BULGARIA. 



exports to England, 9,880,000 lei more; to 

 Turkey, 6,400,000 lei more; to Belgium, 4,380,000 

 lei more; to Germany, 3,020,000 lei more. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at Bulgarian ports during 1900 was 10,833, of 

 2,357,527 tons; cleared, 10,827, of 2,360,914 tons. 



Railroads. Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroad in Bulgaria and Eastern Rou- 

 melia in 1900 was 970 miles, of which 784 miles 

 were the property of the Government. 



The length of Government telegraph-lines in 

 1899 was 3,270 miles, with 6,740 miles of wire. 

 The number of despatches sent was 1,356,041. 

 There were 1,228 miles of Government telephone- 

 lines. 



The postal traffic in 1899 was 21,176,000 pieces 

 of mail-matter; receipts, including telegraph re- 

 ceipts, 3,906,637 lei; expenses, 3,105,168 lei. 



Political Affairs. The coupons of the for- 

 eign debt were paid in July, 1901, with 4,000,000 

 francs advanced by the Russian Government, 

 which in January, 1902, had to give an extension 

 of the time for repayment. Premier Karaveloff 

 laid before the Sobranje in December, 1901, the 

 contract for the loan, which after protracted ne- 

 gotiations had been obtained from the French 

 bank on condition that a monopoly of tobacco 

 be given to the lenders. He was deserted by many 

 of his own followers, who were pledged to vote 

 for the loan. The Stambuloffists, however, for 

 patriotic reasons determined to support the un- 

 popular measure, which seemed to offer the only 

 escape from bankruptcy. Although promising 

 excessive profits to the concessionaires, the to- 

 bacco monopoly in the hands of foreigners offered 

 financial advantages to the Government, which 

 loses about 2,500,000 lei of the tobacco revenue 

 every year through contraband, and the coun- 

 try would benefit by the introduction of im- 

 proved methods of cultivating and curing to- 

 bacco. But the country was exasperated against 

 the grasping foreigners. This entering wedge of 

 foreign financial control roused the national jeal- 

 ousy of the Bulgarians. When the question of 

 sanctioning the arrangement was put to the So- 

 branje in the beginning of January Karaveloff 

 was defeated, and the ministry resigned. M. 

 Daneff, who had much to do with negotiating 

 the loan for which M. Karaveloff as Minister of 

 Finance had to accept the responsibility, formed 

 a new Cabinet on Jan. 5, in which M/ Sarafoff, 

 the chief negotiator, was retained. It was a 

 purely /ankoffist ministry, which was not what 

 the opponents of the loan wanted. The first vote 

 of supply asked for was therefore refused. The 

 Sobranje was dissolved and new elections were 

 ordered in order to ascertain the temper of the 

 people nnd give time to seek some other method, 

 if possible, to save the Government from bank- 



ruptcy. Gold was obtained from Bulgarian 

 banks to pay the coupon which fell due in the 

 meantime. The new ministry let it be known 

 that it considered the conditions of the loan re- 

 jected by the Sobranje as null and void and that 

 it would endeavor to conclude another arrange- 

 ment. An extensive fraud on the Government 

 was discovered in which some officials and poli- 

 ticians were implicated. Plates for printing 

 revenue stamps had been stolen, and forged 

 stamps to the amount of 2,000,000 lei or more 

 had been sold and used throughout the country 

 for several years. The ministry was composed 

 of Zankoffists. Numerous changes were made in 

 the official personnel in preparation for the elec- 

 tions. Direct interference or coercion was pre- 

 cluded by the new electoral law, which the Gov- 

 ernment promised to observe loyally. On Feb. 

 6 the new Minister of Public Instruction, M. 

 KantchefF, who had been a schoolmaster in Mace- 

 donia and was quite popular, was murdered by 

 a discharged teacher, also a Macedonian, and 

 once his pupil, who was crazed by his desperate 

 fortunes. 



The Sobranje elected on March 2 contained 93 

 Progressist Liberals, or Zankoffists, the ministe- 

 rial party; 16 Liberals; 33 Populists, led by Ge- 

 sheff; 12 National Liberals, or Stambuloffists, 

 led by D. Petkoff; 18 Democrats, followers of 

 Karaveloff; 7 Social Democrats; and 10 Agrari- 

 ans. The peasants in many places made demon- 

 strations against the concession of the tobacco 

 monopoly to foreigners, and the result of the 

 election was a popular condemnation of the pro- 

 posed loan. Before the Sobranje assembled Dr. 

 Daneff went to Paris and St. Petersburg to ob- 

 tain, if he could, more favorable loan conditions. 

 The financial embarrassment of the Government 

 was the effect of the economic distress of the 

 people, caused by a succession of bad harvests 

 and an unfavorable state of fdreign exchanges, 

 and still more the result of financial errors and 

 mismanagement on the part of the Government, 

 of excessive military expenditure, extravagant 

 outlay on public works, fiscal changes in 1895 

 which reduced revenue with a corresponding cur- 

 tailment of expenses, and the return to tithes in 

 kind in 1900 which could not be collected. When 

 the principality was first established there were 

 surpluses for three years, then for ten years 

 surpluses and deficits alternated, and since 1892 

 the deficit has been chronic, averaging 9.500,000 

 lei a year.' During the late period of agricul- 

 tural depression taxes fell in arrears to the 

 amount of 20,000,000 lei. The unbusinesslike re- 

 missness of the Bulgarians in meeting financial 

 obligations, a national trait of this peasant na- 

 tion exhibited not only by individuals but by 

 the Government, which in some instances has 

 met the coupons only by obtaining advances 

 from abroad at the last moment and has shown 

 culpable indifference in regard to the Eastern 

 Roumelian tribute, the hostility shown toward 

 foreign creditors, the frequent political disturb- 

 ances, and the recrudescence of the Macedonian 

 agitation have combined to impair the public 

 credit, although the debt is light and the pro- 

 ductive resources of the soil and the people are 

 abundant. 



On March 23 the Cabinet was reconstructed a> 

 follows: Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

 Daneff: Minister of Finance, Sarafoff; Minister of 

 the Interior, Ludskanoff ; Minister of Justice, Ka- 

 deff; Minister of War, Gen. Paprikoff; Minister 

 of Public Instruction. Todoroff ; Minister of Com- 

 merce and Agriculture, Abrasheff; Minister of 

 Public Works, Constantinoff. All the members 



