88 



BRAZIL. 



ture 328,941,000 milreis. For 1900 the general 

 revenue is estimated at 285,498,000 milreis in cur- 

 rency and 19,321,000 milreis in gold; special 

 revenue at 23,920,000 milreis in currency for the 

 redemption fund, including an issue of 20,000,000 

 milreis of nickel coins, and 9,026,000 milreis in 

 gold for the guarantee fund. The total expendi- 

 ture, including funding bonds, for 1900 is esti- 

 mated at 207,109,000 milreis in currency and 

 34.041,000 milreis in gold. 



The foreign debt on Jan. 1, 1898, was 34,697,- 

 300 sterling, equal to 308,420.444 milreis. In- 

 ternal loans amounted to 637,425,000 milreis, 

 Government paper money to 439,614,276 milreis, 

 bank notes to 315,344.330 milreis, and the float- 

 ing debt to 299,473,041 milreis, making the total 

 liabilities of the Federal Government 2,000,277,- 

 691 milreis, inclusive of the foreign debt, but not 

 counting the Western Minas loan of 3,606,000. 

 A new internal loan of 60,000,000 milreis at 6 

 per cent, and a short gold loan of 2,000,000 at 

 5 per cent, were raised in 1898 for the payment 

 of the floating liabilities. The unpaid interest 

 on the foreign loans, including railroad guaran- 

 tees amounting to 1,130,000 a year, and an in- 

 ternal gold loan have been refunded in accordance 

 with an arrangement made with the creditors in 

 1898 into a 5-per-cent. loan of 10,000,000, se- 

 cured on the customhouse receipts. Another in- 

 ternal gold loan paying 4 per cent, has been 

 converted into a 5-per-cent. currency loan. The 

 sinking fund for the redemption of the foreign 

 debt was in 1898 suspended for thirteen years. 

 The interest on the foreign loans is 4 and 4J per 

 cent.; on the domestic loans, from 4 to 6 per 

 cent. The improved financial position in 1899 

 enabled the Government to purchase and destroy 

 40,000,000 milreis of paper money, in accordance 

 with a promise made to foreign creditors. An 

 exchange was effected of 4-per-cent. internal gold 

 bonds of 1889 for 6-per-cent. currency bonds of 

 1897, 1,800 milreis of the latter being given for 

 1,000 milreis of the former. The Government 

 also redeemed 22,000,000 milreis of treasury bills 

 given for military and naval purposes, and ne- 

 gotiations were begun for the redemption of the 

 internal gold loan of 1868. The expenses in all 

 departments of the administration were cut 

 down, and by this means the total expenditures 

 were reduced 17,000,000 milreis. By abolishing 

 the naval and military arsenals 1,200,000 mil- 

 reis were saved, and by disbanding over a fifth 

 of the military force 7,000,000 milreis. 



The Army and Navy. The active army in 

 1897 numbered 4,000 officers and 24,160 men. 

 Service is obligatory on all Brazilians for three 

 years in the active army arid three years in the 

 reserve. The gendarmery numbers about 20,000 

 men. In 1898 the active army numbered 18,794 

 men, but in 1899 the effective was cut down to 

 14,824. 



The naval force comprises 2 battle ships of the 

 third class, the Riachuelo and 24 de Maio, the 

 smaller armor clads Marshal Deodoro and Marshal 

 Floriano, the cruisers Tamandare and Barrozo, 

 2 smaller cruisers, 5 monitors and coast-defense 

 vessels, 12 small cruisers and gunboats, the tor- 

 pedo cruisers Tamoyo, Timbira, and Tupy, and 

 K first-class and 6 third-class torpedo boats. The 

 latest vessels are the Floriano and her sister ship, 

 built in France, displacing only 3,162 tons, yet 

 having 13.7 inches of Harveyized steel side armor 

 and a battery of 2 9.4-inch guns, 2 6-inch howit- 

 zers, and 4 4.7-inch quick firers. 



