,092 PANAMA : PARAGUAY 



duties January i, 1912. Resumption of payment upon the Nicaraguan Debt coupons, 

 which was suspended on January ist took place on October 25, 1912. The coupon due 

 January i, 1913, was also met. 



PANAMA 1 



Panama has an area of 32,380 square miles, and the population including the Canal 

 Zone (see under United States: section ii) is 386,745, giving an average of a little less 

 than 13 inhabitants per square mile. Imports were valued in 1910-11 at 1,973,000 

 and exports at 570,745, British imports being valued at 453,480 and exports to 

 Great Britain at 25,034. The mileage of railways is 51 (exclusive of 151 miles of 

 narrow-gauge banana railways), and of telegraph lines 497. There are 1,000 native 

 police. Revenue for 1911-12 amounted to 739,177 and expenditure to 737,265. 



On November 3, 1903, Panama had broken away from Colombia, and under the aus- 

 pices of the United States became an independent Republic. The present constitution 

 was promulgated on February 13, 1904, and on February 25th the first president, Gener- 

 al Manuel Amador Guerrero, was installed. He served until 1908, when he was succeed- 

 ed by Senor Jose Domingo de Obaldia, who died in office on March i, 1910. The second 

 vice-president, Dr. Carlos Antonio Mendoza, then became president, the first vice-presi- 

 dent having died in the previous year. Under the aegis of the powerful northern re- 

 public, Panama made great progress, both commercially and industrially, while each 

 branch of the administration showed an improvement year by year. The country is 

 very fertile, and offers exceptional possibilities for colonisation. Moreover, it is be- 

 lieved to be very rich in mines, gold bullion being steadily shipped from mining prop- 

 erties near Darien. Agriculture is carried on to a very considerable extent, the latest 

 statistics regarding live stock showing 120,000 head of animals: 50,000 sheep and goats; 

 cattle 55,000; horses and mules 15,000. A progressive trade is carried on in bananas; 

 while cacao, rubber, coffee and sugar, of unusually good quality, are produced. In 

 Panama the sugar cane grows continuously for fifteen years without replanting. 



The financial condition of the Republic is strong; in 1910 $6,000,000 (1,200,000) 

 lay on deposit in New York Banks, and $1,000,000 (200,000) was lodged in legal 

 institutions. There is no public debt, and no paper money in circulation. 



A change in the United States diplomatic representation occurred in April 1910, 

 when Mr. R. S. Reynolds Hitt was appointed to Panama; this post he left in the follow- 

 ing July, being replaced by Mr. Thomas C. Dawson. Dr. Pablo Arosemena became 

 president on October i, 1910. He retired on leave of absence February 2d, and re- 

 sumed office March 7, 1912. On November 14, 1910, President Taft visited the canal 

 works and spent three days upon the isthmus. 



On January i, 1911, a new tariff came into existence, the ad valorem duty being raised 

 from 10 per cent to 15 per cent except upon wheat, flour, corn, rice and alfalfa. 



On July 22, 1912, the third presidential election which had taken place in Panama 

 was held under the direct and invited supervision of the United States. The elections 

 were remarkable for the fact that, for the first time on record, candidates journeyed into 

 the provinces in order to harangue the voters in true democratic style. Dr. Belisario 

 Porras was elected president from October i, 1912, for four years, by an almost unani- 

 mous vote. An innovation was the granting of votes to the military and police forces. 

 The defeated candidate for re-election, President Arosemena, declared at the opening 

 of General Assembly (Sept. 2d) that the elections " had been very unfair, and that the 

 United States had introduced methods little calculated to insure impartiality." 



Mr. Philander Knox, United States Secretary of State, visited Panama in the U.S. 

 warship " Washington " on February 27, 1912. In June two Englishwomen arrived 

 en route for Cocos Island in search of some pirates' hidden treasure. 



PARAGUAY 



square miles, 

 whom about 8 

 See E. B. xx, 664 et seq. 2 See E. B. xx, 756 et seq. 



Paraguay has an area of 171,204 square miles, and the population according to the 

 most recent estimate is 715,841, of whom about 8% are Indians, giving an average of 



