BOLIVIA. 



93 



It is, however, objected that in the table of 



venue certain items do not figure, which 



1 to reduce the deficit very materi- 



Among these items are enumerated the 



t i-ii sl.-J. r ,".oo(), advanced by the pres- 



- ieo of tlio Caracoles silver-mines, and 



port duty on silver at the custom-houses 



Arica and Coliija. 



An otlicial report, the accuracy of which has 

 n questioned, showed the national debt to 

 amount, in June, 1878, to $16,428,329, includ- 

 ..lonel Church's loan of 1,700,000, nego- 

 in London in 1871, at 68, and at the rate 



;x per cent, interest, the whole of which was 

 e applied for the construction of railways, 

 he balance-sheet presented to Congress in 

 December, 1873, represented the national debt 

 $24,757,072.88, of which $20,115,898.24 

 ,ed the foreign debt. 



inancial agents of the republic submitted to 

 the bond-holders a statement of the financial 

 situation, in which they set down the revenue 

 at $3,142,429, and the expenditure at $1,464,- 

 The surplus which would result here is 

 said to be applied upon the payment of the in- 

 terest on the national debt, as follows: 



90,000 



To the loan of 1872 (1871 T), with sinking-fund. . 



To the loac of Valck-avellano 



To the Bolivian Bank (loan to the Government) 



To the Chilian Bank of Guarantees 234,408 



To MetgjtH 205,192 



To Mejilkmea Railway 118,125 



Balance 66,910 



Total |1,677,635 



In the foregoing report, it is affirmed that 

 the Mejillones Railway is in course of construc- 

 tion (that is to say, that the works have not 

 been suspended), and will be completed by 

 March, 1876. 



It is difficult to obtain positive information 

 concerning the foreign trade. The chief staples 

 of export are guano, silver coin and bullion, 

 Peruvian bark, tin, and hides. The value of the 

 imports through Tacna and Arica is estimated 

 at $5,500,000; and that through Cobija at 

 $2,000,000. 



Notwithstanding the loans effected for the 

 purpose of carrying on the works on the Ma- 

 deira & Mamor6 Railway, and the great bene- 

 fits to be derived from that line, opening up as 

 it would an easy route for the transport of Bo- 

 livian products to the Atlantic, and bringing 

 the republic into contact with the great marts 

 of the Eastern world, the enterprise appears 

 to be almost completely abandoned. The only 

 of life or decision in this matter of such 

 vital importance are the intermittent harangues 

 in thy Assembly upon the necessity of complet- 

 ing the road. As for the line from Mejillones 

 to Caracoles, the works were suspended for 

 want of funds to prosecute them, and they are 

 likely to remain so indefinitely. Not so, how- 

 ever, the Antofagasta Railway, leading to Salar 

 del Curmen, which was to bo completed by 

 July, 1874. 



It may here be remarked that advantages 

 from the Madeira Railway would not accrue 



solely to Bolivia ; they would be largely shared 

 in by the neighboring empire of Brazil, to 

 which country the line would be of consider- 

 able importance as well in a strategic as in an 

 economic point of view. If the eastern re- 

 gions of the republic would be enabled to pour 

 their products through the Amazon into the 

 great mercantile circulation, and to receive 

 their supplies from Brazil and the outer world, 

 the empire will thereby be brought into closer 

 commercial and political alliance with Bolivia, 

 and be placed in possession of elements of de- 

 velopment and security for the vast regions of 

 Western Brazil, now virtually and practically 

 inaccessible and indefensible. The Madeira 

 Railway once completed, but a few hundreds 

 of miles of iron way would be necessary to 

 bring the line, and consequently the whole 

 Amazonian Valley, into connection with the 

 littoral region of the Pacific, and render Bo- 

 livia independent of her powerful neighbor, 

 Peru, to whom she is now indebted for a port 

 on the Pacific, and over whose territory mer- 

 chandise, inward or outward bound, has to be 

 transported. Those whose commercial inter- 

 ests are centred in the Pacific-coast region, 

 foreseeing that the turning the tide of Boliv- 

 ian foreign trade through Brazilian channels, 

 will materially enhance the prestige of the em- 

 pire among South American nations, have de- 

 termined to use all their financial power to 

 prevent the construction of the Madeira & 

 Mamor6 line of railway. A concession has 

 been granted for a railway from Tacna to the 

 Bolivian frontier, to Messrs. Hainsworth & Co., 

 of that port, and Messrs. Emile Erlanger & 

 Co., of Paris. The line will be 108 miles in 

 length, and is to cost 18,000,000 of soles, or 

 about $16,200,000, gold. This line will be ad- 

 vantageous to Bolivia, inasmuch as it will fa- 

 cilitate the transport of her productions to the 

 coast, but the advantage will cease as soon as 

 she can build a railway of her own, over her 

 own territory, and the political and economic 

 ends of the Tacna road will remain virtually 

 defeated. 



In the mean time, the Mollendo & Puno 

 Railway is finished, and will shortly be extend- 

 ed to La Paz, which will then be but a short 

 distance from the Pacific. A complementary 

 branch of the Puno line is also to be con- 

 structed, connecting La Paz and Ynngas. 



A contract has been made with Messrs. 

 Montero Brothers for a railway from Neria to 

 Oruro, a rich mining district, where the mines 

 cannot, however, be efficiently worked for 

 want of powerful machinery, and this it is im- 

 possible to introduce with the existing means 

 of transport. 



In the Assembly extraordinary, whose ses- 

 sions closed on December 7, 1873, some im- 

 portant measures were resolved upon. Among 

 these may be mentioned a still further increase 

 of imposts, the reduction of the salaries of 

 government officials, the decision to carry out 

 in every respect Colonel Church's plans rela- 



