702 



PATRIOTIC LEAGUE, AMERICAN. 



Finances. The revenue is mainly derived 

 from customs, though of late years the largest 

 amount has been realized from sales and leases 

 of lands. The amount of the revenue in 1889 was 

 2,333,094 pesos, the peso being nominally worth 

 $1, though in exchange the paper money is 35 or 

 40 per cent, below par. The proceeds of sales 

 and leases of public lands amounted to 829,360 

 pesos; customs receipts, 1,379,754 pesos; other 

 receipts, 123,980 pesos. The expenditure for 

 1889 was 1,194,890 pesos, of which the Interior 

 Department received 494,438 pesos ; Foreign Af- 

 fairs, 41,628 pesos; Finances, 138,048 pesos; 

 Justice, Worship, and Public Instruction, 157,- 

 104 pesos ; and War and Marine, 363,672 pesos. 



The domestic debt on Jan. 1, 1890, amounted 

 to 477,674 silver pesos. The foreign debt was re- 

 duced, by a compromise effected in London on 

 Dec. 4, 1885, to 4,038,500 pesos in gold, on which 

 interest was to be paid at the rate of 2 per cent, 

 for the first five years, at 3 per cent, for the five 

 years succeeding, and after that at 4 per cent, 

 per annum until it is extinguished. The debt 

 was to be paid off by an amortization fund of -5 

 per cent, per annum, beginning at the end of 

 the eleventh year. 



Commerce. The imports in 1889 were valued 

 at 2,990,000 pesos, and the exports at 1,720,000 

 pesos. The principal articles of export are 

 yerba, tobacco, hides, oranges, and timber. The 

 entries at the port of Asuncion in 1889 were: 

 303 steamers and 630 sailing vessels, the total 

 tonnage being 36,735; while 302 steamers and 

 628 sailing vessels, of 33,735 tons were cleared. 



The railroads in 1888 had a length of only 152 

 kilometres. 



The telegraph line from Paso to Asuncion, 

 which was completed in March, 1884, bringing 

 Paraguay into communication with other na- 

 tions for the first time, in 1889 transmitted 

 23,437 messages. 



PATRIOTIC LEAGUE, AMERICAN, an 

 organization incorporated Dec. 12, 1889, with 

 headquarters in New York city. Its platform 

 embraces the following principles : 1. Restriction 

 of immigration ; 2. Extension of the time re- 

 quired for naturalization ; 3. An educational 

 qualification for every voter ; 4. One general 

 non-sectarian American free-school system ; 5. 

 Public funds and public property not to be used 

 for sectarian purposes; 6. American lands for 

 American settlers. These views are to be en- 

 forced by legislation. Any American citizen of 

 good moral character is eligible to membership. 

 One of the objects of the League, toward which 

 its energies are particularly directed, is to secure 

 constitutional and legislative safeguards for the 

 protection of the common-school system and 

 other American institutions, to promote public 

 instruction in harmony with such institutions, 

 and to prevent all sectarian or denominational 

 appropriation of public funds. In order to carry 

 out this idea, which is incorporated in the con- 

 stitution of the League, it is proposed that the 

 Constitution of the United States shall be amend- 

 ed so that " no State shall pass any law respect- 

 ing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting 

 the free exercise thereof, or use its property or 

 credit, or any money raised by taxation, or au- 

 thorize either- to be used, for the purpose of 

 founding, maintaining, or aiding, by appropria- 



tion, payment for services, expenses, or other- 

 wise, any church, religious denomination, or re- 

 ligious society, or any institution, society, or 

 undertaking that is wholly or in part under 

 sectarian or ecclesiastical control." In advocat- 

 ing the adoption of this amendment, the League 

 declares that both the Republican party and the 

 Democratic party are practically committed to 

 this amendment, and argues that it will com- 

 mend itself to all intelligent and loyal citizens 

 of alien birth, who, having renounced their alle- 

 giance to every foreign prince or potentate, are 

 ready to uphold the institutions of the republic 

 to which, as a condition of their citizenship, they 

 have pledged their allegiance. To the American 

 Government they have a right to look for protec- 

 tion against all attempts to subject them, by 

 force or undue influence, to any authority un- 

 known to the Constitution ; or, under whatever 

 pretext, to abridge their rights or control their 

 duties as American citizens. They know, from 

 their European experience, and from the lessons 

 of history, that complete separation of Church 

 and state is essential to the integrity of State 

 institutions and to the peaceful enjoyment, by 

 citizens of all nationalities and of differing 

 faiths, of liberty of conscience, freedom of wor- 

 ship, and the right of self-government. The 

 League declares that to the public-school system 

 is owing a large part of the happiness and great- 

 ness of the United States, and that all Ameri- 

 cans regard education as a sacred debt which the 

 present generation owes to the future. The 

 children of to-day should be taught the history, 

 the principles, and the spirit of the founders of 

 the republic, in order that they may transmit in 

 its purity to their descendants the heritage they 

 have received. The enfranchisement of the col- 

 ored race and the increasing flood of foreign 

 immigration render more conspicuous than ever 

 the importance of a common system of educa- 

 tion in accord with American ideas. Foreign 

 schools, with doctrines, ideas, and methods at 

 variance with the Constitution of the United 

 States, are not favored. The situation demands 

 a united effort on the part of the American press 

 and all good citizens, and especially on the part 

 of parents, in their own States and in their own 

 neighborhood, to free the elementary schools 

 from partisan or denominational control, and to 

 bring them to the highest standard of excellence 

 as regards moral, mental, and industrial educa- 

 tion. Incidentally, the League hopes to remove 

 politics from the control of corrupt politicians. 



The executive committee of the provisional 

 committee has power to transact all business 

 connected with the extension of the League 

 during the time when the provisional committee 

 is not in session. Each member of the pro- 

 visional committee is empowered to act as a 

 deputy for the extension of the League. He 

 must notify the secretary of the locality in 

 which he proposes to operate, and must act only 

 by written authority. When local or State 

 leagues are ready for organization, the applica- 

 tions for charters must be made direct to the 

 secretary of the provisional committee, who 

 alone is authorized to receive* payment and issue 

 the charter. The consent of a majority of the 

 members of the executive committee is required 

 before any charter can be issued. Charters may 



