Arizona republican., 1898-04-04
SPANISH FINANCES.

1 Seldom, If ever, mas any nation faced the possibilities of war with a poorer financial equipment than Spain has at the present day. It has been many a year, indeed, since the condi- tion of Spanish finances could be de- scribed as anything but bad. In the last few years, however, things have rapidly gone from bad to worse until today the financial outlook for the Spanish people is about the most hope less that any nation has to confront. It has been made so mainly by the fu- tile effort to recover an unquestioned control of Cuba. At the beginning of the Cuban rebellion the Cuban debt, easily met by the Cuban custom houses, involved an annual interest charge of nine million dollars in gold and about million for sinking fund.- In the endeavor to suppress the re- bellion the Cuban debt has now been increased to the enormous sum of $289, ,000, ,000, the Spanish customs rev. enue has been mortgaged to secure a loan of s160,000,000, obtained through a bond issue, and the government is s70 ,OOO 900 in arrears in it's payments. 1 What is to be done to take care of this indebtedness is a question that
 would puzzle much more resourceful 1 f1nanciers than Spain now possesses. On the most favorable estimate the amount required to meet the annual 1 charges alone of the Cuban debt is SAP 100000. This, of course, is sum I entirely beyond the taxable capacity of the impoverished Cuban people It may also be added that it is equally beyond the resources of Spain. At the | present time, making use of every available form of taxation and strain i ing each to the utmost, the Spanish tax gatherers manage to collect $160,000,- l 900 a year. It Is absolutely impossi- ble that they should collect s42, ,OOO in addition, or even the s32,0O0,O which represents the increase from war expenses. If war with the United States is undertaken, therefore, it means nothing less than absolute financial ruin for the Spanish people, | to say nothing of the practical cer- tainty that the result of such a war would be the loss of everything that Spain Is now desirous of retaining.
 In this connection it may be inter esting to note the latest figures re- garding the Spanish debt, as published | recently in the Philadelphia Record from official sources" The figures given are for the first of the current year, and they do not include such floating debts as arose from arrear- ages or postponed payments of current expenses for which no vouchers were | in circulation, of which debts alone i Gen. B1anco some time ago said there were $S0,O00,000 in Cuba The total
 outside of these was given at the be-
 ginning of the year at s1, 1,7O9, ,303, ,5S2, which is $354 1881, ,122 more than in 1895
 just before the Cuban rebellion broke
 out. The annual charges for interest
 administration and redemption are, by { themselves, s105, ,637 ,031. Nor is this i the worst of it. For twenty years, "
 as the London Economist recently
 pointed out, Spain has not been able i to meet the expenses of the kingdom
 itself, and the deficits have ranged
 from s5,000,0OO to s25,O0O,OOO a year. Of course these deficits greatly in
 creased with the Philippine and Cubar rebellions.
 What is the chance for more bor-
 rowing? Evidently not good Aside from the tobacco and quicksilver mo-
 nopolies, Spain has nothing to pledge
 for interest on loans except the rev.
 enue from customs duties And these
 are of diminishing value. For the ter
 years preceding the outbreak of the Cuban revolt these duties, varying very
 little, formed about one-eighth of the
 kingdoms total revenue. Since ther
 they have seriously declined. In 1S9I
 they were s4,000,000 less than in 1S96
 and if things go on this year as in
 the last two the customs receipts viii
 be at least s5,000,C0O smaller still
 That, it would seem, must put an end
 to Spanish credit in the foreign mar
 ket based on such securities Indeed even before the recent decreases in revenue, the minister of finance esti-
 mated that, beyond the amount
 pledged for interest on the external | debt and on customs bonds, only S6.-