COLORADO, a Western State, admitted to the Union Aug. 1, 1876; area, 103,925 square miles. The population in 1880 was 194,327; in 1890 it was 412,198. Capital, Denver.

Government.-The following were the State officers during the year: Governor, Alva Adams, Democrat; Lieutenant Governor, Jared L. Brush, Republican; Secretary of State, Charles H. S. Whipple, Democrat; Treasurer, George W. Kephart, Republican; Auditor, John W. Lovell, Republican; Attorney-General, Byron L. Carr, Republican; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Grace E. Patton, Democrat; Adjutant General, Gen. Barnum; Regents of the University, David M. Richards, W. E. Anderson, Charles R. Dudley, Edwin J. Temple, Oscar J. Pfeiffer, and William J. Orange; State Engineer, John E. Field; Commissioner of Mines, Harry A. Lee; Register of Land Board, L. C. Paddock; Dairy Commissioner, H. B. Canon; Fish Commissioner, Joseph S. Swan; CoalMine Inspector, David Griffiths; Geologist, Thomas A. Rickard; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Campbell, Republican; Associate Justices, Luther M. Goddard and William H. Gabbert, Democrats; President Judge of the Court of Appeals, Charles I. Thompson; Associate Justices, Julius B. Bissell and Adair Wilson.

Finances. The estimated expenditures for the biennial period 1897-'98 amounted to $1,260,872.70, and the estimated general revenue fund income to $1,092,950. The total valuations of the counties, including railroad property, were $206,598,561 in 1896. The bonded debt was $770,500, and the floating indebtedness $2,387,009.

Education. The report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, published in January, shows that the State has a school population of 130,362, of whom 100,882 are enrolled in the public schools. There are 3,120 teachers, 500 school districts, and 1,690 school buildings, of which 338 are of sod, adobe, or log, 1,006 of frame, and 346 of brick or stone. The State funds apportioned to the schools in 1897 amounted to $89,664.67.

The State Normal School has 367 pupils. A new building for young women was dedicated, Jan. 11, at the Colorado College, Colorado Springs. An unusually large class was graduated in May at the State Agricultural College.

A "Texas-Colorado Chautauqua" was opened at Boulder, July 4. The grounds are 6,000 feet above sea level and just above the campus of the State University. An auditorium, with seats for 6,000 persons, has been built, and a large dining hall. Tents are provided for lodgings.

Charities and Corrections.-The average of prisoners in the Penitentiary is about 600, while about 100 are confined at the State Reformatory. The Industrial School for Girls has more than 50 inmates, and cost, for the year ending Nov. 30, 1897, $7,483.75. A riot took place in this institution in March, on the occasion of the installation of a new superintendent. Doors and windows were smashed, stair rails thrown down, and general havoc made of the fixtures and furniture. Ten of the girls were lodged in the city jail.

The Soldiers' Home has about 100 inmates, and the cost of the maintenance is about $30,000 annually.

Railroads. It is an evidence of prosperous conditions in the State that the earnings of the Rio Grande for the first six months of the year showed an increase of 15.87 per cent. over those of the corresponding part of 1897, while these were about as much in advance of those of 1896.

A traffic arrangement was made in January between the Denver and Rio Grande, the Rio Grande Western, the Oregon Short Line, the Oregon Rail

road and Navigation Company, and the Great Northern, designed to open up a channel heretofore closed between this part of the country and that touched by the Great Northern, and tending to bring a large share of through traffic over Colorado roads. Mining. Colorado took the lead among the States in the gold production in 1897, the output amounting, according to the report of the Director of the Mint, to $19,104,200; the report of the State Bureau of Mines makes it $19,579,636.83; but figures made up from smelter and mint statements raised the total to about $23,000,000. More than half of the output is from the Cripple Creek district, which produces more than $1,000,000 a month. Figures so far given for 1898 indicate a larger State output, estimated at $24,000,000. The

