"The right of eminent domain or expropriation for the benefit of grantees holding franchises is enforced. The Government also undertakes to procure uniformity in the gauge and the rails.
"The Government offers every inducement to promote the extension and development of railroads in the country. The best evidence of its policy toward legitimate and genuine capital is shown in the terms of the contract for the completion of the Northern Railroad.
"The engineering difficulties of railroad construction in Guatemala are not grave, as the lines skirt the foothills of the great agricultural regions. The immense natural resources, consisting of the products both of the tropical and the temperate climates, such as coffee, sugar, tobacco, the cereals; the vast pasturage for live stock; the undeveloped timber industries, and the unexploited mines, all open up prospects for profitable traffic."
In addition to its railways Guatemala seeks to maintain a complete system of highways or cart roads. Among the most important cart roads which have recently been built or are now under construction, are those from the capital to San Juan Sacatepequez, San Pedro and San Raymundo. There is also a cart road between Huehuetenango and Quezaltenango; one from Coban to Quiche which will join the departments of the north with the rich western section of the Republic; from Totonicapan to Quiche; that between Ovejero and Trujillo, which will place in communication the departments of Jutiapa and Jalapa; that from Tumbador to San Marcos; that from Solola to Panajachel; that from Chicacao to Nahualate; and finally the highway from San Jeronimo and Rancho San Augustin, which will join the department of Baja Verapaz with Zacapa. All these roads serve as new arteries for the development and the enlargement of commerce and agriculture and this has been the special care of President Estrada Cabrera, who has provided the means for opening, wherever possible, the necessary ways of communication.
Distances between the capital city and the principal points of the country are as follows:
| GUATEMALA TO | MILES. | |
| Antigua | 27 | |
| Chimaltenango | 36 | |
| Amatitlan | 18 | |
| Escuintla | 43 | ½ |
| Cuajiniquilapa | 42 | |
| Solola | 90 | |
| Totonicapan | 111 | |
| Quezaltenango | 120 | |
| Mazatenango | 138 | |
| Retalhuleu | 153 | |
| San Marcos | 165 | |
| Huehuetenango | 195 | |
| Santa Cruz de Quiche | 96 | |
| Salamá | 69 | |
| Coban | 126 | |
| Flores | 321 | |
| Izabal | 216 | |
| Zacapa | 126 | |
| Chiquimula | 135 | |
| Jalapa | 75 | |
| Jutiapa | 87 |
Postal and Cable Service.
The means of facilitating intercourse both among its own people and with the outside world has always been encouraged by the government of Guatemala.
The Republic is a member of the International Postal Union. It has an excellent post-office service, both foreign and domestic. Complete information is given in the Postal Code of the Republic. During the last year the number of pieces of mail received in all the offices of the Republic was nearly 5,000,000, while the mail matter transmitted amounted to 3,653,000 separate pieces. The telegraph and telephone are nationalized and are controlled and operated by the Government, though there are also some private telephone lines in the capital. The national telegraph lines have a total length of about 5,300 kilometers, 3,290 miles, and the telephone lines of 500 kilometers, 310 miles. The number of telegrams transmitted in a given year was 1,106,832. The Government is constantly constructing new lines both for telegraph and telephone service. At the present time there are nearly 200 telegraph offices and about 100 telephone offices. The rates both for telegraph and telephone messages, which are payable in Guatemalan currency, are quite moderate. A telegram of 10 words to any part of the Republic costs about 5 cents in gold. The long distance telephone service is at the rate of about 15 cents for a five minutes' conversation.