Manufactures and Mining.— According to government statistics Colombia in 1916 had 121 manufacturing plants, in which was invested a total capital of $12,406,000. The list prepared by the government is not complete, as several well-known factories are not represented. There are two plants (sugar and oil) of over $1,000, 000 capital. Three textile factories and one electric plant have capitalizations of over $500, 000 each, and 10 enterprises (4 textile mills, 2 match factories, 1 flour mill, 1 cement plant, 1. chocolate factory and 1 tanning extract plant) are capitalized between $200,000 and $500,000 each. Twelve factories have capitalization be tween $100,000 and $200,000; 15 between $50, 000 and $100,000; 50 between $10,000 and $50, 000; and 28 less than $10,000. The principal manufacturing centres are Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla and Cartagena. Bogota has 40 plants with a combined capital of $3,013,000; Medellin has 30 with a capital of $2,380,600; Barranquilla, 18 with $1,370,000 capital ; and Car tagena, 12 with a total capital of $2,993,000. In the Cartagena factories are included a sugar mill at Sincerin, some 20 miles distant, which is capitalized at $2,000,000. With the exception of sugar, the exports of which in 1915 amounted to $98,265, practically none of the products of these manufacturing industries is exported In fact their output, except in a few articles, is not sufficient to meet the domestic demand. For instance, with 7 large and 14 small textile mills in the country, the imports of drills, sheetings and print goods amounted to $3,343,383 in 1915.
The manufacture of Panama hats is an al most entirely decentralized industry, which oc cupies many individuals and families in the small communities of the interior. The 1915 production of hats was valued at about $1,000, 000, exports having amounted to $966,846. The industry suffered greatly in the early part of 1915 through the curtailment of the purchasing power of the buyers and the decreased demand from the principal market, the United States. Declared exports of Panama hats at American consulates amounted to $566,683 as against $1,080,508 for 1914, a decrease of $513,825, or almost 50 per cent. The wages paid male laborers in Colombian factories are $0.50 to $1 per day, the average being about $0.60. Women receive $0.25 to $0.35 daily. In the coast towns most factories work only eight hours, but in the interior 10 hours is the rule. Shipbuilding is an important industry in Cartagena in normal years, but in 1915 there was a noticeable de crease in the number of vessels constructed. TLe ships built here are for the coastwise trade and consist of small skiffs and schooners, some times equipped with motor power engines which are generally imported from the United States.
Mineral Resources.— Gold which has been and continues to be the most important mineral product of Colombia is found both in lodes in the mountains and as grains and dust in the alluvial deposits of the river valleys. The principal gold area is between the Magdalena and the Pacific Coast, and south of the point where the Cauca joins the Magdalena. The province of Antioquia is the most important area of production, which centres around Medellin. In 1912 the exports of gold were $6,634,914. The rapid growth of platinum pro duction since 1907, when only 245 troy ounces of the metal were exported, can be realized from the fact that in 1915 the shipments amounted to 11,046 troy ounces and were valued at $494,888. This entire amount came from the Choco and was panned out of the gravels of the small streams. The area of the platinum pro ducing zone is small, beginning near the mouth of the Condoto River and extending a short way north of the rivers Nemo* Bebarama and Negua, a longitudinal distance of about 90 miles. The strip is not much more than 30 miles wide.
An American company was formed during the latter part of 1915 to exploit platinum-bearing lands and to dredge a section of the San Juan River. Silver is mined to a certain extent, the normal output fluctuating but running between $400,000 and $700,000 aiunially. Copper is pretty generally distributed, being found especially all along the mountains adjoining the Magdalena Valley, from the Ecuadorian boundary to the mountains of Santa Marta on the coast. Iron ore in large quantities occurs in various parts of the country but is especially important in Cundinamarca. Extensive coal deposits have been discovered and seem to be scattered over many parts of the country. The principal beds now worked are near Amaga in Antioquia. Coal mines do not come under the provisions of the Mining Code in regard to filing of claims. The government controls the coal in its unoccupied lands, and it may be worked only by contract with the government, but owners of lands con taining coal may work their mines independ ently. Oil has been found in various parts of the country, especially around Cartagena and Barranquilla. Sulphur, salt, emeralds, lime, nitre, chalk, marble, asphalttun, alum, magnesia, amethysts, lead, tin, manganese, mercury and cinnabar are found in various parts of the country.
