In 1909 there were 36,199 m. of telegraph reported in Brazil which had increased to 41,799 m. in 1917, of which 24,640 m. belonged to the Government. In the latter year 680 telegraph offices were reported, and 33 radio stations. The station at Para (Belem) has a range of 4,000 m., and is thus capable of direct communication with the United States. The station at Cape Santa Marta, with the same range, connects with Cape Town in South Africa. In 1911 a new trans-Atlantic cable was completed between Monrovia (Liberia) and Pernambuco, and in 1919 an American-controlled connexion established with the United States, via Argentina and the W. coast. Brazil has now three cable lines connecting with Europe, two with North America, and two with the River Plate. The number of post-offices in the republic in 1918 was3,6n. Brazil from Jan. I 1914 adopted standard time and the longitude of Greenwich.
Finance. The following official figures are reported for 1919: National debt, Foreign . . . 116,281,960 pounds sterling. National debt, Internal . . 1,042,000,000 milreis paper. 1
Currency in circulation . . . 1,709,113,473 milreis paper. Conversion fund .... 20,922,410 milreis gold.
Guarantee fund .... 48,391,020 milreis gold.
Unredeemed bills and notes, gold
and paper 14,632,500 milreis.
General taxes for 1920 . . . 119,452,949 milreis gold;
514,258,200 milreis paper.
Estimated expenditure . . . 72,372,326 milreis gold;
599.578,557 milreis paper.
Army and Navy. The army is organized on the basis of compul- sory military service between the ages of 21 and 44, under the terms of a law promulgated in Jan. 1908. The service required is two years with the colours, seven in the reserve, seven in the second line, and eight in the national guard. By a decree of Dec. 1917 the national guard is incorporated with the second line. The total strength of the active army in the autumn of 1918 was 54,000, but mobilization would yield about 120,000. There is also a gendarmerie of 26,000.
The Brazilian navy in 1920 comprised two Dreadnoughts, two coast defence ships, three protected cruisers, two river monitors, four river gunboafs, four small cruisers, four torpedo boats, ten destroyers, a mine ship, three submarines and a submarine salvage vessel. Five destroyers and three large submarines were under construction. The personnel comprised about 13,000 men.
Education. The latest figures available in April 1921 gave the number of primary schools in the republic at about 13,000, with an enrolment of over 700,000. Of these schools about half are supported by the state Governments, one-fourth are municipal, and the rest private institutions. Secondary and normal instruction is cared for by various institutes and private establishments, of which there are between three and four hundred attended by some 40,000 pupils. The republic also possesses 28 industrial schools, n agricultural and 9 commercial schools. To further industrial education the Federal Government may aid the state Governments, or municipal and private schools which meet its requirements. Twenty-five faculties confer technical and professional degrees and those in the Fed- eral capital have been recently organized as a university. A school of fine arts, a national institute of music, a military college, a naval academy and a preparatory school of tactics are maintained by the Government at Rio de Janeiro, and there are schools of art and music in a number of the states.
Political History. Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, leader of the Conservative party and former Minister of War, was elected President of the republic in March 1910, over Snr. Ruy Barbosa. The latter part of the year was marked by serious disturbances in Rio de Janeiro and in the north. At Manaos, capital of the state of Amazonas, the governor was forcibly removed by the Opposition, aided by Federal troops and by the flotilla on the river, but was reinstated by order of the President of the re- public. At Rio de Janeiro on the night of Nov. 22 the crews of two new Dreadnoughts, the " Minas Geraes " and the " Sao Paulo," mutinied in the harbour, killed several officers, and, training their guns on the city, sent a demand to the President for the abolition of corporal punishment, increased pay and shorter hours of labour. Four other ships joined the movement so that it included most of the Brazilian navy. As no response was received the city was bombarded next day, whereupon Congress granted the demands and passed an act of general amnesty. The mutineers meanwhile had put out to sea, but returned Nov. 27 and gave up the ships to the Government. On the night of Dec. 9, the marine corps stationed on Cobras Island in the harbour also mutinied. Their position was bombarded next day, the mutineers replying with shrapnel. After an action lasting ten hours, the rebels surrendered, having lost over 200 killed and
1 The paper milreis during 1920-1 varied between sd. and i6d. or $ .10 and $ .32. The gold milreis is equivalent to 2s-3d. or $ .546.
