140 



COLOMBIA. 



Mil nM HI \.arepublu- in Smith Am. : 

 Senate is composed of 27 men. n each < It- 



part i .il for six years b\ indirect suffrage. 



The House of Representative* is composed 

 members, elected by direct rote of tin- i-ooplc for 

 four years, Anv male eiti/.en years old 



and able to read and write, or having an in.-. 

 500 pesos or real property worth 1.500 |icsos. :- 

 titled to Tote, The acting President after the 

 death of President Nun.-/ ..n S-pt. 18. 1894, was 

 Vice-President ..... who re-.-ned h, 



trmittr, 1896. handim; over the executive authority 

 Inn f..r the remainder ..f the t.-rni 

 7.1898. The Cabinet in the bcgin- 

 ninc nf 1H97 was composed as folio w- : Kinisterol 

 Foreign Affairs (J. Bolffuin : Minister of ('in: 

 rnmunna' ions, I '. 1 Minister ol 



!iui-terof Public In-tructiou. -I. M. 

 Carraaonilla : Minister of Finance. Ponce I^eon. 



.1 .in<l Population. | ..f the repnh- 



uated to l)e 518,938 square mile-.. The 



imputation wa> : in 1H5 at 4.000.000. in- 



chiding 15O.OOO uncix ili/< d In.ii.in-. Fducalion is 



free in the primary sehooK of which there were 



. with 89,000 pupils in average attendance. 



Government maintains 1") normal 



schools with 800 students, ami a university, with 



1.600. while 1,000 more attended the universities of 



the dejwirtli 



I i nances. The customs yield nearly two thirds 

 of the revenue, which was intimated in the budget 

 for the period 1895-*96at 26.226,300 pesos, while the 

 diturewas expected t<> amount to j(;.:!(i:.i!U 

 pesos. The estimates for the biennial period end- 

 ing June 30. 1898, make the revenue 38,224,000 

 j . 



The conn -lid a ted internal debt on June 30, 1896, 

 amounted to 5,633,046 pesos, and there was a float - 

 f 1.892,110 pesos. The paper money in 

 riri-ulation amounted to 30,8*1. diing 



the total currency obligations of the Government 

 :;-..>;,-,. ix peg i, The for.-iuMi debt OODSistfl "f a 

 loan <>f ':i.'.n:;..->00 raised in Fn-land in is?:; an.l 

 arrears of intere-t on iliis. bringing tin- "';>! up to 

 3,514.442 on Dec. 31, 1896. An arrangement for 

 the settlement of the debt was made w it li the I'M it - 

 ish creditors, subject to the approval of the Colom- 

 bian Congress. 



After the conversion of 1873 the coupons were 

 paid till 1879, and since tin -n the bonds have been 

 in default. Compromises made with the foreign 

 bondholders in 1881 and 1884 were not ratified by 

 ongress. Another on. n gotiatcd in 1890 was 

 rejected by the bondholders. . nd the (Jovernment 

 would not even consider any arrangement until in 

 1898 a provisional agreement was made, according 

 to which the Colombian Government undertook to 

 nay the full principal and 43 JMT cent, of the de- 

 faulted interest, giving new bonds bearing 1| per 

 cent interest for the first thn em. 



for the next, and after six years *2i per cent., with 

 a sinking fund that would extinguish the debt in 

 thirty-six yean. 



The (Vfriiti claim for the value of estates and 

 stores destroyed by Government troops in 1885 on 

 suspicion that the owner, an Italian subject, wa- 

 abetting the revolution then in progress, was re- 

 ferred to President Cleveland, who awarded the 

 claimant 60,000 sterling and a guarantee against 

 debts accruing from the loss of hi- business. This 

 guarantee the < ; .mbjan Government refu- 

 give, asserting that the matter was not Mibmittcd 

 for arbitrati'.n. 



my. The army on the neare footing is fixed 

 at 5,300 officers and men. In case of war 



ubian fit to bear arms can be called into the 

 service. 



and Production. Thci 



mino in < ( of which :{.M8 are alluvial ,. r 



ciuartz gold mine-, in Antio^uia. In Caiu-a an<l 

 Tolima. \s i 05 --f the mine- are >ituaied. >ilver 



i- found a-soeiated with p'Kl and other metals. The 



average annual product of the precious me;. 

