The International Bureau of the American Republics has received from the Department of State of the United States the following translation of a decree of the Bolivian Government providing for the issue of bonds, to be known as "bonds of the State," to the amount of 2,000,000 bolivianos, for the cancellation of the total of the debt due by the Government to the several local banks.

"ISMAEL MONTES, Constitutional President of the Republic.

"Whereby the National Congress has sanctioned the following law: "The National Congress decrees:

"ARTICLE 1. The Executive Power is authorized to make an emission of bonds of the State, for the amount of two million bolivianos, for the purpose of cancelling the credit of the banks "Nacional," "Argandoña" and "Industrial."

"ART. 2. The bonds issued in conformity with the law shall bear interest at the rate of 10 per cent, with 6 per cent amortization, and the amount of 320,000 bolivianos shall be designated annually in the National Budget for both services until the total amortization of the bonds.

"ART. 3. The bonds will be drawn by lots the twentieth of June and the twentieth of December, annually, and on the thirtieth and thirty-first of said months the interests accrued for the six months past, and the amount of amortization, will be paid by the medium of drawings.

"ART. 4. These bonds shall be guaranteed by the total of the National rents and particularly by all of the customs receipts of La Paz.

666

"ART. 5. The banks may conserve in the bonds issued the total of a fund of responsibility.

"ART. 6. The bonds will be payable to bearer and will represent a value of one hundred and five hundred bolivianos, respectively, each. "ART. 7. The bonds referred to in the foregoing dispositions may constitute all obligations that according to law are obligatory.

The Executive will establish the rules for the present law. To be communicated to the Executive Power for constitutional purposes.

Salon of Sessions of the National Congress, La Paz, November

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4, 1904.

"ELIDDORO VILLAZON.

"CARLOS V. ROMERO.

"JOSE CARRASCO, S. S.

"ABIGAIL SANGINES, D. S.

"ARTURO MOLINA, C. D. S.'

"Therefore, it is hereby promulgated that it may have and be enforced as a law of the Republic.

"Palace of the Supreme Government in La Paz, November 7, 1904.

66

"ISMAEL MONTES.

"D. DEL CASTILLO.

"HIRAM LOAYZA,

Chief of the Division of the Treasury."

COINAGE OF MONEY IN 1903.

In 1903 there were purchased, for coinage at the mint, 19,187,610 kilograms of silver, for which a payment of 866,595.42 bolivianos ($365,703.27) was made. During the same year 20 and 50 cent coins were minted to the value of 930,929 bolivianos ($392,852.04). The operations of the mint in 1903 resulted in a loss which aggregated 2,022.57 bolivianos ($853.52).

Of the 2,300,000 bolivianos ($970,600) in nickel which the Government has ordered coined at different times, only 190,258 bolivianos ($80,288.88) remain on hand unissued. Of the amount of nickel coin which has already been placed in circulation, there are in the vaults of the banks the sum of 92,126 bolivianos ($38,877.17).

COMMERCE WITH THE UNITED STATES IN AUGUST, 1904. The merchandise exported from New York to Bolivia during August, 1904, was as follows:

Foreign merchandise from other countries reexported, called "national

Mr. CASTELFOR QUIROGA, in representation of a strong and reliable company, has petitioned Congress for permission to construct a railway from Gaiba to San Javier, and from thence to Santa Cruz and Cochabamba via Chimoré. The petitioner asks no pecuniary aid from the Government in the construction of this railway, and limits himself solely to a request for alternate leagues of land bordering the railway for the purposes of colonization. The engineer, who is the promoter of the enterprise, has furnished some interesting data to a representative of the Government, the substance of which is given below:

“Our mines and mining claims are so promising that we need said railway for the exportation of the ores. This industrial highway will be opened to public traffic in 1906 at latest. Our petition is of the most favorable nature to the interests of the Government and highly promising to the country, inasmuch as it does not burden the State financially, but on the other hand enables us to avail ourselves of the cooperation of the construction company of the Jujuy to Quiaca and Tupiza Railway, with whom our representative at Buenos Ayres has just made an important contract specifying the freight tariff upon

ores, etc.

