[XXXIII-52] It is understood that President Bogran, in his efforts to diminish the expenditures, reduced in 1886 his own and other salaries. Id., June 2, 1886.
[XXXIII-53] Pres. Soto, in his message of 1883, says that the opinion prevailed in Europe that Honduras had been victimized; he believed that in truth and justice the republic cannot be held responsible for the enormous debt. Indeed, it is of a very questionable origin. It was contracted for the alleged purpose of constructing an interoceanic railway. There were four loans negotiated; namely, two in London, in 1867, for the nominal amount of £1,000,000, issued at 80 with 10 per cent interest; another in 1868 at Paris for the nominal sum of 62,252,700 francs, issued at 75 and 6 per cent interest, and the last in London in 1870, for £2,500,000, issued at 80 and 10 per cent interest. Am. Cyclop., viii. 791; Pan. Star and Herald, March 23, 1883; La Estrella de Pan., Jan. 10, 1884.
[XXXIII-54] The chief sources were customs, monopoly of spirituous liquors, tobacco, and gunpowder, stamped paper, etc. The receipts of 1848-56, including $175,419 for loans in 1856, were $3,408,068, averaging $359,183 a year; for 1866-9, $3,224,348, or $806,087 per year; for 1870-4, $4,930,238, or $1,232,560 yearly; for 1875-8, $7,880,316, or an average of $1,970,079. Expenditures: 1848-56, $3,251,802; 1867-8, $1,468,850; 1873-8, $9,269,113. Squier's Cent. Am., 307; Salv., Gaceta, Oct. 31, 1851; March 20, 1877; Id., Diario Ofic., March 24, 25, 1875; March 13, 14, 1878; Costa R., Boletin Ofic., March 14, 1855; Nic., Gaceta, March 23, 1867; Feb. 22, 1868; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 76; Camp's Year-Book, 1869, 527; Pan. Star and Herald, Apr. 1, 1869; Aug. 29, 1874; May 10, 1875; Feb. 26, 1884; Sept. 29, 1886; Id., Cronista, Jan. 20, 1883; Jülfs, Die Seehäfen, 36; Mex., Informe Sec. Hac., 1873, 88; Salv., Mem. Min. Hac., 1875-9; Laferrière, De Paris à Guatém., 190-1.
[XXXIII-55] The greater portion was Salvador's share of the federal debt; which was augmented by several foreign claims aggregating about $100,000. No interest on the federal debt had been paid since 1848. Squier's Cent. Am., 308.
[XXXIII-56] I find that the republic paid up in 24 years, prior to 1875, $4,833,775 to cover both the federal debt and its own—an equivalent of about a million and a quarter every five years by a population of only 600,000 souls. Salv., Diario Ofic., Apr. 6, Aug. 4, Oct. 28, 1875; Oct. 17, 1878; Id., Gaceta Ofic., Feb. 15, 1878; Am. Cyclop., xiv. 610; Mex., Informe Sec. Hac., 1873, 25; Laferrière, De Paris à Guatém., 191; Salv., Mem. Min. Hac., 1875; Nic., Semanal Nic., Apr. 16, 1874; Pan. Star and Herald, Feb. 26, 1884.
[XXXIII-57] The chief sources of revenue are those of customs, slaughtering cattle, and sales of spirituous liquors, tobacco, gunpowder, and stamped paper. The total revenue of 1845 amounted to $74,911, a sum entirely inadequate to meet the most necessary expenses of the government. The import duty was 20 per cent ad valorem, to which was added 8 per cent. The only export duty was 1 to 3 per cent on gold, silver, and precious stones. A transit duty of 5 per cent was levied on goods passing through Nic. to the other states. Merchant vessels paid 50 cts per ton. The total revenue from customs in 1846 was $51,818; from internal taxation, $3,626; from rum, etc, $24,260. The revenue from tobacco was pledged to the Brit. govt, in order to ransom the port of San Juan del Norte. Other sources were insignificant. Receipts of 1851, $122,686; 1857-60, $1,327,637; 1861-70, $5,665,877. The tariff of imports was modified in Dec. 1868, and increased 10 per cent in Feb. 1870. Agricultural implements, materials for mining, and other articles, were exempted from import duty by a law of Nov. 2, 1869. The revenue from customs became flourishing, and yielded in 1883 $1,275,506, due to the law of Sept. 25, 1879, which raised the duties on several articles, and changed the mode of collecting from ad valorem to weight. It seems that most goods paid no more under the new system than formerly; but much fraud was averted. Imports generally paid 50 per cent ad val. The port of San Juan del Norte and the Mosquito reservation have a free zone, the merchants of San Juan paying a tax in lieu of import duties. Receipts of 1871, $958,922; 1873-80, $8,416,879; 1881-2, $3,351,767, an increase of $951,674 over the preceding two years. Belly, Nic., i. 311; Lévy, Nic., 353-8; Nic., Gaceta, March 6, 1863; March 18, Apr. 29, 1865; Jan. 20, 1866; March 21, 1868; Jan. 2, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 1869; May 27, 1871; Jan. 20, 1872; Id., Decretos, 1869-70, 123; Pan. Star and Herald, Feb. 1, 1883.
[XXXIII-58] Expenses of the supreme powers, $112,548; departments of the interior, $513,069; war, $389,466; treasury, $1,353,612; foreign relations, $762,457; sundries, $109,787. During this term was paid $57,586 outstanding from the preceding, the ordinary expenses of administration; for improvements, $563,918; and extraordinary expenses caused by disturbances. The expenditures in 1846 and 1851 were $106,145 and $173,646, respectively, in both cases creating deficits; in 1859-60, $652,515; 1861-70, $5,316,951; 1871-2, $1,721,355; 1873-4, $1,995,040. Those of the following years kept pace with the increased revenues; but large sums were appropriated to internal improvements, education, and other purposes conducive to the intellectual and material advancement of the republic. Nic., Mem. Sec. Hac., for years 1846 to 1883; and the Gacetas quoted in the preceding note.
[XXXIII-59] She had on the 15th of Sept., 1867, recognized £45,000 as her proportion. Nic., Gaceta, March 28, 1868.
[XXXIII-60] Presid. Cárdenas, Mensaje, Jan. 15, 1885, in Costa R., Gaceta Ofic., Feb. 4, 1885. For further information, see the biennial reports of the minister of the treasury; Lévy, Nic., 358-60; Am. Cyclop., xii. 424; Pan. Star and Herald, Feb. 1, 1883.
[XXXIII-61] From customs, $427,395, which was less than had been expected; liquor monopoly, $200,168; stamped paper and stamps, $63,033; paper money issued, $310,764; the balance from sundry sources. The receipts in specie were $1,046,967. The law of Dec. 10, 1839, first established the sources of revenue for the state govt as follows: Maritime and internal duties on merchandise; purchase and coinage of bullion; sales of public lands; monopoly in cultivation and sale of tobacco; sale of gunpowder, stamped paper, domestic and foreign liquors; postage, excise, confiscation of contraband goods, and fines. Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iii. 272, 570.