Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-26

in the last two years in the mining indus
try, and the amount of minerals exported
has greatly increased.
THE number of soldiers who have return
ed from foreign service and the reduced
number of men now required for the army
! will insure an increased number of labor
ers. The anxiety to open up new enter
prises for the Improvement of the country
will, it is hoped, cause the Spanish govern
nent to encourage in every way the invest
ment of foreign capital in Spain. Under
these circumstances the great natural min
eral wealth of Spain should be taken into
serious consideration by those mining COM
panies that have not at present interests
in this country.
of tobacco in Spain is held by the Bank of
Spain in the form of a monopoly granted
under royal decree of June 10. 1887 and ex
tended for a further twenty-five years un-
der the law of August 80, 1896
The cultivation of tobacco in Spain is
forbidden by law, although judging from
the small quantities grown in many gar
denS ii appears that it might be made an
important industry. According to the reg
ulatiOns the cultivation of tobacco is pro-
hibited both in Spain and the Balearic ISL
ands. The tobacco monopoly is required to
make experiments in the cultivation dur
ing three years in different parts of Spain.
These experiments are being carried out,
but it appears that whatever the result it
is mos, improbable that the cultivation OF
tobacco will be allowed during the lease of
the present monopoly
Certain features of the home industries,
however. suffered, especially those having
close relations with the colonial trade. The
imports of raw cotton fell from So, T03, 052
pesetas in 1897 to 13,S07 9S9 in 1898, the
decrease being due to a crisis in the Span
ish cotton factories which had supplied so
large q share of their production to the
colonies. The export of cotton goods from
Spain fell more than 23.000.00o pesetas. The
loss in this market for raw cotton, of course,
fell upon the United States which supplies
practically all of the cotton used by Spain.
That other features of the import trade
were, however, affected is shown by the
fact that the imports of iron and steel fell
from "a e51, CSC pesetas in 1897 to 16, $50. 24S
in 1898; drugs and chemicals. from CO. 49,,
GIG pesetas in 1897 to 1928, 52S in 1898:
silks, from 19.055. 231 pesetas to IA, 469, 342
in the same period: wool and woolens from
y 142 AS pesetas TO u, l24 l26; lumber. from
~, 342 100 pcsetas to "a o+5.e02: books. maps,
&c from 9, 0S0.97S to 1852, 525 pesetas: ami
mails and animal products, from 81, 603, SS5
pesetas to SO, 126, 500: carriages, vessels
and machinery. from 1871 ,624 pesetas TO
20, 55l .263; elementary substances. includ-
wines &C., from las, 235,9s pesetas to
9s. 79S 401, and wheat alone, from 34.015, 600
pesetas to 1896, 563. The Importation of
sugar from Cuba was in 1896 6.5S9,2S3 pe-
setas; in 1897. 232. T42, and in 1898. S31. 25s.
From Porto Rico the total was S.346. S2s pc
in 1898: from the Philippines, 1,62S, 100 pese
tas N 1896, 1,293,314 in 1897 and 135, 1G6 in
1S9S
The report from which the above figures
were taken adds: There has been a rapid
increase in the number and capacity of
sugar factories in Spain, and IL is probable
that the home industries win soon be able
to meet the demand in the Spanish market
and replace the colonial sugar. I'M
ports OF coffee also show rapid decline"