The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-11-27
The New Repabiic.

Now ahai Panama has assumed the
re~sponssbiliiics eli self government al
has secsme important by reason OF the
p~e.esations which viii result in the
causixudioa Cd the isthmian canal the
pubic Is interested in knowing m
thing ii Che new country. The area OF
Panama is 31,5Yi square miles, approx
imsteN CHAT Of The state OF Indiana
Its sepuistion Is about 250,ooo. Inc
M OF Pansm aggregates $3,O0O,-
ooo ser annum, and the United States
has q .arper share in it than any other
coaatry.
The poluiaaon Us composed of various
eI~euests- Spanish. Indian, negro, and a
limited number of persons from the Eu-
ropssn countries and The United States,
conspicuous among whom are those en-
gsged in and transportation
ana III the operation of the Panama
rssway. A considerable number of the
population is composed CT persons
broueAt 20 the istbmus as iaborers Tor
the construction of the canal, and OF
their descendants. Since the abolition
of slavery in samaica many blacks and
uxIsttses nave SETTLED On the isthmus
az sAsail dealers and farmers, and IN
some villages en- the Atlantic side they
are s.ia to be in the majority. As a
ressIt The English language is nuch in
use, especially On the Atlantic side.
Senae sf the native population have re-
tsi,s.a ther CUSTOMS, speech and physic-
al type, notably these in the western
part Of the province, who claim to be
descendants of the natives found in that
regisa by the Spaaiaras when they dis
covered and conquered the country.
The ~importatisns at the port of Colon
for The Gscd year ended June 30, 1908,
40 ssswn 10y Se report of the United
States consul, aMsunted to $952,GS4, OF
yaich S6l4,lT9 were from the United
States. Slls.sS6 from France, $llS,32z
from England. S76,3S6 from Germany
Of the S6i4,i7s imports from the United
States at Colon, $29o,744 represented
the ssiue of dry goods, $lS9,333 provis
ions. s59,S9s coal, $ss,642 lumber, $32,
900 kerosene, $3e,408 liquors, and $3l,
$40 hardware. The value of the impor
tatisns from the United States in 100
exceeded those OF 1902 by about $l60,
Oos tile exports to the United State
frsu. Colon in 1898 amounted to $l73,
$40. d which ST., 4Ss was bananas, $54,
$50 ~rscsaauts, $le,472 turtle shells, So.
400 iysry nuts, S6.46o hides. and 1892
csaec
tao. the port Of Panama the export
TO t,sc United States ia the fiscal yea
1898 amounted to $i93,342, Of whic
s56,Yb7 represented the value Of hide
nuts. $l6.59s ivory nuts, $l3,372 dee
skins. and Sa,90S coffee. The consul a
Psusma states that the imported art
clea come mostly from England, Gel
Nanny, France, Italy and the Unite
States, hut giyes no statistics Of the in
ports.
Panama is connected with San Frar
cisco ty a weekly steamer scheduI
operated by the Panama Mail Steamshi
compsny and with Valparaiso by a weel
ly steamer schedule operated by the Ps
ciGic Steam Navigation company. Tw
passenger and two freight trains iea'
Panama daily for Colon and two freigl
trains leave Colon daily for Panam
The time for passenger trains over tt
forty seven miles of railway is thrt
hours. From Panama there is one cab
line north to American ports and one
the south. The time consumed in con
municating with the United States al
receiving an answer is stated by IL
consul to be usually about four hour
There are cable lines from Colon to Il
United States and Europe. The mons
of the country is silver.
More than one thousand vessels Wis
the Two ports of the state of Panan
every year, landing annually nearly l0'
600 passengers, chiefly for transfer ov
the Panama railway. which is fort
seven miles in length.