Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, September 28, 1916, Page 13

No Longer a Haven of Refuge for Fleeing Defaulters — Honduras Now Has Extradition Treaty With United States — One Man, an American, Is Immune. Gen. Lee Christmas and the OId Louisiana Lottery” Mansion. Spanish-Honduras Fill- ed With Men to Whom Big Adventures Are as the Little Things| of Every-Day Life.| Economic Conditions. Trade Opportunities.| Country Is Rich in Minerals — Railroad Graft — Magnificent Waterways — The[ Town of Puerto Cor- tez and Its Splendid! Harbor — Prohibition Among the Bay Island- ers—The President of Honduras. BY WINGROVE BATHON. Special Corespondence PUERTO CORTEZ, Spanish Hondurass ~ ; IVE out of every ten men in the United States probably belleve tr if a defaulting bank cashiers want to go somewhere | in a hurry he heads for this place. That Is.a mistake. It used to be true, but it is 50 no longer, for Spanish Hon- duras extradition treaty with the tates—which excepted, when it was signed, one citizen of th United States resident in this country— d it has every other attribute of twen- tieth-century _elvilization. except rafi- roa Tt one of the greatest mining and| agricultural countries of Central Amer- ica. its surface hardly scratched by the pro or and investor, and, notwith- stan the romantic stories that 1d of piracy, smuggling and with Puerto’ Cortez as_their Honduras is enjoying b a prospect of prosperity as the t of the labors of Dr. Alberto Mem- | has ar ng been t have rmer minister to Washington, | Dr. rtrand, to whom Membr t returned the president To these names must be added that of Lee Christmas, a New Orleans citizen of the United States, who is now .a brigadier | general on the reserve list of the Spanish | Honduran army, and who resides at Puerto Cortez in the old n‘fin.‘dnn¥lhe‘ largest and best house in the place— | which was erected for the offices and | home of the old Louisiana lottery when the gambling scheme was expelled from the United. States. It was Lee istmas, perhaps the most | famous of ail the Central American fili- | busters, who was asked by Bonilla, the | leader of the last revolution, to become efe militar’—chief of military opera- tions—of the revolution, and every one in | | from_the heart of Tre PLazA At TRGUCIGATRA., Tie CAPITAL OF Seanist HONPURAS - from justice to Spanish Honduras when there” was no extradition treaty be- tween this country and the United States. But no faithful record of pres- ent day conditions in Spanish Honduras can be written without some of the romantic details im regard to them, for they are bound up in its history and in_its present day life. The first Anglo-Saxon white man on whom I Jaid eyes as our ship docked at Puerto Cbrtez was Gen. Lee Christ- mas, in a white undress uniform, with an_automatic revolver peeping from under his blouse. The last time I had een him was when he was in Wash- ington having hard luck in getting built a number of aeroplanes the Guate- malan government had asked him to purchase. Just before leaving the United States that Central American rumor factory—of which no human being ever knew the headquarters, but which always has some very dull axe to grind—was reporting Gen. Christ- mas’ presence and alleged activities on the Mexican-Guatemalan border. Well, he wasn't there and he isn’t there. He is in Puerto Cortez raising pineapples and standing on the dock on ship days to get the latest news from home, and to be of service to visitors all day long in the broiling sun The second Anglo.Saxon white man I laid eyes on as our ship docked at Puerto Cortez was the man alluded to in the first paragraph of this article— the Burke who was known to our fathers and grandfathers as being a fugitive from justice in the United States, and who, when the Honduranean authorities signed an ex- tradition treaty with the United States was expressly stipulated by them as being exempted from its provisions. He, too, comes down to meet the ships from home at the dock, formally salut- ing the passengers, and being highly and respectfully regarded _throughout the length and breadth of this notable figure, patr baired and_white whiskered, he seats hi Self on a hand car upon which has be placed a cane upholstered bench, Puerto Cortez is pi pelled by two native ser standing at his rear down the railroad tracks which run a long way out on the dock, there to ‘How-do” to the people from home. say 3 Grave, unsmiling_ and dignified, in the white linen dress which is the white ma distinguishing garb in_the formally salutes the white ing nothing to say. Lonely? ‘ What stories could be written of the exploits of these people! Of others, too, r in the streets of this port, one inest natural deep water ports in among them three smug: who smile in a complimented man when they are congratulated upon the speed of their boats, and who have made half a million dollars each. * * * famil of the the worl For Spanish Honduras Alled with men to whom big adventures are as the little things of everyday none more so than the young engineers who come from the United States to superintend t} electrical plants and machinery of a New | York and Honduras mining company, a concern which is building up the country so far as it can be built up without raf Spanish | | | I | | republic 3 | made more jduranean with whom I talked declares that tr untry will be found to be an undeveloped gold mine. The whole country is rich in minerals, and