Banking and Finance.— The principal banks of the capital city are the Banco de Bo gota, Banco de Colombia, Banco del Co mercio, Banco Central and C. Schloss y Cia.; those of Cartagena are the Banco de Bolivar, Banco de Cartagena, Banco Industrial and Pombo Hermanos;. those of Barrunquilla are the Banco Comercial de Barranquilla and Al zamora, Palacio y Cia.; those of Medellin are the Banco Aleman-Antioquefio and Restrepos y Cia. The circulating medium was only paper, having approximately the value of one cent American gold per peso in 1914. It is both gold and paper. The theoretical unit was the peso of 1.5976 grammes of gold .91666 fine, di vided into 100 centavos; and a law was passed designed to fix its value at one-fifth of a pound sterling, which would be the actual value of such a coin. For official payments and ju
dicial liquidations the legally established value of the paper currency at the time was given in relation to the pound sterling and in the pro portion of as the equivalent of 500 paper pesos. Mr. Joseph T. Cosby wrote in 1915 as follows: °Since then the actual par of exchange is 10,000 per cent, when quotations vary from this par they are considered as at either a dis count or a premium, as the case may be. For instance, if the commercial quotation for de mand draft on London is expressed as 10,500 per cent, this would represent a premium over par of 5 per cent, since would cost 525 pesos instead of 500 pesos, the par at 10,000 per cent." American and English gold coin circu lates freely in Colombia. The shipments of Co lombia's export products are usually financed through the medium of credits, and these credits were, to a large extent, canceled soon after the war in Europe began, exchange rates advancing to 1114 per cent above normal. At that rate, $1CO, currency of the United States, cost 11,150 Colombian paper pesos. The method of quoting exchange rates in Colombia is as follows: Madrid, 500 pesetas, 9,550 per cent= 9,550 pesos paper; New York, 100 dol tars, 10,250 per cent =10,250 pesos paper; Paris, 500 francs, 9,950 per cent = 9,950 pesos paper; Berlin, 400 marks, 9,850 per cent —9,850 pesos paper; London, #20, 10,000 per cent =10,000 pesos paper. A coinage was by the President in the Diario 0 ficsal of 19 Dec. 1916. Under this law the government will coin gold, silver and nickel pieces, and will recoil., old and foreign pieces, standardizing in value the money in use throughout the country. The government is authorized (1917) to coin gold pieces of established weight and fineness in the mints of Bogota and Medellin, when gold is needed in circulation, and when individuals present gold for coinage, the work is to be done at cost price; to complete the mint at Bogota, and to arrange with the departmental government of Antioquia for the purchase or lease of the mint at Medellin to be enlarged and put into shape to coin an adequate amount of money. An appropriation of $50,000 annually for coinage purposes is to be included in the next budget and in succeeding budgets until the amount of $200,000 is reached. The funds of the conver sion board may be used in exchange for na tional silver pieces coined before 1911 and foreign silver coins now in circulation in Co lombia. The Colombian government recently authorized the exchange of gold notes for the old paper money in circulation. The Diario 0 ficsal announced that the exchange would be made in Bogota by the conversion board, through the exchange office, during the period from 1 March to 19 Dec. 1917. Three com prehensive pamphlets dealing with the financial and economic situation of Colombia, with her public works, etc., were submitted by the Co lombian delegates to the First Pan American Financial Conference and are embodied in the report of proceedings (Washington 1915). At tention was invited especially "to the geographi cal location of the Republic of Colombia, its relation to the Panama Canal and the proximity of the principal Colombian ports to both en trances of the canal. This being visualized, it is at once self-evident that the hostage to the future given by the United States by the con struction of the canal makes it imperative in the interests both of the United States and of Colombia that the two countries should estab lish relations of the greatest intimacy.° The Colombian committee also expressed a belief that it is "in the interest of all the American republics, whose future commerce will pass through the Panama Canal, and especially es sential to the United States, that adequate harbor accommodations and facilities for trans shipment and storage should be installed at the Columbian ports of Santa Marta, Carta gena and Buenaventura. To assure the proper development of. these ports it is also felt that sanitation systems should be perfected.° In addition, the attention of the conference was called ato the possibilities of railway construc tions which would stimulate the development of the rich natural resources of the country, and thus build up a traffic which would find its way to the markets of the world through the ports mentioned.° The suggestion was offered that, if American capital should go to this country, which is larger than Germany and France together, or larger than all the coast States from Maine to Florida, including Ohio and West Virginia, it "could take advantage of the greatest and best classes of business and also obtain the contracts for the construction of the most indispensable public improvements of the country,° as the English did in Argentina from 1860 to 1880. Interesting statements made by the Colombian committee are the following: In the order of their importance, the workable mines are, first, those of gold, silver, iron, cop per, platinum and emeralds; second, petroleum (found in large fields both near the coast and in the interior) ; third, coal, which "is to be had in every part of the republic.° Platinum and emeralds are not found elsewhere in paying quantities except in' Russia. In eastern Colom bia there are immense plains well adapted to the cattle-raising industry, and communication with that region might be secured by means of a rail way along the Patia River, which has carved its way through the mountains, as we have said above, and empties into the Pacific Ocean, a two days' journey from the Panama Canal. No convincing evidence' is at hand as to the feasibility of this plan. Customs duties yield about 75 per cent of the total yearly revenues of'the government, and the export tax on the two or three Colombian products liable to duty is so small that it need not be taken into ac count.