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edness to $100,000, and here the power of the Legislature to create indebtedness ceases.

The total assessed valuation of the counties of South Dakota for purposes of taxation in 1889 was $97,342,440.60. There were assessed 12,610,049-9 acres of land, valued at $51,475,558.50; 191,557 horses, valued at $7,631,228; 7,489 mules, valued at $319,611; 448,234 cattle, valued at $4,734,618.50; 134,823 sheep, valued at $164,175.50; and 209,194 swine, valued at $484.117.60.

Agriculture. The following are the official figures showing the acreage and yield of farm products in South Dakota for 1889: Wheat, 2.013,726 acres, 17,287,332 bushels; oats, 671,829 acres, 11,623,615 bushels; corn, 784,655 acres, 21,821,898 bushels; barley 127,338 acres, 1,694,875 bushels; rye, 16,587 acres, 255,620 bushels; buckwheat, 2,828 acres, 29,667 bushels; potatoes, 29,537 acres, 2,637,132 bushels; flax, 345,803 acres, 2,754,376 bushels.

Indian Reservations.-Early in August, a commission appointed by Congress to treat with the Sioux Indians obtained their agreement to the cession of a large portion of their lands, which will open to settlement about 11,000,000 acres of fine farming land embraced between American and Medicine creeks on the east and Cheyenne and White rivers on the west side of Missouri river, together with all that portion of the Great Sioux Reservation lying south of the forty-sixth parallel and west of the one hundred and third meridian. Late in December a similar commission to treat with the Sisseton Indians obtained the assent of the tribe to a cession of about 1,000,000 acres north of the city of Watertown.

SPAIN, a constitutional monarchy in southern Europe. The present King is Alfonso XIII, infant son of Alfonso XII, and the Archduchess Maria Christine of Austria, born May 17, 1886. During his minority his mother reigns as QueenRegent. The legislative power is exercised by the Congress, consisting of a Senate having the maximum number of 180 members, comprising princes of the blood royal, grandees of Spain, certain functionaries, and 123 nominated Senators, and a Chamber of 432 Deputies elected for five years in the proportion of one to every 50,000 inhabitants, by electoral colleges. The last general election was held in 1886. The ministry constituted on June 14, 1888, is as follows: President of the Council, P. Mateo Sagasta; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marquis de Vega de Armijo; Minister of Grace and Justice, J. Canalejas; Minister of Marine, Admiral Rodriguez Arias; Minister of Finance, Venancio Gonzalez; Minister of War, Gen. J. Chinchilla; Minister of the Interior, T. Ruiz Capdepón; Minister of the Colonies, M. Becerra.

Area and Population.-The area of Spain is 504,551 square kilometres. The population at the end of 1887 was 17,550,246, compared with 16,634,345 in 1877. The population of the principal cities in 1887 was as follows: Madrid, 472,228; Barcelona, 272,481; Valencia, 170,763; Sevilla, 143,182; Malaga, 134,016.

Finances.-The revenues of the Government have declined under the present system of tariff and taxation, and the Minister of Finance has not been able to develop new resources. There has always been a deficit, and in years when the

budget has been made apparently to balance, it has only been done by extraordinary remedies, such as the issue of new loans, the increase of the floating debt; the postponement of important obligations; or the sale of Government possessions. In 1889 all the extraordinary resources had been exhausted, and the foreign money markets were not open for a new Spanish loan. In 1888-'89 the minister expected to raise a revenue of 851,667,932 pesetas with the aid of new taxes, but the financial expedients were a failure, and only 710,603,325 pesetas were collected. The disbursements, estimated at 849,323,985 pesetas, were reduced to 813,258,722 pesetas, and still the estimated surplus of 2,343,947 pesetas was converted into a deficit of 102,655,397 pesetas. For 1890-'91 a revenue is expected of 803,349,277 pesetas, nearly balanced by 803,332,591 pesetas of expenditures. The floating debt on Aug. 1, 1889, amounted to 197,879,000 pesetas. The paper currency in circulation was 723,000,000 pesetas, in amount.

