COSTA RICA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 93, 19 August 1942, Page 2

COSTA RICA

LAND OF TRUE DEMOCRACY A visit to the 1 illl o republic of Co;:'.a Mica has revealed it to me as one of tli? world's most delightful countries and one of the purest demccracics left on earth; it nation without an army, where the President is paid 2/J8 dollars a month; a sober country, industrious and honest, •with all its politics aboveboard —"a country without s.-erets." Costa Rica —"rich eoast" —is the southernmost Central American republic above Panama; its (iOO.OOO ! people live in an area smaller' than West Virignia. It is sharply, picturesquely mountainous, and both coasts lift steeply to the central plateau, where the capital, San Jose, perches at IJFOO fee':. Like four other Central American republics — Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Salvador —Costa Rica won freedom from Spain in 1821. i For more than a century after thai the history of Central America was: turbulent, to say the leasu—except in Costa Rica. That country, miraculously, became an oasis of propriety and tranquillity. It has had fcav revolutions, and most of those bloodless. Free and orderly elections occur every lour years. Every, citizen must, by law, vote. The President may not succeed himself. He is responsible to a congress, which may —and frequently does—override his authority. There are two political parties, which do not differ much, and they generally take turns in power. The press is free —and vig- ' orous. Civil liberties are respected. Political prisoners are unknown. There are reasons for this internal '= peace: The Spaniards who conquer- § ed. Costa Rica, coming mostly from = northern Spain, were not eonquista- § dores, but farmers, settlers, family

| men. The Costa Rican Indians were = liostile and it lie Span- § iards killed them off quidkly. To-day § there arc hardly 500 pure Indians in | Costa Riea. Hence Costa Rice has | almost no mixed race problem. ; Furthermore, Co.-;ta Rica is not army-ridden. There is no Minister of War. Generals do not become politicians, because there are no important generals. The standing army consists of 82 officers, 242 enlisted men, and 220 musicians. Officers are appointed by the President and usually surrender their commissions when the administration changes. Everything in the country on a modest scale. An army captain gcf.s 31 dollars a month, a provincial governor 73 dollars, a supreme court justice ■ 105 dollars, and a congressman 82.50 dollars, plus a little more when congress is in session. The third factor making for order and democracy is the inherent good temper of the Cos):a Rican people. "Of course," a Costa Rican friend told me, "we did have trouble in 1918. Frederico Tinoco was President. Not a good man. The people were discontented. Two thousand school children, with their teachers, marched in protesl; to the President's house. The President's brother turned the fire hose on them, bul some youngsters crawled through the gate and cut the .hose with ma-' chetes. Everyone laughed. The tension eased. We went home to bed. The next day Tinoco resigned. The comparatively high literacy and the attention paid by the government to education are an important factor in Costa Rica's democracy. The country is proud of the fact that it has more school-houses than police stations—6s9 schools, served by 205 J teachers. Every Costa Rican child must go to school. And the schools are free. CosiLa Rica, too, has the highest percentage of individual landowners of any Latin-American country— 89,389 persons holding 198,(529 pieces of property. There are comparatively few big estates, with their attendant feudal social conditions. Revolution is ncl likely where 80 per cent of the land is held by small farmers. Oil this occasion, I saw the President briefly and talced with his brother, who is his Minister of Interior. When 1 asked how the United Spates could help Costa Rica, he replied: "Economically. Buy our. coffee. Give us loans. Help us to develop our resources. You need manganese, for instance. We have manganese. Bul we need assistance in producing it. EveiTone is roughly of the same middle class. Marriages between the leading families have produced liun- : dreds of cousins and in-laws who ; have been acquainted «ince childhood. If the.y happen to become : politicians in opposing camps they ( play according to well-defined and 1