COSTA RICA. 



was 2.82, or an average of 1 homicide to a little 

 less than 40,000 inhabitants." 



Highways. The total amount paid by the State 

 for work on highways was $59,337.81, the commis- 

 sioner retaining the balance of $38,859.19 until the 

 contracts were completed. The amount allotted 

 for telfordizing and macadamizing was $89,250, 

 and for grading $8,947, making a total of $98,197. 



Decisions. One of the most important Supreme 

 Court decisions during the year was in relation to 

 the Travelers' Insurance Company, regarding the 

 payment of taxes on stock held by non-resident 

 stockholders. The decision was favorable to the 

 State, entitling it to recover $5,556.74. 



Fast Day. On March 22, 1898. Gov. Cooke is- 

 sued the annual proclamation for Fast Day in the 

 following words : " Following a custom as old as 

 the State, and in harmony with our laws, I hereby 

 designate and appoint Friday, the eighth day of 

 April next, as a day of fasting and prayer. I rec- 

 ommend that the people of the State abstain from 

 their various pursuits, and upon that day gather in 

 their places of public worship and render to the 

 Almighty God sincere and devout homage by con- 

 fession and prayer, and especially that they do 

 earnestly beseech bim in the present crisis of our 

 country to avert war if it may be consistent with 

 humanity and national honor." 



Political. The election in November resulted 

 in a victory for the Republicans, who elected their 

 State ticket, 4 Congressmen, and sheriffs in all the 

 counties, and retain control of both branches of the 

 General Assembly. The State officers elected are : 

 Governor, George E. Lounsbury ; Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor, Lyman A. Mills ; Secretary of State, Huber 

 Clark ; Treasurer, Charles S. Merrick ; Comptroller, 

 T. S. Grant ; Attorney-General, Charles Phelps. 

 Lounsbury received a plurality of 16,788, and a 

 majority of 12,454. The Republican plurality in 

 the Senate in 1899 will be 20 ; in the House, 108 ; 

 on joint ballot. 128. 



COREA. See KOREA. 



COSTA RICA, a republic in Central America. 



ic Congress is a single Chamber of 21 members 

 elected by electoral colleges, whose members are 

 chosen by the votes of all self-supporting citizens. 

 The electoral period is four years for the House of 

 Representatives, one half being renewed every two 

 years, and also for the President of the republic. 

 Rafael Iglesias was elected in November, 1897, for 

 his second term, ending May 8, 1902. The Cabinet 

 in the beginning of 1898 was composed as follows : 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Worship, Education, 

 Charities, and Justice and Minister of Finance, 

 Ricardo Montealegre ; Minister of the Interior 

 and Police and of Public Works, Dr. Juan J. 

 Ulloa ; Minister of War and Marine, Juan Bautista 

 Quiroz. 



Area and Population. The area of the repub- 

 lic is about 23,000 square miles, with a population 

 estimated in 1897 at 268,000. The Government has 

 made various concessions for colonizing purposes 

 and grants land on easy terms to immigrant settlers, 

 of whom an average of 1,000 come in annually. 

 The number of marriages in 1897 was 1,763 ; of 

 births, 13,012 ; of deaths, 9,925 ; excess of births, 

 3,087. 



Finances. The revenue for 1897 was 7,435,611 

 pesos; expenditure. 6,697,327 pesos. The public 

 debt amounted in 1896 to 2,000,000, the sum on 

 which the Government compromised with its 

 creditors' in 1888, with unpaid coupons from Janu- 

 ary, 1895. In March, 1897, a fresh arrangement 

 was made, whereby interest on 525,000 of the 

 capital was reduced to 3 per cent, and on 1,475,000 

 to 2| per cent,, and the defaulted interest was to be 

 canceled by the payment of 31,562 at once and 



CRETE. 



213 



100.000 in 20 annual installments. The internal 

 debt on March 31, 1897, was 1,116,784 pesos. 



Commerce. The domestic exports in 1895 were 

 valued at 12,218,550 pesos, and in 1896 at 12,15?,592 

 pesos. The value of the coffee exported in 1896 was 

 10,178,040 pesos ; of bananas. 1,333,107 pesos. Hides 

 and skins and cedar and cabinet and dye woods are 

 the principal other exports. 



Navigation. There were 476 vessels, of 471,125 

 tons,entered at the ports of Liraon and Punta Arenas 

 during 1896, of which number 178, of 205,937 tons, 

 were British, 77, of 96,925 tons, American, and 45, 

 of 57,041 tons, German. The number cleared was 

 475, of 473,929 tons. 



Communications. Of the long-projected inter- 

 oceanic railroad a section of 14 miles from Punta 

 Arenas, on the Pacific coast, and one of 117 miles 

 from Port Limon to Alajuela are in operation. 

 Other lines are in contemplation. The telegraph 

 lines have a length of 878 miles. In 1897 there were 

 sent 382,116 messages, and through the post office 

 1,361,885 internal and 652,058 external letters, pa- 

 pers, etc. 



Dispute with Nicaragua. The old conflict 

 over the San Juan river boundary became so acute 

 in the spring of 1898 that all intercourse between 

 the republics was suspended and commerce and in- 

 dustry in Costa Rica were paralyzed. The laborers 

 on the coffee and banana plantations were drafted 

 into the army. Merchants ceased importing goods. 

 On March 20 the Costa Rican troops on the frontier 

 near La Cruz advanced so threateningly that the 

 Nicaraguan pickets fired upon them, killing a pri- 

 vate and wounding the commander, Gen. Avila. 

 The Costa Ricans returned the fire, killing 7 men. 

 On March 21 the President placed an embargo on all 

 passengers arriving from Nicaraguan ports. The 

 national Constitution was suspended and the Presi- 

 dent given full power to act as he should see fit. 

 Field guns and rifles were brought, with ammuni- 

 tion, from New York. The chronic difficulty 

 between the republics was aggravated in the pre- 

 vious September by the action of the Nicaraguan 

 Government in arresting Eduardo Beeche, the Costa 

 Rican consul, on the charge of aiding the Nicaraguan 

 revolutionists. Costa Rica demanded reparation 

 for the arrest and began preparing for war, threat- 

 ening to enforce with arms her claim to the disputed 

 territory. Negotiations looking to a peaceful settle- 

 ment of the difficulty were then begun by the Diet 

 of the Greater Republic of Central America. After 

 the skirmish on the frontier, when President Igle- 

 sias was going to the front with his staff they 

 were resumed, and soon an understanding was 

 reached between the Diet and Costn Rica, whereby 

 the claims of Nicaragua against Costa Rica for al- 

 leged intervention in the revolution and the claims 

 of Costa Rica for the imprisonment of her consul 

 would be submitted to a special commission, while 

 another commission would consider later the boun- 

 dary dispute. 



CRETE, an island in the Mediterranean forming 

 an autonomous province of Turkey. It has an 

 area of 3,326 square miles and an estimated popula- 

 tion of 294,190. 



The International Regime. When the year 

 1898 opened the naval forces of the six great powers 

 were in joint occupation of the seacoast towns, 

 where the Turkish garrisons, which had been with- 

 drawn from all other parts of the island, aided in 

 maintaining order. The provisional Cretan As- 

 sembly, which had elected Dr. Sphakianaki, an in- 

 telligent and prudent patriot, as its president, had 

 agreed to accept an autonomous constitution, but 

 insisted on the Turkish troops evacuating the 

 island. The Sultan had agreed to grant autono- 

 mous institutions on condition that his suzerainty 



