacked the Government for its inadequacy. Bishop Pinol began to lead the people to think on social and political topics. Then the Unionist party arose, at first composed of less than a dozen intellectuals and business men, who organized in Guatemala City in Dec. 1919. Its policy was to effect by quiet means and legally a change in the system of government. Soon the party was supported by many thousands. The demand grew for the elimination of Estrada Cabrera, for strict observance of the constitution, and for restoration of popular political rights. The National Assem- bly took up the movement, which the President tried to check by force. Many were imprisoned, and reforms in elections and exercise of civic rights were denied. The reformers abstained from the use of weapons, but they increased in numbers and influence until finally Estrada Cabrera took refuge at his coun- try home and determined to shell the capital. The army went over to the opposition, and the President resigned in April 1920 in favour of Carlos Herrera, the primer designado, or vice- president. The Congress confirmed Herrera in the executive power. At the subsequent election he had two opponents, but was overwhelmingly elected for the term expiring March 1923. President Herrera, a member of a prominent family, was then about 55 years of age. He had travelled widely in Europe and the United States, and had been in 1915 a member of the Pan- American Financial Congress. He controlled an agricultural estate of over a million acres, half of which was utilized, and em- ploying modern methods and machinery. With his brothers, he was interested in banking and commerce. His governmental aims were said to include the reduplication in Guatemala of the democratic institutions of the United States. His administra- tion welcomed foreign capital, favoured immigration, and as- sisted in the development of all natural resources. The Herrera Government was promptly recognized by the leading Powers of America and Europe. It interested itself in repairing the earthquake damages, in erecting government buildings, hospitals, a national theatre, a national institute, and other needed work. The Unionist party of Guatemala favoured the Central American Union, the pact for which was signed at San Jose de Costa Rica Jan. 20 1921. The Union was declared on Oct. 10 1921, and was composed of Guatemala, Honduras and Salvador. Nicaragua refused to sign the pact. Costa Rica signed but this action was later rejected by the National Assembly. On Dec. 6 1921 a revolutionary coup d'etat overthrew Herrera and his Government; and the former president surrendered his powers to a Provisional Government headed by General Lima and General Orellana.

During the early period of the World War there was a great influx of German emissaries from Mexico, who attempted to keep Guatemala from joining the Allies. In spite of their activ- ities the republic broke off diplomatic relations with Ger- many April 27 1917, and this action was considered subsequently by Estrada Cabrera to be tantamount to a declaration of war. The territorial waters, ports, and railways of the country were offered to the United States for war uses in the common defence. Peace was declared with Germany Oct. 3 1919.

Economic and Social Conditions. The estimated pop. in 1912 was 2,119,000; in 1914 the estimate was 2,003,579, but in that year the births were said to number 76,551 and the deaths 40,878, leaving a surplus of 35,673. The estimates for the total pop. 1912 and the total pop. for 1914 are therefore probably not exact. The foreign pop. in 1912 was estimated at 12,000. The total expenditures for education in 1916 were 34,074. In 1917 there were 1,942 government schools with 54,479 pupils in attendance. The Government established the Universidad Estrada Cabrera, opened Sept. 15 1918. For 1918-9 the national revenues amounted to 110,937,325 paper dollars and the expenditures to 77,666,023 paper dollars. In Dec. 1918 the total external debt with interest was 2,301,563. The internal debt in Dec. 1916 was 135,799,843 paper dollars and 1,091,702 gold dollars. The British claims were adjusted in 1913 after a warship had been sent to Guatemalan waters, and an appeal by Guatemala had been made to the United States for assistance.

The largest crop was coffee. There were 1,500 plantations, covering 96,000,000 sq. yd. and containing 450,000,000 coffee-trees. In