130 



COLOMBIA. 



n.aiiv. ami followers all over the world. Ihe 

 ,-liuivh at Hyde Park. London, is said to have 30( 

 memU-rs, and congregations of live times that 

 iiuiiilM-r. It is e>timated that the Scientist 

 .hurrhes in Aim-rim will aeeoinniodate about 400.- 

 <XH> iH-ople, and the hou>es are usually full and 

 often crowded at both of the Sunday services. 

 The ehureh in Mo>ton. Ma.. includes large iium- 

 IMT.H of non-re>ident members on its rolls, and 

 claims to have had :U>00 additions in l'.K><>. 



COLOMBIA, a republic in South America. 

 The COII.MV->. whieh meets biennially, consists 

 of a Srnutt* o -J7 members. 3 from each depart- 

 ment, and a llou-e of Representative* contain- 

 ing !'' members. 1 to 50.000 inhabitants. Electors 

 mu-t be able to read and write or must have an 

 ineome ni .')(>() jie-o^ a year, or real property worth 

 l,;>oo poos. The President and Senators are 

 eleeted for -i\ years by indirect suffrage, Repre- 

 r*'iitative- bv tli'reet vote on collective tickets for 

 eac-h department. The President of the republic 

 f,.r the term beginning Aug. 7, 1898, was M. A. 

 S.in. lemeiite. Tlie Vice-President is J. M. Marro- 

 (jiiin. The Cabinet was composed in the beginning 

 of I'.Kil as follows: Minister of the Interior, Gen. 

 G. ijuintcro Calderon; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Dr. ('. Martinez, Silva; Minister of Commerce and 

 Communications. Dr. P. A. Molina; Minister of 

 War, Gen. Ospina Camacho, successor to Gen. 

 Prosperon Pin/on: Minister of Public Instruction, 

 Dr. M. Abadia Mendex; Minister of Finance, Dr. 

 E. Hestrepo Garcia. The head of the executive 

 power was the Vice-President. 



Area and Population. The republic has an 

 area of 513,938 square miles, and about 4,000,000 

 inhabitants, including 150,000 tribal Indians. 



Finances. The estimate of revenue for the 

 biennial period 1899-1900 was 29,918,040 pesos in 

 pajH-r. and of expenditure the same. The revenue 

 is mainly derived from customs duties, which 

 were expected to produce 21,453,040 pesos. Heavy 

 duties are collected on exports. The slaughter of 

 cattle and sale of meat are monopolies of the 

 Government. The chief items of expenditure were 

 4.4IKUMM) pesos for justice, 3,773,500 pesos for 

 debt. 3.731. (MM) pesos for financial administration, 

 ami 2.524.K4H pesos for the army, the strength of 

 whieh was fixed at 1,000 men in 1898. The rev- 

 'nues of the departments, derived mainly from 

 monopolies in tobacco, salt, gambling, etc., were 

 estimated for the two years at 16,980,750 pesos, 

 and the expenditures at 17,340,040 pesos. 



The internal debt on June 30, 1899, amounted 



.3."ill,074 pesos, the consolidated debt being 



.710 pesos, on which the annual interest is 



353,300 IWSOH, and the floating debt 5,725,358 



pesos, for the redemption of which Congress has 



jwt apart a sinking-fund amounting at that date 



H.(MM> pesos. The foreign debt, most of 



> held in England, was compromised in 



the i*sue of 2.700,000 of new bonds 



i per cent, interest for the first three 



then 2 per cent, for three years, 2J per 



rvnt. for a like period, and finally 3 per cent The 



C47.2.-.0 in arrears on July 1, 1900. 



On Dec. 15, 11MM). th. Government, with the object 



f improving the fiscal situation, issued a decree 



idmg for the leasing by public tender for 



Mteen years, instead of five years as limited by 



law of the emerald-mines, the revenues from the 



. eoral, sponge, and seaweed fisheries and the 



I properties of the nation except the unculti- 



The ent.re prodnet of the leases was 



to t*> devoted to the redemption of the currency. 



