804 



SPAIN. 



17, 1886, the posthumous son of Alfonso XII, for 

 whom his mother, Maria Cristina, daughter of 

 Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria, acts as 

 Regent until he becomes of age. 



The Cabinet of ministers constituted on May 



18, 1898, was composed as follows: President of 

 the Council, Praxedes M. Sagasta; Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, J. M. Sanchez y Gutierrez de 

 Castro, Duke de Almodovar del Rio; Minister 

 of Justice and Grace, C. Groizard; Minister of 

 War, Gen. M. Correa; Minister of Marine, Capt. 

 R Aunon ; Minister of Finance, Lopez Puigceryer ; 

 Minister of the Interior, F. R. Capdepon ; Minister 

 of Public Welfare, Agriculture, and Commerce, 

 M. Gamazo; Minister of Colonies, V. Romero 



Finances. The revenue for 1807 was 822,411,- 

 446 pesetas and the expenditure 808,055,658 pese- 

 tas. For 1808 the revised estimates make the 

 revenue 865,816,800 pesetas and the expenditure 

 868.470,417 pesetas. The budget estimate of rev- 

 enue for 1800 was 865,816,800 pesetas, and of ex- 

 penditure 868.470,417 pesetas. The law of May 

 17, 1808, provided for an extraordinary expendi- 

 ture of 200,423,017 pesetas to be spread over six 

 years and defrayed by means of an advance of 

 31,070,232 pesetas from the tobacco company, a 

 loan of 00,000,000 pesetas on the guarantee of 

 the Almaden mines, and a tax on traffic producing 

 88,353,685 pesetas. The revised budget estimate 

 for 1800 makes the total revenue 805,816,890 

 pesetas, of which 297,3(50,810 pesetas come from 

 direct taxes, 305,273,000 pesetas from customs 

 and indirect taxes, 132,606,024 pesetas from 

 stamps and rtffie, 24,787,056 pesetas from national 

 property, and 105,700,000 pesetas from the public 

 funds. The expenditures were estimated at 868,- 

 479,417 pesetas, of which 9,250,000 pesetas are 

 for the civil list, 1,638,085 pesetas for the legis- 

 lative bodies, 399,236,677 pesetas for the public 

 debt, 1,614,651 pesetas for the judiciary, 61,749,- 

 730 pesetas for indemnities and pensions, 980.883 

 pesetas for the presidency of the Council of Min- 

 isters, 4,035,010 pesetas for the Ministry of For- 

 eign Affairs, 54,748,649 pesetas for the Ministry 

 of Justice, 145,929,521 pesetas for the Ministry 

 of War, 25,190,539 pesetas for the Ministry o'f 

 Marine, 28,381,198 pesetas for the Ministry of the 

 Interior, 80,728,570 pesetas for the Ministry of 

 Public Works and Public Instruction, 18,659,467 

 pesetas for the Ministry of Finance, 34,560,528 

 pesetas for contributions, and 875,000 pesetas for 

 Fernando Po. The extraordinary budget for six 

 years has reached the sum of 236,344,883 pesetas, 

 of which 44,920,966 pesetas are for repayments, 

 58,000,000 pesetas for the army, 71,175,678 pese- 

 tas for the navy, and 63,248,239 pesetas for rail- 

 roads. The total amount of the debt in 1897 was 

 283,046,000 sterling, of which sum 183,967,000 

 represent the consolidated debt, 66,225,000 the 

 extinguishable debt, 14,574,000 debts of the pub- 

 lic treasury, and 18,280,000 floating debt. 



The payments made on account of Cuba from 

 the commencement of the insurrection in 1805 to 

 the final evacuation of the island were 1,796.269,- 

 000 pesetas. During the same period 7,098.000 

 pesetas were spent on Puerto Rico and 165,988,000 

 pesetas for the Philippines, making a total of 

 1,969,355,000 pesetas. The debt incurred by the 

 Ministry of the Colonies amounted on June 1, 

 1899, to 1,445,280,000 pesetas. The annual amount 

 required for the interest and redemption of these 

 colonial debts is 211,013,000 pesetas, which be- 

 came a charge on the general revenue of Spain 

 when the colonies were lost, together with 48,- 

 044,000 pesetas formerly paid by the colonies. 