product of Cripple Creek runs from $1,134,800 in January to $1,302,047 in July. New mining camps are springing up in many parts of the State. That at Eldora, in Boulder County, is the opening up, practically, of the sulphide belt from Gilpin County. The town is only a few months old, but its population is 5,000, and it has several fine producing mines. In Clear Creek County many tunnels are being driven, which promise to increase production and lower cost. The Leadville district produces now almost as much gold as silver. Other promising localities are Hahn's Peak, Whisky Park, La Plata, and Unaweep. It was announced in December that a new town had sprung up five miles southwest of Cañon City, in consequence of the recent discovery of gold there. The new camp is named Dawson City, and more than 1,000 claims have been staked.

A cause of great increase in gold production in Colorado is the advance made in the treatment of low-grade ores, which formerly could not be treated because of a smelting charge of $12 to $14 a ton. By the improved methods of cyanide and chlorination these ores have been brought into successful and profitable treatment.

In silver, the amount in 1897 was $12,692,448; the estimate for 1898 is $14,250,000. The copper produced in 1897 was valued at $960,917.13, and the lead at $2,731,032.49. The estimates based on returns to December, 1898, show $1,200,000 as the probable production of copper in that year, and $3,000,000 as that of lead. The coal output in 1897 was valued at $6,000,000, the iron at $4,000,000, and petroleum $1,500,000.

Extensive veins of anthracite coal have been discovered about 90 miles from Denver, on the proposed extension of the Colorado and Northwestern Railroad.

The official report shows that during the year 1897 there were employed in the metalliferous mines of the State 29,215 men. The general average wage was $3 a day. Reports made by the miners' unions show a little better average. There has been a constant increase in the number of miners employed since 1897, but no decrease in wages. Business.-The number of incorporations recorded in the office of the Secretary of State for the year ending Nov. 30, 1896, was 1,132, the capital stock amounting to $385,061,840. The United States Investor" said in October: "There has been a large increase in the deposits in Denver banks during the past six months, due to improved commercial and industrial conditions, among them being the growth of mining enterprises and the development of dividend-paying gold mines, which have been operated by individuals and private companies. Another reason for increased deposits has been the return of confidence since the outcome of the war was evident, and its effect upon financial enterprise was determined. The deposits in the largest three banks now aggregate about $26.000,000, which is a very large sum for three Western banks. The very rapid strides making by the mining industries of Colorado are among the important sources of business of the State in general, while the advance of the cattle- and sheep-feeding business in that part of the State which can be reclaimed by irrigation has been a great source of income. The success in the growing of alfalfa on Colorado irrigated lands offers an unlimited field for the development of this industry."

A summary of real-estate transactions in Denver in 1897 shows that the total reduction of indebtedness was $737,710, and the increase in consideration of warranty deeds over that of 1896 was $237,810, in the number of releases 726, and the decrease in number of foreclosures was 278.

Agriculture. The value of the farm products in 1897 are given in round numbers as follow: Wheat, $3,800,000; alfalfa, $4,300,000; clover and timothy, $1,000,000; corn, oats, rye, barley, etc., $6.500.000; potatoes, $1,800,000; garden products, $7,000,000; dairy and poultry, $2,500,000; total, $26.900.000; 1896, $22,000,000.

The live-stock product was given as $15,000,000 in value, and the wool as $500,000.

The estimate of Field and Farm" was much higher, the total of farm, dairy, and garden products amounting by its figures to $77,800,000.

