There are no industries in the country worthy of mention except aguardiente manufacture which is a government monopoly. The sugar cane growers enter into a contract with the government to furnish a stipulated amount of this brandy each month, and it is then sold by the government to the regularly licensed dealers at a fixed price. A large part of the revenue of the republic is derived from this source as many hundred thousand gallons are consumed each year. A cheap grade of “Panama” hat is also manufactured in one province which is exported to the neighbouring republics and the United States.
Nearly the whole of the republic, except the lowlands, is mineralized. Old workings among the gold-bearing formations show that the aboriginal tribes understood the art of separating the gold from quartz. Documents deposited in the archives of Tegucigalpa show that the Spaniards found the mines of Honduras very profitable, and the king’s tithe no doubt aided in building real castles in Spain. The Spaniards were good prospectors but poor workers, for they did their work in the most primitive way. Their work was mostly done by slave labour so that this was an inexpensive item to them. Any of the natives could be drafted into this work upon the initiative of the government. They were seldom carried to any great depth, so that there are hundreds of mines scattered over the country to-day which are abandoned and filled with water. They cannot be operated successfully until roads are constructed over which machinery can be transported.
The chief mining district is not far from the capital city. The Rosario Mining Company is the most successful and best-known company and has been placed on a profitable basis. Silver ores are the most abundant but gold has been washed on the rivers of Olancho for many years in small quantities. Silver is generally in combination with lead, iron, copper or antimony. There are some valuable copper deposits in some places containing eighty per cent of pure copper. Iron ores are common, zinc occurs, but coal has been found only in very small quantities. Opals have been found in considerable numbers and many of them are large and beautiful. About one million dollars’ worth of the various minerals have been mined annually in recent years.
Honduras has a small coast line on the Pacific with Amapala as its only seaport on that ocean. It is situated on the island of Tigre about thirty miles from the mainland, and nearly in the centre of the magnificent Bay of Fonseca. This is a very poor open roadstead with no pier, so that lighters are the only means of loading and unloading vessels. The Atlantic coastline is much longer and well protected by outlying islands which affords much better protection to vessels. Ceiba is a pretty little port at the foot of the Congrehoy, the highest volcanic peak in the country. It has a population of several thousand and is in the centre of a rich banana belt. Recently a short railroad of about thirty miles in length has been constructed here which reaches out through this fertile field and will aid in developing this section of the country. Many hundred thousand bunches of bananas are shipped from this port each year and the number constantly increases. Truxillo, or Trujillo, is another fair harbour on this coast. The town is not very large yet, although it is nearly four centuries old, having been founded in 1525. The filibusterer William Walker, who made himself dictator of Nicaragua at one time, was captured by Honduras’ troops at this place and executed, thus ending a romantic and venturesome career.
Honduras has never attained the prominence in commerce that her natural resources would warrant one to reasonably expect. The total imports for the year ending July 31st, 1908, were $2,829,979, according to the statistics of that government. Of this amount the United States furnished more than half. The exports to the United States for the same period amounted to nearly $3,000,000, which was nearly five-sixths of the whole exports. This is accounted for by the fact that the principal export is bananas nearly all of which are sent to the various ports of Uncle Sam. After minerals coffee and hides furnish the next two largest items of export. All import duties are levied by weight, so that the duties on many articles comparatively inexpensive in first cost become expensive luxuries in Honduras. An ordinary cooking range might be cited as an example. The shipping of imports and exports is almost entirely in the hands of Germans who conduct all the great commission houses and do a very profitable business. The importation of goods is oftentimes a complicated matter for in addition to the fixed import duties there are the fees for manifest, custom-house permit, transfer fee, sanitary fee on goods destined for the interior, and a municipal impost at some towns. Add to this the brokerage fees and the total expense oftentimes amounts to quite a sum.
The money of Honduras is on a silver basis and is subject to all the fluctuations of that metal. Guatemalan and Chilean silver coins are the principal currency in circulation although one bank is authorized to issue paper currency which passes at par with the silver. The silver peso or dollar is the standard. As exchange varies from 215 to 250 per cent it will be seen that its value ranges from about forty to forty-five cents in gold. Even this is better than the paper money of Guatemala.
What shall be done with this great unimproved country? That question is reserved for the future to decide. I believe that the influence of America and Americans will do far more toward the settlement of the turmoil which has been so general in that country and the development of the natural resources than any other one influence. The number of Americans residing in Honduras is increasing each year, and their influence is already being felt wherever they reside. Sometime the people themselves may awaken to the fact that they have been living in poverty with wealth at their very doors. The eastern coast is developing more rapidly than the western because of the nearness to the markets of the United States. Good steamship service is now maintained so that it is only a four or five days’ journey to New Orleans and Mobile. Let Americans waken up to the great possibilities of trade and development that lie at their very door. Let American merchants and manufacturers exploit their goods and secure the trade of this country that is now controlled by British and German merchants. The people generally prefer American goods, but the merchants of this country have never learned the art of dealing with the Spanish-American. It is a situation that must be studied, but success is worth the effort.
“Adios,” with the Spaniard means “how do you do,” “good-bye,” and “a pleasant journey to you.”
I close this narrative with this one word to the reader which is greeting, benediction and farewell, all three combined, trusting that our acquaintance has been mutually beneficial.
ADIOS.