The mail and telegraph service have been much extended. There are now 350 post-offices, and 50 more on trains and boats (one postoffice to each 5,000 inhabitants), and 117 post-offices efficiently transact money-order business. Cuba, the President says, is endeavoring to arrange postal treaties permitting of the sending of tobacco packages by parcels post, and for concessions for other merchandise. The annual death rate in 1904, of 14.90 per 1,000, is declared to be very satisfactory, compared with other countries. The birth rate was 34.41 per 1,000. The fact that no contagious diseases have developed and the declarations of the American Public Health Association, the message says, did much to annul the effects of sensational statements published in New York with reference to Cuba's sanitary condition. The President recommends greater concentrations in the sanitary and charity departments under the control of the central authorities. In connection with the question of adherence to the Brussels Sugar Convention, President PALMA recommends the lowering of the nominal customs duties on sugars, so that Great Britain, notwithstanding the Brussels convention, can buy Cuban sugar, whether Cuba adheres to the Brussels convention or not. The message reports much progress in road improvements, commends the progress of the agricultural experimental station under American professors, and says the artillery corps has not been completed on account of the lack of officers. ECUADOR. BOUNDARY TREATY WITH COLOMBIA. The following arbitration treaty concerning the boundaries between Colombia and Ecuador were signed by the respective Plenipotentiaries at Bogotá, November 5, 1904, and published in the "Diario Oficial" of Bogotá of December 22, 1904: "The Republics of Colombia and Ecuador, desirous of enforcing article 26 of the Treaty of July 9, 1856, as a means of strengthening still more the amicable relations that so happily unite them, have judged necessary to celebrate a convention which shall terminate their present differences concerning boundaries, and for this purpose have appointed their respective Plenipotentiaries, to wit: "Colombia her Enviado Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Spain, Señor Don JULIO BETANCOURT, conferring upon him the character of a special Plenipotentiary concerning everything relating to this boundary question; and Ecuador her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Colombia, General JULIO ANDRADE; "Who, after having communicated their full powers, which were found in due form, have celebrated the following Treaty: "ARTICLE 1. The Governments of Colombia and of Ecuador submit to the absolutely inappealable decision of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia the boundary question pending between the two Republics. ART. 2. Both Governments shall request, through their plenipotentiaries, immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, the acceptance of His Imperial Majesty. ART. 3. Within fifteen months from the date on which the august Arbitrator notifies the parties of his acceptance, the plenipotentiaries of said parties shall submit the reports showing the claims of their respective Governments and the documents which support them. ART. 4. After the termination of the fifteen months the parties shall not submit other arguments nor produce other documents than those which the August Arbiter should deem necessary to fully explain the disputed points. ART. 5. The Governments agree to make an ocular inspection of the territories in litigation, if the August Arbiter should deem this means of proof necessary. ART. 6. Ecuador and Colombia acknowledge that the principal bases for the settlement of their rights in this arbitration are the following: (a) The Colombian law of June 25, 1824, on territorial division. (b) The treaty of peace of September 22, 1829, between the old Republic of Colombia and Peru; and (c) The treaty of July 9, 1856, in the part now in force, between the Republic of Nueva Granada (now Colombia) and Ecuador, without excluding the other historical juridical antecedents which the parties. may deem opportune to allege, and which are not contrary to the three bases aforesaid. ART. 7. For the purpose, of this arbitration, Ecuador states that the territories of the eastern region from the course of the Napo River to that of the Caquetá ó Yupurá rivers are not embraced in the arbitration which Ecuador and Peru submitted to His Majesty, the King of Spain, in accordance with the treaty of August 1, 1887. ART. 8. Before rendering the arbitration decision, both parties may arrange, by means of direct negotiations, all or any of the points embraced in this litigation; and if said arrangements be made in due form so that they may have the validity of public treaties, the August Arbitrator shall be so advised and shall consider the arbitration terminated or the arbitration shall be confined to the points not agreed upon. ART. 9. Should His Majesty the German Emperor not accept the appointment made in his August Person, then His Excellency the President of the United Mexican States shall be chosen, all the other stipulations of this Convention remaining in force. ART. 10. The Governments of Colombia and Ecuador shall equally pay the expenses of the arbitration proceedings. ART. 11. This treaty, the constitutional formalities for its approval in both Republics having been complied with, shall be exchanged in Bogota or in Quito within the shortest possible time. In testimony of which the undersigned plenipotentiaries have signed and sealed it with their respective seals, at Bogota, on November 5, 1894. merce. GUATEMALA. JULIO BETANCOURT. MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT CABRERA. In his message to the National Assembly, on March 1, 1905, President CABRERA reported an encouraging condition in Guatemalan comHe gave the exports for 1904 as $7,551,865 in gold, and imports as $5,041,142. The gross exports from 1898 to 1904 he gave as $51,467,337 in gold, and gross imports $28,024,098. This is certainly a favorable commercial showing. American trade with Guatemala for the last three fiscal years stands thus: 1902 1903 1904 Imports. Exports. $1,680, 939 1, 128, 045 1,281, 382 $2,993, 336 The industrial resources of the country are measureless. Its forests contain valuable woods and its mining possibilities are great. Agriculture and cattle raising are now its chief