but two companies have So far en- avored to develop it. Because of the Jk of communication except by mule k and pack train this country is the least developed of all the Central American republics. } Within the last few years the govern- ment has improved the road from San Lorenzo to Tegucigalpa, the capital, a distance of 300 miles. Over this an auto- mobile transportation company is now | operating machines, two trips a week. | | | | This carries mail for the government nd passengers., and there are several arge trucks to carry freight. Many Honduraneans believe that the auto- mobtle truck line will prove to be the future transportation system of this mountainous country rather than the railroad. * * in railroad companies, in fact, | are unpopular in Spanish Honduras, for | the reason that some time ago a great | bona issue was authorized by the gov- | ernment to build a railway. Bonds were | so1a, fifty-seven miles over level lands | ilt, but it was eventually found >rrupt men pocketed nearly ‘$1,- a for a road that should ve cost more than $30,000 a mile. ucigalpa, the capital, 250 miles Puerto Cortez, with a population ia has about fifty automo- Shares were b | that 000,000 mile a n 5 “WitH INDIAN PUPILS AND u fool! That is the wife of the n minister. Hush, or I'll shoot Ame you! Spanish Honduras has other com- munities, very attractive in their_way, among them the town of San Pedro Sula, which has, payed sidewalks and electric lights and which is approached through a tropical jungle in which re- side many interesting types of the natives descended from the Indians. Also, other interesting towns are Tela (pronounced “Tayla”) and Ceiba. Tela is almost an American town, for here are big plantations, a great hospital, a wireless station, and—be- lieve it or not, as you will—a base ball diamond, the thing that is destined to drive the horror of buli-fighting out of its few r ning strongholds in Cen- tral Americ * * % Magnificent waterways abound | throughout the republic, especially Iswiftiy flowing streams which can be “harnessed” for cheap electric energy in a country whete coal as weffas wood is scarce and high priced It is around Puerto Cortez, however, that most of the interest and romance of Spanish Honduras hovers. There is no need to go into its history, for the name of Cortez suggests an inspiring | flood of reminiscence. Today it is a | place of squalor, of wooden shacks, of | pestilential swamps trickling or refus ing to trickle across the one long street. In its stores—a few, which A Amerrean % et Tyx 01D Loursiana forrery House, Ar PusrTO CORTLZ, ’———"—"——'———'SX;ANJSH}E;NWW ASTr Loowrs c centavos, Guatemalan dos reales, British Honduranean 5 cent pieces and American $5 gold pieces. The Britlsh cruiser Sidney Is sta- tioned in these waters, and every once in a while, when there is shore liberty, there js a flood of the good old British sovereign. For Puerto Cortez is an old and famous port, the world gver with deep water beside a dock actually less than twenty-five feet from the shore, and before the war ships came here, bringing strangers from many lands. * * % But one of the most interesting things about this shack-like city, which a breath of fire or a waye of pestilence would wipe away again in a moment, as the sword of the conqueror has done so often in the past, is the old mansion in which the Louisiana lottery shelter- ed Gen. Early and Gen.. Beauregard when those leaders of the Confederacy lent their names to the scheme after it was thrown out of the United States. As the guest of Gen. Lee Christmas the writer was entertained here, un- able to find the traces of elegance of which Mr. Richard Harding Davis wrote when he visited the place years ago. The big wheels he saw in the great parlors, ready to grind out numbers which should spell fortune for millions of fools in the United States, are now |moldy and rusty in a shed back of the mansion, and beside them, in a great chest, losing its hinges and open to the found some of the most beautiful boats in the world, built by the natives of the bay islands, nearby, the descendants of the British buccaneers of the Carib- bean. Swift-winged ard graceful, on long flowing lines, they bring their smuggled goods in and out of Puerto Cortez, hunting for champagne on the Central American coast, which New Or- leans dealers gladly pay $60 a dozen for, plus the duty which Uncle Sam ex- acts (and sees that he gets, unlike some venal Central American officiels). * * ¥ This search of the Central America for champagne and other valuable wines is another out- growth of the war in Europe, and if the Bay Islanders can smuggle it in “Mr. President, we do not allow liquor sin, but rather their right, through hundred of years of custom. But drink themselves they will not, nor will they permit ome ‘drop of liguor in their Islands. Not long ago the President of Hon- duras resolved to pay these islanders a visit of compliment. After a dusty, hot day, he suggested that he could relish a real drink. He was taken aside and politely told: “Mr. Presiden, we do not allow liquor in these islands. It has been the cause of too much misfortune. We thought you knew that, and frenkly, if the Is- danders hear Of your request we fear they will be shocked.” Caribbean ana I-_—‘_*_J Topay. be made the tool of ambitious pol cians, for it was predicted, in Central American style of former days, that when he assumed the presidency dur- ing the