The following report of experiments with sugar beets in 1897 is given: "The State Agricultural College at Fort Collins sent out last spring over 600 samples of sugar-beet seed to farmers all over the State, who promised to take good care of the crop and report the results. During the fall a great many samples of beets were secured. Some were sent by the raisers, and some taken by representatives of the college, who visited the farms and made notes on the general conditions and management of the crops. The larger part of these samples were analyzed by the chemical department of the college, though some were sent to the chemist of the Department of Agriculture at Washington. The results of the season's work can be summarized in two sentences: First, good sugar beets will not grow in Colorado without care. Second, good sugar beets can be raised almost anywhere in Colorado by proper care. The average of the reported crops in Colorado will be over rather than under 16 tons of beets to the acre, with two farms that exceeded 30 tons. Twelve per cent. of sugar and 80 per cent. purity is the standard of quality in sugar beets. There has been scarcely a sample of ripe beets from the whole State that has gone below the standard. Nearly all that have fallen below

have been raised on clay soil. Many have gone far above the standard."

Early in 1898 the Denver Chamber of Commerce made an appropriation of $1,000 for encouragement of experiments in the culture of sugar beets. A portion of the fund is to go to each county, under the condition that it shall appropriate at least an equal amount for the same purpose.

Irrigation. There were at the beginning of the year nearly 16,000 miles of irrigating canals and ditches in the State, furnishing water for more than 3,500,000 acres, besides thousands of miles of small ditches built by individual farmers in the small valleys, of which no official record is made. There were several large projects for canals to be built this year, among which were mentioned the Grand River Valley Canal, heading above Grand Junction, which will bring 80,000 acres of remarkably fertile lands under cultivation. The Arkansas and the San Luis valleys also have each several new irrigation projects of scarcely less importance than that of the Grand. And Weld County has a proposition to tap the South Platte river at a point above La Salle, from which source a supply of water will be obtained sufficiently large to irrigate about 40,000 acres.

Land Grant.-The "Denver Times" said, May 11: "The confirmation of the Baca land grant in the San Luis valley, announced by the United States Supreme Court yesterday, is a matter of farreaching importance to Colorado interests. The final quieting of title to this immense tract of 100,000 acres, which includes a goodly portion of the Sangre de Cristo range, will speedily open up to settlement a vast territory of immensely rich agricultural lands, and in addition a gold-mining district which experts have pronounced the richest in the State."

Colorado Springs.-A fire in that city, Oct. 1, threatened to destroy the entire business district. A strip four blocks by two was burned over, when the wind, which had been blowing at 45 miles an hour, died down and the flames were controlled with the help of engines from Denver and Pueblo. The losses were estimated at about $1,000,000.

Anniversary of the Discovery of Gold.-There is a plan on foot to mark the spot where gold was first discovered in the State by a monument, and to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of that event, which occurred Jan. 7, 1859, according to documents in the possession of the State Historical Society. On that day George Jackson, an old California gold miner, who was camping on Chicago creek with no other company than that of two dogs, having built a big fire to thaw out the gravel, found in the ninth cup panned "one nugget of coarse gold." He wrote in his diary after the record of that discovery: "Feel good to-night; dogs don't." They had had a fight the day before with a carcajou that came into the camp. The spot where he found the nugget is within the present site of Idaho Springs.

Political. The Republicans met in State convention, Sept. 15. The platform approved the national administration, reaffirmed belief in the policy of protection, and said further:

"We are unqualifiedly in favor of keeping forever in place the American flag wherever it has been unfurled to the breeze, whether as a result of conquest or peaceable acquirement.

"The Republican party is and always has been a bimetallic party. The Republican party of Colorado is earnestly devoted to the cause of bimetallism. It has no sympathy with monometallism, and believes that the final imposition of a single standard upon the people of this country would work irreparable injury. Its members believe that

the proper place for a Republican bimetallist is in the ranks of the party, and not out of it. In the future, as in the past, Republicans who represent Colorado at the national capital will be found working for the restoration of silver."

Following is the ticket: For Governor, Henry R. Wolcott; Lieutenant Governor, Charles E. Noble; Secretary of State, W. H. Brisbane; Treasurer, Frederick 0. Root; Auditor, George S. Adams; Attorney-General, C. C. Goodale; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mrs. Lucy E. R. Scott; Regents of the State University, Harry B. Gamble, Mrs. Jennie G. Caswell, L. C. Greenlee; Chairman of Central Committee, A. B. Seaman.

