COLOMBIA. 



133 



Creased duty will act unfavorably upon the oon- 

 iiii]>ti<>ii or iv. inn- the amount of the revenue. 

 With ri'irunl t. the salt, as the duty is levied 

 an arti.-lt wliioh is a monopoly and also one 

 prime necessity, tho increase in the price 

 t . jiial, almost with mathematical exacti- 

 c. ii |>r<){i.irtiiiuate rise in the income derived 

 !>!>.. in. Ami thus it has happened in the 

 tlu-r instances in which the Government has 

 en compelled to raise the price of tho arti- 

 Iu 1867 the salt-works produced $1,006,- 

 14. With the increase included, salt was to 

 sold at the offices at the following prices: 

 <-k or native salt at 50 cents the I -.1 kilo- 

 es; the granulated in the boiler or sim- 

 ly evaporated, not calcined, at 60 cents ; and 

 ie calcined, 80 cents. As the average con- 

 sumption of salt is 5 Ibs. per annum for each 

 inhabitant, even admitting that the half of the 

 price of the article represents the highest 

 value of tho monopoly, the tax is barely equal 

 to 80 cents per inhabitant. It is upon these 

 bases that Congress calculated that the esti- 

 mated revenue for the fiscal year (from 1874- 

 '75) would be as follows : 



Customs... . $3,400,000 



Salt-works 1,100,000 



Panama Railway 250,000 



. telegraphs, miuts, and sundry other 

 branches 173,728 



Total $4,923,728 



And as the 1 ordinary expenditures of the 

 Government, including the payment of the 

 dividends on the foreign and homo debts, do 

 not exceed from $3,500,000 to $3,800,000, the 

 Administration can reckon, from the first year 

 of the increased duties, upon a surplus of much 

 more than $500,000, which, added to a bal- 

 ance of another half-million, now in the gen- 

 eral Treasury, will form, during the year 1875, 

 a secure minimum -fund of $1,000,000 to meet 

 any engagements which may be incurred for 

 the construction of the projected railroads. 

 Indeed, these estimates are already corrobo- 

 rated by the results obtained since the arrange- 

 ments made for the public credit both at home 

 and abroad during the year 1872, which have 

 been the point of departure for Colombian 

 financial affairs. Without reducing the surplus 

 of half a million dollars now in the Treasury, 

 the Government has been able to meet, in the 

 course of the last two years, expenses extraor- 

 dinary of more than $800,000 for the construc- 

 tion of telegraphic lines, the purchase of a 

 Remington armament, of a steam revenue-cut- 

 ter, and to make at the same time an unusually 

 large payment on account of the home debt, 

 and of the loan of 1863. 



The tranquillity of the last ten years has 

 made itself felt in so favorable a manner in the 

 prosperity of the country that the revenue from 

 the customs has doubled in the course of that 

 period. In 1865 they produced $1,300,000; 

 and in 1873, $2,775,000. 



Supposing an increase of only seven per cent, 

 in each year, and the amount derived from the 



customs to bet $3,000,000 instead of $3,400,000 , 

 and even regarding all other branches of reve- 

 nue as stationary, and calculating that all ordi- 

 nary expenditures will increase At the rato of 

 five per cent, per annum on $3,500,000 : the 

 financial position of the Colombian Govern- 

 ment, should peace he preserved, will bo a* 

 follows, during the eleven years, 1876-'8o" : 



The financial capacity of tho country cannot 

 be measured by the amount of revenue actually 

 collected, because, in countries where taxes are 

 voted by the representatives of the people, 

 public opinion does not allow their increase 

 with the mere view of expending their product 

 in the payment of public salaries. But when 

 it becomes necessary to appeal to new taxes 

 for works of public utility, the construction of 

 new means of communication, no one can doubt 

 that the country will readily support one or 

 two millions of contributions. The salt-mine 

 revenue alone may produce, if necessary for this 

 object, twice as much as it does at present. 



The institutions of credit begin to be estab- 

 lished and to work with perfect security. 

 There exists in the capital a good bank of 

 issue and discount, established in 1871, and 

 which gave the following results in 1878: 



Deposits... $700,000 



Discount bills 2,000,000 



Bank-notes in circulation 560,000 



The general movement of the bank amounts 

 to $39,000,000. 



The national expenditure for the fiscal year 

 ending August 31, 1873, was as follows: 



Civil service. . . $2,100,000 



Foreign debt 570.000 



Interior debt 480,000 



Total $8,150,000 



These figures, compared with those of the 

 revenue, show a surplus of $850,000. 



The national debt stood as follows : 



Home debt $'.0.000.000 



Foreign debt 11,000,000 



Total $21,000,000 



Up to the 80th of June last more than one- 

 half of the bonds of New Granada were con- 

 verted into Colombian 4$ per cent, bonds, in 

 accordance with the agreement approved of 

 by Congress on the 4th of March preceding. 

 Bonds were presented for 3,845,850, for 

 which others were issued to the value of 2,- 

 589,148 ($12,945,740). 



The foreign debt, contracted for the war of 

 independence, will bear interest at 4$ per cent. 



