The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-15
PANAMA.
Commerce and Population of tn,
 Country.


 The commerce of Panama amounts h aho,,, SS,OOOoo0 per annunl. it's population to about SoOo0o and its area to 3I,S7t squarO milaa or nearly equal to that of the State of Iu- diana. These figures are supplied by the De- partment of Commerce and Labor through isa bureau Of statistics. and are the latest avail enie data on commerce. population and area Those of commerce arc from the reports of
 the United states consuis at Panama and Co., l Ion. 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 geographical authorities and | are those of the area of the ''Department of
 Panama of the Colombin republic. The prin- cipal ports are Panama. on the Pacific coast, and Colon. oR the Atlantic side. and these ports are visited &nnually by more than one thou
 sand vessels, which land over one million tons of merchandise and nearly one hundred thou
 sand passengers. chiefly for transfer over the Panama Railway forty seven miles in length connecting the Pacific port of Panama with the Atlantic port of Colon.
 Colon, or Aspinwall, as it is sometimes called. mas population of about 5000 persons. The l City of Panama has Q population of about
 2S.ooo. It was founded in I5io. burned in
 much more recent date, having been founded in 1855.
 The population. which. as already indicated,
 amounts in number to about 800. 900. is com
 posed of various elements-spanish. Indian, negro. and limited number of persons from
 the European countries and the United States, especially those engaged in commerce and transportation and the operation of the Pan-
 anna Railway. A considerable number of the population is composed of persons brouRht tc
 the Isthmus laboreFs for the construotion of the canal. and of their descendants Since
 the abolition of slavery in Jamaica a consid- erable number of blacks and mulattoes have settled on the Isthmus as small dealers and Nft1 Al side they are said to be in the majority, and as result the English language is much In use, especially on the Atlantic side. Some of the native population have retained their cus- toms. speech. and physical type, especially those in the western part Of the province. and claim to be descendants of the natives found in that section by the spaniards when they
 discovered and conquered the country. Of the commerce of Panama, the United States supplies . larger share than any other country. The importations at the port of Co.,
 Ion during the fiscal year ended June SO
 1908. as shown by the report of the United
 S6i4. i7o was from the United States, eIIe,.
 os6 from France, SlI8,32a from England
 S76.3S6 from Germany. The figures of the hs-
 cal year 1908 show 6 considerable increase
 from those of le02 in which thS value of the
 imports at Colon were S776345 Of the
 S6l4, l7o imports from the United States at
 Colon in 1908. S2oo.744 was dry goods,
 SIes. 333 provisions, S5e. e9o coal. 83s. 642
 iuihDeEI 05E,SOU keroSenet SSU. NUO liquors,
 and S3 ,e4o hardware. The value of the im-
 portations from the United States in 1903
 exceeded those of 1902 by about SIeO. ooo
 The exports to the United States from Colon
 in 1908 amounted to sI7S.3To. of which S75,-
 432 was bananas. s54. eeo cocoanuts. SI2,-
 472 turtle shells. Ss. 400 ivory nuts, S6.4eo
 hides and S5.s24 coffee.
 From the port of Panama the exports Co
 the United States in the fiscal year 1908 amounted to SI93. 342. of which S56. 767 was hides S4o, 974 india rubber, S27, ,805 eocoboIo nuts, SI6599 ivory nuts, Sl3.372 deerskins, and S6 sos coffee. The consul at Panama states that the imported articles come mostly from England. Germany. France, Italy and the United States, but gives no statistics of the imports.
 Panama is connected with San Francisco by | a weekly steamer schedule operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and with | Valparaiso by a weekly steamer schedule op- | erated by the Pacific Steam Navigation Com pany and South American Steamship Com pany Two passenger and two freight trains leave Panama daily for Colon and Colon daily for Panama The time for passenger trains over the 47 miles of railway is three hours
 From Panama there Is one cable line north to American ports. and one to the south Int actual time consumed in communicating with the United States and receiving an answer | Is stated by the consul to be usually about Tour | hours There Is also cable lines from Colon tc I the Onited States and Europe.
 The money of the country Is silver. the rate | of exchange having averaged during the past | year about 50 per cent.