GUATEMALA. 



463 



lectively (resident in the city of Guatemala) is 

 the Hon. H. 0. Hall. 



Army. The strength of the regular army is 

 2,180 men, and that of the militia is 33,229. 

 Expensive armaments and defalcations to a 

 considerable amount, of which the ex-Minis- 

 ter of War Barrundia was accused, detected 

 after he had quitted office, had reduced the 

 available funds of the Government to a low 

 ebb at the time the new administration was in- 

 stalled, while the interruption of business gen- 

 erally, inseparable from a state of war and 

 uncertainty, also caused embarrassment to the 

 banking institutions of the country. Hence 

 President Barillas in April authorized the Banco 

 Internacional, Banco Colombiano, and Banco 

 del Occidente to suspend specie payments for 

 the rest of the year. The Government issued 

 some paper money, but soon determined to 

 withdraw it again from circulation at the rate 

 of $10,000 monthly, and instead procure a 

 local loan of $500,000. On Aug. 1 the Gov- 

 ernment suspended for one year to come the 

 payment of interest on the internal and for- 

 eign debt, including the coupons on railroad 

 bonds. 



Finances. On Jan. 1, 1885, the national in- 

 debtedness stood as follows : 



Home debt $4,601,888 



Foreign debt 4,103,693 



Total $8,705,581 



The revenues and expenditures in 1884 were 

 as follow : 



INCOME. 



Balance $114,999 



Direct taxes 159,794 



Indirect taxes ; 8,111,815 



Monopolies 1,387,307 



Government income 880,441 



Sundry income 112,619 



Deposits 8,052,472 



Total $8,818,947 



OUTLAY. 



State Department $2,413,976 



Post-Office and Telegraph 127,493 



City police 152,540 



Department of Justice 2,863 



Pensions and state aid 49,468 



Charitable institutions 135,1 18 



Municipalities 5,495 



Tobacco purchases 2,287 



Saltpeter purchases 4,674 



Sundry expenditures 1,933.930 



Home debt 8,288,706 



Total $8,116,550 



Commerce. The imports and exports for five 

 years have been as follow, in thousands of dol- 

 lars: 



Import 

 Export . . . 



1880. 



4,425 



1881. 



8,665 



4,084 



1882. 



2,655 

 3,719 



1883. 



2,031 

 8,719 



1884. 



8,282 

 4,938 



The chief export articles in 1884 were : Cof- 

 fee, $4,455,677; hides and skins, $157,775; 

 sugar, $151,827 ; indigo, $7,883 ; wool, $9,253 ; 

 and India-rubber, $52,203. The American trade 

 with Central America is shown in the follow- 

 ing table : 



FISCAL YEAR. 



1885... 

 1884 ... 

 1888 ... 



Import Into the 

 UnlUd StaUi. 



$6,409,015 

 6,1(51,227 

 5,121,815 



Domtitlc export 



from the 

 United State*. 



$2,667,943 

 8,064,7'.)S 

 1.936,818 



There entered the ports of the republic, in 

 1884, 272 vessels. 



The financial decree of Oct. 28 revokes the 

 previous decree of July 31, and stipulates: 

 1. All privileges that certain treasury notes en- 

 joyed under the decree of July 31 are herewith 

 canceled, and they are from date assimilated 

 to all other issues thereof. 2. All payments 

 of duties and taxes due the Government will 

 henceforth have to be made in cash. 3. Reve- 

 nues from state property, and all other sources, 

 will from date be applied in preference to the 

 payment of arrears of salaries ; the balance will 

 be placed at the disposal of the Minister of 

 Finance, who will cause the treasury first to 

 make therefrom the most urgent payments 

 that the service of the state may require. 



A Free Port. On Sept. 15 Ocos was thrown 

 open to traffic as a free port, in conformity 

 with decrees of June 27 and Aug. 31, the free- 

 dom from duties being limited to the free zone 

 extending from said port inland. All wines 

 and liquors consumed within the latter were 

 also relieved of taxes. But the following goods 

 were prohibited as articles of import: appa- 

 ratus for coining money ; balls and bullets of 

 iron and lead, shells, grenades, cartridges, any 

 other projectiles of war, guns and field-pieces, 

 carbines, rifles, and muskets, and other fire- 

 arms, obscene bodks and pictures, nitro- gly- 

 cerin, powder, and other explosives. Mer- 

 chant vessels calling at the port will pay neither 

 anchorage, tonnage, nor register dues. 



Tariff Revision. The import duties by decree 

 of Jan. 29 had been raised 10 per cent., and on 

 June 2 another decree raised them 10 per cent, 

 additional, but the reduction of the duty by 

 one halt' on green fruit, soda, soap, china ware, 

 flour, stearine, and canned provisions, which 

 had been decreed on Jan. 29, simultaneously 

 with the enhancement on other goods, was 

 maintained in force on June 2. On July 31 a 

 third raising of the import duties was decreed, 

 stipulating 1. The goods enumerated under 

 article 17 of the tariff are, dating from Aug. 1, 

 raised from 25 per cent, ad valorem, hitherto 

 levied thereon, to 50 per cent. 2. The goods 

 enumerated under articles 18, 19, and 20, of 

 the same tariff, will in future pay 75 per cent, 

 ad valorem. 3. The goods enumerated under 

 article 16 remain as there stipulated, and the 

 exceptions under article 15 remain in force. 4. 

 One half of the duties is to be payable within 

 three months of appraisement, and the remain- 

 ing half within six months. All enhancements 

 of the rates of duties decreed between June 19, 

 1879, and this date, are herewith revoked. 



A decree was issued on Oct. 23, again raising 

 the duty on imports, fixed by decree of July 



