564 



NICARAGUA. 



On April 15 the United States cruiser Raleigh, 

 the vessel of Admiral Dewey's fleet to fire the 

 first gun at Manila, arrived in New York. Two 

 days later the Raleigh came up to the city, and 

 was met by Mayor Van Wyck, who extended to 

 Capt. Coghlan and his men the freedom of the 

 city. A naval procession followed, in which the 

 Raleigh steamed up as far as Grant's tomb, which 

 was saluted with 21 guns, and then returned to 

 her station off the Battery. 



On Oct. 23 electric cars began running on the 

 Third Avenue surface line between (55th Street 

 and Harlem Bridge. 



NICARAGUA, a republic of Central America. 

 The Congress is a single Chamber composed of 

 48 members, half of them elected by direct popu- 

 lar suffrage and half by the Legislatures of the 

 12 provinces. The President, who is elected for 

 four years by universal male suffrage, is Gen. 

 Jose" Santos Zelaya, whose term will expire in 

 1902. The Cabinet appointed on Dec. 3, 1898, 

 was composed as follows: Minister of the Inte- 

 rior, Justice, Police, Ecclesiastical Affairs, Dr. 

 Fernando Abaunza; Minister of War and Marine, 

 Jose Dolores Estrada; Minister of Foreign Af- 

 fairs and of Public Instruction, Dr. Joaquin San- 

 son; Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Col. 

 Felix Pedro Zelaya; Minister of Communications 

 and Public Works, Dr. Leopoldo Ramirez Mai- 

 rena. 



Area and Population. The republic has an 

 area of 49,200 square miles, with a population of 

 420,000, including 40,000 uncivilized Indians. 

 Leon has a population of 40,000 and Managua 

 20,000. The military force comprises the active 

 army, the reserve, and the National Guard. 

 Every Nicaraguan can be called out for service 

 in the active army from his eighteenth to his 

 thirty-fifth year, then for ten years in the re- 

 serve, and then in the National Guard for twenty 

 years longer. The troops kept under arms num- 

 ber about 3,500. 



Finances. The revenue for 1896 was $3,572,- 

 497, and expenditure $4,059,674. For 1897 the rev- 

 enue was $4,688,016, and expenditure $3,852,750. 

 Of the receipts in 1897 the tax on commerce pro- 

 duced $2,645,249; liquor tax, $620,090; export 

 duty on coffee, $187,529; slaughter tax, $132,742; 

 direct tax, $134,248; national railroad and steam- 

 boats, $693,391 ; telegraphs and telephones, $47,- 

 559; the post office, $33,726. Of the expenditures, 

 $2,667,012 were the ordinary expenses of the ad- 

 ministration, including $850,013 for the interior, 

 $429,303 for the army, $446,719 for financial ad- 

 ministration, and $132,804 for education. Sup- 

 plementary credits absorbed $899,441 more, and 

 war expenses $176,124. The budget of 1898 pro- 

 vided for an expenditure of $5,097,588, including 

 $663,008 for the army, $1,735,816 for finance, and 

 $1,099,888 for the interior. In 1897 the revenue 

 was $4,688,061, and expenditure $3,852,750. The 

 expenditure in 1898 was $5,097,588. 



The foreign debt outstanding on July 1, 1898, 

 amounted to 288,923 sterling, inclusive of 10,- 

 723 of unpaid interest. By a compromise with 

 the creditors the interest was reduced in 1895 

 from 5 to 4 per cent., and coupons in arrears are 

 redeemed for half their face value. There was 

 an internal debt of $7,000,000 in 1894, and in 1896 

 treasury warrants receivable for customs dues 

 were issued to the amount of $500,000. 



Commerce and Production. The terrace 

 lands in the north occupy two thirds of the coun- 

 try. The principal agricultural product is coffee. 

 There are estimated to be 27,000,000 trees. Some 

 of the large plantations are owned by American 

 companies. The exports of coffee in 1896 were 



6,501,113 kilogrammes, of which one half went 

 to Germany, one sixth to the United States, and 

 one eighth to Great Britain. The Government 

 encourages planting by paying a bonus of 5 cents 

 for each coffee tree, 21 cents for each cacao tree, 

 and 10 cents for each rubber tree under cultiva- 

 tion. The cacao plantations are not half as large 

 as they were twenty years ago, owing to neglect 

 and frequent droughts. The cultivation of indigo 

 has ceased to be profitable, and the crop is grown 

 only in a few localities. In some districts tobacco 

 is grown successfully. Beans, mandioca, sweet 

 potatoes, bananas, pineapples, rice, sugar cane, 

 and sorghum are raised extensively. Nearly every 

 family of the rural population tills a small farm, 

 often rented from a large landowner, and the 

 crop usually includes beans, maize, bananas, and 

 oranges and other fruits. To encourage agri- 

 culture the Government pays for .a certain num- 

 ber of years a small premium for every hectare 

 of wheat, sugar, tobacco, rice, beans, corn, pota- 

 toes, and pasture, and to improve the grade of 

 farm animals a bonus is given to the importer 

 of blooded stock. There are about 313,000 head 

 of cattle and 32,000 horses and mules in the re- 

 public. The liquor business is a monopoly of 

 the Government, which sells the product of the 

 large distilleries, that make aguardiente out of 

 sugar cane, and produce sugar and molasses also. 

 The small farmers are accustomed to make their 

 own sugar. Indigo, starch, cheese, soap, cigars, 

 and cigarettes are manufactured, but none of 

 the factories are large. Panama hats and palm- 

 leaf matting are made in certain districts. Labor 

 is difficult to obtain. The law r requires, however, 

 a laborer who owes money that he can not pay 

 to give his labor until the debt is paid, and also 

 any fresh debts that he contracts for wages ad- 

 vanced or goods furnished. The legal rate of 

 wages is 50 cents a day. The landowners use 

 every means to keep their laborers in constant 

 debt, and thus maintain a system of peonage. 

 A landlord may transfer his claim to any one 

 else who will pay the man's debt, and every 

 laborer must be provided with a document show- 

 ing where he works. 



Of the imports in 1898, the British Islands sup- 

 plied 41 per cent., the United States 24 per cent., 

 and Germany 18 per cent. Cotton muslins and 

 prints come from England, ducks and drills from 

 the United States, woolen dress goods from Eng- 

 land, men's suitings from Germany and France, 

 trimmings, hosiery, and blankets from Germany, 

 cutlery, coffee sacks, and coal from England, 

 beer, wire fencing, hardware, and machinery from 

 the United States and Germany, leather from 

 Germany. The total value of imports in 1898 

 was 573,236 sterling; of exports, 636,710. 

 The export of coffee was 250,000 in value ; gold, 

 113,726; gum, 103,605; wood, 57,178; hides, 

 31,238; cattle, 35,000. 



There were 182 vessels, of 176,747 tons, en- 

 tered at the port of Corinto in 1898, including 

 128 steamers, of 168,559 tons. The railroads hav.e 

 a length of 91 miles; telegraph, 1,250* miles of 

 wire. 



Political Affairs. In the early part of 1899 

 Gen. Reyes headed a revolt against the Central 

 Government in the Mosquito Territory. Marines 

 from the United States gunboat Marietta and 

 from the British cruiser Intrepid landed at Blue- 

 fields. The Government levied war contributions 

 on the citizens and drafted the laborers every- 

 Avhere into the army to the injury of the coffee 

 crop, which was left to spoil on the trees. The 

 export duty on coffee was raised to $4 a quintal. 

 The Nicaraguan army, under Gen. Estrada, 



