Since the building of the railways and the increase of commerce have brought the Central American countries into closer touch with the outside world, there has been a great change in customs and ways of living in such places as Guatemala, San Salvador, and San José de Costa Rica. The high price of coffee during the last decade of the nineteenth century brought about an era of prosperity such as the rather backward communities of the Isthmus had never before known. Elaborate private residences and costly public buildings were erected in the national capitals, and pianos, window glass, modern furniture, and other articles which had formerly been little used, were imported from Europe in great quantities. After the reaction which set in when the value of coffee in the world’s markets declined, the new standard of living remained, and even the poorer members of the upper classes now enjoy most of the comforts and many of the luxuries of modern civilization. The tendency to adopt European and North American customs is greatly furthered by the young people, who in increasing numbers are sent abroad to school and college, for they return with new tastes and new ways of thinking even when they do not acquire a great amount of learning. Although the members of the upper class are for the most part descendants of the _conquistadores_, social and political prominence is today no longer entirely a matter of birth. The old creole families formed a narrow and exclusive circle until the latter part of the nineteenth century, but as a result of factional wars among themselves and against other portions of the community, they have now become generally impoverished and almost exterminated. A new element, recruited from the more intelligent and ambitious members of the lower classes, has meanwhile achieved a large amount of political power, and has perforce been admitted to a position almost of equality with the old aristocracy. At the present time, humble birth in itself is no obstacle to advancement, although educational opportunities are so limited, and the part played by family influence and favoritism is so great, that only the most capable and energetic boys from the lower classes can hold their own with those to whom the accident of birth has given powerful friends and greater opportunities for study.