 $4.(MNMMN>. There are :t(l emerald inino. 11 f,, r 

 cinnabar. ? manganese mines, ami other- for the 

 production ,,f nipper, platinum, lead, ijuirl^ 

 oal. and -all. The Mu/o mine produce- . 

 "IMI worth of i-nn-ralds annual!). Th. 

 mines at XiiNMiuira.'lN'loiiging to th.- (iovenn 

 almost supply the need- of th-- c<iui-tr\. \'< I i"|,.|iiu 

 and coal an- found in several departments. Tin- 

 iron mi I at I 1 : 



into wrought iron. raiN. and ma hinei \ 



. :i-i\ely. 1 i 



the -oil iii many part- i- \ery fertile. The' iuij 

 incut of facilities for tran-porta: ion would f :- 

 eidarge the opportunities for com mi i n -ul- 



turnl I'l-o-luce. CnJTce <.f line ipiality i- 

 and its cult i\at ion is extending rapidly, other 

 products are tobacco. Qtcao, su 



rubber, and d\e\Voo<l-. Th. K .it tie, 



hoi-e-. mill. -.'and a-<e-. and B, 



and hogs in the country according to ollieial e-ti- 



mat.-<. The total \alue of the import- in 1S!") was 



1 L526 . and of the ex p.. rl- i 



principal artide-of import are fo<l. drini 



and iron and sled good-. The export 



ind du-t. cotr,-, . |M-aiiuJ<. -ilver ore, caca. 

 ton. dye-tulT-, live animals, tobacco, rubber. 



and Umber. 



N.IN iiralion. The number of \. 

 the port of r,arran.|iiilla in l^.i.". w:i 



tons, and cleare.l -j:s. ,,f :;!].' 



chant marine c..nsi-ted of ~t .-ailing vesseN. ,,f ]j:,7 



tons, and 1 steamer, of l 



that call at the port- of Colombia every month. b"> 



are British, 9 American, 4 German, 3 French. 1 



Spanish, and 1 Italian. 



roinmnnication-. I n w< re ::!' mi 

 railroad in operation in Js'.MJ. The telegraph- 

 a len-th of (J.s::.") mil.-. The internal |.o-tal tralli.- 

 in 1W8 was 902,410 letters and po>tal cards. m.VM 1 

 -amples and paper-, am. 

 an.l packets, while 842,440 letters and -.MMJ.ITI j 

 and packet- were mailed for foreign conn' 



The Panama (anal. The new canal com: 

 formed in Paris in 1*!1 to complete the ten-lock 

 canal ri-ing to a maximum altitude of ]'.',:', feel, in 

 the place of the sea-level canal originally planned 

 by Ferdinand de I.es-eps. made fair |.r 

 the limited caj.ital at it- di-po-al, onl\ 

 francs, of which not more than half was available 

 for work on the canal. The cut t iii! r < in the ( i, 

 and Km perador sections ha\- a nii.ed definit. 

 iiortioiis. At the ix>ginning of ls'.7 tin-re 

 laboren at work, recruited iii Jamaica and Trini- 

 dad, in Sierra Leone, and in the |.n,\ in.-.-- of Colom- 

 bia. The pp-ent work i- mainly experimental, iu- 

 tended to nrove that a lock canal is fea-il.le. About 

 1,500,000,000 francs have b.-.-n i-xpemlcd since the 

 scheme was first launched in 1**1. The net r- 

 of the Panama Railroad, which is owned alim 

 tirely by the canal company, increa-cd fn-m > 



(KMI in i's!r to 5<:}!K;.(KMi j tl I'SJH;. The profit- ,,f four 

 years have been applied to the purchase of three 



mers. The trafi'n- from the I'a'-ilic t 

 Atlantic has decrea- _ to small crops and 



the competition of tramp steamers, bul in t!,> 

 po-ite direct!. .n. through arrangements with the 

 -hip companie-. t her-- ha- been a larire increase 

 of traffic. The Government receives $250,000 a 

 from the railroad. 



The commission of engineer- reported in 1890 that 

 to complete the canal, with a width of 1WJ feet at 