Commerce and Production. The chief crop 

 of Brazil is coffee, of which 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 

 bags of 60 kilogrammes are produced annually. 



The state of Pernambuco produces 22,860,000 



Sounds of sugar annually. In Rio Grande do 

 _ul, the great grazing state, 340,000 cattle were 

 slaughtered in 1898. In Minas Geraes gold is 

 mined, and in Bahia there are mines of silver, 

 lead, zinc, iron, manganese, and copper. The 

 iron deposits of Brazil are enormous, but they 

 are remote from coal mines. Cotton is grown 

 in Sao Paulo, Bahia, and other states, and is 

 manufactured into cloth under a protective tar- 

 iff. Rubber is exported from Para, gathered 

 throughout the Amazon region. The exports of 

 merchandise in 1897 were valued at the total sum 

 of 831,806,918 milreis. The value of imports was. 

 671,603,280 milreis. The chief articles were cot- 

 ton cloth, woolens, iron, machinery, coal, flour, 

 cattle, jerked beef, rice, codfish, pork, lard, corn, 

 butter, olive oil, macaroni, tea, candles, salt, 

 petroleum, timber, wine, and spirits. On spirits, 

 tobacco, matches, provisions, cotton. and woolen 

 cloths, drugs, and medicines the import duties 

 range from. 80 to 120 per cent.; on machinery 

 and agricultural implements they are light. The 

 exports of coffee were valued in 1897 at 509,190,- 

 115 milreis; of rubber, 149,691,325 milreis; of to- 

 bacco, 23,971,821 milreis; of hides, 13,427,229 mil- 

 reis; of cacao, 12,757,957 milreis. 



The foreign colonies in southern Brazil are an. 

 important wealth-producing element in the total 

 population of the country. They have settled 

 away from the seacoast in the states of Rio 

 Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Parana, and Sao 

 Paulo, where the climate is temperate and an 

 enormous area of great fertility awaits develop- 

 ment. In the first three of these states the natu- 

 ral facilities of the land are favorable to cattle 

 growing, to agriculture of all kinds, to the rais- 

 ing of fruits, and to various small industries, 

 while Sao Paulo is noted for its coffee, and pro- 

 duces little else. Here in the city and country 

 there is an Italian population exceeding 100,000, 

 which is being constantly augmented by fresh 

 immigration. In Rio Grande do Sul and Santa 

 Catarina the German residents already number 

 over 60,000, mostly settled in Blumenau and the 

 smaller colony of Brusque, in the latter state. 

 German colonizing companies buy up large tracts 

 of land at low prices, which they divide into 

 small farms, to be sold on a system of easy in- 

 stallments to working colonists. In Rio Grande 

 do Sul are also many Italians. Parana has 93 

 foreign colonies, and 50,000 persons have immi- 

 grated since 1860. Of this number 23,000 were 

 Poles, 17,500 Austrians, and 7,500 Italians. The 

 Italians are trying to establish a silk industry. 

 Nearly all the foreigners are prosperous and con- 

 tented. They have no part in the public admin- 

 istration, but they enjoy complete liberty and 

 pay few or no taxes. The state of Minas Geraes 

 contains areas on the higher plateau that are 

 well adapted to European settlement. It pro- 

 duces cattle and coffee, and contains promising 

 gold fields, recently discovered in many different 

 localities. Bahia is the seat of the diamond-min* 

 ing industry of Brazil, which after a lorig eclipse 

 has a prospect of revival, new diamond fields 

 having been discovered near the source of the 

 San Francisco river, close to the border of Minas 

 Geraes. Bahia and Pernambuco produce coffee, 

 sugar, and cotton staples which flourish 

 throughout the central parts of the republic. 

 In the northern provinces, occupying the valley 

 of the Amazon, are the rubber forests, supply- 

 ing $50,000,000 worth of this product in 1898. 

 The commercial situation of Brazil has been im- 

 proved by the withdrawal of a part of the in- 

 flated paper currency and the consequent rise 



