COLOMBIA. 



COLORADO. 



133 



Is. of 2.179 tons. An extensive trade in cattle 

 with Cuba that sprang up in ItSTG has ceased. 

 Nevertheless thr cuiiiiiierce of Colombia has grown 

 more and more important every year. Coflv- 

 been grown in the interior departments of San- 

 tandar. Cundinainarca. and Tolima. and the export 

 has steadily increased for fifteen years, notwith- 

 standing the difficulty of transporting the crop to 

 the coast or the navigable streams. \Vithin three 

 or four years an important new coffee country lias 

 been opened in the Sierra Nevada mountains, near 

 the port of Santa Marta. and large tracts of land 

 have been secured for plantations by Americans 

 and others. 



Communications. The length of railroads in 

 Colombia was 218 miles in 1892. when there were 3 

 completed lines and 5 in operation over a part of 

 their intended routes. 



The post office during 1893 carried 302.410 do- 

 mestic letters and postal cards, 615,844 printed in- 

 closures and samples, and 70,038 registered letters 

 and packets, and forwarded to foreign countries 

 843,440 letters and 206,171 papers and packets. 



There were 6,835 miles of telegraphs in 1894. 

 From June 30, 1892, to March 31, 1894, the number 

 of telegrams dispatched was 317.507 : received, 372,- 

 630: cable messages sent, '2.509 : received. 3.322. 



The Panama Canal. The company founded in 

 1881 by the late Ferdinand de Lesseps'to construct 

 a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama, 46 miles 

 in length, nearly parallel to the line of the existing 

 railroad, received up to June 30, 1886, 772.545.412 

 francs. It was found on the examination of engi- 

 neers that nearly as much more would be required 

 before the canal could be completed, and even then 

 only with locks, not at the sea level. An attempt 

 to raise a loan of 600.000,000 francs failed in 1888, 

 and the company went into liquidation. Operations 

 were suspended" after March 15, 1889. An exten- 

 sion having been granted in March. 1893, a second 

 attempt to form a new company was made in 1894, 

 and work on the canal was partially resumed. 



Steps are being taken to make a harbor in Panama 

 at the mouth of the canal, where vessels of all sizes 

 will be enabled to come alongside the wharves and 

 have their cargoes unloaded direct on the cars of the 

 Panama Railroad, instead of being discharged into 

 lighters 4 miles away from the railroad. This harbor, 

 which will be completed by the end of 189?, and 

 other improvements at Colon will greatly facilitate 

 the traffic of the railroad, which belongs to the 

 canal company. The business of this railroad is 

 now growing rapidly, owing to the revival of the 

 trans-Isthmian traffic and the development of some 

 of the richest agricultural lands in the world. Be- 

 sides these extensive dredging operations work is 

 being prosecuted on the canal at the Culebra cut 

 with laborers imported from the West Indies and 

 W.-st Africa. 



Politics and Legislation. The administration 

 of President Caro has been unpopular because of 

 his dictatorial policy and arbitrary character. In 

 1890 there was widespread apprehension of a re- 

 newal of troubles such as distracted the country in 

 1895. The President dispatched troops to several 

 places where there was a probability of revolt, pre- 

 tending that there was danger of a foreign invasion. 

 A force was hastily despatched from Bogota to the 

 coast in January on the rumor that two vessels had 

 sailed from New York with arms for the revolu- 

 tionists. President Caro in March formally re- 

 signed his office into the hands of the Vice- Presi- 

 dent. Quintero Calderon. but soon he resumed office 

 and on April 11 appointed the following new Cab- 

 inet : Interior. Manuel Casabianca : War, Pedro A. 

 Molina; Foreign Affairs. Jorge Holgnin : Finance. 

 Ruperto FerreiraJ Treasury, Manuel Ponce de 



Leon: Education. Dr. Rafael Carrasquilla. The 

 army was mobilized shortly afterward. Thr force 

 on the peace footing is limited by act of Congress 

 to 5,500 men. In case of war the President can 

 rui-e its strength to whatever the circumstances 

 seem to require, every able-bodied Colombian being 

 liable to serve. Congress met on July 20. Heated 

 discussions took place over the repeal of the export 

 tax on coffee that was imposed during the civil war 

 of 1895. A bill was introduced to annul the ex- 

 traordinary powers that were conferred upon the 

 President, virtually making him a dictator. 



Foreign Relations. The Government agreed in 

 January, 1896, to refer the claims of English and 

 American contractors and the right of the Govern- 

 ment to cancel the railroad concessions granted to 

 them to commissions of arbitration. In the early 

 part of March the English minister, G. F. B. Jenner, 

 was notified that owing to his roughness in diplo- 

 matic correspondence he would no longer be recog- 

 nized as the representative of his Government. 

 Negotiations for the settlement of the boundary 

 dispute with V'enezuela were reopened by the Co- 

 lombian envoy in Caracas in April. On March 31 

 a Colombian gunboat overhauled an American 

 schooner, the ' George Whitford," which had left 

 Porto Bello and was more than 6 miles out at sea, 

 and compelled the master, under threat of sinking 

 his vessel, to put back to Colon, where a guard was 

 placed on board, and was not removed till April 2, 

 after the American consul had notified the gov- 

 ernor that he would send for a United States man- 

 of-war unless the vessel was released. The Ameri- 

 can Government made an immediate demand for 

 an apology for this affront to the American flag, 

 and after an investigation the Colombian Govern- 

 ment disavowed the act and apologized. Three 

 jurists were appointed in August by the President 

 of the Swiss Federation to arbitrate the differences 

 between Great Britain and the United States of 

 Colombia arising out of the disputed railroad con- 

 cession. The Government ordered the Carthagena 

 and Magdalena Railroad, belonging to an American 

 company, to transport all freight by weight, and 

 when the manager refused offered to have this 

 quarrel adjusted by arbitration. A treaty was con- 

 cluded at Bogota in November by which Colombia 

 and Costa Rica agreed to have their long-standing 

 dispute regarding their territorial division line set- 

 tled by the adjudication of the President of the 

 French Republic. The controversy, which involves 

 a large and valuable tract of the American isthmus, 

 was once before near a settlement through the 

 friendly intervention of the United States. On the 

 advice of Secretary Bayard it was referred to Spain 

 for delimitation when that monarchy was already 

 engaged in drawing the boundary line between Co- 

 lombia and Venezuela. The Spanish Government, 

 while acceding to the request, deferred taking up 

 the Costa Rican case until the other boundary was 

 delimited. During the delay Colombia made grants 

 to a New Jersey company, which undertook to build 

 a road from Bocas del Toro into the interior, and also 

 ceded over a million acres that were situated within 

 the disputed area to the Panama Canal Company. 

 On protests being raised, the Colombian Govern- 

 ment declared that the time within which Spain 

 should have acted on the boundary question had 

 expired, and in 1891 it withdrew from the treaty. 

 Secretary Gresham again offered the friendly offices 

 of the United States in 1S94. and the outcome of 

 this intervention is the new treaty of arbitration. 



COLORADO, a Western State,' admitted to the 

 Union Aug. 1. 1876. and hence called the Centen- 

 nial State ; area, 103.925 square miles. The popu- 

 lation was 194.327 according to the census of 1880 ; 

 in 1890 it was 412.198. Capital, Denver. 



