New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-10
THE PLIGHT or PORTUGAL.

Tho no,Itics and finances Of Portugal are not
rsuoI,v NJ much interest to this country, or III
decd IN INV aliens save her creditors. Al the
nresent time however. the state OF hcr treasury
commands attention because Of the changes 10
he wrought in II by the impending readj"s'meht
of affairs at Delagoa Bay. On the one hahd'
Portugal seems sure 10 be mulcted in the sum
Of NJ least several million dollars by way or IN
demnIty to the McMurdO claimants. On the
other hand. she may be large gamer In cash
bv the sale or lease OF Delagoa Bay to Great
Britain Either OF those operations would be OF
oxcent,onal import to the Lisbon exchcquer.
For. to speak plainly, Portuguese finances are
and have long been in a bad way, and there Is
little prospect Of their improving through any
internal agency. The little kingdom has long
been n borrower, and has come pcrilousiy near
mourning the rcproach of reputation. III iac''
she has repudacd large share of her interest
ohlipotions by arbitrarily scaling down the rate
of interest to about one-thirj Of what was stlpu-
lated so that her per cent bonds are hc'u''i!
paving only about per cent. In that way she
has dealt with the great bulk OF her deD'. Upon
some S45 100000 she pays AZ per cent. Fracti-
cally all the rest, more than S23i,VOo,ooo' Is Ill
the 3 per cents. scaled down to per cent. LIT
tie wonder that the high-water marx OF such Sc
curities on the Bourse was only $50, ana tllat
few months ago they were as low as lo''. Al
present they are close to %, the only expiana-
ton of their rise being the expectation OF re-
plenishment of the treasury through bargain
over Deagoa Bay
Since Portugal has not been SUBJECTED 10 the
expenses Of war, we can charge respohspii'!
for her impecuniosty only upon bad manage
ment at Lisbon. and the charge seems TO be SUD
stantiatpd by the record Between lS62 ana
1854 her Government nomnay borrowed ana
incurred obligations for nearly S2oO,Ooo,0Oo. Or
that sum she actually received less than
SOB. 900 600 For the discrepancy bad manage
mpnt or downright dishonesty must be held ac-
countable Upon the $3.50, 100000 she agreed 10
pay per cent interest, but upon the SlO3.oo,o~
she found herself paying about per cent until,
i'm 1892 she arbitrarily scaled down the hoihihai
rate 10 per cent and the actual rate TO less thah
g. The argument Is of course, that AT the
scalcd-d0wn rate she is paying almost rs much
az she promised on what she actually received.
Tut that is not convincing from Il moral polnt OF
view If she did not get all she borrowed that
was her own fault and does not in the least re-
lease her from her obligations.
How little hope of Improvement from within
there is may be seen from me annual DudgelS.
For years there has been n chronic deficit In
1899 II was more than S1S0O0OOO. In 1884 II
reached the lOw-water mark Of only S33I,ooD.
Last year it rose TO over S7,5OO,OOO. For this
year and next year small SURPRISES are figured
out but there Is no reason to expect the eSti-
mates will be realized. On the contrary. deficits
of several millions are to be expected. In such
circumstances payment of the McMurdo claim
will be impossible without n foreign loan, and
foreign loan will he impossible without better
security than paper. Great Britain VIII supply
the cash readily enough, but she will want in
return permanent lease or actual cession OF
Lourenzo Marquee and Dclagoa Bay. And it
will be for the interest of commerce and clvill-
Zation for her TO have II.