804 



SALVADOR. 



The standing army, in 1876, was 1,000 strong, 

 and the militia 5,000. It appears that since 

 that time the militia has been raised to 18,500, 

 but no official mention is made of the army 

 strength. 



A decided improvement is apparent in the fi- 

 nancial condition of the country since 1878 ; not 

 only have the receipts increased, but they are 

 greater than the expenditure, notwithstanding 

 the latter are now much larger than they were 

 a few years ago. In 1880 the national revenue 

 amounted to $3,272,740, and the expenditure 

 to $3,122,063. 



In 1871 Salvador had but a very small na- 

 tional debt, the total amount of both branches 

 of which (home and foreign) did not exceed 

 $705,800, chiefly represented by libranzas, or 

 treasury notes. In 1872 and 1873, however, 

 when the republic raised troops on various oc- 

 casions for the purpose of invading Honduras, 

 the debt was considerably increased. At the 

 commencement of 1875 an official publication 

 gave it at $4,363,227, and in 1880 the con- 

 verted debt (deuda convertida) amounted to 

 $1,738,037, exclusive of a floating debt of 

 $340,848. 



The trade statistics for 1880 could hardly be 

 more encouraging. The exports, besides a large 

 increase, show a striking superiority in total 

 value over the imports, as may be seen from 

 the tables inserted below, reproduced from the 

 Salvador official journal. The total imports 

 were 142,082 packages, of the gross value of 

 $2,294,542.58, the chief commodities enumer- 

 ated being: Cotton fabrics, $810,276; linen and 

 silk fabrics, $92,719 ; wines and liquors, $133,- 

 618; breadstuff's, $161,956; provisions, $54,480; 

 drags and perfumes, $54,645 ; machinery, $61,- 

 657; hardware, $51,970. The exports were of 

 the aggregate value of $4,273,088.30, coffee 

 figuring, as usual, foremost among the staples 

 shipped. It may be observed in regard to this 

 item, however, that in quoting its value the 

 Salvadorian tendency to exaggeration in these 

 matters would seem to have had free play, 

 $2,440,087 being a suspiciously large sum for 

 the proceeds of the sale of 115,111 sacks of 

 coffee, nor can it readily be imagined in what 

 market almost $20 per sack could have been 

 secured for the entire quantity exported. Fext 

 in order of importance comes indigo, of which 

 7,829 ceroons were sent out of the country, of 

 the gross value of $1,173,672.50; sugar, hides, 

 tobacco (leaf), rice, and balsam, stand respect- 

 ively for the values of $68,030.33, $43,007.10, 

 $56,491.10, $38,711.58, $33,725 ; cigars of the 

 value of $27,493 were shipped; India-rubber 

 of the value of $15,834.10, and deer-skins of 

 the value of $5,215.50. Of the 1,006 pack- 

 ages of cigars, 802 were taken by Costa Rica, 

 and 129 by Honduras. England, Germany, 

 France, and Italy took, respectively, 31,630, 

 11,971, 12,019, and 11,085 sacks of coffee, and 

 the United States 46,224, of which 32,713 passed 

 through the port of San Francisco. "Inter- 

 esting facts, to which attention is attracted in 



scrutinizing the table of imports and exports," 

 writes Minister Logan to the Department of 

 State, " are, firstly, that the trade of the Repub- 

 lic of Salvador is largely with the United States, 

 as appears from the circumstances that of the 

 142,082 packages of merchandise imported 

 during the year, 67,162 packages, or nearly 

 one half the whole amount, were from our 

 own country; and of the 161,823 packages 

 exported, 63,122, being only 7,779 packages 

 less than one half the whole exportation, were 

 sent to the United States ; secondly, that the 

 articles imported more largely from the United 

 States than from European countries were pro- 

 visions, flour (the total importation being from 

 California), fine hardware, and machinery. Of 

 the latter, we sold 2,342 packages, as against 

 1,607 sold by all Europe. Sewing-machines 

 probably constituted a large proportion of the 

 packages under this heading, as imported from 

 the United States; thirdly, that the article 

 more largely bought by the United States was 

 raw sugar, and that more than one third of 

 the coffee export was to the United States; 

 fourthly, the articles more largely imported 

 from European countries were cotton and linen 

 goods, wines and liquors, crockery and glass- 

 ware, drugs and perfumery, and iron-ware; 

 and the articles more largely exported to Eu- 

 ropean countries were indigo and coffee. The 

 showing of trade between the United States 

 and the Republic of Salvador is very favorable 

 to the former, and is to be considered as an 

 illustration of the correctness of the principle 

 stated in the body of my dispatch, viz., that 

 mutual purchases underlie permanent trade re- 

 lations. In the present case the trade is divided 

 between the United States and the countries 

 of Europe for the reason that all buy largely 

 of the products of Salvador. In case we bought 

 nothing of that country, then all of its pur- 

 chases would be made in Europe (because its 

 credits would be there exclusively), with the 

 exception of such articles from the United 

 States as command a market, the only one of 

 these being, in the present instance, the flour 

 of California." Besides the points here alluded 

 to there are others equally noteworthy and 

 significant, namely, that the foreign trade of the 

 country is steadily and rapidly growing; that 

 the statistics are carefully prepared, and pub- 

 lished with a certain degree of regularity, which 

 shows that the Government is zealous in -its 

 efforts to develop the national resources, with 

 a view to enduring prosperity ; and that Sal- 

 vador, if not yet an absolutely prosperous na- 

 tion, is among the most industrious of Spanish 

 America.. 



For a number of years past the balance of 

 trade has been in favor of the republic. In 

 1876, for instance, the exports were of a total 

 value of $3,605,023, while the imports amount- 

 ed to only $1,698,083; and in 1880 the value 

 of the exports exceeded that of the imports by 

 $1,978,546. 



Here follow the tables above referred to: 



