606 



PARAGUAY. 



PARKM AN, FRANCIS. 



rope, and they were regarded as positive indica- 

 tions that this country was rapidly approaching 

 a silver basis. Consequently there was free sell- 

 ing of all classes of American securities, and an 

 indisposition even temporarily to hold any of 

 our railroad properties. The Brussels monetary 

 conference was convened Nov. 22, delegates be- 

 ing appointed at the invitation of the United 

 States for the purpose of discussing measures for 

 a freer use of silver as currency ; but after the 

 consideration of various plans an adjournment 

 was had until May of the following year. Our 

 money market was comparatively easy until De- 

 cember, influenced by the supply of Treasury 

 notes resulting from the monthly purchases of 

 silver. Large exports of gold continued, and a 

 low reserve of free gold in the Treasury caused 

 an advance on the 19th to 40 per cent., but the 

 final rate for the year was 5 per cent. On July 

 2 news of the passage in the Senate of a bill for 

 the free coinage of silver had a depressing effect 

 until the 13th, when the measure was defeated 

 in the House of Representatives, and thereafter 

 to the close of the month the market was strong. 



The effect of the large crops of 1891 was shown 

 in railroad earnings during the first half of 1892, 

 the tonnage and exports of breadstuffs being 

 very heavy. 



For an account of the panic of 1893, see the 

 article FINANCIAL REVIEW, in this volume. 



PARAGUAY, a republic in South America. 

 The Legislature consists of a Senate of 13 mem- 

 bers and a Chamber of Deputies having twice as 

 many. The President, who serves four years, is 

 Juan G. Gonzalez, elected in 1890. 



The population is about 330,000, living on an 

 area of 253,100 square kilometres. There are 

 about 17,000 alien residents, including 5,000 

 Argentinians, 2,500 Italians, 1,500 Spaniards, 

 and 1,250 Germans. The number of immigrants 

 in 1892 was 539. Asuncion, the capital, has 

 24,000 inhabitants. The standing army num- 

 bers 1,314 infantry and 347 cavalry and artillery, 

 with 20 guns. The naval force consists of a sin- 

 gle river-gunboat. 



The receipts of the Government in 1892 

 amounted to 2,731,507 pesos, of which 2,130.741 

 pesos were derived from customs and 363,202 

 pesos from sales and leases of public lands. The 

 total expenditure was 3,829,569 pesos, including 

 797,609 pesos of extraordinary expenditures. Of 

 the ordinary expenditures, amounting to 3,031,- 

 960 pesos, 1,101,011 pesos were for internal ad- 

 ministration, 943,583 pesos for war and marine, 

 519,059 pesos for justice, worship, and public 

 instruction, 250,735 pesos for finances, and 217,- 

 572 pesos for foreign relations. The foreign 

 debt on Jan. 1, 1893, amounted to 26,523,712 

 pesos and the internal debt to 746,841 pesos. 

 Between 1890 and 1892 the Government issued 

 7,300,000 pesos of inconvertible paper currency. 



Agriculture and stock-raising, are the princi- 

 pal industries. In the autumn of 1893 promis- 

 ing copper mines were discovered. Manufactur- 

 ing is carried on to a fair extent. The imports 

 for 1892 were valued at 2,197,000 pesos, and the 

 exports at 9,270.000 paper pesos, the premium on 

 gold ranging from 600 to 660 per cent. About 

 half of the imports are British manufactures, 

 chiefly textiles. 



Two hundred and eighty-four steamers and 



86 sailing vessels, having a total measurement 

 of 122,093 tons, were entered at the port of 

 Asuncion from foreign ports in 1892. There 

 are 252 kilometres of railroad, running from 

 Asuncion to Pirapo. Besides the telegraph line 

 erected along the railroad another was put 

 up in 1884 from Paso de la Patria to Asuncion, 

 placing Paraguay in telegraphic communication 

 with other countries. Over this line 12,203 dis- 

 patches were sent in 1892, paying 18,832 pesos. 

 The post-office in 1891 forwarded 470,185 domes- 

 tic and 628,938 foreign letters ; the receipts were 

 117,211, and expenses 183,299 francs. 



PARKMAN, FRANCIS, American historian, 

 born in Boston, Mass., Sept. 16. 1823; died 

 there, Nov. 8, 1893. His ancestors on his fa- 

 ther's side included Ebenezer, clergyman and 

 author, and Francis, clergyman and founder of 



FRANCIS PARKMAN. 



a Harvard professorship of pulpit eloquence 

 and pastoral care ; and on his mother's side the 

 eloquent John Cotton, and John, his son, a min- 

 ister, who frequently preached to the Indians 

 in their own tongue, and revised and corrected 

 Eliot's Indian Bible ; and Josiah, also a mission- 

 ary to the Indians, who prepared a vocabulary 

 of the Massachusetts tribes. Francis Parkman 

 was graduated at Harvard College in 1844, after 

 which he read law for two years. He had 

 traveled in Europe in 1843-'44, and in 1846 he 

 set out on a journey to the then trackless and 

 unknown West, in company with his cousin, 

 Quincy Adams Shaw. Although then but 

 twenty-three years old, he had already formed 

 a settled purpose which is best shown in his 

 preface to the fourth edition, dated 1872, of his 

 earliest volume, "The Oregon Trail." He says: 



The following sketches appeared in 1847. A sum- 

 mer's adventures of two youths just out of college 

 might well enough be allowed to fall into oblivion 

 were it not that a certain interest will always attach 

 to the record of that wh'ich has passed away never to 

 return. . . . As regards the motives which sent us to 

 the mountams, our liking for them would have suf- 

 ficed ; but in my case another incentive was added. 

 I went, in great measure, as a student, to prepare for a 

 literary undertaking of which the plan was already 

 formed, but which, from the force of inexorable cir- 

 cumstances, is still but half accomplished. It was 

 this that prompted some proceedings on my part 

 which, without a fixed purpose in view, might be 

 charged with youthful rashness. My business was 

 observation, and I was willing to pay dearly for the 

 opportunity of exercising it. 



The hardships of that journey broke down a 

 constitution that had been always delicate ; but 