wounded. The revolt was followed by reforms in naval ad- ministration, and by the dismissal of about 1,000 men. The Government had difficulty in 1912 in maintaining tranquillity, election disturbances occurring in the state of Bahla in Jan. which required the calling out of Federal troops, and in the autumn disorders threatened in the states of Parana in the south and Para in the north.
The death in 1912 of Baron Rio Branco, Brazil's most dis- tinguished Minister for Foreign Affairs, withdrew an influential figure from South American politics. Through his efforts boundary disputes with several of Brazil's neighbours had been amicably adjusted and the territories of the republic considerably increased. He was succeeded as Foreign Minister by Dr. Lauro MUller. In 1913 a protocol was signed with Peru arranging for a commission to survey the frontier in accordance with the Treaty of Demarcation of Sept. 8 1909. On May 9 1913 the plenipo- tentiaries of Brazil and Uruguay agreed to a convention establish- ing a new frontier line between the two republics on the river San Miguel, and recognizing Brazil's navigation rights on that stream.
A perennial difficulty was that of national finance. In spite of annual messages of the President to Congress urging economy and the reestablishment of a financial equilibrium, public ex- penditures increased in alarming proportion to receipts, re- sulting in heavy deficits. In 1913 the financial stringency was increased by a sharp decline in the price of rubber and coffee, and the result was an industrial and commercial crisis, intensified by the outbreak of the World War in 1914. A symptom of the finan- cial situation was the failure of three railways in the rubber district, with liabilities of 5,000,0x30, held mostly by French in- vestors. The war reacted seriously on most of the Hispanic- American countries, due to the fact that they had looked to Europe for their financing, and that the belligerent countries in- cluded those to which they had shipped a very large percentage of their raw products. In Brazil the reduction of exports and imports (the latter in the second half of 1914 were two-thirds less than in the corresponding period of 1913), and consequently of customs receipts, together with the closing of the European money market, came at a time when the Government was heavily obligated to local and foreign contractors. As a result the Government defaulted. In Oct. 1914 a funding scheme was announced by which interest on all foreign loans, excepting funding bonds of the 1903 loan, became payable in script for three years, and the redemption of nearly all securities was postponed for thirteen years.
The crisis was complicated by a rebellion in the state of Ceara in Feb. 1914, starting among the rubber collectors who could no longer obtain employment, and led by an ex-priest, Padre Cicero. It quickly reached such proportions that the Federal Government had to proclaim martial law and reinforce the Federal troops at Fortaleza, the state capital. The political opponents of the state president, Col. Rabello, apparently used the movement to get rid of him, and on the Federal Govern- ment's taking over the state administration the tension was somewhat eased. The rebels were disarmed and the region gradually quieted. Ominous signs of unrest at Rio de Janeiro at the time of the presidential election in March 1914 led to arrests and restrictions upon the press. As a result of the election, Dr. Wenceslao Braz, who had been vice-president under Marshal Fonseca, became head of the state.
Before the end of 1915 adjustments had been made to new conditions and the economic situation became more normal. New customers were found, especially in the United States, and the high prices prevailing throughout the world encouraged exportation. National expenditure was much reduced, the national revenue increased by over 6,000,000, and a small surplus appeared in the budget, a most unusual state of affairs for Brazil.
In the course of that year there were important developments in the relations of Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the three countries constituting what was already known as the A.B.C. Entente. Dr. Lauro MiiOer at the end of April paid official visits to the other two republics as well as to Uruguay, to bring about closer