The Democrats, Populists, and one wing of the Silver Republicans united and named Charles S. Thomas for Governor. The platform reaffirmed the principles on which the parties are united, and said of expansion:

"We favor the independence of Cuba and the retention by this Government of the other Spanish West India possessions, and the control of all other Spanish territories taken by the American forces in the war just closed."

The Fusionists were successful in November, electing their State ticket and a majority of the Legislature. In the First Congressional District a Silver Republican was elected, and in the Second a Democrat.

The Democratic, Populist, and Silver Republican conventions were called to meet at Colorado Springs, Sept. 8, with a view to fusion on one ticket. But there were two factions of the Silver Republicans, one in favor of fusion, and one opposed to it, and on the morning of the 7th a fight took place between them for the possession of the opera house where the party convention was to meet. It was asserted that 150 shots were fired in the opera house; one man was killed, and three were wounded. One faction applied for a court order to compel the surrender of the opera house, but an arrangement was made by which neither was to have it, and the court so ordered. The coroner's jury in the case of the man who was killed returned a verdict justifying the Teller or fusion faction, which was in possession of the opera house and was attacked by the antifusion or "straight" faction. This wing of the party met the next day and adopted a platform favoring free coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1; commending the Administration for the conduct of the war; favoring the retention of all territory taken, whether by peaceful means or by conquest; favoring the construction of the Nicaragua Canal; and denouncing the action of the other wing of the party. The following ticket was nominated: For Governor, Simon Guggenheim; Lieutenant Governor, Ira Bloomfield; Secretary of State, Joseph W. Millsom; Treasurer, Harry Mulnix; Auditor, John A. Wayne; Attorney-General, H. M. Hogg; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Miss Mayme Marble; Regents of the State University, E. J. Temple, J. W. Gunnell, and Dr. J. H. Pershing.

The proposed fusion between the other wing of the Silver Republicans, the Democrats, and the Populists was effected, and an agreement was reached as to the division of offices. To the Populists were accorded the offices of Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney-General, and one regent, while the Silver Republicans received Treasurer, Anditor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and one regent. The ticket follows: For Governor, Charles S. Thomas, Democrat; Lieutenant Governor, Francis Carney: Secretary of State, Elmer Beckwith; Treasurer, John F. Fenter; Auditor, George W. Temple; Attorney-General, E. C. Campbell; Superintendent of Instruction,

Helen L. Grenfell; Regents of the University, Harold Thompson, D. M. Richards.

The election returns showed a large majority for the fusion ticket. The two members of Congress re-elected-in the First District, J. F. Shafroth, Silver Republican, and in the Second, J. C. Bell, Populist.

were

CONGO INDEPENDENT STATE, a sovereign, independent, monarchical state in Central Africa, created with the consent of the great powers, and declared to be perpetually neutral by the general act of the Congo, signed at Berlin on Feb. 26, 1885. Leopold II, King of the Belgians, who was declared to be its sovereign, by his will, dated Aug. 2, 1889, ceded his sovereign rights to Belgium, which by a convention made with the Independent State on July 3, 1890. and ratified by the Chambers on July 25, acquired the right to annex the territories after a period of ten years. The Government, under King Leopold, is presided over by a Secretary of State at Brussels, Baron Edmond van Eetvelde, who is assisted by Dr. A. de Cuvelier, Secretary of Foreign Affairs; II. Pochez, Treasurer; H. Droogmans, Secretary of Finance; and Charles Liebrecht, Secretary of the Interior, the Public Force, and Marine. Capt. E. Wangermée is Vice Governor General at Boma; he is assisted by Baron Dhanis as Inspector and M. Ghislain as Secretary.

