Professional instruction, which in the United States of the North is not deemed a part of the system of free public education, is here undertaken by the Government; and four faculties are established to teach law (derecho y notariado), medicine and pharmacy, engineering, and philosophy and literature. Each of these faculties elects a dean, secretary, and four vocales who have charge of the courses of study and other matters peculiar to their branch, while the four directories (juntas directivas) form a council charged with the sole administration of the professional schools. Forty professors teach one hundred and thirty-three pupils at a cost of $24,903.96 to the nation. The law claims forty-two pupils; medicine, seventy; engineering, eleven; and literature, ten. Special instruction does not stop here, for there are also in the capital seven schools, costing $21,762.24, and teaching two hundred and forty-two pupils in the following branches:—

Music and Oratory66pupils.
Commerce50”
Design62”
Arts and Occupations55”

A school for deaf-mutes has nine pupils. The Polytechnic School is under the direction of the Minister of War, and has eighty pupils. It is interesting to note that the system of marks in use in this institution has recently been adopted in Harvard University.

While I am aware that a mere table of numbers, a census of pupils and teachers, even if illustrated with the courses pursued and the instruments for instruction, cannot convey to my readers a fair understanding of the results accomplished by the system of public education in Guatemala, I may be permitted to say that I have for six years performed with attention my duties on the school-board of one of the largest cities in the North, and my interest in the subject of education led me to examine the schools of this Southern city, with constant comparisons with the type most familiar to me; and the conclusion to which I arrived was that the system in Guatemala was excellently suited to the country and people, that the Government had done better than my own Government in the North, and if the results were not in every case all that could be desired, it was not the fault of schools or teachers. I have examined both public and private schools, containing both ladino and Indian children, and have found many well-instructed boys and girls, but never the execrable system of cramming so much in vogue at the North. I did not see the sallow, pimply, stooping, weak-eyed boys that form so large a minority of the public-school children at home. I am sure that if fewer “branches” are taught here, less ill-health results; and I am quite ready to honor good health before mere book-learning.

With some hesitation, I add to the means of education the modern newspaper. Before the election of Barrios there were but two official publications of this class,—“La Gaceta” and “La Semana,” both proceeding from one pen, and the journal of the Sociedad Económica. Now there are in the capital four printing establishments, and the list of publications is a very respectable one. The official “El Guatemalteco” presents four times a week all official announcements, including the text of all public grants or contracts,—a plan which must place a check on extravagance or improper favoritism. “La Estrella de Guatemala,” an independent daily; “Diario de Centro-América,” “La Gaceta de los Tribunales,” twice a month; “La Gaceta de los Hospitales,” monthly; “El Horizonte” and “El Ensayo,” weekly, are published in the capital. In Quezaltenango “El Bien Publico” is a well-written twice-a-week publication. In Mazatenango “El Eco de los Altos,” twice a month; in Antigua “El Eco del Valle,” daily; in Chiquimula “El Oriental,” weekly; in Salamà “La Voz del Norte,” in Coban “El Quetzal,” both weekly, have a considerable local circulation; and during the session of the Asamblea full stenographic reports of the proceedings are published in the “Diario de las Sesiones.”

I cannot say much about the Guatemaltecan libraries, although not for the reason that made the chapter “On Serpents” in the History of Norway so famous. The national library is very small, and the treasures of manuscript which survived the ungentle hands of the early rulers have been so carelessly guarded that the choicest are now in foreign hands (French and German); and the printed volumes relating to the history of Central America, or the publications of the native Press, are difficult to find. There are no important bookstores in Guatemala, and I had the greatest difficulty in obtaining a sight of Fuentes and Juarros, both of which I found only in private libraries. In an old curiosity shop a copy of Villagutierre Soto Mayor’s “Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza” was held at $50, or twice the price the old folio fetches in London.

With no Coast or Interior Survey (except the temporary work of the Commission on the Northern Boundary), there are few scientific or historical publications issued by the Government.

The debt of Guatemala is reported at a total (1885) of $5,817,947.19, drawing interest at six per cent. It is made up of the following items:—

An English loan for which Guatemala became responsible in the days of the Confederation$554,268.83
An English loan of 1869 (by President Cerna)3,599,771.75
Government bonds in circulation (Interior debt)1,663,906.61
$5,817,947.19

For the payment of the bonds of the Interior, a sinking-fund is provided, consisting of fifteen per cent of the duties on imports, the sums received for exemption from military service, etc. The average duties on imports are between fifty-five and sixty per cent ad valorem.