Of the total of 5,081 tons of Bolivian rubber exported in 1915, practically all (4,645 tons) found its way to the United States. General increases were also recorded in all other articles of export in 1915. On 30 Nov. 1911 the gov ernment made free the importation of cattle during a period of five years, with a view to encouraging breeding to good stock. Exports of hides were 613 tons in 1915 as against 374 in 1914; and the increase in 1916 was still pro portionately greater. Coffee exportation in creased from 38 tons in 1914 to 105 tons in 1915; coca from 348,000 kilos in 1914 to 389,000 kilos in 1915, of which 305,000 kilos went to Argentina and 771 kilos to the United States. The shipment of cinchona bark almost doubled in 1915 over that of the preceding year (84 tons to 46 tons).
The Bolivian market is difficult to cater to, because the demand for most classes of manu factured goods is limited, the country difficult to travel through and the expenses relatively heavy. The municipalities are accustomed to tax heavily, by means of a licensing system, all traveling salesmen. So most salesmen in Bo livia carry a relatively large line of goods in order that the small sales in each line may sum up a respectable total.
The imports of Bolivia in 1914 were, in part: Live animals, $765,170; food and bever ages, $3,803,257; raw material and articles par tially manufactured, $2,097,134; manufactured goods, $8,106,928; gold and silver bullion and coins, $1,250,000; total, $15,904,489. Bolivia is becoming an increasingly good market for United States flour, lard, other slightly manu factured foods and canned foods.
In 1915 about two-thirds of the exports of crude rubber were diverted from Liverpool to New York. A very considerable part of the Bolivian rubber which reached the United States was credited not to its original source but to the final port of shipment in South America. Thus all the Bolivian rubber finding its outlet through Atlantic seaports and through countries other than Bolivia herself lost its individuality before reaching its final destination.
While the United States has been taking by far the largest part of the exports of Bo livia, she has not followed this advantage up and secured the import trade which ought to go to the country taking the raw products. After the Germans withdrew in 1914 there was no organized attempt to get their trade, which was worth $8,000,000 annually.
Bolivia issues an official commercial code de Comercio>) and a 'Reglamento General de Aduanas> House Regu lations)), which furnish information invaluable to the house doing business with the country and to the commercial traveler entering Boliv ian territory. The increase in the national revenues during the same decade was 230 per cent. Valuable information in regard to for eign commerce will be found in (Exporting to Latin America,) by E. B. Filsinger (New York 1916) and (Proceedings of the First Pan American Financial (Washington 1915).
ores averaging 70 per cent sold to La Paz for 600 bolivianos ($233.58 at normal exchange) per quintal of 100 pounds; and vanadium and molybdenum are added to the list of mineral assets. In the (Monografia
de la Industria Minera,> which President Villa zon caused to be published, there were regis tered, besides enormous tracts of argentiferous deposits, tin mines numbering 126; copper, 42; gold, 72; wolfram, 16; and bismuth, 3. The future prosperity of Bolivia depends upon capital and ample facilities for smelting (espe cially the tin ores) near the mines. Oruro is the centre of the mining industry. Lack of water power and inadequate transportation facilities are the chief factors hindering de velopment on a larger scale. Many mines send their products to the nearest railways by llamas, which carry but 100 pounds and can be successfully handled only by Indians. A few mines have hydro-electric plants. Oil fields near Santa Cruz are being worked at a profit by the Sociedad Petrolifera de Bolivia, a corporation controlled largely by Chilean capital.
Bolivia is the second largest producer of tin in the world and only a fraction of her tin ores is being worked, and most of the mines that are being exploited lack modern machin ery. The steady advance in the price of tin in 1915, 1916 and 1917 tended greatly to in crease the output which was considerably larger in the latter two years than in 1915. The law of 17 Jan. 1914 did away with the 25 per cent export duty on non-concentrated copper ores and exportation rose from 4,794 metric tons in 1914 to 17,945 tons in 1915; and this not withstanding the fact that the concentrated ores' exportation increased from 3,874 metric tons in 1914 to 5.868 tons the following year. Of the 17,945 tons of non-concentrated ores exported in 1915, over 13,777 went to the United States and 4,000 tons to Great Britain, while the concentrated ores were nearly evenly divided between these two countries. The total exportation of 23,813 tons of copper was the largest, up to that date, in the history of Bolivian mining. Tungsten has also shown a steady increase in output. In 1914 the export was 276 tons while in 1915 it was over 792, of which 436 tons went to the United States and 357 tons to Great Britain. In 1914 the exports of antimony from Bolivia were only 186 tons; but this had increased to 17,923 metric tons in 1916, the greater part of which went to Great Britain. The exportation of Bolivian bismuth and lead showed a very considerable increase from year to year from 1914-17. Of the total exportation of 82,459 tons of fine silver ex ported from Bolivia in 1915, the United States took 47,220 tons and Great Britain 35,182 tons. In the 7 years 1910-17 the output of silver in Bolivia declined 75 per cent. A very consid erable decline also took place in exports. Zinc reached its highest output in 1910, when 11,897 metric tons were exported. In 1915 lead exports amounted to only 104 tons. Yet the country is specially rich in zinc de posits. Almost all the minerals exported from Bolivia contain small quantities of gold, yet only 393 pounds of gold were exported from the country in 1915. An export• duty of $20 a kilo tends to keep the gold at home.