Area and Population.-The area is estimated at 900,000 square miles, and the population at 30,000,000. There were 1,474 resident Europeans on Jan. 1, 1897, of whom 882 were Belgians, 125 British, 91 Portuguese, 87 Italians, 83 Swedes and Norwegians, 64 Americans, 37 Dutch, 21 Germans, 20 Danes, 14 Swiss, and 7 others.

Finances. The revenue for 1897 was estimated at 9,369,300 francs, and expenditure at 10,141,871 francs. For 1898 a revenue of 14,765,050 francs was looked for, and the expenditure, including 2,524,920 francs for exceptional purposes, was expected to reach 17,251,975 francs. The King of the Belgians continues his annual subvention of 1,000,000 francs, and the Belgian treasury advances 2.000,000 a year for ten years dating from July 3, 1890. The other revenues are derived from sales and leases of lands, customs, posts, transport dues, and monopolies of rubber and ivory. The chief expenditures for 1898 were 6,870,631 francs for the public force, 3,218,711 francs for working the public domain, 1,945,358 francs for the marine, 1,595,960 francs for public works, and 1,495,278 francs for administrative expenses. The local revenue, which sufficed in 1886 for only per cent. of the expenditure, now amounts to 68 per cent. A loan of 20-⚫ 000,000 francs for the construction of public works was negotiated with Brussels bankers in June, 1898.

Public Force.-The military force consists of 16 companies of native troops, of whom two thirds are recruited within the State, numbering 6,120 men in 1896, commanded by 143 European officers and 146 drill sergeants. The Belgians are able to maintain their power with native troops alone by taking advantage of the hereditary hostilities of the different tribes, using Bateke soldiers to maintain order among the Bangalas and vice versa.

Commerce. The value of the general imports in 1896 was 16,070.370 francs; of the general exports, 15,091,137 francs; of exports, the produce of the State, 12,389,599 francs. The chief imports are textile fabrics, guns and powder, spirits for the limited districts where traffic in spirits is allowed, and tobacco. The export of rubber in 1896 was 6,586,730 francs: of ivory, 3,826,320 francs; of palm oil and nuts, 1,914,137 francs. Other exports are coffee, which is raised in plantations on the upper Congo, orchilla weed, gum copal, earthnuts, and camwood. The Government has plantations of

tobacco, which is also grown in the native villages. Rubber found in the public domain is claimed by the Government. The imports from Belgium in 1896 amounted to 10,204,477 francs; exports to Belgium, 10,866,060 francs. The British and Dutch have most of the remaining trade. In 1897 the total value of exports was 17,450,000 francs, and of imports 23,425,000 francs. The imports from Belgium have increased from 4,000,000 francs in 1893 to over 16,000,000 francs, while of the export trade, which was once in the hands of the Dutch, two thirds is now carried on by Belgians. The rubber exports to Belgium have increased from 250,000 kilogrammes in 1893 to 1,500,000 kilogrammes in 1897.

Navigation. The number of vessels in the foreign trade entered at Banana and Boma during 1896 was 155, of 257,384 tons; cleared, 153, of 254,076 tons. The number entered in the coasting trade was 385, of 11,667 tons; cleared, 410, of 12,683 tons.

Communications.-The post office in 1896 transmitted 74,526 internal and 207,156 foreign letters, papers, etc. Six steamers belonging to the State run up to Matadi, the head of navigation on the lower Congo, and 14 ply on the upper river, which is navigable for 1,000 miles from Stanley Pool to Stanley Falls. The railroad along the rapids above Matadi was completed and in operation for 164 miles in the beginning of 1898, leaving only the 96 miles between Tumba and Stanley Pool over which the porterage of goods was still necessary. The whole line was completed in March and opened to traffic in April. The construction of the road was begun in 1889, when the Belgian state subscribed

of the line was laid. The Belgian state once more came to the rescue, giving 15,000,000 francs more. The public subscribed 20,000,000 francs to complete the work, making the total cost 60,000,000 francs, equal to about $50,000 a mile. Before the end of the year work was begun on a railroad in the upper Congo region connecting the head of navigation on the Lobefu, an affluent of Sankuru which flows into the Kassai, with the Lomami. Another line connecting the Lomami with the Lualaba is projected; also one from the Lualaba and Manyema to Lake Tanganyika. The Independent State has the right of expropriating the Congo Railroad, but by a convention signed on Feb. 10, 1898, has bound itself not to exercise the right till 1909.

