178 



COTTON CROP OF THE UNITED STATES. 



payment from Costa Rica until the railway is 

 finished. This will require at least two years, 

 and an additional expenditure of about one 

 million pounds sterling, to which the republic 

 declares its total inability to contribute any- 

 thing. Hopes were entertained of the possi- 

 bility of raising the funds before long. 



Arrangements were made for the extinction 

 of the home debt, the different banks dividing 

 the negotiation between them. A balance was 

 to be struck, and the amount due would then 

 be paid by the Government in $100 bonds, 

 which would be canceled by the Anglo and 

 Union Banks by quarterly drawings in which 

 the amount would be employed as a redemp- 

 tion fund, which might have been received in 

 notes in the custom-house. Notes receivable 

 in the custom-house were to be issued to the 

 full amount of the debt. The banks were to 

 issue notes in consideration of a commission 

 of one per cent, and agreed to redeem the 

 bonds as aforesaid with the notes received from 

 the custom-house. These measures, however, 

 do not appear to have proved successful. On 

 December 4th there was a panic in San Jose, 

 and all who held bonds, notes, or drafts, com- 

 menced trading them off in the hope of sav- 

 ing some portion of the capital invested. At 

 the doors of the banks crowds gathered to ef- 

 fect transfers in the streets, and notes of the 

 National Bank were sold at 25 per cent dis- 

 count. Public confidence was afterward par- 

 tially restored; but the extreme measures re- 

 sorted to by the Government had evidently 

 produced an injurious rather than a salutary 

 effect, and there was little likelihood that the 

 crisis would soon subside. 



Concerning the foreign commerce of the re- 

 public, no later statistics have been published 

 than those given in the volume of the " An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia " for 1880. 



The branches of the railway so far in opera- 

 tion are those from Alajuela to Cartago, ma 

 Heredia and the capital (27 miles) ; from Pun- 

 tarenas, on the Pacific coast, to Barranca (9 

 miles) ; and from Limon, on the Atlantic coast, 

 to Rio Sucio (71 miles) : total, 107 miles. 



The telegraph lines are of the aggregate 

 length of 454 miles, with 16 offices, and, estab- 

 lishing communication between the ports of 

 Puntarenas and Limon, and the principal cities 

 of the interior, extend to the frontier of Nica- 

 ragua. 



For interesting details concerning public edu- 

 cation, reference may be made to the " Annual 

 Cyclopaedia" for 1879. The establishment of 

 normal schools in each of the provinces was 

 decreed in October, 1882. 



The Cordial relations of the republic with 

 the neighboring states were maintained un- 

 broken throughout the year. 



COTTON -CROP OF THE UNITED 

 STATES, AND ITS SPECIFIC MANUFACTURES. 

 The cotton-crop of 1880, as returned by the 

 census, amounted to 5,746,414 bales. This was 

 an average of 0-40 bale per acre of the land 



planted. This crop was gathered from thir- 

 teen States and the Indian Territory, and the 

 yield of each was as follows : 



Under the term specific cotton manufactures 

 are included establishments which work cotton 

 into a fabric known and sold under that name. 

 The spindles mentioned are those making 

 yarn for mixed goods, and spindles appurte- 

 nant to looms upon which cotton is woven 

 into cloth. 



The returns of the specific manufacture of 

 cotton - yarn and woven fabrics, including 

 some cotton hosiery, are as follows: 



Number of spindles 10,653,435 



Number of looms 225,759 



Bales of cotton consumed 1,570,344 



Number of persons employed, exclusive of admin- 

 istration, as overseers, operatives, watchmen, me- 

 chanics, yard-hands, or laborers 172,544 



Sum of wages paid, in the census year, to these 

 persons $42,040,510 



To the cotton consumed there should be 

 added an amount for woolen-mills, for up- 

 holstery, increased amount consumed in the 

 cotton year over the census year, and the 

 total is 1,740,773 - bales. The statement of 

 the New Orleans Exchange is 1,705,334, and 

 that of the New York Financial Chronicle 

 1,760,000. 



In the consideration of the following data it 

 will be observed 



1. That the capital employed is the sum of 

 the estimates of the several owners or mana- 

 gers of the value of their mills and machinery, 

 or what is known as the plant; these esti- 

 mates vary greatly in respect to individual 

 cases and to sections. 



2. The spindles given are the producing 

 spindles, not including doubling or twisting 

 spindles. 



3. The number of operatives is assumed to 

 be the average number employed for a full 

 year, as that was the intention of the questions 

 framed. It will be observed that the average 

 of the whole country in specific cotton-mills is 

 a fraction over sixteen to each thousand spin- 

 dles, being less in fine mills, more in coarse mills. 



The horse-power available for this work, as 

 returned by owners or managers, appears to be : 



Water-power 183,313 



Steam-power 119,255 



Total. 



257,563 