 Pensions of military and naval officers and the 



indemnity to the steamship company for services 

 during the war represented a sum of 259,057 ,000 

 pesetas. The floating debt was reduced, by de- 

 ducting 119.000.000 pesetas received from the 

 United States, to 252,000,000 pesetas, which the 

 deficit in the budget increased to more than 300.- 

 000,000 pesetas. The revenue for 1900 was esti- 

 mated at 937,930,415 pesetas, and expenditure at 

 937,178,134 pesetas. These results were obtained 

 by reductions in expenditure, by measures for 

 the conversion and resettlement of debts, and by 

 new sources of revenue that Seilor Villaverde, 

 who became Minister of Finance in March, pro- 

 posed in the financial programme presented in 

 June, 1899. The redemption of Peninsular re- 

 deemable and customs bonds and of Cuban ;md 

 Philippine mortgage bonds was suppre--ed and 

 interest on Cuban bonds was reduced by the im- 

 position of a tax of 20 per cent., on the Philippine 

 bonds by one of 15 per cent., on the bond- of 

 the Ministry of the Colonies from 5 to 3 per cent. 

 The Cuban and Philippine debts were further >ul>- 

 ject to a duty of 20 per cent. The treasury bonds. 

 the floating debt, the customs bonds, the current 

 requirements of the treasury, the bonds of the 

 colonies, and those of companies and banking 

 establishments for which the Government vrai 

 liable, and a part of the debt due to the Bank 

 of Spain it was proposed to consolidate in a new 

 5-per-cent. loan. The proposed new source> of 

 revenue were an income tax on both capital and 

 labor, including revenues from Government, pro- 

 vincial, and municipal bonds and bank slum--: 

 a surtax of 20 per cent, on town property ;ind 

 industrial and commercial concerns, agricultural 

 property remaining exempt; a reform in o<-tn,i 

 duties;* an export tax on iron and copper ores; 

 a tax on chicory; an increase in the price of 

 tobacco; increases in stamps, succession duties, 

 the tax on titles of nobility, railroad ta\e- mi 

 freight and passengers, and a salt tax ; and spe- 

 cial taxes on the manufacture of sugar and alco- 

 hol. An issue of 300.000,000 pesetas of 5-per-cent. 

 bonds was guaranteed by tne tobacco revenue. 

 No reduction was made in the interest on the 

 external 4-per-cent. bonds pending negotiations 

 with the council of foreign bondholder- in Lon- 

 don, a pledge having been given in 18S2 licit 

 these bonds would be exempt from taxation. The 

 wide-reaching programme of financial reform en- 

 countered so much opposition in the country and 

 was so distasteful even to many supporters of the 

 Government that it was abandoned or postponed, 

 with the exception of the provisions for the re- 

 organization of the debt. 



The Army. The peace effectives on July 18, 

 1899, comprised 45,770 infantry, 12.447 cavalry. 

 12.834 artillery, 4.115 engineers, 1.4(50 adminN- 

 trative troops, 881 medical troops. 4(K royal 

 guards, 554 in the military academy, and 1.534 

 on special service; total, 80,000 men, not iin-lud- 

 ing 18,140 gendarmes. The army is composed of 

 64 infantry regiments of 2 battalions, each bat- 

 talion consisting of 23 officers and 326 men. to 

 be raised in time of war to 27 officers and l.ooo 

 men; 15 battalions of rifles, each con-i-iii 

 23 officers and 716 men on the peace footin_ 

 regiments of cavalry, the squadron consist i 1 

 5 officers and 100 men in peace and 150 in \\ar: 

 16 regiments of field and mountain artillery, each 

 consisting of 4 mounted batteries of 6 pieco with 

 4 officers and from 71 to 98 men; 10 battalion-, 

 or 60 companies, of fortress artillery, the com- 

 pany numbering 4 officers and 88 men: 1 regi- 

 ment of siege artillery, 4 companies of artillery 

 artificers, 4 regiments of sappers, 1 regiment of 

 pontonniers, 1 battalion of railroad troops, 1 bat- 



