Arizona republican., 1903-11-16
PANAMA TRADE
Commerce of the ISthmus
 Three Million Annually
OUR PRESENT SHARE OFiT
Population, Character and Other Facts Concerning the New Republic and Just Now the Most Talked of Section of the Globe.

Washington. Nov. 15.-The commerce Of Panama amounts to about $3,OO0,00O per annum. it's population to about 36O, eco, and it's area to 31,5I1 square miles, CT nearly equal to that of the state CT Indiana. The. figures of commerce are ! from the reports of the United States consuis at Panama and Colon, Whicn | have just been received. and not get I published; those of population are based upon the latest official estimate, i which shows the population in 1881. and was based upon the census of 1871; IWhile the figures of area are from i accepted geographical authorities and fare those Cf the area of the Depart | nent of Panama" of the Colombian | Irepublc. The principal ports are Pan ! lama. Cn the Pacidc coast and Colon, | on the Atlantic side, and these ports ! are visited annually by more than one thousand vessels, which land ever i ,GO0 G0O tons of merchandise and near i ly 100000 passengers, chiefly for trans l fer over the Panama railway, forty seven miles in length. connecting the | Pacific port of Panama with the At lantic port of Colon.
 i Colon. CT Aspinwall, as it is some ! times called has a population Of about | 9 3,GC0 persons. The city of Panama has l a population Of about 25, eco. It was ] founded Fl 1jlg, burned in 1871. and re- built in 1873. while Colcn is of much 1 mere recent date, having been founded 1 in 1855.
 The population, which, as already in- Gicated, amounts in number to about 3CC0C0 is composed of various ele- ments-Spanish, Indian, negro and a 1 limited number Of persons from the 1 European countries and the United States, especially these engaged in ! commerce and transportation and the 1 operation Cf the Panama railway. A considerable number of the popula- 1 is composed of persons brought to the l isthmus as laborers for the coustruc- ton of the canal. and Of their descend ants. Since the abolition of slavery in
 Jamaica considerable number Of blacks and mulattoes have settled on the isthmus as small dealers and farmers. and in some villages on the Atlantic side they are said to be in the majority, and as q result the English | language is much in use. especially on the Atlantic side. Some of the na- llNt llbIulill nave itNullltu liltlI GUS toms. speech and physical type, espe- cially those in the western part of the province. and claim to be descendants he Spaniards when they discovered and conquered the country.
 Of the commerce of Panama the United States supplies a larger share 1 than any other country. The impor- tatiCls at the port of Colon during the fiscal year ended June 80, 1908. as shown by the report of the United States consul. amounted to $952, 6S4, of which $Gl4, 179 was from the United States, $1i9,GSG frCm France, $llS,322 from England, SIG, ,2S6 from Germany. The figures of the fiscal year 1903 show considerable increase from those of 1862, in which the value of the i'm ports at Colon were $776,345. Of the $G14,17S imports from the United States at Colon in 1903, $2O0, "A WIS dry goods, $1S9, ,333 provisions. S59 800 coal $SS 642
 lumber. $32900 kerosene, $30, 400 liquors and S31,940 hardware. The value of
 the importations from the United States in 1903 exceeded those of 1902
 by about S16O.O00. The exports to the
 United States from Colon in 1903
 amounted to $173,37ON of which $75, ,432
 was bananas, $54, 96J cocoanuts, $12.-
 472 turtle shells. $9, 400 ivory nuts, $6 46O
 hides and $5,924 coffee.
 From the port of Panama the ex-
 ports to the United States in the fiscal
 year 1863 amounted to S193.342. of which
 $5G,7G7 was hides, $49,974 india rubber.
 S27 S05 cocCbolo nuts, $16, ,59S ivory nuts,
 $13312 deerskins and $6,9JS ecffee, The
 consul at Panama states that the inn
 ported articles come mostly from Eng
 land, Germany. France, Italy and the
 United States. but gives no statistics
 of the imports.
 Panama is connected with San Fran
 cisco by a weekly steamer schedule op-
 erated by the Pacific Mail Steamship
 company and with Valparaiso by
 weekly steamer schedule operated by
 the Pacific Steam Navigation company
 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 ever the forty
 seven miles cf railway is three hours.
 From Panama there is one cable line
 north to American ports, and enc to
 the south. The actual time consumed
 in communicating with the United
 States and receiving 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.
 Tho money of the country is silver,
 the rate of exchange having aVera ged during the past year about lao Der cent.