( ITIKS. AMKUK'AN. (Vi.s, , 



COLOMBIA. 



121 



in ihr southwestern part of the State. 52 miles 

 from Kvansville. 117 from Indiana|M>lis, 111* 

 from St. Louis, and 235 from Chicago. The 

 population in ISHI was 7.<;*<); in is!(. s.s.-,;;. 

 Tin- first settlement \\as made in 1702 by the 

 French, and a fort was built for protection 

 against the Indians. Tlu 1 city is named from 

 Francois Morgan de Vincennes. who took com- 

 mand of the fort in 17:!2. In 17<>;i it was taken 

 liy the Knglish and in the War of Independence 

 it surrendered to Col. Clark, Feb. 20, 1779, after 

 that ollicer and his army had endured the se- 

 verest hardships. From INOO to ISKi it was 

 tlie capital of Indiana Territory, Gen. William 

 Henry Harrison being the iirst governor. His 

 house is still standing in good preservation. 

 The city has an altitude of 431 feet above sea 

 level, and the plateau upon which it is built af- 

 fords excellent natural drainage. The mean 

 annual temperature is 56. It is surrounded by 

 a rich agricultural country, with inexhaustible 

 coal fields and valuable timber. Two coal mines 

 have been recently opened within the city limits. 

 There is daily packet service on the river, and 

 the city has 4 lines of railroad, the Ohio and 

 Mississippi intersecting with the Evansville and 

 Terre Haute, and the Cairo and Vincennes, which 

 here connects with the Indianapolis and Vin- 

 rennes. Another road has been surveyed. The 

 valuation for taxable purposes is about $6,000,- 

 000, and the tax rate $1.15 per $100. Water 

 works have been erected recently at a cost of 

 $200,000. There are gas and electric-light plants, 

 4 miles of electric street railway, ancient fire 

 and police departments, a telephone exchange, 

 and telegraph and express facilities. The city 

 is underlaid with gravel, which insures good 

 streets, and these are beautifully shaded in the 

 residence portion. A free bridge crosses the river. 

 The courthouse cost $400,000, the City Hall $75.- 

 000, and the opera house $30,000. The value of 

 church property is $247,000, and the buildings 

 are respectively as follow : Three Presbyterian, 2 

 Methodist, 2 Baptist, 2 Catholic, 1 Christian. 1 

 Kpiscopal, 1 Lutheran, and 1 German Reformed. 

 There are 2 high schools, a central, and 4 ward 

 public-school buildings, costing f {5.000, as well 

 as a fine building for colored children. Vin- 

 cennes University, chartered in 1806, had 9 in- 

 structors and 225 male and female students in 

 1888-'89, and a military department with a West 

 Point instructor has been added recently. The 

 building cost $40,000. There is also a Catholic 

 academy, which cost $35,000, and Catholics and 

 (iernmns maintain parochial schools. Three na- 

 tional banks have an aggregate capital of $300,- 

 000, and there are 7 building ami loan associa- 

 tioiis. The city has a board of trade. Two 

 daily and 2 weekly newspapers are published. 

 Four large flouring mills have a capacity of 

 200,000 barrels yearly. There are also 3 saw 

 mills in the city proper, 3 factories of staves 

 and barrel headings, 2 foundries, agricultural- 

 implement works, carriage and wagon fait cries, 

 a paper mill, a stove company, 1 hub and 

 spoke, 1 shoe. 1 box, 1 hoop, 1 axle-grease. 1 fur- 

 niture. 2 cigar, and 2 pop factories, brickyards 

 doing an extensive business, marble works, 2 

 hominy mills. 2 breweries, a butter-dish factory, 

 machine shops, shops of the Ohio and .Mississippi 

 Railroad, and a railway river switch of the 



Evansville ami Terre Haute. It is the second 



largest chicken packing and distributing point 

 in the I'nited States. 



COLOMBIA, a republic in South America. 

 By the Constitution of Aug. 4, 1W6. the Tinted 

 States of Colombia were consolidated into tin- 

 centralized republic of Colombia. The term of 

 the President was prolonged from two to six 

 years, and the Presidents of the former States 

 are reduced to Governors, appointed by t he- 

 President. The Senate is composed of 27 mem- 

 bers, 3 from each department, an 1 the House of 

 Representatives has 66 members, who are elected 

 in the departments by universal suffrage in the 

 proportion of 1 to 50,000 inhabitants. 



(ien. Rafael Nufiez was first elected President 

 in 1880, and was re-elected for the next two 

 biennial terms. When the term was altered to 

 six years he was re-elected once more, and on 

 June 4, 1887, was inaugurated as President for 

 the first long term. During most of it he was 

 kept by sickness from performing the duties in 

 person, his place being filled by Carlos Hol- 

 guin. Nevertheless he was elected for the fifth 

 time on Feb. 2, 1892, Sefior Caro being chosen 

 V ice-President, but not acting President, for 

 Holguin was again appointee 1 by the President 

 as his representative, and the arrangement was 

 unanimously approved by the Senate. 



Area and Population. The area of Colom- 

 bia is estimated at 504,773 square miles, and the 

 population at 3,878,000, including 220.000 un- 

 civilized Indians and 80.000 people in the terri- 

 tories. Bogota, the capital, which is 8,564 feet 

 above sea-level, has about 100,000 inhabitants. 



Finances. The revenue, which is mostly de- 

 rived jfrom customs, was estimated .at 90.851,100 

 pesos for 1891-'92, and expenditure at 23,911,515 

 pesos. The internal debt is 29,605,551 pesos, in 

 addition to which 7,500,000 pesos are owing from 

 the last war, and 11,932,780 pesos of paper cur- 

 rency were ont in 1892. The foreign debt, held 

 mainly in Great Britain, amounted to $14.571,- 

 318, including unpaid interest accrued during 

 eleven years. In June, 1891, negotiations were 

 opened with the bondholders for a readjustment 

 of the foreign debt. 



The Arnjy. The strength of the army in 

 peace time is fixed by act of Congress, and is 

 Kept at 5.500 men. In war the President can 

 raise the forces to any strength that the exi- 

 gences seem to require, and can press every able- 

 bodied citizen into the service. 



Commerce and Production. The chief im- 

 ports are food ami textile fabrics. The value of 

 imports in 1890 was 13,345,792 pesos, and of 

 exports 20,457,855 pesos. The leading exports 

 are coffee, cinchona bark, the export of which 

 has greatly diminished, peanuts, com, silver 

 ore. cacao, dye stuffs, hides, live animals, and 

 tobacco. Of the imports, Great Britain supplied 

 4,!H0.1!)S pesos; France, 2.713.046 pesos; Ger- 

 many. 1,63(5.019 pesos; and the United States. 

 l.v.MS.466 pesos. Of the exports, 4,789,918 pesos 

 went to Great Britain, 4,384,867 pesos to the 

 United States. 2.474.188 pesos to Germany, and 

 1. :'."). 70!) pesos to France. The export of "coffee 

 wa< 4.262.030 pesos; of gold bars and dust, 

 -VJ. V.i. ;_><; pesos; of other mine products, 2.2U.V 

 024 pesos; of hides. 1.023.2:!! ] 



During 1890 there were 1,022 vessels, of 801,- 



