GOVERNMENT AND LAW. 



17 



Antonio Bridge. The district of its name con- 

 tains 27,000 inhabitants. On the western end 

 of the island Ponce de Leon built the Govern- 

 or's palace, inclosed within the Santa Catalina 

 fortifications, where also are the cathedral, 

 town house, and theater. This portion of the 

 city is now called Pueblo Viejo. It is an 

 Episcopal see subordinate to the Archbishop 

 of Santiago de Cuba. The city is strongly 

 fortified for the defense of the entrance to the 

 outer harbor. The interior harbor is land- 

 locked, capacious, and safe, and is being 

 dredged to a uniform depth of twenty-nine 

 feet. The houses are of stone, usually one 

 story high, and have roof gardens, from which 

 fine marine views may be enjoyed. Almost 

 every house has a garden in its patio or court. 



Besides the capital, San Juan, there are 

 some sixty or seventy towns and villages of 

 considerable size in the island. Of these the 

 most important are Ponce and Arecibo, each 

 with a larger population than San Juan (that 

 of Ponce being about 35,000 or 40,000, while 

 that of San Juan is estimated at 25,000) ; 

 Mayaguez (also larger than the capital) and 

 Aguadilla, on the west coast ; Farjardo and Hu- 

 macao, on the east coast : Guanica and Aroyo, 

 on the south, and Pepino and Cayey, in the 

 interior. 



Commerce. The foreign trade of Porto 

 Rico in 1896 amounted to $36,624,120, the 

 imports being valued at $18,945,793, and the 

 exports at $17,295,535. The largest trade 

 was done with Spain, being $11,259,702, and 

 the next largest with the United States, $6,- 

 526,029. In the year 1897 the imports from 

 the United States were $1,988,888, and the 

 exports to the United States $2,181,024. The 

 imports from the United States included petro- 

 leum, ironware, dried and salted meats, tex- 

 tiles, and dairy products. Rice was the prin- 

 cipal article of import irom the rest of the 

 world. 



The largest article of export from Porto 

 Rico is coffee, which is over 63 per cent, of the 

 whole. The next largest is sugar, 28 per cent. 

 The other exports in order of amount are to- 

 bacco, honey, molasses, cattle, timber, and hides. 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



* These islands, ceded by Spain to the United 

 States by the treaty signed by the Peace Com- 

 missioners, Dec. 10, 1898, and ratified by the 

 Senate, Feb. 6, 1899, and by the Queen Re- 

 gent of Spain March 17, extend almost due 

 north and south from Formosa to Borneo and 

 the Moluccas, embracing an extent of 16 of 

 latitude and 9 of longitude. They are about 

 2,000 in number ; the two largest are Luzon 

 (area 40,024 square miles) and Mindanao; 



and the total area, including the Sulu Islands, 

 is about 115,300 square miles. The popula- 

 tion is estimated at about 8,000,000. The 

 capital of the Philippines, Manila, has 154,062 

 inhabitants (1887); other towns are Laoag, 

 30,642; Lipa, 43,408; Banang, 35,598; Ba- 

 tangas, 35,587. There are about 25,000 Euro- 

 peans in the islands and about 100,000 Chi- 

 nese, in whose hands are the principal indus- 

 tries. The native inhabitants are mostly of 

 the Malayan race, but there are some tribes of 

 Negritos. The group is divided into three 

 governments : Luzon, the Visayas, and Min- 

 danao with the Sulu Islands ; but in many of 

 the islands the natives have hitherto been 

 practically independent. 



Financial and Industrial Condi- 

 tions. Silver is the basis of the currency in 

 the Philippine Islands. There is no gold in 

 general circulation, and has been none for 

 more than twenty years. The Mexican dollar 

 of a date previous to 1877 is current in the 

 islands, and it is practically the only money in 

 general circulation. The Spanish Govern- 

 ment, in the summer of 1897, coined $6,000,- 

 000 of silver in a local currency, which was 

 sent to the islands. These dollars are lighter 

 in weight than the Mexican dollar, but the 

 scarcity of money in the Philippine Islands 

 caused them to be quickly absorbed. There 

 is a local note-issuing bank, called the Banco 

 Espaiiol Filipino, which has in circulation 

 notes based on silver, of which there was out- 

 standing on Sept. 30. 1898, approximately 

 $2,500,000. 



It is estimated there are in circulation $10,- 

 000,000 of subsidiary coins, the 10-cent, 20- 

 cent, and 50-cent pieces, which have been re- 

 coined from Mexican dollars by the Spanish 

 Government. The estimate of the Mexican 

 dollars now in circulation, as given by one of 

 bhe best-informed bankers in the islands, is 

 from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000. This, with 

 the $2,500,000 of notes of the Banco Espafiol 

 Filipino now in -circulation, constitutes the 

 urrency of the islands. This would make a 

 total of from $40,000,000 to $45,000,000, 

 speaking roughly, for the entire islands, or, 

 approximately, $5 per capita for the total pop- 

 ulation of the islands. It must not be over- 

 looked that these figures are given on a silver 

 aasis, and that, therefore, in figuring on our 

 own standard all of these figures must be cut 

 in two. On a gold basis, the currency of the 

 islands is, therefore, from $20, 000, 000 to $22,- 

 500,000, or $2.50 per capita, figuring on the 

 iotal population of the islands. 



Three banking institutions do the banking 

 Dusiness of the Philippine Islands aside from 

 'hat done by the large commercial houses. 



