PERU. 



707 



PERU, a republic in South America; area, 

 1,137,000 square kilometres or 437,000 square 

 miles: population in 1876, 2,621,844, not includ- 

 ing 350,000 uncivilized Indians. The Senate 

 has 40 members, and the House of Representa- 

 tives 80. Every Peruvian who is married or is 

 master of a trade or profession or pays taxes 

 or is over twenty-one years of age and knows 

 how to read and write, is qualified to vote. The 

 President for the four years ending Aug. 10, 

 1894, is Col. Remigio Morales Bermudez, suc- 

 cessor of Gen. Andres Avelino Caceres. 



Finances. The receipts of the treasury in 

 1884 were 6,724,117 silver soles. (The silver 

 sole, of the nominal value of $1, is worth about 

 70 cents, and the paper sole not more than 5 

 cents.) The sources of revenue are: Customs, 

 yielding 4,317.221 soles; internal-revenue taxes, 

 1,159,638 soles; state railroads, 722.705 soles; 

 post-office, 135,319 soles ; telegraphs, 21,716 soles ; 

 miscellaneous, 367,518 soles. The total expendi- 

 tures were 6,573,627 soles, of which 193,213 soles 

 were for the diplomatic service, 2,231,161 soles 

 for the Interior Department, 648.840 soles for 

 justice, 1,141,915 soles for financial administra- 

 tion, 1,676,563 soles for the army and navy, 589,- 

 963 soles for the state railroads, and 91,972 soles 

 for extraordinary purposes. 



The foreign loans of 1869, 1870, and 1872 

 amounted to 32,000,000, without reckoning in- 

 terest accrued since 1876. The last two loans 

 were secured on the nitrate deposits and on the 

 general revenue. The nitrate deposits have been 

 seized by Chili. The arrears of interest in 1889 

 amounted to 22,998,651. The Grace-Donough- 

 more contract, which was ratified in January, 

 1890, releases the Government from the debts on 

 condition that the state property, including rail- 

 roads, mines, guano deposits, and lands shall be 

 transferred to the bondholders, who undertake 

 to complete the existing lines of railroad. The 

 debt was originally incurred for the construc- 

 tion of the railroads already built. The Chilian 

 Government relinquished certain guano deposits, 

 valued at 2,250,000, to the bondholders. A Pe- 

 ruvian company, limited, has been formed in 

 London to carry out this arrangement. Of the 

 32,000,000 of 'bonds, 30,500,000 had already 

 been bought in and handed over to agents of the 

 Peruvian Government in London, to be canceled 

 before September, 1890. The railroads at the end 

 of sixty-six years revert to the state. The inter- 

 nal debt, paying 1 per cent, interest, amounted 

 to 109,287.000 soles in 1888, and the paper money 

 to 83,747,000 soles. The market price of the 

 bonds is only 11 per cent, of their face value, and 

 the paper currency is no longer a medium of ex- 

 change. The length of completed railroads in 

 1889 was 1.625 miles. Their cost, including those 

 ceded to Chili, was $180,000,000. 



Commerce. Peru produces cotton, : cacao, 

 coffee, rice, sugar, Indian corn, wine, cinchona, 

 coca, India-rubber, dye woods, the wool of the 

 vicuna, alpaca, and llama, nitre, guano, gold, and 

 silver. Articles of food, cotton, and woolen 

 goods, chemicals and drugs, furniture, and re- 

 cently coal and machinery, are the principal im- 

 ports. The largest trade is with Great Britain, 

 although in recent years Germany has success- 

 fully competed for a large share. The imports 

 in 1887 amounted to 8,658,531 soles, and the ex- 



ports to 8,872,287 soles. The foreign trad.. , 

 mostly through the port of Callao, where 501 

 vessels, of 249,873 tons, were entered, and 507 of 

 340,332 tons, cleared in 1888. The debt settle- 

 ment has opened the way for a considerable in- 

 flux of foreign capital. An English company 

 has established petroleum extracting and refin- 

 ing works at Talara, near the coast and north of 

 Payta. The oil is used for motive power on the 

 Oroya Railroad. Other capitalists have la-gun 

 the cultivation of cotton on a large scale, and a 

 company has been formed in London to reopen 

 the Santa Barbara quicksilver mine in Ayaeurtm. 

 The silver mines are attracting attention in the 

 United States and Europe. The restoration of 

 the viaduct at Verrugas-on the Oroya Kail mad, 

 which was destroyed by a tempest in 1889, will 

 reopen communication 'between the mineral re- 

 gions in the interior and the port of Callao. 



Political Events. The presidential election 

 of 1890, although less storm v than usual, was 

 not free from revolutionary plots and civil dis- 

 orders from the beginning of the popular can- 

 vass in March to the counting of the electoral 

 vote in Congress on Aug. 2. There were three 

 candidates Dr. Francisco Rosas, President of 

 the Senate, who had the support of the politi- 

 cians in Congress; Col. Bermudez, a soldier dis- 

 tinguished for successes in the field and for he- 

 roic bravery, who was backed by the Executive 

 and by the army; and Nicolas de Pierola, who 

 was proclaimed dictator after a sanguinary rev- 

 olution in December, 1879. In March a serious 

 disturbance occurred at Huanta, in the province 

 of Ayacucho, between the partisans of Bermu- 

 dez and Rosas, and many lives were lost. On 

 April 5 the Government issued a decree forbid- 

 ding political demonstrations. On the same day 

 Gen. de Pierola, who was treated as an irregular 

 and revolutionary candidate, but from his wide 

 popularity was considered dangerous, was got 

 out of the way by having him arrested on the 

 charge of attempting to incite insurrection and 

 thrown into prison, where he was kept during 

 the entire contest. His candidature was there- 

 upon withdrawn, and his great following took 

 no part in the elections. The electoral board 

 excluded electors who were alleged to have been 

 irregularly chosen in the interest of Bermudez, 

 and some of the members were placed under ar- 

 rest by order of the Government. The suspicion 

 of illegal manipulation caused the tension to be 

 prolonged until the final count. When Congress 

 was examining the returns Dr. Rosas and his 

 friends were assaulted in the streets of Lima. 

 Col. Bermudez was declared to be elected by 

 2,900 votes, against 1,300 given for Rosas, and 

 was inaugurated on Aug. 10. Alexander Solar 

 is first and Dr. Bergono second Vice-President. 

 The Cabinet is composed of the following mem- 

 bers: Mariano N. Valcarcel, Premier and Minis- 

 ter of Public Works; Alberto Elmore, Minister 

 of Foreign Affairs, Ismael Quintana, Minister 

 of Finance and Commerce ; Col. Belisario Su- 

 arez, Minister of War ; Garcia Chavez, Minister 

 of Justice. 



The trial of Pierola was begun, but for some 

 unknown reason the proceedings were discontin- 

 ued. His friends in Congress raised a protest 

 against his arbitrary incarceration, and subse- 

 quently the vigilance of his jailers was relaxed 



