374 



GUATEMALA. 



for the introduction of goods proceeding from any 

 part of Central America; thirty days tor importa- 

 tions from California, Mexico, and South America ; 

 two months for goods proceeding from New York 

 and the Antilles .; four months for the importations 

 from Europe ? if made by steamer, and six months 

 for the same if made by sailing ship. 



ART. 4. On paying this tax, 10 per cent, will be 

 paid in bonds of the converted debt and 15 per cent, 

 in cash. 



Given in the Government Palace, May 24, 1877. 

 J, KUF1NO BAKBIOS. 



J. Kufino Barrios, General of Division and Pres- 

 ident of Guatemala, decrees : 



ARTICLE 1. A loan of $500,000 shall be raised on 

 the largest capitals of the Republic, payable in 

 monthly payments of $100,000 each, half an silver 

 and half in notes at par ; the first payment to be 

 made on the 15th of June next, and the others oil 

 the same day of the following months. 



ABT. 2. The Government will give a bonus of 10 

 per cent, on all the payments made in coin, and it 

 will also give it on those made in paper when this 

 is at par in the market ; it will also pay 1 per cent, 

 interest a month on the whole amount subscribed. 



ART. 3. Fifty thousand dollars in paper will be 

 extinguished monthly, twenty-five thousand of this 

 amount being of the present loan, and the other 

 twenty-five thousand the amount of paper destroyed 

 monthly in the administrative offices of the Eepub- 

 lic in conformity with a former decree. 



ART. 4. For the refunding of the capital and in- 

 terests of the loan the income from spirits (native) 

 is set apart, of which $75,000 shall be paid every 

 three months, the first payment being made on June 

 30, 1878. 



ART. 5. For the amounts lent, and their corre- 

 sponding bonuses, bonds of the converted debt will 

 be given. These bonds will be stamped with a spe- 

 cial seal bearing the words, "Loan of 1877." After 

 the payment of the interests, these bonds shall be 

 drawn by lot until they reach the rest of tl>e amount 

 destined to be refunded. 



ART. 6. The distribution of the loan will be made 

 by the Governors (jefes politico*) in the fairest man- 

 ner, according to the calculations they are able to 

 make of the capitals of the contributors. 



ART. 7. The payments shall be made in this cap- 

 ital in the ofiice of the Central Commission of Con- 

 solidation, and in the departments in the office of 

 the Governor. 



ART. 8. The persons that resist the punctual pay- 

 ment of their respective amounts will thereby ren- 

 der themselves liable to the payment of double the 

 amount which shall be levied on their property; in 

 such cases the authorities must proceed in such a 

 manner as to enforce the payment three days after 

 the requisition. 



ART. 9. The Minister of the Exchequer is charged 

 with the execution of this decree. 



Given in the Government Palace, May 28, 1877. 

 J. EUFINO BAKRIOS. 



The Government, according to report, had 

 decided to do away with the National Bank of 

 Guatemala, as not having served the object for 

 which it was originated, and to establish a 

 joint-stock bank in its stead. Messrs. Pedro J. 

 Barros, Francisco Camacho, and Manuel Beni- 

 to were named by President Barrios as a com- 

 mission to form a joint-stock company, the 

 capital of which would be employed in estab- 

 lishing in the Kepublic a bank of circulation 

 and discount, on the following basis : 



The bank to be established shall be named Banco 

 Comercial de Guatemala, and it will do all kinds of 

 business appropriate to institutions of this class. 



It will also emit bills or notes payable to bearer on 

 demand, in good money. The capital of the bank 

 will be, for the present, $1,000,000, in 10,000 shares 

 of $100 each. This capital may be increased by 

 consent of the body of the shareholders. The sub- 

 scription to shares must be made in the city of Gua- 

 temala. The subscribers must deposit 2 per cent, 

 of the nominal value of the shares at the time of 

 subscribing. When one-fourth of the capital has 

 been subscribed, a meeting of the shareholders will 

 be called to form the statutes, name the officers, and 

 organize the bank. Each shareholder will have a 

 vote, and all of the decisions of the general meet- 

 ings for the progress and administration of the in- 

 stitution shall be in accordance with the absolute 

 majority of the votes present. On the occasion of 

 the first general meeting, a second deposit of 3 per 

 cent, on the nominal value of the shares subscribed 

 must be made. 



It was officially announced in February, 1877, 

 that it was the intention of the Government 

 to make an important improvement in the mili- 

 tary * system of the Kepublic, which would in 

 the end give them a much more reliable, even 

 if a smaller, force, and prove very advantageous 

 in an economical point of view. Instead of the 

 present militia system, by which a number of 

 men are called together for a month or two, and 

 then sent home to be replaced by a similar draft, 

 one or two long-service battalions are to be 

 formed, disciplined in the same manner as Eu- 

 ropean troops and officered by the cadets who 

 have finished their course in the military col- 

 lege. By this means the Government will raise 

 the status of the army in the country, making it 

 an honorable profession to be adopted and lol- 

 lowed, like any of the others, and at the same 

 time will possess a force highly useful either to 

 repel aggression from abroad, or repress insur- 

 rection at home. 



The great cause of public instruction con- 

 tinues to be the object of especial care and so- 

 licitude on the part of the Government; and 

 the reappointment of Dr. Lorenzo Montufar to 

 the portfolio of Foreign Affairs and Public In- 

 struction is looked upon as a favorable augury 

 for this department. 



In order to obviate the difficulties which nat- 

 urally result from the change from the oldt to 

 the new system of public instruction, the rec- 

 tor of the university had been empowered, 

 when question arose, to act in the matter as 

 he may judge best. The establishment of a 

 complete school in Alta Verapaz had been de- 

 creed. The Minister of "War had issued a de- 

 cree tending to secure military discipline and 

 improve the instruction of soldiers. 



The Official Gazette of April 27th published 

 a decree of the President approving of the es- 

 tablishment of an Atheneum in Guatemala 

 City, first initiated by Prof. Don Valero Pujol. 

 The object of the institution is stated in the 

 following extract from the statutes : 



The Atheneum of Guatemala is a society exclu- 

 sively scientific, literary, and artistic. 



* According to the old system, the nominal strength of th 

 standing army was 8,200, and that of the militia 18,000. 



t See ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1876, p. 874, where will 

 also be found school statistics. 



