BRAZIL. 



81 



of both houses of Congress, by the direct suffrage 

 of all male Brazilian citizens over twenty-one years 

 of age \vlio are able to read and write or pay taxes 

 or exercise a trade or profession. 



Dr. Prudente Jose de Monies was elected President 

 by popular suffrage, and succeeded Marshal Flori- 

 aiio Peixoto on Nov. 15, 1894. Manoel Victorino 

 Pereira was elected Vice-President. The Cabinet 

 at the beginning of 1896 consisted of the follow- 

 ing members: Foreign Affairs, Dr. Carlos A. de 

 Carvalho; Finance, Dr. F. de P. Rodriguez Alves; 

 Industry. A. Olyntho dos Santos Pires ; Interior 

 and Justice, Dr. A. G. Ferreira ; War, Gen. Bernardo 

 Vasques; Marine, Admiral Elisario J. Barbosa. 



Area and Population. The estimated area of 

 Brazil is 3,209,878 square miles. The results of the 

 census of 1890, as far as they are completed, are 

 given in the following table : 



The figures given for Bahia and Minas Geraes 

 are estimates made in 1888. The number of tribal 

 Indians is estimated at 600,000 for the whole of 

 Brazil. At the census of 1872, when the total set- 

 tled population was returned as 10.042,458, though 

 this was an imperfect enumeration, it was divided 

 into 3,787.289 whites, 3.801.787 mestizos. 1,954,452 

 negroes, and 386,955 Indians. The population of 

 Rio de Janeiro in 1890 was 522.651 : of Bahia, or 

 San Salvador, 200.000; of Pernambuco, 19^,000; of 

 San Paulo, 100,000; of Belem, 65,000; of Porto 

 Alegre, 55.000. 



From 1871 to 1889 the immigration into Brazil 

 was 491.719. Since then the annual influx has 

 been: 65.161 in 1889, 85.172 in 1890, 218.939 in 

 1891, 86.513 in 1892, 84,143 in 1893, 63.294 in 

 1894. In 1890 emigrants returning to Europe 

 numbered 8,862: in 1891,993: in 1892, 16,776; in 

 1893, 17,525. Disappointment and distress caused 

 the heavy refluent movement in the latter years ; 

 yet. in spite of the miseries undergone by many of 

 their compatriots, the constant stream of Italians 

 and recently of Austrians also continues to flow 

 toward Brazil, where land may be acquired at a 

 nominal price, and the possibilities of remunerative 

 agriculture are greater than in Europe. Among 

 the immigrants in 1894 Italians numbered 37.266; 

 Portuguese, 17.251 : Spaniards. 6,497 : Germans, 

 812; Austrians, 754: French, 310; English, 91. 

 Fifteen foreign colonies, numbering 108,000 per- 

 sons, have been settled by the colonization depart- 

 ment of the Federal Government in Rio Grande do 

 Sul on 562.400 hectares of land, of which 220.050 

 hectares are cultivated. Immigrants from Portu- 

 guese and Spanish islands and colonies, as well as 

 from European countries, are brought by a com- 

 pany which undertook in 1893 to import "1,000,000 

 such colonists within ten years. Chinese and Japa- 

 VOL. xxxvi. A 6 



nese immigration was sanctioned by the law of 

 Sept ember. 1893. The oldest and most prosp< 

 of the foreign settlements in Rio Grande do Sul are 

 those of the Germans. But these have not grown 

 like the Italian colonies because since 1859 emigra- 

 tion from Prussia to southern Brazil has been for- 

 bidden. In August, 1896. the prohibitory rescript 

 was abrogated, and immediately three large Ham- 

 burg companies acquired a large tract of land in 

 Santa Catarina with the object of founding a Ger- 

 man colony that is intended to form a center of at- 

 traction for the overflow population of the father- 

 land, where German customs and traditions will be 

 preserved, and in time a fresh market for German 

 goods developed. Agents for a Brazilian vessel 

 canvassed in the summer of 1896 to secure emi- 

 grants in Canada for Brazil. About 1,000 people 

 engaged passage; but the representations made by 

 Government officials, the clergy, and the press of 

 the dangers into which they ran by going to Brazil 

 deterred many from carrying out their intentions, 

 so that when the vessel sailed from Montreal she 

 carried only 400 emigrants married adults wirh 

 their children, mostly French Canadians, with a 

 sprinkling of other nationalities. 



Finances. The revenue for 1895 was 280.974.- 

 579 milreis, including only actual receipts, not col- 

 lectable dues that were expected to bring the 

 amount up to 291.000,000 milreis. The expenditure 

 in 1895 amounted to 275,396,545 milreis. The budg- 

 et for 1896 makes the total receipts 300.884.000 

 milreis, of which import duties produce 225,100,000 

 milreis ; navigation dues, 750.000 milreis ; railroads, 

 38.000.000 milreis ; posts and telegraphs, 7,100.000 

 milreis ; stamps, 8,250.000 milreis ; Rio waterworks, 

 1,200,000 milreis; lottery tax. 1.000,000 milreis; va- 

 rious national properties, 5,079.000 milreis ; tobacco 

 duty,l, 200,000 milreis ; extraordinary sources, 8.205,- 

 000" milreis ; and deposits, 5,000,000 milreis. The 

 total expenditure for 1896 was estimated at 296,- 

 028,078 milreis, apportioned among the departments 

 of the administration as follows: Interior and Jus- 

 tice. 16,325,507 milreis : Foreign Affairs, 1,866.2'22 

 milreis; Marine, 25,177.153 milreis: War. 48,122.402 

 milreis; Industry, 97,617.086 milreis : Finance. 106.- 

 919.708 milreis/ There was a deficit of 50.189.000 

 milreis in 1892. another of 39,936,856 milreis in 

 1893, and one of 20,821.402 milreis in 1894. A defi- 

 cit of 35,000,000 was expected in 1895, but an im- 

 provement in the situation was looked for as the 

 result of the large coffee crop. The commercial 

 situation was not improved, but rather became 

 critical during the year, because of fluctuations in 

 exchange and the low price of coffee, causing a 

 large number of failures. The question was de- 

 bated in Congress in October whether a moratorium 

 of six months should not be proclaimed. The price 

 of coffee sank so low that merchants combined in 

 July to suspend exports until the market should 

 recover. A bill to increase taxation, presented to 

 Congress in the autumn, was opposed by the com- 

 mercial community. The contraction of credit and 

 general distrust produced a situation so serious that 

 the Government appointed a financial commission, 

 with the Minister of Finance as chairman, to study 

 measures of relief. A proposed treaty of commerce 

 with Argentina was not approved in commercial 

 circles, and one that the Uruguayan minister sought 

 to negotiate was rejected. A proposition was made 

 to increase the duties on all productions of the 

 River Plate republics, which was strongly opposed 

 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Senhor Cerqueira. 

 who hopes to see a great South American customs 

 union formed on the model of the German Zoll- 

 verein, embracing at least Brazil, Chili, Argentina, 

 and Uruguay. When a party of represent at ive 

 merchants and industrialists of the United States 



