GUATEMALA. 



379 



EXPENDITURE. 



Army $1,003,300 



Civil administration 280,500 



Pensions 14,000 



Public instruction 64,800 



Public works 5,200 



Public worship... .'. . .' 34,300 



Foreign affairs , 19,300 



Subsidies 16,400 



Expenditures extraordinary 70,300 



Premium on exports 1,900 



Municipal subsidies 85,200 



Hospitals 12,400 



Mint 71,800 



Post-office, stamps, etc 6,000 



Indemnities 6,500 



Public debt : 



Interest $208,000 I K 9 ninn 



Installments on capital. . . . 317,100 f ~ oto,iw 



Eeimbursements of advances 15,000 



Eeimbursements of deposits 220,700 



Sundries 134,900 



Total $2,542,600 



From the foregoing table it is to be observed 

 that, although the revenue was $14,677 less 

 than in the year 1873, the expenditure amount- 

 ed to $60,938 less than in 1873, thus constitut- 

 ing a surplus of $58,400 in 1874. A like pros- 

 perous state of the finances will probably be 

 recorded for 1875, judging from the relation 

 between the revenue and the expenditure in 

 some of the early months of that year : in 

 February, for instance, the income reached 

 $376,045.51, while the expenditure did not ex- 

 ceed $119,510. 



A non-official report of the Treasury De- 

 partment gave the revenue for 1874 at $3,877,- 

 384.13. 



In the same report the duties on exports 

 and imports by sea, tonnage dues, etc., ap- 

 peared as in the following table, for the years 

 therein expressed : 



Years. Amounts. 



1868. . . , $470,971 86 



1869 467,997 74 



1870 636,115 87 



1871 683,78265 



1872 838,102 99 



1873 786,418 60 



1874 1,106,844 08J 



The national debt, which on July 31, 1874, 

 amounted to $4,119,784.92, stood on the 31st 

 of August of the same year at $4,092,987.10, 

 having been reduced, in the space of one 

 month, $26,797.82 ; and by December 31, 1874, 

 it had been further reduced to $3,877,384, thus 

 showing a diminution of nearly $250,000 in 

 less than half a year. 



The Guatemala press, in congratulating the 

 people on the continued peace enjoyed by the 

 country for two years (a happy anomaly for 

 Central America), warmly eulogized the .wise 

 management of financial affairs by which the 

 Government had at last raised the nation's 

 credit to the highest standing, both at home 

 and abroad. 



Nor was the British press less warm in its 

 encomiums upon this new and satisfactory or- 

 der of things, as appears from the following ex- 

 tract from the report of the council of foreign 

 bondholders on Spanish- American states, pub- 

 lished in London in 1875 : 



This republic (Guatemala) has discharged her ob- 

 ligations to the foreign creditors with increasing 

 regularity during the past year, and there is now 

 every prospect of punctuality in the future. 



The council called attention in their last annual 

 report to the much-needed railway from the port of 

 San Jose" to the capital. As soon as strict punctual- 

 ity in the payments of the loan is established, there 

 would probably be no difficulty in raising funds for. 

 that important undertaking. 



Mr. Corbett, who acted as agent of the bondhold- 

 ers, having permanently left Guatemala, the council 

 will appoint another agent in his place, subject to 

 confirmation by the contractors, in accordance with 

 the terms of the general "bond. 



The total value of the imports for the year 

 1873 was $2,364,000 ; and in 1874, $2,574,165, 

 of which $2,435,108 through the southern or 

 Pacific ports. 



The value and destination of the exports 

 for the year 1873 are set forth in the subjoined 

 table : 



COUNTRIES. Values. 



United States ' $1,235,000 



Germany 855^000 



Great Britain 659,000 



France 819,000 



Other countries 802,000 



Total $3,370,000 



The quantity of coffee exported in the: same 

 year was 15,050,700 Ibs., of the value of $2,- 

 408,100; cochineal, 1,107,481 Ibs., value $498,- 

 366; India-rubber, 360,300 Ibs., value $156,- 

 125 ; skins of the value of $99,915 ; indigo of 

 the value of $37,293 ; and wool, etc., of the 

 value of $53,382. The largest imports are 

 from Great Britain ; while the largest exports 

 are to the United States. 



From three to five steamers (mainly of the 

 Pacific Steam Navigation Company, plying be- 

 tween Panama and San Francisco) touch at 

 the Pacific ports of Guatemala monthly ; and 

 there were entered at the port of San Jose, in 

 1873, 29 sailing-vessels 9 being German, 3 

 American (United States flag), 2 British, etc. 



The city of Guatemala is now connected by 

 telegraph with the department of Quiche ; and 

 the wires are to be extended to Mita, Chiqui- 

 mula and Zacapa, and, in course of time, as far 

 as Izabal. 



A complete apparatus for the manufacture of 

 gas had been received at the port of San Jose. 



Indeed, it would appear that the republic 

 has fairly entered upon the career of progress. 

 Good roads, the want of which has been so 

 sensibly felt, as exercising a retarding influ- 

 ence upon the development of the material re- 

 sources of this as well as of all the other Span- 

 ish-American countries, are in course of prep- 

 aration; no less' than 1,000 men having been 

 employed on the road leading from Guatemala 

 northward, with the determination on the part 

 of the Government to increase that number to 

 2,000. By virtue of a recent decree, every 

 adult in the republic is to work three days in 

 repairing the highways, or find a suitable sub- 

 stitute. 



An aqueduct, to supply Champerico with 

 water, was soon to be built. 