industries. Its coffee is of a superior quality, and sugar, bananas, tobacco, corn, and cocoa are among its leading products. United States Consul-General WINSLOW reports the mineral deposits as very rich and covering a wide range of territory. Following is a résumé of the message: The President states that agriculture, which is the first factor of the national wealth of the country, has been the object of his particular attention during the last seven years. For the purpose of encouraging this important branch of the nation's industry a General Bureau of Agriculture has been established in the capital of the Republic, with branches in the different States. One of the methods which this Bureau uses in the diffusion of agricultural knowledge is the publication of a journal entitled the * Bulletin of Agriculture," which treats exclusively of matters relating to agricultural affairs. Another important work of the Bureau of Agriculture, and which is of an exceedingly practical nature, is the supplying of farmers with choice seeds of agricultural products imported from abroad for the purpose of experiment and for the establishment of new sources of industry. Measures have been taken for the cultivation of as large an area of land as possible, and rules have been made governing the exploitation of rubber in the forests of the Republic. The importation of agricultural implements has been encouraged as much as possible, and contracts have been made for the exploitation of the valuable timber found in the forests of the States situated in the northern part of the Republic. Railroad interests were discussed as follows: On August 31, 1901, a contract was made with Mr. RICHARD BARTHEL, in representation of the Central American Improvement Company, for the exploitation, conservation, and completion of the Northern Railway. This concession or contract was rescinded on October 29, 1903, at the petition of said company, and for the reason that it could not comply with the obligations it had assumed in the contract. On January 12, 1904, the Government made a new contract ad referendum, and for the same object as that mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, with Mr. PERCIVAL FARQUHAR, in representation of Mr. MINOR C. KEITH, of New York, and Mr. WILLIAM C. VAN HORNE, of Montreal, Canada, which, after being ratified by the principals and legalized in due form, was approved by the National Legislative Assembly in decree No. 581, dated April 9, 1904. The Government line from Obera to Izapa was repaired over its entire line, a distance of 13 English miles, and is at the present time in operation. The works of the railway between Cocales and Mazatenango, begun on December 15, 1901, have been concluded, and this line was opened to public traffic on November 21, 1903. On April 18, 1902, the Government made a contract for the construction of a road. between Coatepeque and Caballo Blanco, which was approved by legislative decree No. 538, dated March 1, 1902, and recently extended for a further period of three years. On April 22, 1903, another contract was made for the construction of a railway line between Zacapa and the border of the Republic of Salvador, said contract being approved during the same month and year by legislative decree No. 566. The Government has given aid to the Central Railway of Guatemala, ast well as to the Ocos, the Occidental, and the Verapaz railways. Notable improvements have been made in the postal service during the last seven years, and the increase of correspondence received and forwarded during that period was, according to the statistics collected, 1,500,000 pieces. Many new post-offices have been established, the total number in the Republic at the present time being 300. A number of contracts have been made for the transportation of the mails, and postal conventions have been celebrated with most of the principal nations of the world along the lines laid down in the Universal Postal Convention made in Switzerland and of which Guatemala is a member. The telegraph lines of the Republic have been radically reformed, and new lines have been constructed to the extent of about 1,000 kilometers, for which 28 new offices have been opened. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company and the Chilean Company having withdrawn their vessels from the Guatemalan coasts, the business is at present being transacted, in accordance with the terms of previous contracts, by the steamers of the Kosmos and Pacific Mail. The contract made in 1899 with the New Orleans, Belize, Royal Mail and Central American Steamship Company, and said company having merged, during the year following that in which the contract was celebrated, with the United Fruit Company, a contract was made with J. C. WOSHE, the representative of the latter, for the touching of said steamers at ports on the Atlantic coast. Navigation has also been established under favorable circumstances on the important lake of Atitlan. The Urban Railway of Guatemala has been granted a concession (No. 245) for the utilization of the Las Vacas River in the generation of the motive power which said railway may need for its service, the necessary installation to be made within a period of three years. The President devotes a considerable portion of his message to an interesting exposition of the condition of public instruction within the Republic, and shows in a clear and concise manner that the question of education in all its branches has received the firm support of his Government during the entire period of his administration, and that most satisfactory results have been obtained. The number of schools has been constantly increased, and the Government has done everything in its power to further the development of the public school system of the Republic. Higher education has also received the due attention of the Government. COFFEE CROP OF 1904. A recent report from the American Consul-General at Guatemala City shows that the coffee crop in this Republic for the year 1904 has not come up to expectations, owing to heavy rains late in the season which knocked many of the kernels from the trees. The quality is well up to the average, especially in the Santa Maria belt, where both quantity and quality far exceeded the results for many years. This was caused by the deposit of volcanic ashes from the eruption of October 24, 1902, that spread the ashes over a wide area from 3 feet to 6 |