234 



COSTA RICA. 



CUBA AND PUERTO RICO. 



We favor the enactment of a strict corrupt practice 



act, with provisions limiting the purposes for which 

 money may he expended in elections, and providing 

 for the forfeiture of olttcc as a penalty for disregard- 

 ing the provisions of the law. 



A State convention was also held by the 

 Populist party, which nominated a ticket headed 

 by Edwin C. Bingham for Governor. The head 

 of the Socialist-Labor ticket was James F. 

 Tuckey. 



All the candidates on the Republican ticket 

 received majorities, and were elected by the peo- 

 ple, under the majority requirement of the State 

 Constitution. For Governor, Coffin received 

 83,988 votes ; Cady, 66,271 ; Pond, 2,345 ; Bing- 

 ham and all others, 2,333. Members of the 

 Legislature were elected as follow: Senate Re- 

 publicans, 22 ; Democrats, 2. House Repub- 

 licans, 205; Democrats, 47. This is a gain for 

 the Republicans of 10 seats in the Senate and 68 

 in the House. Republicans were elected to Con- 

 gress in all the 4 congressional districts. 



COREA. See KOREA. 



COSTA RICA, a republic in Central Amer- 

 ica. The Congress is a single chamber of 21 

 members elected for four years, as also is the 

 President. J. Rodriguez was elected President 

 in 1890. The ministers in the beginning of 1894 

 were : Foreign Affairs, Worship, Public Instruc- 

 tion, Public Charity, and Justice, M. V. Jime- 

 nez ; War and Marine, R. Iglesias ; Gobernacion 

 and Public Works, J. Vargas ; Finance, Dr. P. 

 Valverde. 



Area and Population. The area is 20,790 

 square miles. The population enumerated in 

 1892 was 243,205, of whom 122,480 were males 

 and 120,725 females. The actual population is 

 estimated to be 262,700. San Jose, the capital, 

 has 19,326 inhabitants. There were in 1892 in 

 attendance in 267 elementary schools 11,472 pu- 

 pils. The Government maintains also higher 

 schools. 



Finances. The main sources of revenue are 

 customs, which in the year 1891-'92 yielded 

 2.143,164 pesos, and excise duties on spirits and 

 tobacco, which yielded 2.185,670 pesos out of a 

 total revenue of 5,808,474 pesos. The expendi- 

 ture amounted to 5,814,643 pesos, of which the 

 chief items were 549,287 pesos for public works, 

 525,249 pesos for education, 431,590 pesos for 

 military affairs, 417.590 pesos for the interior, 

 415.215 pesos for finance, and 257,208 pesos for 

 police. The standing military force is 600 men. 



The foreign debt in 1892 amounted to 18,864,- 

 541 pesos, and the internal debt and paper money 

 to 2,811,102 pesos. In 1887 the foreign debt, 

 consisting of the nominal sum of 2,691,300 and 

 2.119,512 of unpaid interest, was converted into 

 a 5-per-cent. sterling loan of 2,000,000, which 

 was assumed by the Costa Rica Railroad Com- 

 pany, but the contract has not been carried out. 

 Congress, in June, 1894, voted to impose an ex- 

 port duty of 1 peso a quintal on coffee, the pro- 

 ceeds to be applied to paying off the interest on 

 the foreign debt. 



Commerce and Production. Costa Rica is 

 noted for its excellent coffee, of which 378,224 

 quintals were produced in 1892. The value of 

 the imports in 1892 was 5,389,749 pesos; exports, 

 9.113,948 pesos. The value of the exports of 

 coffee was 8,024,651 pesos; bananas, 707,282 



pesos; wood, 97,102 pesos; hides and skins, 90,- 

 249 pesos; precious metals, 68,047 pesos. The 

 imports from Great Britain were 1,702,145 pesos; 

 while 1,295,682 pesos worth of merchandise came 

 from the United States, 947,647 pesos from Ger- 

 many, and 526,382 pesos from France. Of the 

 exports, 4,916,287 pesos went to Great Britain, 

 3,642,896 pesos to the United States, and 386,- 

 737 pesos to Germany. The shipping entered at 

 the ports of Limon and Punta Arenas during 

 1892 was 372 ships, of 388,499 tons. 



Communications. There is a railroad 147 

 miles long, running from Limon to Alajuela. 

 which will eventually join one from Punta Are- 

 nas, on the Pacific coast, of which 14 miles have 

 been built, reaching Esparza. 



There are 630 miles of telegraph. The num- 

 ber of messages in 1891 was 222,231. The postal 

 traffic was 838,051 domestic and 752,686 inter- 

 national letters. 



Change of Administration. Previous to the 

 general election, which was held in April, 1894, 

 a revolutionary uprising was started, but it was 

 quickly quelled. The official candidate, Rafael 

 Iglesias. was elected President over Jose G. Tre- 

 jos, the Catholic Union candidate. The new 

 President was inducted into office, and at the 

 opening of Congress appointed the following 

 ( 'abinet : Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Public 

 Instruction, Ricardo Pacheco ; Interior, Police, 

 and Public Works, Dr. Juan J. Ulloa ; Finance 

 and Customs, Ricardo Monleategre ; War and 

 Marine. Dr. Juan B. Quiros. 



Before the change of administration negotia- 

 tions were in progress for an extradition treaty 

 with the United States. The Costa Rican au- 

 thorities had as a matter of comity surrendered 

 a fugitive who was wanted in New York to an- 

 swer a charge of embezzlement, and the United 

 States Department of State desired to include 

 that among the extraditable offenses, with mur- 

 der, arson, piracy, mutiny, burglary, robbery, 

 forgery, and counterfeiting. The new President 

 came into conflict with the Nicaraguan authori- 

 ties, who were offended because he would not 

 surrender fugitive revolutionists, and accused 

 him of harboring the political enemies of Presi- 

 dent Zelaya. In September an attempt was made 

 to assassinate President Iglesias at a military re- 

 view by a man named A ray a, who was supposed 

 to be an anarchist. 



CUBA AND PUERTO RICO, two islands 

 of the West Indies, colonies of Spain. 



Cuba. The Captain General is responsible to 

 the Minister of the Colonies at Madrid. He is 

 assisted by a Council of Government, the mem- 

 bers of which are nominated by the Crown. The 

 colony is represented in the Spanish Cortes by 14 

 Senators and 30 Deputies. The Captain General 

 at the beginning of 1894 was Gen. Calleja. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 island is 34,233 square miles. The population is 

 1,631.687, comprising 977,992 persons of Spanish 

 extraction, 10,632 foreign whites, 43,811 Chinese, 

 and 489,249 negroes and colored people. Havana, 

 the capita], has 200,448 inhabitants; Santiago, 

 71,370; Matanzas. 56,379; Cienfuegos, 40,964; 

 Puerto Principe, 40,958. 



Finances. The revenue for 1893-'94 was esti- 

 mated at 24,440,759 pesos, of which 11,375.000 

 pesos are the estimated yield of customs. The 



