

BRAZIL. 



61 



Navigation. There Avere 1,218 vessels, of 

 2,069,101 tons, entered and 1,130, of 1,957,712 tons, 

 cleared at the port of Rio de Janeiro in 1898; at 

 Pernambuco, 887, of 1,106,556 tons, entered and 

 870, of 1,096,077 tons, cleared; at Ceara, 266, of 

 .'521,645 tons, entered and cleared; at Penedo, 182, 

 of 34,998 tons, entered and 182, of 35,024 tons, 

 cleared; at Parahyba, 192, of 183,587 tons, entered 

 and 193, of 183,732 tons, cleared. 



The mercantile navy of Brazil engaged in foreign 

 commerce consisted in 1898 of 344 sailing vessels, 

 of 88,000 tons, and 229 steamers, of 94,262 tons. 

 There were 388 sailing vessels, of 26,637 tons, and 

 212 steamers, of 70,680 tons, engaged in 1897 in 

 the coasting trade, which from the beginning of 

 that year could only be carried on under the Bra- 

 zilian flag- 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads open to traffic on Jan. 1, 1898, 

 was 8,718 miles, besides which 4,989 miles were 

 building, 4,670 miles more surveyed, and 8,440 

 miles projected. The Government guarantees 6 or 

 7 per cent, interest on most of the railroads. 



The telegraph lines, which belong to the Federal 

 Government, have a total length of 10,143 miles, 

 with 21,936 miles of wire. 



Political and Economic Conditions. The 

 abolition of slavery in 1887, the overthrow of the 

 monarchy in 1889, the political turmoil that has 

 prevailed most of the time since, the depression 

 in the coffee trade, and recurring crises in the 

 finances of the Government have tended to check 

 the development of the resources of Brazil and 

 weakened Brazilian credit at home and abroad. 

 Only recently has a return to more settled condi- 

 tions made possible a serious attempt in the direc- 

 tion of industrial expansion. During the last few 

 years attention 'has been attracted to the mining 

 industry. Brazilian diamonds, notwithstanding 

 the purity of the stones, have not been systemat- 

 ically searched for during a quarter of a century 

 until the increased demand for the gems while the 

 output at Kimberley was interrupted reawakened 

 interest in this branch of mining and enlisted for- 

 eign capital, which enables the work to be carried 

 on with modern appliances. A French syndicate 

 has begun operations on a large scale in the Dia- 

 muntina district of the state of Minas Geraes, and 

 intends utilizing the water power that is there 

 available for hydraulic mining over an extensive 

 area. Improved means of transport, a better sup- 

 ply of labor, and an abatement of local taxes on 

 enterprise are conditions favorable to a commercial 

 system of mining in this district where only super- 

 ficial and desultory working has been the rule. 

 Valuable finds of diamonds are also made from 

 time to time in the state of Bahia, where the work 

 is confined as yet to washing the river beds and no 

 attempt has been made to work the diamantiferous 

 ore systematically. Gold mining has been greatly 

 neglected of recent years except by one or two 

 well-established companies in Minas Geraes, al- 

 though gold in paying quantities is found in 

 many districts of Brazil. Plans for mining al- 

 luvial deposits hydraulically have been formed. 

 The shipments of manganese ore have increased 

 steadily for five years past. The supply is prac- 

 tically inexhaustible and the cost of mining it is 

 less than in any other country. Iron ores, some 

 of them exceptionally rich, are found in many sec- 

 tions, and coal is known to exist in considerable 

 quantities; yet no attempt has been made to found 

 an iron industry. The check on imports resulting 

 from the scarcity of money and the heavy duties 

 imposed in 1898 turned the balance of trade, which 

 was $22,000,000 against Brazil in 1897. This 

 deficit has since been wiped out. This in combina- 



tion with the redemption and incineration of large 

 amounts of paper money by the Government has 

 produced a marked rise in the exchange value of 

 the paper milreis. The suspension of the payment 

 of cash interest on the external national debt has 

 helped to keep down foreign remittances and to 

 keep the balance in favor of Brazil. This suspen- 

 sion of payments continues at least to July, 1901. 

 From that date the payment of interest will be 

 resumed if the agreement made with the bond- 

 holders in London in 1898 is kept. The rubber 

 exports for the year ending June 30, 1900, were 

 larger than in any former season, exceeding 26,000 

 tons. Although fears have often been expro--<-.| 

 that the present wasteful method of collecting the 

 gum is rapidly depleting the rubber forests of the 

 Amazon, yet the supply has hitherto steadily in- 

 creased, so vast are these forests and so rich in 

 rubber-yielding trees. The amount of rubber col- 

 lected for export is controlled only by the difficulty 

 of obtaining laborers willing to brave the un- 

 healthful climate and undergo the hardships inci- 

 dental to this work, to which immigrants from 

 Europe rapidly succumb. The larger export has 

 been culled out by increased prices, but even still 

 higher prices would fail to augment the yield ex- 

 cept to a slight extent. 



Brazil asked France and Italy to reduce their 

 high duties on coffee by 30 per cent. France agreed 

 to make a reduction of 10 per cent, and Italy one 

 of 20 per cent. Congress was opened on May 3. 

 The redemption of paper currency beyond the 

 78,000,000 milreis required by the funding loan 

 contract was suspended in consequence of the rapid 

 rise of exchange. In the summer the rate went up 

 from Id. to 14rf. The price of coffee was almost 

 double that of the preceding year. Congress voted 

 a budget that authorized the Government to carry 

 out any financial transactions except the emission 

 of paper money. After the funding loan is ter- 

 minated a gold credit is to be established to insure 

 the punctual payment of the external debt charge. 



The Anglo-Venezuelan boundary award made at 

 Paris drew from the Brazilian Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs a strong protest. When the arbitrators 

 met the Brazilian Government made reservations as 

 to the rights of Brazil which might be affected by 

 the arguments of the contending parties ; also that 

 the silence of Brazil could not be invoked as an 

 argument against the convictions held by the Bra- 

 zilian Government with regard to its rights and 

 its resolution to maintain them. Brazil was sur- 

 prised when the tribunal issued its award fixing 

 the boundary between Venezuela and British Gui- 

 ana through territory in the upper reaches of the 

 rivers Takuta and Cotinga, which the Government 

 avers is Brazilian territory. Brazil has a treaty 

 of delimitation with Venezuela dated May 5, 1859, 

 by which it is stipulated that their common fron- 

 tier shall follow the Pacaraima in such manner 

 that the waters flowing toward the Rio Blanco 

 shall belong to Brazil. The award of the inter- 

 national tribunal presumes that Venezuelan terri- 

 tory extends to the other side of the Cotinga and 

 the Takuta, territory that is incontestably Bra- 

 zilian, and also to the southern slopes of the Aca- 

 ray chain, a district that is solely disputed against 

 Brazil by France and is the subject of a contro- 

 versy between these two countries that has been 

 referred to the Swiss Federal Council for arbitra- 

 tion. Brazil agreed in March, 1899, to an arbitra- 

 tion of the boundary between its territory and 

 British Guiana, and 'takes the position that the 

 award of territory claimed by Brazil to British 

 Guiana by the Venezuelan Boundary Commission 

 can have no prejudicial effect in international law 

 upon its claims. 



