546 



NICARAGUA. 



each horse power. This price gives only the right 

 to discharge into the company's tunnel. The com- 

 pany buying the power at this rate puts in its own 

 canal, wheel-pit wheels, and discharge tunnel to the 

 main tunnel. It can not be accurately estimated 

 what the actual cost of each horse power delivered in 

 any part of Hutl'alo will be. We can figure out what 

 it would cost to deliver the power to the city line, but 

 that is a different thing from selling it to customers 

 in all parts of the city. If a firm wanted to take 

 1,000 horse power, it is evident that so much power 

 could be furnished cheaper than power to a customer 

 who only desired a few horse power. As a rough 

 iruess, I would say about $25 a year for 1,000 horse 

 power. It would cost more to furnish 10 horse power, 

 and at a rou<_ r h unless 1 might say *-i<"> a horse power. 

 Taking even these guesses, electric power would be 

 cheaper to the customer than steam power. 



The draining of water from Niagara river 

 for power purposes has increased so much of 

 late on both sides that an appeal was made to 

 the New York State Constitutional Committee 

 of 1894 to restrict its use to the companies that 

 have already been incorporated for such pur- 

 poses. But the appeal failed, mainly because 

 the delegates to the convention thought that 

 such a restriction would give a monopoly to 

 those companies. The matter, however, is still 

 being agitated by the Commissioners of the 

 State Reservation at Niagara, who fear that if 

 new companies enter the field so much water 

 will be taken from the river as to diminish seri- 

 ously the flow of water over the falls. 



NICARAGUA, a republic in Central America. 

 The Senate consists of 18 and the House of Repre- 

 sentatives of 21 members, elected by the suffrage 

 of the people for six and four years respectively. 

 The presidential term is four years. Dr. Roberto 

 Sacaza, who was elected in 1892, resigned in con- 

 sequence of civil war in April, 1893, and Gen. 

 Santos Zelaya was proclaimed President in Sep- 

 tember, 1893, for the term ending in 1896. The 

 ministers in 1894 were : Foreign Affairs and 

 Public Instruction, first, J. Madris, afterward J. 

 Bravo ; War and the Interior, F. Alorzano ; Ad- 

 ministration and Justice, E. Rizo; Communica- 

 tions and Public Works, J. D. Rodriguez; Fi- 

 nance, M. Lacays. 



The area of the republic is 49,500 square miles, 

 with a population in 1889 of 312,845. Managua, 

 the capital, has 16,700 inhabitants. The people 

 are of Indian, negro, or mixed blood, with a 

 small proportion of Europeans. 



Finances. The receipts for 1889 were $4,406,- 

 320, and the expenditures $4,723.892. The rev- 

 enue is derived from monopolies of tobacco, 

 spirits, and powder, and from a tax on every 

 head of cattle slaughtered. There is a foreign 

 debt, raised in London in 1886, of 285,000, pay- 

 ing 6 per cent, interest, and secured on the rail- 

 roads. The internal debt is $1,592,000. 



Commerce. The chief exports are coffee, 

 hides, cattle, bananas, woods, and precious met- 

 ;ils. The imports come from Great Britain, the 

 United States, France, and Germany. The total 

 value of imports for the year ending June 30, 

 1892, was $6,006,806. About Jj3 per cent, of the 

 exports go to the United States, nearly 25 per 

 cent, to Germany, somewhat less to France, and 

 12.V per cent, to Great Britain. The gold and 

 silver mines are worked by American companies. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. There are 91 

 miles of railroad, built at a cost of $2,700,000 by 



the aid of Government guarantees and land 

 grants. Concessions have been made for 125 

 miles more. The telegraphs have a total length 

 of 1,700 miles. 



Internal Politics. The elements opposed ta 

 President Zelaya and his policy revived and de- 

 veloped considerable strength "during the year. 

 A plan was originated in Grenada to oust the 

 President and put Gen. Anastacio Ortiz in his 

 place. In Leon and among the Church party 

 a plot was concocted to overthrow Zelaya, in 

 which Joaquin Zavala and his friends were be- 

 lieved to have a part. When the intentions of 

 the revolutionists were discovered, the Assembly 

 granted extraordinary powers to the executive 

 chief. Ex-President Zavala and some of his fol- 

 lowers left the country. A number of priests of 

 the Jesuit society and nuns of the order of the Sa- 

 cred Heart were exiled because they were suppc >sed 

 to be concerned in the political conspiracy. A new 

 Constitution was adopted by the Congress, con- 

 taining an alien law to which the foreigners in 

 the country took exception. The minister of 

 Spain made earnest representations, and secured 

 an amendment. The Constitution was too lib- 

 eral in its restraints on the executive power to 

 suit Zelaya and his ministers, and it was amended 

 in this respect. There were other liberal pro- 

 visions that displeased several municipalities, 

 and these were modified. , One forbidding the 

 pursuit and capture of runaway laborers was 

 altered to please the coffee growers. 



The Blueftelds Difficulty. The Mosquito 

 Reserve is a strip of country in southern Nica- 

 ragua, extending for 120 miles along the coast 

 of the Caribbean Sea and 40 to 50 miles inland, 

 embracing about 5,500 square miles of fertile and 

 well-timbered land. Besides mahogany and dye- 

 woods, the country produces cotton, coffee, rice, 

 sugar, and tobacco, and the coast is famous for 

 its large tortoises and the fine quality of their 

 shells, which the natives are skillful in obtaining. 

 Its value has been increased by the development 

 of the banana plantations, with regular com- 

 munication by steamers with New Orleans and 

 New York. In former times England exercised 

 a protectorate over the Mosquito tribe of Indians, 

 who became miscegenated with negroes. When 

 the confederation of Central America broke up, 

 in 1853, into 5 States, a separate government was 

 established for the Mosquito Indians at Blue- 

 fields, the chief town and only seaport. The 

 hereditary chief of the Mosquitos was Frederick 

 Albert Hendy, who had a mixture of English, 

 negro, and Indian blood, and had been educated 

 in Jamaica. He was crowned king under British 

 auspices, and he acknowledged the sovereignty 

 of Great Britain. The Central American re- 

 publics protested against this, and the United 

 States made strong representations and took a 

 firm stand on the Monroe doctrine, that Eu- 

 ropean nations should not be allowed to acqui 

 American territory, or interfere in America 

 affairs. After long negotiations a treaty ;i 

 ranged at Greytown in 1850 was finally signed 

 by John M. Clayton, Secretary of State, and Sir 

 Henry Bulwer, British minister to the United 

 States in 1859. and was duly ratified. The suc- 

 cessive chiefs were worthless characters, and the 

 administration was bad ; yet the idea of incor- 

 poration with Nicaragua was not regarded with 



