1907.1908.First Half
of 1909.
Reserve fund3,0007,00010,000
Emergency fund—2,0002,000
Dividends—30,61821,503
Undivided surplus15,1732,9801,675

For the first six months of 1909, the dividend declared and paid was 4 per cent. upon the amount of capital paid up = $500,000 (silver pesos). For the remaining half-year and for 1910, and the first half of 1911, increased distributions have been made, and the financial condition and prospects of the Banco Nacional are considered to be in a satisfactory state. Señor Guillermo Hemmeler is the Manager, and he has bought up the connection of the bank's customers consistently from the time that he first assumed control. The bank allows 3 per cent. interest upon current accounts, and it has the privilege of issuing its own notes.

El Banco Salvadoreño was established in 1885, and has a subscribed and paid-up capital of $3,000,000. The Reserve Fund amounts to $231,985.80 and the Dividend Equalization Fund to $20,000; the Eventualities Fund at present stands at $50,000. There are branches established at Santa Ana (the Manager being Señor Cuno G. Mathies) and at San Miguel (the Manager being Señor R. Schlensz). The General Manager in San Salvador is Señor Alberto W. Augspurg, who speaks English very well, and is invariably courteous and obliging to foreigners who seek his assistance or advice.

Banking business in Salvador always has been, and still is, carried on by a few private firms. The establishment conducted by Messrs. Blanco and Trigueros was founded as far back as 1835, with a capital estimated at $1,500,000. In 1893 the Bank of Nicaragua opened a branch office in the city of San Salvador, and for long did a good and steady business. Certain concessions and privileges were also granted to Messrs. Linares and Co., of Barcelona, Spain, enabling them to establish a national bank in San Salvador, with a capital of £1,000,000 sterling. A concession was also granted for the establishment of a purely Mortgage Bank, but up till now such an establishment has not been started.

The House of David Bloom and Co., with branches at New York and San Francisco, is composed of Messrs. David and Benjamin Bloom, and who are the principal private bankers of the Government. Subject to the criticism which this position involves, mainly upon the part of those, perhaps, who are not as well endowed as are Messrs. Bloom and Co. with moral courage and confidence in the peaceful continuity of government in Salvador, this firm enjoys an excellent reputation for fair dealing, and is well regarded throughout the country.

The Press of the Republic is well represented by some five or six daily newspapers, several weekly publications, and a number of monthly reviews. There are entirely free press laws existing, and on the whole there is no abuse of the privileges accorded for expressing public opinion. El Diario del Salvador was founded in July of 1894 by Señor R. Mayorga Rivas, and is to-day conducted by the same talented journalist and cultured writer. The General Manager is Señor J. M. Lacayo Téllez. Among its regular contributors are Señores J. Dols Corpeño, a young but vigorous writer; Armando Rodriguez Portillo, who is but thirty years of age; and other distinguished littérateurs of Salvador. El Diario Latino, of which Señor Miguel Pinto is the Director and Proprietor, and Señor Juan Ramón Uriarte is the Editor, has a large and influential circulation, which is by no means confined to the Republic itself. El Heraldo del Salvador, which is the recognized organ of the Church, is edited by the Rev. Dr. Eduardo Martinez Balsalobre. It is, as may be assumed, a high-class publication, and publishes occasionally some powerful literary contributions from the pens of some of the most talented writers. El Diario Oficial is the property and exponent of the Government, but scarcely takes rank as a newspaper, being in all respects similar to our London Gazette, with the exception that it prints daily a good service of cables.

Government Building ("Casa Blanca"), San Salvador.

Campo de Marte (Race Course), San Salvador.