The Army. The strength of the standing army is fixed for the financial year 1889-'90 as follows: Spain, 92,082 men; Cuba, 19,571; Porto Rico, 3,153; Philippine Islands, 9,214. A new territorial division was made in 1889. The country is divided into 68 districts, each of which is expected to raise, in case of war, an entire reserve regiment of infantry of three battalions. In case of mobilization two of the battalions, consisting solely of trained reservists, will be placed under arms immediately. The third battalion can also be called out, but can not at once take the field, since it consists of numerous untrained men in addition to the remaining trained reservists. The number of depot battalions is reduced from 140 to 68. The Spanish infantry on mobilization will consist of 60 regiments of the line; 68 reserve regiments of 2 battalions each; 68 additional reserve battalions, and 68 depot battalions.

The Navy. The war navy in 1889 comprised 23 vessels in commission, viz.: 2 armored frigates, 9 cruisers, 4 avisos, 6 gunboats, and 1 torpedo-catcher. There were 1 armored frigate, 8 gunboats, 8 torpedo-boats, and 49 other vessels in reserve, besides 6 other torpedo-boats and 29 miscellaneous vessels. An armor-clad frigate was not yet fitted with its armament, and 2 deck-protected cruisers, 3 cruisers of the first class, and 6 of the second class were in various stages of construction. The Queen Regent signed a decree in October, 1887, authorizing the construction of 6 battle-ships of 7,000 tons each, and 24 torpedo-boats. The fleet was manned in 1889 by 672 officers and 14,000 sailors, besides the marine infantry, consisting of 376 officers and 7,033 men, the arsenal guards, engineers, mechanics, etc.

Commerce. The total value of the imports in 1887 was 811,211,708 pesetas, and of the exports 722,181,792 pesetas. The values of the chief imports in pesetas were as follow: Cereals and flour, 88,088,861; cotton and cotton goods, 76,353.729; spirits, 45,028,994; timber, 35,300,318; tobacco, 30,286,940; fish, 29,811,117: sugar, 29,743,228; coal and coke, 25,571,514; wool and woolen goods, 24,938,269; machinery, 20,136,968; hides, etc., 19,389,742; flax and hemp, 17,736,378; cattle, 17,137,709; iron, and manufact

ures thereof, 16,930,935; chemicals, 15,812,920; silk goods, 14,880,332; cocoa, 13,627,361; other articles, 290,436,393; total, 811,211,708. The following are the values in pesetas, of the largest exports in 1887: Wine, 281,810,384; minerals, 86,684,163; fruits, 63,638,275; metals, 41,496,284; cork, 16,768,651; wool, 14,122,934; cattle, 12,487,777: oil, 9,698,414; other articles, 195,464,910; total, 722,181,792.

The imports from France were 234,746,813 pesetas; exports to France, 308,918,732 pesetas; imports from England, 114,023,732 pesetas; exports to England, 184,663,303 pesetas; imports from North and South America, 179,494,343 pesetas; exports to America, 136,293,847 pesetas; imports from Germany, 82,902,424 pesetas; exports to Germany, 9,596,200 pesetas; imports from Belgium, 24,385,745 pesetas; exports to Belgium, 12,264,490 pesetas; imports from Russia, 40,726,717 pesetas; exports to Russia, 662,742 pesetas; imports from Italy, 16,591,363 pesetas; exports to Italy, 12,265,415 pesetas; imports from Sweden and Norway, 31,855,767 pesetas; exports to Sweden and Norway, 1,478,212 pesetas; imports from Portugal, 6,746,886 pesetas; exports to Portugal, 2,177,190 pesetas; imports from Turkey, 8,422,045 pesetas; exports to Turkey, 150,459 pesetas; imports from Asia and Australasia, 38,042,149 pesetas; exports to Asia and Australasia, 4,624,553 pesetas; imports from Africa, 21,544,758 pesetas; exports to Africa, 9,428,963 pesetas; imports from Spanish colonies, 16,631,039 pesetas; exports to Spanish colonies, 80,102,065 pesetas.

