BRAZIL. 



99 



determine serious crises. The following table, 

 prepared from official returns, exhibits the state 

 of Brazil's foreign loans on Nov. 1, 1883 : 



All these loans were contracted through the 

 Rothschilds of London, and on the security of 

 " all the resources of the empire." The 1883 

 loan, at 4|- per cent, for 4,000,000, the price 

 of emission being 89 per 100, is to be re- 

 deemed by a sinking fund of one per cent, per 

 annum, dating from June 1, 1884. In the case 

 of this, as of the earlier loans, the sinking fund 

 of one per cent, is to be applied by purchase of 

 bonds in the market when the price is under 

 par, and, when at or over par, by drawings by 

 lots. 



The national revenue and expenditure for the 

 fiscal year 1881-'82 were 131, 986,964 and 139,- 

 470,648 milreis, respectively; deficit, 7,483,684 

 milreis. 



The budget estimates for 1883-'84 imply a 

 surplus of 1,930,340, and those for 1885-'86 a 

 surplus of 5,104,162 milreis. The Minister of 

 Finance divines the possibility of a saving of 

 5,000,000 milreis in the ordinary expenditures, 

 and of a further economy of 3,000,000 by con- 

 verting the six per cent, home debt into a five 

 per cent, debt, leaving only about 75,000,000 to 

 be provided for by taxation, to establish an 

 equilibrium of revenue and expenditure. Part 

 of the necessary increase of revenue may, he 

 thinks, be obtained by putting a tax on culti- 

 vated land near railroads and navigable rivers; 

 another on transfers of movables ; taxes on to- 

 bacco and some other articles ; by adjusting and 

 extending the taxes on trades and professions, 

 and by increasing the duties on foreign arti- 

 cles of luxury, while reducing those articles 

 necessary to the poor. 



Commerce. Concerning this department, no 

 more recent returns, of a general character, 

 are at this writing available than those given 

 in the volume for 1883. A significant remark 

 may, however, prove opportune in this place, 

 namely, that in the case of Brazil, as of most of 

 the other countries of Latin America, the bal- 

 ance of trade with the United States is con- 

 stantly against the last ; and accounts have, of 

 course, to be settled mainly k< by payments by 

 us, or by exchange through London." The 

 following observations, from the pen of Dr. 

 Salvador Mendouca, the Brazilian consul-gen- 

 eral in New York, will be found interesting 

 in this connection : " The balance of trade 

 between this country and Brazil is against 

 the United States. The balance, in favor of 

 Brazil, for the twenty-one years ending 1879, 



amounted to $443,267,864. During the same 

 period the commerce between England and 

 Brazil gave a balance of $15,104,579 in favor 

 of the former ; while France, during the same 

 period, had a balance in her favor of $38,099,- 

 300. The British exports to Brazil were of 

 the value of $616,803,716; those of France, 

 $353,263,900; and those of the United States 

 only $.132,253,934. Most of the Brazilian for- 

 eign trade is with England, and the fault lies 

 with the United States, which might easily 

 monopolize that commerce if her merchants 

 but acted as they ought. All that is required 

 is frequent and rapid steam communication 

 between the two countries. The United States 

 and Brazil Company has good steamers, but 

 they only run every six weeks. Brazilian cof- 

 fee is brought to New York in British bottoms, 

 and paid for in London, and thereby Brazil 

 purchases in England commodities which, un- 

 der other circumstances, she would buy in the 

 United States. By acting at once as banker 

 and carrier, England levies a tax of 12 per 

 cent, on the trade between the United States 

 and Brazil. This being the chief market for 

 Brazilian coffee, Brazilian merchants would 

 willingly take, in exchange for that article, 

 manufactured goods, machinery, and all other 

 products which this country could supply. 

 Another need is direct telegraphic communica- 

 tion between the two nations. The British 

 Cable Company declared last year a dndivide 

 of 14 per cent, on a capital of $8,000,000, and 

 one half of that profit was derived from trans- 

 actions with the United States. Trinidad is 

 already united by telegraph with this country, 

 and that island is but twenty-four miles distant 

 from the coast of South America. By means 

 of a cable 1,000 miles long, parallel with and 

 close to the coast, the Brazilian system could 

 be linked to the land-wires, and telegraphic 

 communication thus be opened up between 

 Brazil and the United States. That line could 

 be completed and worked by a company hav- 

 ing a capital of $1,000,000, and such a com- 

 pany is at this moment being organized." - 



Brazil claims to possess 800,000,000 coffee- 

 shrubs, covering upward of 2,000,000 acres of 

 land, about 400 shrubs being planted to each 

 acre. The average yield of each shrub is one 

 pound of marketable coffee per annum. The 

 coffee industry of the empire affords employ- 

 ment for 800^,000 persons, for the most part 

 slaves. 



Shipping. The shipping movements at the 

 various ports of Brazil, in the year 1883, were 

 as follow: 



OCEAN TRADE. 



EVTERED. 1,218 craft, with an aggregate of 1.220,832 tons. 

 CLEARKD. 1,067 craft, with an aggregate of 1,207,821 tons. 



COASTING TRADE. 



ENTE BED. 1,414 craft, with an aggregate of 454,739 tons. 

 CLEAKED. 1,588 craft, with an aggregate of 540,891 tons. 



Besides the three steamers of the United 

 States and Brazil Mail Steamship Line, under 

 contract with the Imperial Government, others 



