Begging is common. The sight of a crowd of beggars in rags, many of them exhibiting their sores, is very repulsive. Those beggars are supported by public charity and are rarely sent away without relief.[XXIX-36]
DISEASES AND HOSPITALS.
The several states of Central America have often been visited with calamities in the form of storms and hurricanes, freshets, and fires, causing heavy losses of property, and at times of life also. Disease causes its destruction as elsewhere, and often maladies in an epidemic form have decimated the population. Fevers are rare, except on the coasts, where they prevail during the hottest months.[XXIX-37] The small-pox has on several occasions done havoc among the population. The invasions of the malady in 1851 in Costa Rica, 1862 in Guatemala and Honduras,[XXIX-38] and in 1883 in Costa Rica, have been specially recorded in those countries.[XXIX-39]
Leprosy prevailing in several parts of Central America, special hospitals have been established in some of the republics for the reception and care of persons thus afflicted.[XXIX-40] Syphilis exists in Central America, but is not so prevalent as in Mexico. In some parts laws have been enacted to regulate the social evil.[XXIX-41]
That great scourge of the present century in Europe and America, Asiatic cholera, has repeatedly invaded the Central American states, carrying vast numbers to destruction. In 1836 it desolated the largest cities, and everywhere created the utmost consternation.[XXIX-42] It again made its appearance in the early part of July 1855. A soldier died in Fort San Juan. A few days later a boat-load of cholera patients came to Granada, and forthwith the malady spread throughout Nicaragua and the rest of Central America, its heart-rending effects not ceasing in Salvador and Guatemala till toward the latter part of 1857.[XXIX-43] The disease broke out again epidemically in Nicaragua toward the end of 1866, and continued its ravages there and in Honduras in 1867 and 1868, and it appears that some cases occurred in Honduras even as late as 1871.[XXIX-44]
The several republics have provided hospitals for the care of the indigent poor, as well as other benevolent establishments for the comfort of orphans and others needing public support. There are also charitable societies affording great relief to the sick and destitute.
CHAPTER XXX.
INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT.
1800-1887.
Public Education—Early Efforts at Development—Costa Rica's Measures—Small Success—Education in Nicaragua—Schools and Colleges—Nicaraguan Writers—Progress in Salvador and Honduras—Brilliant Results in Guatemala—Polytechnic School—Schools of Science, Arts, and Trades—Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind—University—Public Writers—Absence of Public Libraries—Church History in Central America and Panamá—Creation of Dioceses of Salvador and Costa Rica—Immorality of Priests—Their Struggles for Supremacy—Efforts to Break their Power—Banishments of Prelates—Expulsion of Jesuits—Suppression of Monastic Orders—Separation of Church and State—Religious Freedom.
During the last years of colonial rule the government displayed some interest on behalf of public education in Central America. It was, however, religious rather than secular, and the consequence was that liberal ideas were not countenanced. After the establishment of the republic, and while the liberal system prevailed, this important branch was not neglected.[XXX-1] Later, after the dissolution of the confederation, some of the states, having fallen under the rule of a despotic oligarchy, were lukewarm, to say the best. Costa Rica cannot be accused of neglect.[XXX-2] In 1856 she had public schools in all the towns, supported by the government, and in the chief places others receiving aid from the municipalities.[XXX-3] The university of Santo Tomás, at San José, has chairs of Spanish and Latin grammar, philosophy, mathematics, law, medicine, and pharmacy, and confers diplomas.[XXX-4]
The efforts of general and local authorities, as well as of private individuals, for the spread of instruction among the masses were never discontinued, education being more or less under ecclesiastical control till August 1881, when it was placed under the supervision of the national executive. Thus far educational results were far from satisfactory, the statistics in November 1883 showing, that throughout the republic only 14.70 per centum of the population could read and write.[XXX-5] Nevertheless, there are many well-educated men, who received their instruction in the schools, colleges, and university, and have attained good standing in the several learned professions, and in political life.