288 



GREECE. 



GUAM. 



The navy consists of 5 armor clads, 17 large tor- 

 pedo boats, 1 torpedo ship, 2 corvettes, 2 unarmored 

 cruisers, and 12 gunboats. The newest and best 

 vessels are the French-built belted cruisers Hydra, 

 Spetsai, and Psara, having a displacement of 4,885 

 tons, 11.8 inches of armor at the water line, and 

 3 10.6-inch and 4 5.9-inch Canet guns, 7 6-pounder 

 quick firers, and 16 smaller guns. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at Greek ports during 1898 was 6,428, of 3,289,298 

 tons; cleared, 5,979, of 3,205,892 tons. The Greek 

 vessels among the total numbered 2,933 entered 

 and 2,712 cleared. The merchant shipping of 

 Greece on Jan. 1, 1898, consisted of 1,152 sailing 

 vessels, of 238,196 tons, and 118 steamers, of 

 87,845 tons. 



Commerce and Production. The most im- 

 portant product of Greece is the dried currant, 

 of which an average crop of 350,000,000 pounds is 

 gathered. The production having outgrown the 

 demand, a law was passed in 1895 and renewed 

 every year since, by which 15 per cent, of the 

 crop is retained by the Government and sold to 

 distillers, the proceeds furnishing capital for an 

 agricultural bank for the benefit of currant grow- 

 ers. The crop of 1898 was 160,000 tons, of which 

 24,000 tons were retained, leaving 136,000 tons 

 for export, which was still in excess of the world's 

 requirements, the quantity exported having been 

 102,078 tons. In 1899 the crop was fair, but in 

 1900 disease caused a serious failure in Peloponne- 

 sus and the Ionian Islands, causing distress among 

 the farmers, though not impairing the revenue be- 

 cause the price rose to double what it had been. 



The land in Greece is cultivated by the owners. 

 It is exceedingly fertile, producing wheat, barley, 

 corn, and other grains, tobacco, olives, and fruits. 

 Capital is scarce and agricultural methods are 

 backward. The annual yield of cereals is over 

 20,000,000 bushels; of tobacco, 16,500,000 pounds. 

 There are 2,025,400 acres of forest. The yield of 

 valonia in 1898 was 5,200 tons. In Messenia, the 

 seat of the silk culture, 150,000 kilogrammes of 

 cocoons and 8,000 kilogrammes of silk were pro- 

 duced in 1897. There are 843 tons of powder 

 and 112 tons of dynamite manufactured annually, 

 anil the product of soap factories is 8,240 tons. 

 Olives and wine are important products. There 

 are about 100,000 horses, 360,000 cattle, and 

 2.!M H),000 sheep, the pasturage amounting to 

 5,000.000 acres. The mineral products in 1898 

 were 262,782 tons of manganese ore, 169,443 tons 

 of hematite, 24,024 tons of zinc ore, 2,536 tons 

 of dressed galena, 1,255 tons of dress lead and 

 zinc blend, 2,800 tons of lead smokes, and 300,724 

 tons of low-grade lead ore, yielding 18,820 tons 

 of pig lead with silver. The total value of special 

 imports in 1898 was 152,083,634 drachma! in gold; 

 domestic exports, 80,734,074 drachma!. The chief 

 imports were cereals for 37,116,931 gold drachmai, 

 textiles for 31,522,983 drachmai, coal and raw 

 materials for 16.250,034 drachmai, fish and caviar 

 for 6,849,034 drachmai, timber for 7,709,726 drach- 

 mai, live animals for 5,061,430 drachmai, chem- 

 icals for 5,385,800 drachmai, ores and metals for 

 <;.:527,004 drachmai, sugar for 3,629,171 drachmai, 

 hides for 3,448,255 drachmai, and coffee for2,765,547 

 drachma!. The export of currants was valued at 

 '!7. 7!>1. 773 drachma! in gold; ores, 20,960,786 drach- 

 mai: wine, 4.530.SO!) drachmai: olive oil, 3,658,824 

 drachmai: IILIS. 2,961 ,600 drachma! ; tobacco, 1,964,- 

 196 drachma!; gall nuts, 1,896,631 drachmai; silk 

 and cocoons. 1 ,248.053 drachmai : brandy, 1.165.5:53 

 drachma!; sponges, 1. 083.500 drachmai; gunpow- 

 der, 820.850 drachmai; olives, 704,317 drachmai; 

 emery, 536,227 drachmai. The quantity of tobacco 

 cut in the Government factories in 1898 was 



3,188,088 pounds, besides 126,896 pounds of tum- 

 beki, and the duties collected were 6,873,022 drach- 

 mai. The values in gold drachmai of the special 

 imports from and domestic imports to different 

 countries in 1897 are given in the following table: 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The rail- 

 roads of Greece had a total length of 591 miles, 

 and 300 miles were building, principally the ex- 

 tension of the railroad terminating at Athens to 

 the Turkish port of Larissa, there connecting with 

 the railroad running north to the trunk line 

 through Servia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The ex- 

 tension of the line from Piraeus to Larissa as far 

 as Demerli near the Thessalian frontier was in- 

 trusted to a syndicate in March, 1900, the Gov- 

 ernment issuing k 4-per-cent. loan of 43,750,000 

 drachmai for the purpose and the company raising 

 10,000,000 drachmai of capital entitled to a profit 

 of 6 per cent, under international control. 



The telegraph lines had a total length of 560 

 miles on Jan. 1, 1899, with 6,090 miles of wire. 

 The number of internal telegrams in 1898 was 

 902,872; international, 97,939; official, 19,320. The 

 receipts were 1,981,681 drachmai. 



The postal business in 1898 was 5,233,000 let UMS 

 and post cards and 5,860,000 papers and samples 

 carried in the internal and 5,362,000 letters and 

 post cards and 3,525,000 papers and samples in the 

 international service; receipts, 1,792,000 drachmai; 

 expenses, 1,895,543 drachmai. 



Politics and Legislation. On Jan. 10, 1900. 

 Col. Koumondouros resigned his portfolio as Min- 

 ister of War, having made an error in his esti- 

 mates and being prevented from carrying through 

 the reorganization of the army. Col. Tsamadus 

 was appointed to the post, which he had filled 

 under Trikupis and Rallis. An army bill was 

 passed in March which practically transfers the 

 administration of the army from the Minister of 

 War to the Crown Prince and intrusts the reor- 

 ganization of the army to foreign officers. Some 

 of the junior officers of the infantry in the summer 

 incurred punishment by making a demonstration 

 against the exclusion of their arm from staff ap- 

 pointments. 



GUAM, the largest of the Ladrones or Marianne 

 Islands, ceded to the United States by Spain in 

 the treaty of Dec. 11, 1898, the other islands of 

 the archipelago being subsequently transferred to 

 Germany. Guam has an area of nearly 200 square 

 inilrs and about 9,000 inhabitants, who are the 

 descendants of immigrants from the Philippine 

 Islands, the original population having died out. 

 About two thirds of the people live in Agana. 

 the chief town. Spanish and the native' Chimono 

 are the languages of ordinary intercourse, but 

 many of the inhabitants understand English. 

 There are 18 schools, and 90 per cent, of the natives 

 can read and write. The island is fertile and to 

 a great extent covered with woods containing valu- 

 able timber. The first American Governor was 

 Capt. I.earv. who was residing in Samoa at the 

 time when Guam was occupied by American troops 



