Honduras

The first constitution of Honduras was adopted in 1848, the second in 1865, the third in 1881 and the fourth, under which the country is governed to-day, became operative 1 1895. The usual division of authority between legislative, executive and judicial branches is followed; Congress, however, is a single body, the Chamber of Deputies, consisting of 42 members, elected by direct vote for a term of four years at•the rate of one deputy for every 10,000 inhabitants. The chamber is renewed by halves every second year, and for each deputy a substitute is elected to take his place when ever necessary. All male literate citizens over 18 years of age; if married, or 21, if unmarried, (are not only entitled but are compelled' by law to vote. The President and Vice-President are elected for a term of four years by direct vote. The President is assisted by a of six ministers; Minister of Government and • Justice, of Encouragement (Foinente), Public Works and Agriculture, Foreign Relations and Public Instruction, War and Navy, Treasury and Public Credit. The judicial branch in, chides a Supreme Court (five justices elected by popular vote for four years) ; municipal courts (judges appointed by Supreme Court), and justices of the peace elected by popular vote. Title III, Art. 10 of the constitution declares that ((The Republic of Honduras is a sacred refuge for every person fleeing to its territory,a and by Title V, Art. 27 the death penalty is abolished. Military service is compulsory from the ages of 21 to 40. The standing army num bers 2,000, approximately, and the reserve has 54,000 officers and men. Two small vessels are placed in the ,care of the Minister of War and Navy, for patrol duty along the coasts.

The institutions for secondary education under public control are the National Institute of Tegucigalpa, the National College of Santa Rosa, aLa Independenciaa of Santa Barbara and ((La Fraternidada of Juticalpa. A school of commerce is annexed to the National In stitute. Education is nominally ((free and com pulsory"; and facilities are actually provided at• Ceiba, where schools are supported by the municipal government, and to a limited extent in poorer sections by a small tax or assessment imposed by the national government. The uni versity at Tegucigalpa has faculties of medicine, law, political and natural sciences. A military college also forms part of the university. At Comayagua there is a school of jurispru dence. According to an official statement, amixeda schools, attended by boys and girls together, will be established in rural districts. Provision for agricultural training has not been made on an adequate scale; the training of teachers is done in five normal schools, one in each of the departments. Freedom of worship is secured by constitutional guaranty. The government does not contribute to the support of any church, but the prevailing religion is Roman Catholicism.

National Activities.—Agriculture receives more attention than formerly. The leading product for home consumption is still maize, of which 224,844,500 pounds were raised in 1914-15, chiefly in the departments of Copan, Gracias and Santa Barbara. Bananas are cul tivated for export principally and, although the banana grows wild in nearly all parts of Honduras up to an elevation of 3,000 feet, the industry (at present the most important) of cultivating this fruit for export is confined to the hot lands along the north coast, not ex tending farther inland than 50 of 75 miles. The shipping-points are Puerto Cortes, La Ceiba and Trujillo, adjoining such lands. F-om the first mentioned port shipments average about $1,000,000 in value a year for over 1,000,000 bunches. The annual wheat crop is 15,000 bushels•, coffee, 3,860,003 pounds; rice, 4,000,000 pounds; beans, 14,030,000 pounds, and tobacco, 1,500,000 pounds. Nearly 20,000 acres are devoted to the cultivation of plantains, Cocoanuts, lemons and oranges are grown for export on a large scale. Sugar-cane is culti vated on 13,263 acres; indigo on about 9,000 acres. The total value of agricultural products annually is about $3,000,000. Honduras is es sentially a cattle country. The number of cattle is estimated at 571,120; horses 68,000; mules, about 25,000. Large saludiffes of sarsaparilla are exported to the United States.

Prolonged drought during 1913-14 oc casioned short crops and has been a calamity perhaps greater for Honduras than the Eu ropean War. The total value of the republic's

foreign commerce in the fiscal year 1913-14 was $10,016,261; imports, $6,624,930, and ex ports $3,421,331. Products exported were: Ba nanas, 6,610164 bunches; coffee, 1,214,454 pounds; cocoanuts, 10,366,955; bides, 805E161 pounds; deerskins, 81,791 pounds; gold. and sil ver cyanides, 156,685 pounds. The distribution of foreign trade was: United States; $5,262,043 imports and $2914,157 exports; Great Britain, imports and $17,896 exports; France, 141,597 imports, and $5,353 exports; Germany, 1,837 impOrts and $164,607 exports. Straw hats (Panama) are manufactured in the de partments of Santa Barbara and Copan, and cigars are made in different towns. Of the more than 100 factories in the republic diente, soda water, sugar, soap, and ice constitute the principal ama hats and cigars are the only manufactured exports of any great value of the republic.

Gold is found between the south and centre; silver in almost all sections. Lead, copper, salt peter, iron, coal, zinc, nickel, platinum and anti mony are also widely distributed. The value of ores produced annually is approximately $1,000,000 (20,000 ounces of gold, 1,000,000 ounces of silver and a considerable quantity of copper). Only about 5 per cent of the mines of the country are being worked. Silver, copper and lead ores are exported. The forests from sea-level to an altitude of 1,000 feet contain mahogany, ebony, dyewoods, sarsaparilla and other medicinal plants, cabinet woods and cedar. At an elevation of 1,800 feet are dense and very extensive forests of pine and similar woods. ,, The unit of the monetary system, which u based on the silver standard is the peso, divided into 100 centavos and 25 grammes of silver .900 fine, or say 22. 0 grammes fine ver. The value of the peso of Honduras Ono tuates with the rise and fall of the price of silver in the international market. Thus, it was given as about $0.42 currency of the United States in April 1916; but $0.39786, with silver i at 55 cents an ounce as a basis, is the value assigned in (New York 1914). In March 1918, the government of Honduras entered into a contract for one year with the Banco Atlantida of La Ceiba, whereby the land was authorized and empowered to establish agencies in the ports of the republic, the departensental capitals and in other commercial centres for the further ing of commercial affairs and the stabilization of the national currency by the storage of the silver coinage of the country as a reserve to guarantee the paper issue. Principal banks, in 1915, were the Banco de Honduras and the Banco de Comercio at the capital and the Banco Atlintida at Ceiba. The interior debt of the nation, according to the message of the Presi dent to Congress in 1915, amounted, on 31 July 1914, to 4,611,464.68 pesos. Honduras has a heavy external debt which consists principally of bonds issued for the construction. of the railway from Puerto Cortes to La Pimienta and the arrears of interest thereon. The British Council for Foreign Bondholders represents the holders of these bonds. The amount of the external debt was given (1 Jan. 1914) as #23, 693.969, of which #18,295,399 represented arrears of interest. In other words, a debt of less than $26,000,000 (in 1870), increased. to $120,000,000, approximately, by 1917. The budget for 1915-16 estimated receipts at 5,929,420 pesos, and the value of the peso at that time was approxi mately 36.15 cents, currency of the United States.

The National Railway extends from Puerto Cortes to Pimienta, 56 miles. Privately owned lines in the banana regions aggregate about 109 miles. The Ulna River is navigable for a dis tance of 125 miles, and other streams facilitate, to a limited extent, communication between the north coast and the interior. On that coast, service with Puerto Cortes (and occasionally Ceiba, Trujillo and Tela) is maintained by steamers from New Orleans, New York and Mobile. On the Pacific coast dependence is placed upon the San Francisco-Panama steam ship lines. There are 278 post offices. The number of letters (both internal and foreign correspondence) is not more than 1,550,000 in a year. The republic has 4,281 miles of telegraph wire; the capital and some other towns tele phone services.