"Santa Cruz can produce and export 375,000,000 kilograms of cotton, the duty on which at 1 cent per kilogram, or 10 cents per arroba of 10 kilograms, would yield to the National Treasury 3,750,000 bolivianos ($1,582,500) annually, and this too at a trifling expense and in the short space of six months, without the loss of life attendant

upon the collection of crude rubber. The illustration of this proposition is very simple, as will be seen from the following calculation:

"A hectare of land will accommodate 1,600 cotton plants, each of which will yield at least 2 pounds of ginned cotton or, in round numbers, 3,000 pounds, or 1,500 kilograms. Taking for example 50,000 families, each of which will cultivate on an average 5 hectares of land, we find that in the course of six months the average production of cotton per family would be 15,000 pounds or 7,500 kilograms. Multiplying this quantity by 50,000, the number of families given in our illustration as engaged in the raising of cotton, the fabulous yield of 375,000,000 kilograms, or 37,500,000 arrobas, of cotton is obtained, which quantity, if taxed at the rate of 10 cents per arroba of 10 kilograms, would return a revenue to the Government of 3,750,000 bolivianos ($1,582,500)."

Mr. LEON L. MOUSNIER, a prominent civil engineer, has made a report on the two bids submitted for the construction of a railway from Santa Cruz to Chimoré to connect with the proposed railway from Chimoré to Cochabamba. One of these bids, that of Mr. A. PERLA, which enters more into detail than does the other, contains a number of important suggestions concerning the route to be followed. When the railway reaches Chimoré, a beautiful river, without extensive beaches or precipitous banks, having an even current, the velocity of which is 80 meters per minute, Santa Cruz will have done her part toward the success of this road, inasmuch as up to this point Cochabamba has a number of country roads opened to traffic and used by pack trains. The distance from this river to Santa Cruz is shown in the following table:

The Capital to Terebinto..

Terebinto to La Caranda..

La Carranda to the banks of the Saguayo to Yacapaní

Yacapaní to Martillo del Atorado, in Moile

Moile to Ichilo, by the Pirapará curve

Ichilo to Chimoré, approximately

Total

From Cochabamba

Distance between the two capitals.

Leagues.

5

8

8

6

4

8

39

34

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EXPLOITATION OF THE SAN JUAN DE ORO RIVER.

The reports received concerning the companies contemplating the exploitation of the San Juan de Oro River are very promising. The directors of these different corporations, which were organized in England and in Buenos Ayres, with capital contributed by citizens of both countries, have appointed Doctor FEDERICO QUIJARRO their rep

resentative to treat with the Bolivian authorities concerning the business of these important companies, which are destined to play such a notable part in the progress and development, on a large scale, of the latent wealth of the Republic, and especially of the mining industry. Concerning these industrial corporations "La Prensa," of Buenos Ayres, says in substance concerning the Bolivian railways that, although but a small section has been completed-a great deal less than that specified in the contract-the construction company which has the contract for the building of the railway to Bolivia has just received the first consignment of freight via the national highway. This consignment consisted of materials intended for the dredging of the San Juan de Oro River in southern Bolivia. These materials were delivered at Jujuy and the railway transported them to Volcan, a distance of 27 kilometers. No part of the line has yet been opened to public traffic. It is hoped, however, that the Minister of Public Works will soon go to Volcan to inaugurate the Volcan branch, representing about onehalf of the total distance between Jujuy and Plumamarca. This section should have been ready for traffic in July last.

"La Nacion" says that Mr. LUIS DOUSSET is delivering at Volcan the first consignment of dredging material for the San Juan de Oro Company. The total quantity of this freight is 3,000,000 kilograms, and the freight charges from Jujuy will aggregate from $150,000 to $200,000. The large mineral deposits discovered in the region between Humahuaca and Bolivia have awakened considerable interest. A number of freighters with dredging material are on the way to Bolivia, and will return with a cargo of silver ores and tin.

"El Diario" says that a shipment of 300 tons of material and golddredging machinery has arrived from New Zealand and England consigned to the three dredging companies operating in the San Juan de Oro River for use in the mines. One hundred tons of this freight will be shipped to Stremiz & Co., at Volcan, to be transported overland to San Juan de Oro River. The section between Jujuy and Volcan is the most difficult part of the route, and the delivery of the material at that point will greatly facilitate its transportation to the mines. Other consignments are due to arrive in a short time, and it is quite probable that the plant will be in operation before the time calculated upon. Not long ago 20 carts of Keystone perforating machinery arrived at San Juan de Oro River without any difficulty whatever. This machinery has been erected and is now in operation.

MINING INDUSTRY.

The statistics of the mineral production of the Republic of Bolivia for the year 1902, published in the British "Mining Journal, Railway and Commercial Gazette" of December 31, 1904, show the following general conditions: Silver, 8,287,646 ounces; tin, 7,982 tons, which