Progress under the Belgians.-Although 9 out of every 10 of the State officials die or are invalided in three years, the activity of the Belgians and the civilizing effect of their rule, though it has not been free from cruel abuses, is now acknowledged by disinterested witnesses. Great benefit has resulted from the suppression of the liquor traffic, which flourished on the lower Congo when they came. It is now permitted only at Matadi and along the border of the French and Portuguese possessions, where it would be impossible to stop contraband traffic. No liquor for natives is allowed to be carried on the railroad, and to render the decree effective the zone of prohibition has been extended on the south bank for nearly 50 miles down to the Mpozo river. The prohibition of exports of spirits from neighboring European possessions into a colony where sales to natives are illegal was one of the chief measures to be proposed at the new conference which the Belgian Government at

without forcible means, and efforts are made to educate the children. Baron Dhanis from his headquarters in Manyema was still engaged in the early months of 1898 in operations against the revolted Batetela soldiers of the Free State, who had recently defeated a detachment of troops that was pursuing them north of Lake Tanganyika. The Free State troops that marched out to punish the rebels could not succeed in engaging them, for they split up into several bands and took to flight when the troops approached. Lieut. Dorme's party overtook one band and gained a victory near the river Losva, West of 28 of longitude. A punitive force led by Lieut. Chargois encountered them on the shore of the lake in April, and was obliged to fall back until the reserves were brought up. The activity of the Belgians in the extreme eastern part of their territory, their project of a railroad from Manyema to Lake Tanganyika, still more their concession to England of the right of way for a telegraph line, to be followed by a railroad, from Rhodesia by way of Nyassa to Tanganyika and northward to Uganda, have moved the Germans to ask for a definite regulation of the frontier from Lake Tanganyika northward. It is claimed that the Rufizi river and the Kivu lake, where the Belgians have military stations, are on the German side of the border.

CONGREGATIONALISTS. Statistics of the Congregational churches in the United States, published in the "Congregational Yearbook" for 1898, show the number of churches to be 5,614; of ministers, 5,475; of members, 625,864; of members of Sunday schools, 685,704; of Young People's Socie

Missionary Association, $137,268; for Sunday schools, $61,959; for ministerial aid, $22,567; other contributions, $1,095,240; amount received from legacies, $1,357,485; contributions for home expenditures, $6,643,818. Of the churches, 4,253 are registered as supplied, and 1,331 as vacant; of the ministers, 3,684 as in pastoral service, and 1,786 as without charge. The tables show a net gain of 10,669 church members.

The 7 theological seminaries-Andover, Bangor, Chicago, Hartford, Oberlin, Pacific, and Yale-return 64 professors, 25 instructors or lecturers, 19 resident licentiates or fellows, 28 in the advanced or graduate classes, and 433 undergraduates.

The American Congregational Church Building Society received in 1897, from all sources, $295,504; its available resources were $381,398. Aid was voted to the amount of $296,495 to 166 churches; $232,323 were paid in the form of grants or loans on houses of worship to 166 churches. Grants amounting to $35,190 were voted to 57 churches for aid in parsonage work, and $21,867 were paid on parsonage loans to 38 churches. Of the amounts paid out by the treasurer on houses of worship, $125,500 were in the form of loans, and $107,823 were in the form of grants. Aid given to parsonages was all in the form of loans. The amount paid back on church building loans during the year was $19,082. A final settlement had been made with the executor of the will of the late J. Henry Stickney, of Baltimore. The securities representing the legacy had all been placed in the hands of the treasurer, and $153,976 had been realized from the