Guatemala

by William Tufts Brigham

The organic law of Guatemala is the Civil, or Roman. The code is the result of careful study and adaptation to the needs of the country, and not the result of the tinkering of village Solons and the decisions of wiseacre judges, as is that heterogeneous mass, amorphous and illogical, the common law. Wherever especial needs have arisen, the code has been supplemented by decretos conforming to the system. The judiciary is appointed, and the members hold office for four years. It cannot be denied that some of the lower judges are not always men of considerable legal attainments; but it will be remembered that they do not usurp the legislative function, as is too often the case with judges under the common law.

Although the country is of the Roman Catholic form of religion, the Constitution allows full liberty of worship to other sects, within their respective churches, but forbids acts subversive of public order, or which might invalidate any civil or political obligations.[45] Notwithstanding this liberty, there is, I believe, but one Protestant congregation worshipping in the republic. It seems that the offices of religion are used most by women and by the dying. Guatemala certainly cannot be called a religious community. The ruined churches, crumbling to dust and serving only as cemeteries of the dead, are monuments of a departed worship. Perhaps some day a purer religion may rebuild these fair temples and call within their walls all the Guatemaltecan children of the Great Father, to be refreshed with new life and courage.

In sad contrast with the religious life of Guatemala is the military vigor. It is difficult to obtain the exact statistics of the army, even in a time of peace; but it is said that the standing army numbers twenty-five hundred rank and file, with eighty jefes and two hundred and fifty-three other officers, while the militia, including all males not physically exempt, between the ages of eighteen and fifty, amounted in 1883 to 49,835 men. Under control of the War Department are the police, street-lighting, and the Polytechnic School. While it is possible that the army does not cost so much in proportion to the population as in some of the other Central American republics, it is nevertheless a terrible drain upon the resources of the people, apart from the bad moral effect of a military life, as seen in all history. May the time soon come when this beautiful republic shall throw off the incubus and devote all her energies to the development of her vast resources!

I pass to a more agreeable theme, the foundation-stone of a republic,—public instruction. On Dec. 13, 1879, President Barrios by decree established the present excellent system of compulsory and gratuitous elementary education. Under this in the primary schools are taught reading, Spanish, knowledge of objects, writing and linear drawing, geography, history, morals, and politeness.[46] For those who wish to go beyond these elements, equally gratuitous facilities are afforded for learning Spanish grammar, book-keeping, elementary natural history, geography, and history of Central America, and some other branches (complementary).

In 1883 there were in Guatemala eight hundred and fifty primary schools, divided thus,—for boys, five hundred and forty; for girls, two hundred and thirty-six; mixed, sixteen; artisans’ evening-schools, forty-seven; a Sunday-school for workmen, one also for women, and nine complementary schools. The attendance at these schools was 39,642 pupils, 27,974 males and 11,668 females; there were 735 male teachers, and 302 female teachers, while the cost was $241,499.14, or $6.09 each pupil. These schools, scattered all over the republic, meeting sometimes in old convents or other confiscated church buildings, sometimes in the cabildo or in buildings especially provided, are visited and inspected frequently by suitable persons appointed by Government, who do the duty laid upon them far more intelligently than most of the New England school-committee men,—I have had experience of both.

Teachers’ institutes are held in three places each year in November, and the teachers are expected to attend and gather what new matter or interest may be provided for them. As the Government appoints the teachers, it is responsible; and I believe there is a general care among these teachers to keep well up to the requirements. Wisely, the schools are not overloaded, as are those in many Northern cities, with every conceivable subject; but the aim is to give every child the beginning of an elementary education, which he can, if circumstances permit, greatly expand.

There are also fifty-five private schools, with 1,870 pupils costing $84,154, of which the Government pays $4,944.

The secondary instruction is given in several high schools or academies, of which the most important is the Instituto Nacional, Central de Hombres, in the City of Guatemala. The spacious buildings, formerly church property, well accommodate the physical and chemical laboratories, the meteorological observatory (the most complete in Central America), the zoölogical museum, mineral cabinet, and lecture-rooms, while within the courts is a good zoölogical garden. Besides the numerous class-rooms and offices are commodious dormitories provided with iron bedsteads and kept in very neat order. The corps of instruction consists of a director and twenty-seven professors, and in 1883 there were two hundred and fifty-three boarders, and one hundred and thirty day pupils, with twenty-three pupils in the normal department, and eleven free pupils. The day-pupils pay a matriculation fee of $10 annually, and $3 for an examination in each course. The institute costs $19,839.00, or $180.75 for each boarder, and $105.30 for each day-pupil. I have examined the work of the pupils, and found it very creditable, quite equal in many respects to that of the boys in the Latin and high schools of Boston. The girls are not neglected, although their instruction does not proceed to the extravagant lengths common in the eastern United States and in England, where the endeavor is made to train the female intellect to the standard of the male, and so wholly unfit for the privileges of matrimony and maternity the unfortunate girls who are subjected to such training. The Instituto de Belen, Central de Señoritas, has a faculty of one preceptress and ten female teachers in charge of one hundred and twelve pupils, costing the nation $78,000. This school occupies an extensive building, with suitable cabinets and a gymnasium. A kindergarten is attached to this school.

In Chiquimula is the Instituto de Oriente, with one director, six professors, and thirty-three boys, nine boarders, and fourteen day-pupils. More important than this is the Instituto de Occidente, in Quezaltenango, with a director, twenty-two professors, and two hundred and twenty-one pupils. Cabinets of minerals and other natural objects, a chemical laboratory and a meteorological observatory, help in the instruction. In the same city is a similar school for girls, with a preceptress (directora), eleven professoras, and eighty-two pupils.