Primary instruction is obligatory, and that which is sustained by the nation is secular and free. There is no imprisonment for debt. Marriage is considered a simple civil contract; but those who desire can have it solemnized in a religious form. Absolute divorce can be obtained in cases defined by the law.
CHAPTER III. The Soil and its Riches.
The soil of Guatemala is remarkable in the vast extent and great variety of two classes of products which are unusual within the same degrees of latitude, that is, it produces both tropical and temperate staples of agriculture in great profusion. The soil grows coffee, sugar-cane, cacao, bananas, tobacco, cotton, india rubber, vanilla, sarsaparilla, and a long list of medicinal plants, while it likewise produces the cereals, wheat and Indian corn, which are only found in temperate regions, giving two and in some places three crops of these annually. There are also endless kinds of valuable hardwood, mahogany, rosewood, ebony, cedar and the like, which are especially tropical timber, and at the same time pine and oak exist in the mountain regions of the interior. Besides all this the grasses grown are especially adapted to live stock, and cattle raising and dairying are very profitable industries.
The British Consul General in an official report to the Foreign Office in London had this to say about the capabilities of the soil:
"The tropical situation of the country, the proximity of every portion to the sea on both coasts, the diversity of altitude and consequently of temperature, combine to make the agricultural capabilities of Guatemala equal to any in the world. Every kind of crop, from those of the tropical coast regions to those of the cold highlands (the latter having a climate corresponding with that of northern Europe in summer) may be raised. There are districts where even four crops of maize (Indian corn) are obtained in one year. It is a common theory that the manures are unnecessary, as the heavy rains wash down the rich soils from the sides of the mountains and fertilize the plains. The great secret is therefore for the agriculturist to adapt his cultivation to the nature of the soil and climate and his interest would be advanced by a judicious rotation of crops."
A breezy description, though an accurate one, was given of the soil of Guatemala by a correspondent of the Washington Star. Wrote this correspondent:
"Instead of my own impressions of the country I would rather give those of a North Carolina business man. He was taking the rest cure by means of a sea voyage to San Francisco and deflected his itinerary for a week's land journey. We traveled together to the capital and also made a trip to the port of Champerico over the railroad extension which has opened up new and untouched territory. It was his first view of tropical lands except from the ship's deck.
"On landing at San José the North Carolina man looked with awe and admiration as every tourist is bound to do on the dominating volcano peaks Fuego and Agua, Fire and Water. But while he never ceased to wonder at the richness of the scenery his practical instincts asserted themselves and he punctuated the information given him about climate, soil and products with keen observations. He confessed that on the vessel he thought they were 'stringing' him when they told him that the posts for the barbed wire fences just grew, but when he saw countless miles of trees in straight rows with the wire stretched along the trunks he paid his tribute also to climate and soil. He knew that naturally trees don't grow in straight rows and he found the explanation. The posts are poles cut from the trees' branches and when stuck in the ground they shoot up so rapidly that they soon are trees.
"The North Carolina observer never got over his wonder at the soil. The railroad cuts gave him a chance to see that it was not surface richness and he easily grasped the explanation. The vegetation grows to a certain height, then dies away, rots and forms fresh layers of richness. This process going on for centuries has made the fertility of the land inexhaustible.
"The utility of volcanic eruptions was new to him and was explained on the trip to Champerico. This is the great coffee region. It comes within the sphere of influence of the volcano Santa Maria. When Santa Maria was sprinkling both the sea and land with pumice stone and ashes, on many of the fincas (plantations) there was just enough of this lava soil after the rains had come and washed away the surface of the deposit to renew the productiveness."
In another way an idea of the varied products of agricultural industry can be had from an account given in the British Consular reports of a model plantation. This plantation consisted of 3,000 acres. In a given year it produced 1,200,000 pounds of coffee, 300,000 pounds of sugar, 300,000 bottles of the by-product of sugar known as aguardiente or cane rum, 22,000 gallons of milk. Two thousand head of cattle were raised. On this plantation from 900 to 1,300 laborers were employed.