A NATION WHICH HAS NEVER FOUGHT

Evening Star, Issue 22720, 6 August 1937, Page 14

A NATION WHICH HAS NEVER FOUGHT

It would take more than a casual glance at this warlike world to locate an, independent nation that can reasonably bo called a democracy and that is actually disarmed, writes Julian Freeman, in ‘ Events. 5 Yet there is such a nation. Costa Rica is able to boast that she has more schools than soldiers. In the 435 years of her existence Costa Rica has never indulged in international conflict. Last year over 21 per cent, of the entire Budget was devoted to educational appropriations. The military' and the police suffered accordingly. There are to-day 475 schools, 1,902 teachers, and 51,500 pupils in a country of less than half a million population, while the army consists of 246 elderly citizens who are unable to find employment elsewhere. In Costa Rica during the last hundred years there have been two revolutions, both bloodless, both lasting three days, both ending in collapse. There is little political discontent because Costa Rica alone among Latin American States has genuine popular elections. Exaggerated tales of El Dorado sent prominent Spanish families and their servants to the “ Rich Coast 55 of Costa llica. They did not find gold, and many returned home. Those who stayed realised that the real wealth was in the soil. Racial mixtures were rare, and to-day rosy-cheeked blondes are common. In. 1821 independence was the vogue in Central America, and Costa Rica followed her neighbours in freeing herself from Spanish sovereignty. There was no opposition and no bloodshed — merely a declaration. The discovery of gold and the exportation of coffee paid in part for purchases of necessities abroad, foreign loans making up the difference. With the aid of great sacrifices on the part of the people, roads and schools were gradually- built. In the 1870’s Minor Cooper Keith, an American, was commissioned by President Guardia to build a railroad connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific. Keith recognised the yellow wealth that the early prospectors had missed—bananas. Slowly a profitable trade with the United States developed. Minor Cooper Keith, his brother, and his uncle were soon competing with two others. The Keiths owned the Northern Railway of Costa Rica, and that factor caused the consolidation of all three into the United Fruit Company. In Costa Rica the United Fruit invasion was much more orderly than in the neighbouring States. Costa Rica’s economic edevelopment had by this time, thanks to the extensive British and German markets for the country’s high-grade coffee, reached the point where they no longer needed the United Fruit investments. In 1929 the world suddenly crashed on the banana men in Costa Rica. First the depression cut off foreign markets. Then an administration opposed to the company' came into power and rushed through a new export tax on a sliding scale. The final blow came with the discovery that a mysterious parasite was ravaging the bananas fields. In 1931 the United Fruit owned 8,500 acres of banana, land in Costa Rica. To-day less than 3,500 acres remain. Thus we sec that in this one instance the jbke has been on the “ imperialist. 5 ' The United Fruit Company has built roads, railway's, and hospitals. They have dredged harbours, installed efficient sanitation systems, and have made possible the construction of two modern cities, the port, Limon, and the capital, San Jose. Actually the Costa Ricans have suffered very little from the American “ invasion.” To-day they arc not wealthy in a material sense. The majority of them arc small landowners. The people are happy because they are free. They' have a political democracy in every sense, of the word. They have free speech, free elections, and schools that are free because no fees are charged and because of the lack of restraint upon the discussions and views of the teacher and student alike.