COSTA RICA. 



251 



686,729, the gain for the year being $8,104,569.57. 

 The average amount due depositors was $394.75, 

 being a gain of $9.18 compared with Oct. 1, 1891. 

 Tin 1 largest amount due a single depositor was 

 $107,528.02. The number of accounts opened 

 during the twelve months was 55,495, ami the 

 number closed 41,870. The income received 

 during the year was $7,00(5,023.57, the gain be- 

 ing $357,314.95 as compared with Oct. 1, 1891. 

 The dividends declared during the year 

 amounted to $4,918,576.77, the year's increase 

 amounting to $115,483.37. The amount de- 

 posited, including interest accredited during the 

 year, was $34,719,815.05, and the amount with- 

 drawn aggregated $26,015,245.48. The office 

 expenses, including salaries, amounted to $342,- 

 873.40. In all the banks the assets yielding no 

 income amounted to only $407,708.28. 



Local Option. Town elections were held 

 throughout the State early in October, at which 

 the question of license or no license for the year 

 following was voted upon. The result is shown 

 below in comparison with the vote in 1892: 



State Constitution. The following is an 

 extract from the message of Gov. Morris to the 

 General Assembly in January : 



"We are living under a Constitution which 

 was adopted during the stagecoach era, when 

 the people were generally engaged in agriculture, 

 and the population of the State was much more 

 evenly distributed among the several towns than 

 at present. Their wants were similar, and the 

 Constitution when adopted was suitable for their 

 condition at that time. With the changes in 

 pursuits and methods of business there has 

 arisen great inequality in the population of the 

 several towns. In some the population has de- 

 creased, in others it has largely increased, and 

 different interests have arisen, so that the repre- 

 sentation given to the several towns when the 

 Constitution WHS adopted, and which was then 

 substantially equal and just, has become very 

 unequal and unjust. To illustrate this, if we 

 refer to the population of the several towns of 

 this State, as shown by the census of 1890, we 

 shall find that towns having less than one 

 seventh part of the population of the State 

 elect a majority of the House of Representatives. 

 and therefore have more political power than 

 the remaining six sevenths. The mere state- 

 ment of this fact alone would seem to be enough 

 to prove the need of a constitutional revision. 



COSTA RICA, a republic in Central America. 

 The Constitution, as restored with modifications 

 on April 26, 1882, vests the legislative power in 

 a Chamber of Representatives, the members of 

 which are elected, in the proportion of 1 to 

 8,000 inhabitants, by electors chosen by limited 



suffrage for four years, one half being replaced 

 every two years. In 1889 there were 540 tttefam 

 and 26 Representatives. The President is elected 

 for four years by the same electoral assembly. 

 Jose Joaquin Rodriguez was elected President 

 for the term ending May 8, 1894. 



Area and Population. The area is 20,790 

 square miles. The population, as determined by 

 the census of Feb. 18, 1892, is 243,205. The 

 number of marriages registered in 1891 was 

 1,000 ; of births, 7,084 : of deaths, 8,489. In the 

 same year the returns show a net immigration of 

 2,024 persons. These figures are manifestly 

 wrong in regard to births and departures. The 

 capital, San Jose, has about 24,000 inhabitants. 



Commerce and Production. The variety 

 of soil and climate is such that almost all the 

 vegetable products of the torrid and temperate 

 regions can be grown. The chief culture is 

 coffee, of which 303,073 quintals were produced 

 in 1891. Bananas are exported in large quanti- 

 ties, to the value of 080.225 pesos in 1891. Other 

 exports are hides and skins, dye woods, rubber, to- 

 bacco, sugar, cocoanuts, rice, bullion, and cacao. 

 The total value of imports in 1892 was 8,351,029 

 pesos, and of exports, 8,484,115 pesos. The com- 

 mercial relations are chiefly with the United 

 States, Great Britain, Central American coun- 

 tries, and Germany. 



Finances. The revenue for 1892 was 5,808,- 

 474 pesos in paper, which is 25 per cent, or more 

 below par, and the expenditure was 5,447,290 

 pesos. The principal sources of revenue are 

 customs, yielding 2,154,308 pesos, and spirits and 

 tobacco, yielding 2.143,088 pesos. The expendi- 

 ture on public works was 590,250 pesos ; on edu- 

 cation, 495,224 pesos ; on the army, numbering 

 600 men, 475,729 pesos ; on the interior, 376,855 

 pesos ; on finance and trade, 364,747 pesos ; on 

 police, 214,602 pesos. 



The total debt in 1892 amounted to 21,675,643 

 pesos. The old sterling loans of 1871 and 1872, 

 bearing 6 and 7 per cent, interest, and amount- 

 ing with unpaid arrears to 2,199,512 in 1887, 

 were compounded in 1888 for a new 5-per-cent. 

 loan of 2,000,000, which was assumed by the 

 Costa Rica Railroad Company. The railroad 

 extends from Limon to Alajuela. 147 miles, and 

 an extension to the Pacific coast is projected, of 

 which the section from Punta Arenas, on the 

 Pacific, to Esparza, 14 miles, is completed. 



Revolutionary Conspiracy. There was 

 an attempt in March, 1893, to overthrow the 

 Government, planned by Jose Marie Gutierrez, 

 the leader of a previous revolt, and other polit- 

 ical exiles who had taken the benefit of an 

 amnesty proclamation and returned to the coun- 

 try. The conspirators plotted to seize the mili- 

 tary barracks and arsenal at San Jose and arm 

 their followers with the weapons of the War De- 

 partment. The President and Minister of War 

 were apprised of the plot by an informer, but 

 permitted the conspirators to proceed, in order 

 to capture them in the act of treason. On the 

 day fixed for the uprising some of the leaders 

 were quietly arrested. Others were allowed to 

 supply themselves with arms and ammunition 

 from the Government stores, and then were sur- 

 prised by the troops and sent to prison. In 

 order to prevent further disturbances, martial 

 law was proclaimed throughout the country. 