temporary absence of Dr. Bert- rand he would decide not to let zo when the time came to yvield the office back to Bertrand. The politicians tried to swell his head, but he laughed at them. * * % Here are his latest words on the political and economic situation of the country: “To establish a national government it is important that the public service be confined to persons who are honest, competent and of good will, whatever may be the party with which they are afliliated. The true Honduranean loves progress and does not cling blindly to the past. During my administration I could not do better than to conserve all the good my predecessors realized— and to begin one other work that is without prejudice to the public serv- ice. I started the construction ef a highway to Potrerillos, the first station on- the National Railroad of Honduras. Thus the time may ceme when we may go in automoblles from the Atlantic to the Pacific. “Moreover, by this work we add to the value of the lands of the valley of Comayagua and to that of other land the products of which will be sold in the towns of the north coast that are now supplied by importations from the United States.” When Burope shall roads in_a mountainous region. biles of the trip from Puerto|have the concession to do so—one may | weather, are millions of the little num- | “My fear,” the president grimly re- |turn to the peace so desired by all we entral America with whom the writer | There is a prospect of the extension of | Cortez must be made by mule back.|buy postage stamps, but not in the [bered paper slips which were used in [sponded, “is that they will ot be near- |shall arrange our foreign debt, because talked says that it was due to Gen.|the railroad from Puerto Cortez to La|Sentinels are stationed outside of the |post office. At that governmental [the lottery, each wrapped in a little |1y as sgnuch shocked as T am.” we can then count with some assur- Christmas' sirategy that the revolution Pimiento, and on hey®d this are great,|capi to report the approach of|agency you may mail a letter, but if |black paper tube, molding:fnto decay. These are€ the outward and visible |ance on what to offer to creditors, and was successful in 1911, ending in a con-|rich plateaus suitable for grazing lands, | strangers. One day a native soldier, on |You want to buy stamps you must take | The great old house retains traces of |signs of Spanish Honduras today. |after that arrangement we may even vention of the opposing factions signed | where fortunes can be made in cattle. | this duty, espied what to him was a|the money to the one place i Puerto | its former beauty, In a grove of cocoa- [ Every one admits that the country has | be in condition to undertake in a de- in the harbor of Puerto Cortez on board | Household and agricultural implements | curious sight, and he reported, at the |Cortez which is trusted to hand | nuts, bananas, palims, palmettoes and |made great progress during the tem- |clded manner the continuation of our the United States gunboat Tacoma. _At|are wanted in Spanish Honduras, and so|top of his voice in great excitement: |government money—the custom | syringa. It been used of late|porary presidency or Dr. Alberto Mem- |interoceanic railroad. any rate, there has been peace in Spanish | are electrical appllances for cooking, in| “Here comes a white woman riding| In its stores, too, you wi | vears as a hotel, but is now Gen. Christ- | breno, Who is to return to Washington | “These truly national works are not Honduras for some time. Ylew of the trightfully high cost of wood, |like a_man. She is pretending to be a |change coins of many countries—Chil- | mas’ home, and 1t is the only place that |as minister in May or the first part of | beyond our resources. For them we This is not particularly a story of |but railroads are wanted more than a man. Shall T shoot?” |ean dollars, Uruguayan 50 centesimo |is anything like cool in the tropical,|June. need peace, perseverance, and, above revolutions or piracy or smuggling, or | thing else. ¥ “Hush, vou fool!” his officer hissed, |pieces, _Salvadorean cinco centavo |broiling and sizzling town. He has greatly endeared himself to |all, unity. That is the most we expect lotteries or of those who absconded | When communication throughout the [as he took a look through his glasses. |pieces, British shillings and sixpences, | In the harbor of Puerto Cortez are [the people by not allowing himself to |and hope from our compatriots.” oo oo Mrs. George Thacher Guernsey of Kansas Tells of the Western Woman’s Ideals of Public Service — She Has Done Big Work in} Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution — Has Taken Active Part in Marking the Old Santa Fe Trail in Partner- ship With Her Hus- band. ROM the western portion of this country come its most valuable ores, and out of the west have stridden some of the strongest men of the lJand—men with broad, fear- less, virile ideas, typical of the expan- sive territory wherein they have been reared. The women of the west have brought to their sisters in other parts of the Union the same big viewpoint as its men. A representative western woman is Mres. George Thacher Guernsey of Kan- sas, whose home town, Independence, bespeaks the nature of its citizens. Tt was characteristic of Mrs. Guernsey that when her friends in the National Society of the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution, recognizing her abil- ity as a