The exports of Spanish wines in 1887 were in quantity 182,217,756 gallons, of which 146,000,000 gallons went to France, and only 5,450,000 gallons to Great Britain. Owing to the mixture of Italian with Spanish wines, the French custom-house officials raised difficulties in 1888 and 1889 in regard to the importation of wines from Spain, as differential duties are charged on Italian goods. The export of iron ore in 1887 was 46,941,414 pesetas in value; of copper ore, 30,672,040 pesetas.

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Railroads and Mails.-There were 9,470 kilometres of railroads in operation on Jan. 1, 1888, and 2,000 kilometres were in course of construction or projected. The railroads have been built by private companies, with the aid of subventions or guarantees from the Government.

The number of domestic letters carried in the mails in 1887 was 90,627,452; of postal-cards, 342,103; of circulars and samples, 10,580,254; of registered letters, 1,258,424. In the international service the number of letters was 11,990,397; of postal-cards, 39,468; of circulars and samples, 7,935,130; of registered letters, 765,512. The postal expenses were 14,420,994 pesetas.

The Philippine Islands. The budget of the Philippine Islands for 1888 shows a revenue of 9,837,896 pesos and 9,958,104 pesos of expenditures. The value of the imports in 1887 was 17,530,296 pesos; of the exports, 25,254,140 pe

SOS.

The export of Manila hemp amounted to $5,460,454; of sugar, $7,995,726; of cheroots and tobacco, $2,024,767; of coffee, $2,093,518. The islands of the Sooloo Archipelago that were conceded to Spain in 1885 are all those that lie between the island of Mindanao on the east and the islands of Borneo and Aragua.

Politics and Legislation. - The Liberal Premier, whose policy of tolerance and liberty has rendered powerless the revolutionary Republicans who follow the directions of Zorilla and won the partial support or benevolent neutrality of the moderate Republicans, and whom the Conservatives have been unable to upset, notwithstanding the disordered state of the public finances and the commercial and agricultural depression, had to contend in 1889 chiefly with dissentients in his own party. The motive of their secession, or "conspiracy," as it was called, was personal rather than political, and arose from rivalries among the leaders of the Liberal factions and quarrels over the distribution of patronage. There were grounds enough for attacking the Government in the confusion of the finances, the immorality of the officials, who were proved to have embezzled nearly 8,000,000 pesetas of public money in 1888, the inefficiency and corruption of the judicial administration, the prevalence of crime, the corrupt and oppressive government of Cuba, and the disorganization of the provincial administration; but these evils could be treated as chronic, and the Cabinet could claim to be more earnestly endeavoring to cure them than its predecessors. In the early part of the year the Government had to face a revolt of the wine-merchants and exporters of Valencia and other cities against the duty laid on spirits by the law of June 26, 1888. They said it would ruin the export trade in fortified wines with South America, England, and other countries, and actually closed their business, throwing out of employment all the laborers dependent on it, by way of protest. The Government yielded, and before summer introduced a revised law. There was an alarming series of bomb explosions in January and the succeeding months. A gunpowder petard that was discovered in the Bank of Spain, just ready to explode, had been prepared by a skillful and experienced hand. One exploded in the office of the "Imparcial" newspaper, one in the Royal Palace, one in the street where the Queen had just passed by, and one in the Ministry of the Interior. In April a petard destroyed the altar during service in the cathedral of Valencia. An order forbidding officers of the army to write for the public press was defended by Castelar, but was so criticised as an invasion of the personal liberty of the soldiers that the Minister of War promised that it should not be too strictly enforced. A motion made in the Senate on Feb. 6 to increase the duties on grain, cattle, and petroleum was supported not alone by Conservatives and the Protectionist followers of Gamazo, but by a considerable part of the ministerial Senators under the lead of Gen. Martinez Campos and the Duke of Tetuan. The Democratic Left, led by Martos, President of the Chamber, and ex-Minister Moret, protested against the delay in introducing the bill to establish universal suffrage, and accused Sagasta of imperiling the passage of the measure within the legislative period, even if he intended to redeem his promise in regard to the measure. Congress approved the military reforms proposed by the Govern ment. The civil code that had been elaborated by Alonso Martinez was adopted, and his criminal code passed through the preliminary stages

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