The pearl and coral fisheries in the Pearl Islands, 



3 miles south of Panama, have been famous for 

 a century, especially for the remarkable pearls- 



white, greenish, leaden gray, and black brought 

 up by expert divers who work when the w^ater is 

 clear. The pearl shells are not marketed. For- 

 merly those who worked in these waters paid a 

 percentage on their finds, and more recently an 

 annual tax. 



Commerce and Production. Of the total 

 value of exports in 1898, which was $19,157,788, 

 the United States took $5,305,879; Great Britain, 

 $4,810,354; France, $3,371,700; Germany, $3,079,- 

 880; and Venezuela, $1,000,738. The exports were 

 valued at $19,157,788. The imports are metals, 

 hardware, foodstuffs, beverages, cotton goods, il- 

 luminating oil, drugs, paper, and linen goods. 

 The exports are coffee, timber, tobacco, vegetable 

 products, animals, hides, minerals, rubber. The 

 United States exported the value of $2,985,800 in 

 1899, in which year the imports showed an in- 

 crease of which 50 per cent, consisted of American 

 cottons, provisions, etc., and 40 per cent, of Eng- 

 lish importations. The civil war in 1900 caused 

 a falling off in both imports and exports of about 

 25 per cent. The export duties w r ere fixed on 

 March 1, 1901, at $3 in currency on 100 pounds 

 of coffee, hides, roll tobacco, and cleaned cot- 

 ton; $5 on rubber, manufactured tobacco, tor- 

 toise-shell, and tolu-balsam; $1 on ivorynuts and 

 cottonseed; $5 a thousand feet on mahogany, 

 cedar, and other \voods; $10 a kilo on bird skins 

 and orchids; $50 on heron plumes; $20 a ton on 

 ores; and on gold 20 per cent., on platinum 15 

 per cent., and on silver 10 per cent, of the value. 

 The paper dollar was worth about 10 cents. Im- 

 ports of cereals, vegetables, dairy-products, and 

 lard were exempted from duty. 



Railroads. There were 370 miles of railroads 

 completed on Jan. 1, 1901. The Panama Railroad 

 across the isthmus from Colon to Panama,, owned 

 by an American company, has a length of 48 

 miles. A railroad from Puerto Barrio, on the 

 Magdalena river, to Medellin is being built by the 

 Government of the department of Antioquia, and 

 42 miles have been built to Caracoli by American 

 engineers, leaving 70 miles yet to be built. In 

 the department of Bolivar an American company 

 operates a railroad, 06 miles long, connecting 

 Cartagena with Calamar, on the Magdalena, and 

 one of 28 miles connects Barranquilla with the port 

 of Sabanilla. In Cundinamarca a railroad runs 

 from Bogota, the national capital, to Faeatativa, 

 25 miles; another to the salt-mines of Zipaquira, 

 37 miles; a third to Soacho, 7 miles; and one to 

 connect Bogota with Giradot, on the Magdalena, 

 was completed from the latter point to Juntas de 

 Apulo, 25 miles, and work on the remaining 71 

 miles was in progress when stopped by the war. 

 These are all national railroads. In Cauca a Gov- 

 ernment railroad runs from the Pacific port of 

 Buenaventura to San Jose, 25 miles, and is being 

 continued 61 miles farther to Cali. In Magdalena 

 there is a line from Santa Marta, on the Atlantic 

 coast, to the Sevilla river, 42 miles, which is to be 

 carried 191 miles farther to El Banco, on tha 

 Magdalena river. Santander has a railroad, 34 

 miles long, running from San Jose" de Cucuta to 

 Puerto Villamizar, on the Zulia river, at the fron- 

 tier of Venezuela. In the department of Tolima an 

 English company built a railroad between Lado- 

 rada and Honda, 21 miles, to avoid a dangerous 

 stretch of river navigation ; and a line w T as begun 

 between Ibague" and the river port of Giradot, 

 but only 2 miles were built of the total distance of 

 37 miles. 



The Panama Canal. The original Panama 

 Canal Company, organized by Ferdinand de Les- 

 seps in 1881, expended nearly the whole capital 

 received up to June 30, 1886, which was 772,545,- 



