IDAHO. 



293 





Assistant United States District Attorney for the 

 northern division of Iowa about two years, and 

 resigned in 1871. In 1882 he was elected as a 

 Kepublican to the Forty-eighth Congress, and he 

 was re-elected to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, Fifty- 

 first, Fifty-second, Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, Fifty- 

 fifth, Fifty-sixth, and Fifty-seventh Congresses. 

 He was elected Speaker of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, Dec. 4, 1899. Upper Iowa University 

 has conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. 



HOLLAND. (See NETHERLANDS.) 



HONDURAS, a republic in Central America. 

 The legislative power is vested in the Congress, a 

 single chamber of 46 members, 1 to 10,000 of popu- 

 lation, meeting biennially and elected for four 

 years by unhersal male suffrage. The President 

 of the republic is elected for four years by popular 

 suffrage. Gen. Terencio Sierra was elected Presi- 

 dent in 1899 for the term ending in January, 1903, 

 and Gen. Jose M. Reina was elected Vice-Presi- 

 dent. The following were members of the Council 

 of Ministers in the beginning of 1900: Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, Dr. C. Bonilla; Minister of Pub- 

 lic Works, F. Altschul; Minister of Justice and 

 Public Instruction, Dr. E. C. Fiallos; Minister of 

 Finance, D. Fortin; Minister of War, Gen. M. 

 Resales. 



Area and Population. Honduras has an area 

 estimated at 45,250 square miles, with a popula- 

 tion of about 407,000, mostly of Indian descent. 

 Education is gratuitous, secular, and compulsory, 

 the school age being from seven to fifteen. There 

 are 23 superior schools with 1,588 pupils besides a 

 university at Tegucigalpa, and 683 elementary 

 schools with 23,767 pupils. The Government 

 spends on the latter $139,000 a year. 



Finances. The bulk of the revenue is derived 

 from duties on liquor and .tobacco and from cus- 

 toms. The revenue for the year ending July 30, 

 1897, was $2,388,500, and expenditure $2,400,272. 

 For 1898 the revenue amounted to $3,049,365, of 

 which $1,263,654 came from internal revenue 

 duties, $1,059,116 from customs, $192,148 from 

 stamps, $21,462 from taxation, and $512,985 from 

 various sources. For 1900 the revenue was esti- 

 mated at $2,388,500, and expenditure at $2,400,272. 



The Government of Honduras contracted be- 

 tween 1867 and 1870 four foreign loans, on which 

 interest ceased to be paid in 1872. On the first 

 loan, which was 78,800 at 5 per cent., 100,470 



interest was owing in the middle of 1898; on the 

 second loan of 1897, which was 900,700 at 10 

 per cent., 2,341,820 of unpaid interest had ac- 

 cumulated; on the loan of 1869, which was 2,- 

 176,570 at 6 per cent., the arrears were 3,700,169; 

 and on 2.242,500 borrowed at 10 per cent, in 

 1870 they were 5,830,500. The nominal principal 

 amounted to 5,398,570; the defaulted interest 

 reached 12,436,324 at the end of July, 1899. 

 There is an internal silver debt amounting in 1899 

 to $5,518,822. 



Commerce and Production. The chief crop 

 grown for export is bananas, which are sent to 

 New Orleans. Tobacco, sugar, coffee, and corn are 

 cultivated, and to a less extent indigo, rice, and 

 wheat. There are large herds of cattle in the 

 interior. The mineral resources of the country are 

 great, but undeveloped. Gold is washed from the 

 river beds by the natives, and recently companies 

 have been organized to conduct mining operations 

 on a commercial scale. Silver, copper, lead, plati- 

 num, zinc, antimony, nickel, and iron ores are 

 abundant. The scarcity of labor is the greatest 

 obstacle to production. The people braid Panama 

 hats and carry on other small industries and till 

 the soil sufficiently to supply their necessities, but 

 will not work steadily for hire. The value of the 

 imports in 1898 was $1,166,441 in gold; exports, 

 $1,235,952 in gold; the value of bananas being 

 $425,000, cattle $117,000, coffee $80,000, cacao 

 $72,000, and wood $44,000. Of the total imports 

 the value of $816,622 came from the United States, 

 $132,000 from Germany, and $103,914 from Great 

 Britain; of the exports, $988,987 went to the 

 United States, $21,470 to Germany, and $11,596 

 to Great Britain. Gold bars of the value of $28,- 

 937 were exported from Amapala, and silver bars 

 of the value of $967,273, silver coin to the amount 

 of $55,952, and $29,150 worth of other metals. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The rail- 

 road from Puerto Cortez to La Pimiento, 60 miles, 

 will be carried through to the Pacific coast and a 

 line built from Puerto Cortez to San Lorenzo. 



The post office in 1898 received 304,039 and sent 

 out 337,589 internal letters, etc., and in the for- 

 eign service received 95,500 and sent out 200,548. 

 There are 2,730 miles of telegraph line ; the number 

 of messages in 1898 was 458,593. There are tele- 

 phones in the capital, Tegucigalpa, a town of 

 about 14,000 inhabitants, and in some other places. 



IDAHO, a Northwestern State, admitted to 

 the Union July 3, 1890; area, 84,800 square miles; 

 population in 1890, 84,385; in 1900, 161,772. Cap- 

 ital, Boise City. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, Frank Steun- 

 enberg; Lieutenant Governor, J. H. Hutchinson; 

 Secretary of State, Mart Patrie; Auditor, Bart- 

 lett Sinclair; Treasurer, Lucius C. Rice; Attorney- 

 General, S. H. Hays; Adjutant-General, J. N. 

 Weaver; State Engineer, D. W. Ross; Superin- 

 tendent of Schools, Permeal French; Mine In- 

 spector, Jay A. Czizek all fusionists; Chief Jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court, J. W. Huston; Asso- 

 ciate Justices, J. N. Sullivan and Ralph P. Quarles ; 

 Clerk, Solomon Hasbrouck. 



Population. The population of the State in 

 1900, by counties, was as follows: Ada, 11,559: 

 Bannock, 11,702; Bear Lake, 7,051; Bingham, 

 10,447; Elaine, 4,900; Boise, 4,174; Canon, 7,497; 

 Cassia, 3,951; Custer, 2,849; Elmore, 2,286; Fr6- 

 mont, 12,821; Idaho, 9,921; Kootenai, 10,216; 



Latah, 13,451; Lemhi, 3,446; Lincoln, 1,784; Nez 

 Perces, 13,748; Oneida, 8,933; Owyhee. 3,804; Sho- 

 - shone, 11,950; Washington, 6,882; total, 161,772. 



Finances. The State's bonded debt is $427,500. 

 The floating debt is all provided for, and cash is 

 being paid for warrants as presented. Sinking 

 funds to pay the bonded debt amount to $75,000. 

 The bonds are to be paid as fast as the option 

 of the State matures. The bonds run twenty 

 years, with the option to pay at the end of ten 

 years. The first bonds to which the State applied 

 its option were the $11,000 wagon-road bonds of 

 1889, which were paid July 1. C. J. Bassett, 

 Commissioner of Immigration, Labor, and Statis- 

 tics, in his latest report says : " The present is 

 the first time in the history of the State that it 

 has been on a cash basis. The tax levy for State 

 purposes has been cut down from 86 cents on the 

 $100 valuation to about 52 cents." 



Valuation. The total assessed valuation of the 

 State, as equalized, is $47,545,905.82, an increase 

 of $825,915.43 over 1899. The total acreage of 