leader and mentioning her name a8 a candldate for nomination as presi- dent general, broached the subject to her she weighed the matter carefully for a time, then gave direct consent to stand as a candldate. If she wins the election it will be the first time woman has led the force of a hundred thousand Daughters, who are accom- plishing a great work in the preserva- tion of the historic memorials of this country. Mrs. “Guernsey is a true American, coming from pioneer stock of the best type. Her maternal great-grandfather, Anthony Jacob Henkel, came from Ger- many in 1717 to help in founding the Lutheran Church in America, and_her ernal great-grandfather was Rev. John Mitchell, who came from England in 1763 and preached the Gospel in this country for forty years. Since then many of her forbears have been prom- inent in evangelistic work in America. Her own father, the late Rev. Daniel P. Mitchell, went west during the civil war to organize the Methodist Church in what his daughter described as “that seething mass known as ‘Bleeding Kan- sas’” There was not a Methodist church in the state he did not help to start, A family of girls and boys grew up in t ethodist household under the best auspices for character develop- ment, each one taking hold of assign ed or chosen work with characteristic ability and energy. A sister of Mrs. Guernsey, the late Mrs. J. M. Kellogg, became the first woman lawyer in the state of Kansas, if not in the entire west, and when her husband was at- torney general for the state his wife became assistant attorney general. ‘Their son, Vernon Kellogg, member of the faculty of Leland Stanford Uni- yersity, and collaborator with Presi- dent David Starr Jordan in authorita- tive works on evolution, evinced the that a true western | | family aptitude for public service and as but lately returned from.Europe, vhere he did notable work for the re- lief of the Belgians, taking the place of Mr. Hoover when the latter was in_ this country. Mrs. Guernsey brother is Rev. Charles B. Mitchell, pastor ot St. James® Church, the largest Methodist congre- gation in Chicago, while another sister took up art as her life profession and is now one of the instructors in that branch in the Kansas State Normal School, Mrs. Guernsey at sixteen en- tered 'the fleld as breadwinner by teaching school and becoming in_time principal of the High School of In- dependence. The cause of equal suffrage found sturdy support in the Mitchell family, and one of thelr warmest early friends was Susan B. Anthony, who made her home near them in Leavenworth, and whose progressive views were shared in by old and young in this active par- sonage. Miss Anthony and Mrs. Kel- loge were the pioneer woman suf- fragists in the state of Kansas. Mrs. Guernsey's early marriage with an ambitious and energetic young bank clerk resulted in her transferring her active part in the instruction of youth, although never her interest, into pure- 1y~ philanthropic channels expressed through civic and state work. This in- terest was evinced by her service of several years as chairman of the board of education of her home town. * * * Characteristically a woman of the west, she Interested herself in her hus- band’s profession—became, in fact, his business companion and partner—and has contributed her full share to the success which came early and rapldly through good business Insight and en- terprise, and has placed the Guernseys among the wealthy citizens of their state. Asked recently what were among the radical differences between the eastern | and the western woman's ideals of pub- | lic service, Mrs. Guernsey said: | “The castern and the western women | are radically unlike in their point of view. I will make no comparisons, but | I will tell vou what I have observed as | among the marked characteristics of the western woman. She is essentially a woman of breadth. “In Kansas and in other western states where we have suffrage the man, as a matter of course, discusses politics with his wife exactly as though she were a man. This gives her a mascu- Mne grasp of political situations, and politics are as frequently a subject of women’s conversations with us as our domestic problem: “The western man, with his wife on an equal plane in politics with himself, naturally talks of his business with her, and she as naturally acquires his viewpoint in business matters, so that very frequently they are In reality business partners in all but name. The western woman prides herself on being of all assistance possible to her hus- band, gaining quite as clear an insight into his affairs as he himself holds. My husband and I are partners in business and partners in all our civic and other public service endeavors. I help him in his affairs and he helps)| me. Our two children have grown up with that ideal, and have been trained to take a big, broad outlook on life and | its affairs. Our young grandchildren are consequently being trained along the same lines, and I regard them as very good types of western children. * * * “I think that the weStern woman's broad view is largely influenced by her surroundings. One cannot be born and look out all her life over the boundless prairies and take a small view of any- thing. As the actual horlzon is spread wide before the physical eye, so the prairie dweller sees things in their greatest aspect. I believe that in all |the tra the relations of life this physical as< pect of her country tells