242 



COSTA RICA. 



by the Secretary, Treasurer, and Comptroller, 

 and the following result ascertained : For Gov- 

 ernorMorris, 67,662; Merwin, 63,976; Augur, 

 3,413 ; Baldwin, 209 ; scattering, 38 ; majority 

 for Morris, 26. For Lieutenant-Governor Alsop, 

 67,881; Bowen, 63,685; Pond, 3,414; Saunders, 

 189 : scattering, 35 ; majority for Alsop, 558. For 

 Secretary of State Phelan, 67,754; McLean, 

 63,530 ; Palmer, 3,455 ; Lane, 178 ; scattering, 47 ; 

 majority for Phelan, 544. For Treasurer Sanger, 

 67,741 ; Henry, 63,791 ; Smith, 3,429 ; Corning, 

 155 ; scattering, 76 ; majority for Sanger, 290. 

 For Comptroller Staub, 68,271 ; Catlin, 62,977; 

 Hawley, 3,414 ; Sheldon, 182 ; scattering, 36 : ma- 

 jority for Staub, 1,662. To this official sum- 

 mary of the face of the returns, which must be 

 laid before the General Assembly for its action, 

 the canvassers added the following statement : 



The official returns show also that in certain voting 

 districts a large number of ballots were cast which, 

 were not counted, for the following reasons, viz : 



" Prohibition votes not printed in conformity with 

 the law" ; 



" Not printed according to law " ; 



" The word ' for ' was printed before the name of 

 the office voted for " ; 



"Marked"; 



"Illegal"; 

 and for other causes which are not specifically stated. 



No return of the names of the persons for whom 

 these ballots were cast has been made. 



It also appears from evidence presented to the can- 

 vassers that there is a clerical error in the return of 

 the vote of the town of Milford. 



It is claimed by the Republicans that many of 

 the ballots so returned by the presiding officers 

 as being rejected were in' fact legal votes for the 

 Prohibition candidates, and that if they were 

 counted as they should be, the apparent major- 

 ity for Morris would be wiped out and there 

 would be no election of Governor, and possibly 

 of Treasurer, by the people. It rests with the 

 General Assembly, which will meet in January, 

 1891, to decide whether it will go behind the 

 returns and ascertain the legality of the rejected 

 ballots, or will declare the result as shown upon 

 the face of the returns certified to it as above. 

 This Assembly was chosen at the same election, 

 and will contain in the Senate 7 Republicans 

 and 17 Democrats, and in the House 133 Repub- 

 licans and 119 Democrats, giving the Republi- 

 cans a majority of 4 on joint ballot. 



At the same election the following Members 

 of Congress were chosen ; First District, Lewis 

 Sperry, Democrat, over W. Edgar Simonds, Re- 

 publican, by a plurality of 692 ; Second District, 

 Washington F. Willcox, Democrat, over Josiah 

 M. Hubbard, Republican, by a plurality of 3,531 ; 

 Third District, Charles A. Russell, Republican, 

 over David A. Wells. Democrat, by a plurality 

 of 992 ; Fourth District, Robert E. De Forest, 

 Democrat', over Frederick Miles, Republican, by 

 a plurality of 956. 



COSTA RICA, a republic in Central America. 

 The executive authority is vested in a President, 

 elected for four years, and the legislative author- 

 ity in a Chamber of Representatives, the mem- 

 bers of which are elected for four years, half re- 

 tiring every two years. The franchise is limited 

 to adult males who live in respectable circum- 

 stances. The President is Gen. Bernardo Soto, 

 who as Vice-President succeeded on the death 



of Prospero Fernandez, March 11, 1885, and was 

 elected for a full term in May, 1886. 



Area and Population. The area of the re- 

 public is estimated at 20,000 square miles. The 

 population in the beginning of 1889 was esti- 

 mated at 205,730. A considerable proportion 

 of the urban population is of pure Spanish de- 

 scent. There were about 1,000 immigrants in 

 1887, half from Jamaica and half from Italy. 

 The school attendance in 1888 was 12,733, be- 

 sides 2,500 pupils in private schools. The num- 

 ber of children of school age was 27,245 in 1884. 

 The permanent military force is 600 men ; the 

 strength of the militia, all able-bodied men be- 

 tween the ages of eighteen and fifty, is 31,824. 



Commerce. The total value o'f imports in 

 1888 was 5,201,922 pesos, and of exports 5,713,792 

 pesos. The export of coffee was 10,258 tons, 

 valued at 4,742,000 pesos, of which 6,025 tons 

 went to Great Britain, 3,175 tons to the United 

 States, and 1,058 tons to other countries. The 

 next most important article of export is bananas, 

 after which come hides and skins, plants, mother- 

 of-pearl, and caoutchouc. The uncertainty of the 

 coffee crop has led to efforts to develop the cult- 

 ure of bananas and of tobacco, sugar-cane, ca- 

 cao, and other crops. Rice, Indian corn, wheat, 

 and potatoes are grown extensively. The prod- 

 uct of gold and silver in 1888 was 37,496 pesos. 

 The number of vessels that entered in 1887 was 

 293, of 454,092 tons, belonging mainly to the 

 United States; in 1888 the number was 303. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. There 

 was a line of railroad between Limon and Rev- 

 entazon, 180 miles, in 1888, and a continuation to 

 Cartago, 51 miles, was in progress. The num- 

 ber of letters, newspapers, and other mail matter 

 in 1887-'88 was 2,633,809 ; the number of tele- 

 graph messages, 112,639; length of lines, 600 

 miles ; telegraph receipts, 31,176 pesos. 



Finances. The revenue for the year ending- 

 March 31, 1889, was 3,687,594 pesos ; the expendi- 

 ture, 3,476,722 pesos, the principal items being 

 634,887 pesos for the debt, 439,802 pesos for de- 

 fense, 430,358 pesos for public instruction, and 

 417,512 pesos for public works. The estimated 

 revenue for 1889-'90 is 4,287,686 pesos ; expendi- 

 ture, 4,183,798 pesos. 



The internal indebtedness of Costa Rica was 

 liquidated in 1887. The foreign debt, which 

 amounted on Jan. 1, 1887, to 2,691,300, with in- 

 terest undischarged to the amount of 2.119,513, 

 was converted, by consent of the bondholders, 

 into 2,000,000 of bonds bearing 5 per cent, in- 

 terest from Jan. 1, 1888, and was assumed by 

 the Costa Rica Railway Company. 



Public Affairs. 'The President of Costa 

 Rica accepted the resolutions in favor of a ( Vn- 

 tral American Union that were adopted at San 

 Salvador in October, 1889, with reservations re- 

 garding certain points that were omitted by tl 

 conference, viz., provisions for liberty of the 

 press, regular succession of the Executive, ;iml 

 protection of human life. A question that 

 stirred the country more than any other in 1891 

 was thaf of religious instruction in the public 

 schools. The educated and progressive part of 

 the community objected to the introduction of 

 religion into the schools, and a bill devoting a 

 large sum to religious instruction was voted down 

 by a large majority in Congress. 



