Evening star., 1903-11-13
TRADE WITH PANAMA
Our Exports to Colon Over
100000 Annually.
B AN NANAS IMPORTED
POPULATION OF THE NEW REPUBs
Lie ABOUT SOC, 700.
The Two Principal Ports Visited Every
Year by More Than 1 900 Vessels
Gables and Steamer Lines.
BANANAS IMPORTED

The commerce of Panama amounts to
about $3oO0!O00 per annum, it's population
to about 100000. and its area to 31,57l
| square miles. or nearly equal to that OF
the state of Indiana These figures are
supplied by the Department of Commerce
and Labor through its bureau of statistics.
and are the latest available data on COM
merce. population and area. Those of
commerce are from the reports of the
United States consuls at Panama and
Colon. which have just been received and
not yet published; those of population are
based upon the latest Official estimate,
which shows the population In 1881. and
was based upon the census of 1871; while
the figures Of area are from accepted geo.
graphical authorities. and are those of the
area Of the department of Panama" OF
the Colombian republic.
The Principal Ports.
|. The principal ports are Panama, on the
Pacific coast, and Colon, on the Atlantic
side, and these ports are visited annually
by more than one thousand vessels. which
land over one million tons OF merchandise
and nearly 100000 passengers, chiefly for
transfer over the Panama railway, forty
seven miles in length. connecting the Pa
cific port of Panama with the Atlantic port
of Colon.
Colon or Asplnwall. as 1T is sometimes
called. has population of about 5000 per-
sons The city of Panama has a popula-
ton of about 25O00 1t was founded in
1919. burned In 1871 and rebuilt in 1873,
while Colon is of much more recent date,
having been founded in 1855.
The Population.
The population. which. as already indicat-
ed, amounts in number to about 100000 is
composed of various elements-Spanish,
Indian, negro and a limited number OF per-
sons from the European countries and the
United States, especially those engaged in
commerce and transportation and the op-
er ion of the Panama railway A consid-
era.'a number of the population Is composed
of Pei ons brought to the iSthmus as labor
ers for the construction of the canal. and
of their descendants Since the abolition
of slavery in Jamaica a considerable num-
ber of blacks and mulattoes have settled on
the isthmus as small dealers and farmers.
and in some villages the Atlantic side
they are said to be in the majority. and
a result the English language is much in
use, especially on the Atlantic side Some
of the native population have retained their
customs, speech and physical type, espe-
cially those in the western part of the prov
ince, and claim to be descendants of the
natives found in that section by the Span
iards when they discovered and conquered
the country.
The Commerce.
OF the commerce OF Panama the United
States supplies larger share than any
other country. The importations at, the
port of Colon during the fiscal year ended
June 80, 1903. as shown by the report of the
United States consul, amounted to $952, 6S4
of which S614,1I9 was from the United
States, S119,0s6 from France. s11S.322 from
England, S16,3S6 from Germany. The fig
ures of the fiscal year 1903 show a con-
siderable increase from those of 1902. in
which the value of the imports at Colon
were s776,345. OF the S614.179 imports from
the United States at Colon in 1903. SCOTIA
was dry goods. $1S9.333 provisions. S59.S)O
coal, S3S642 lumber. So, 800 kerosene, $50 400
liquors, and S31 $40 hardware The value of
the importations from the United States In
1903 exceeded those of 1902 by about Sl6O-
600.
The exports to the United States from
Colon in 1903 amounted to S173.370. OF which
S75, 432 was bananas, S54,9fO cocoanuts. S12,-
472 turtle shells, $9400 ivory nuts, 6,iD
hides and s5,924 coffee.
From the port of Panama the exports to
the United States in the fiscal year 1903
amounted to 1893 .342. of which 500 767 was
hides, s49.974 india rubber. s27. .s)5 cocobolo
nuts, S16,59S ivory nuts, S13.312 deer skins
and s6.90S coffee. The consul at Panama
states that the imported articles come most
ly from England. Germany, France, Italy
and the United States, but gives no statls-
tics of the imports.
Transportation Facilities.
Panama is connected with San Fransicco
by a weekly steamer schedule operated by
the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and
with Valparaiso by a weekly steamer sched-
ule operated by the Pacific Steam Naviga-
ton Company and South American Steam
ship Company. Two passenger and two
freight trains leave Panama daily for Colon
and Colon daily for Panama. The time for
passenger trains over the forty-seven miles
of railway is three hours.
From Panama there is one cable line
north to American ports, and one to the
south. The actual time consumed In COM
municating with the United States and re-
Giving an answer is stated by the consul to
be usually about four hours There are
also cable lines from Colon to the United
States and Europe.
The money of the country is silver. the
rate of exchange having averaged during
the past year about $50 per cent.