upon the western woman's attitude ~toward events great and small. She.is as big and broad In her viewpoint as her wide-rolling prairies have taught her to be.” As Kansas state b."A. R. for nine y has led her sisters with eminent suc- cess. They look to her for help and guidance in Important matters, and it is given generously and effictently. On the national board of management she recently typified mind and manner when, as chairman of tellors, she found that voting time brought forth a vor- tex of confusion. Standing up and using the gavel effectivciy, She neither plead nor begged for order, but, with- out fear or apology, and with quiet and firm authority,” she demanded it, so that the hysterical body of women was forced immediately %o see and accede to the just demand. Mrs. Guernsey has taken a strong and active part in making the great Santa Fe trail, which is one of the largest pleces of work the Kansas D. A. R. has seen completed. Kansas was the first state to mark the old trails which brought the cast and the west together, and from this begin- ning grew the great idea of the na- tional ocean-to-ocean hizhway. Nearly 500 miles of the old Santa Fe trail ran through Kansas, and it is marked with hundreds of bowlders, shafts and tab- lets, which not only point the way of but also serve as memorials to thousands of sturdy ploneers who lost their lives when the way was forged across pralrie and desert sand. This notable work of the Kansas Datghters, begun and carried well on under a former state regent, has been brought to successful conclusion under the guldance of Mrs. Guernsev, and she is proud of her conmnection with it. Early realizing that in union there is strength, Mrs. Guernsey ‘became one of the pioneer clubwomen of her state, and formed clubs for state and civic regent rs, Mrs. Guernsey work long before clubs were federated |for this year, then for next. National Council of ~ Women, of the woman's section of the Army and Navy League, National Society of the Patriotic Women of America, vice president of the National Star Spangled Banner Association and a member of the Social Science Club of Kansss. She is_a strong advocate of good reading for the people, and such is the confldence placed in her ability in this direction that she has been chosen to select the books for the public library of her home town. She has a keen sense of values in literature and, art, and uses it for the benefit of her fellow citizens. Regarded as one of the best-gowned women of her state, and maintaining this record when she comes east to at- tend the conventions of the various or- ganizations of which she is officer or member, Mrs. Guerngey takes particu. lar pride in the fact that all her cos- tumes are designed and made in the west. While she 1s a fine business woman and takes ample time for the cultiva- tion of the intellectual and esthetic side c: her nature, Mrs. Guernsey 18 also a notably good housekeeper, order- ing her domestic affairs upon the most modern and progressive lines, so that her household machinery runs upon wheels so well olled that they are rarely to be heard. The Guernsey home is the handsomest in Kansas, and was planned and the work of construction supervised by its mistress. This state- 1y stone pile, with its pillared verandas and its artistically planned grounds, constitutes one of the show places of the state, and gives a concrete examplg, of what a clever western woman res gards as an ideal American home. e ———————————————t e e s The Rose Garden. Roses, from the time they first grew and were noticed by man, have been accorded a high place among the flow- ers. Nero, it seems, was especially fond of them and used them often as deco- rations at his far-famed banquets. Cleopatra, too, liked them, and she had the floor of her palace sometimes cov- ered with a foot or moré of rose petals. The rose was the emblem of secrecy in Rome, and one was hung suspended from the ceiling in the meeting rooms of secret societies; hence the term, sub rosa. It is, to_be sure, a bit late to start a rose garden for this year's blooming. But if it s too late for this vear It is just_time to think of next year's roses. That is one of the lovely things about gardening; It Is never too late to plan additions and changes, if not Often the those that do best in the small garden. So go to some reliable dealer and ask his advice about the sorts of roses to set out in your particular locality. You might also write to the state agricul- tural department and esk its advice about roses growing in your region. Remember that roses need plenty of room. They do not thrive when they are mixed in with and crowded by other plants or shrubs. They must be planted alone, in beds or borders, with plenty. of room between. The soil must be rich, and must be kept loosely agi- tated. Gladiolus bulbs may be planted among roses without injuring them, and 8o may pansics, but these are the only things sately planted in the ross ed. Most of the blg florists or. flower, sced and plant concerns have lists of roses suitable to various sorts of gar- dens. There are the lovely climbing roses, which should find a place wher- ever 'there are arbors or treilises on which they can be train.d. The trel- lises can be placed against the side of the house or against a stone wall at comparatively small expense. These in Kansas. She is-a member of the 'prize roses at the flower shows are not roses come in pink, white and red.