No. 91.
Mr. Wing to
Mr. Fish.
United States
Legation, Quito, Ecuador,
February 28, 1873. (Received April 18.)
288.]
Sir: As an evidence of the rapidly increasing value
of the North American traffic of this country, allow me to append an extract
and translation (1 and 2) from a late commercial review from the eminently
respectable house of Messrs. Ribon & Muñoz, of New York City.
It will be observed that in the matter of caucho the North American
importations of Ecuador have attained the first rank and reached a very
large figure.
As I have previously stated, the coffee of Ecuador is of a most excellent
quality, and I hope to see it largely imported into the United States during
the next year or so.
Of course these matters depend in a considerable part upon the development of
the avenues of trade actually in the country.
But as I hope to see these constructed by Americans, I believe that this fact
will have a substantial effect upon the direction of commerce.
Also as proving that the great progress being made by the present
[Page 235]
government of Ecuador is beginning
to be well recognized, I attach (3) an extract from a late Kingston,
Jamaica, paper.
I need scarcely add that there is no foundation for the imputations of an
intended interference in the affairs of any of the states of Colombia by
President Moreno. I venture to assert that in no part of Spanish America
to-day are American sympathies more vivid, or a disposition to cultivate
American commercial relations stronger, than in Ecuador.
I am almost tempted to say that these sentiments are not equaled in any other
section of Spanish America.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 1.—Translation.]
Caucho free. The total importation of caucho into the United States
reached 11,860,927 pounds, of which 10,986,029 pounds were sold;
remaining on hand the 31st of December, 874,900 pounds.
The total importation is as follows:
|
Pounds. |
| Ecuador, per the Isthmus of Panama |
5,694,619 |
| Brazil |
5,182,751 |
| East Indies |
378,200 |
| Carthagena |
267,888 |
| Mexico |
139,590 |
| Other places |
197,881 |
The caucho from Ecuador, per Isthmus, which is known here by the name of
Central America caucho, already figures in the first line, when in the
year 1870 hardly 2,761,223 pounds were imported, and in 1871, 3,403,205
pounds.
The Brazil caucho, known here as the Parà, is almost stationary; it being
5,032,538 pounds in 1870, and 5,182,751 pounds in 1872.
The stock on the 31st December, of Colombian and Ecuadorian caucho was
305,000 pounds. The steamer Henry Chauncey, which arrived on the 5th,
brought 397,000 pounds, of which we received 188,000 pounds, and though
we held one-half of the stock, some days since, we suspended the sale,
as we feared that the market would not be as firm as we hoped, and the
rest of the caucho was distributed among a dozen other houses;
notwithstanding it has a better tone now, and the sales have been made
at 58, 58½, and 59 cents, at four months, and we have even sold selected
esmeraldas at 60 cents. The last telegraphic advices from England are
favorable, and with firmness on the part of the holders the price would
reach 60 cents.
[Inclosure 2.]
Ecuador.
(Extract from a Kingston, Jamaica, paper.)
* * * * * * *
The Cauca revolution is progressing in favor of the church party, who are
expecting assistance from President Moreno. The government engineer (Mr.
McLellan) has gone to the United States to study the narrow-gauge
system, with the idea of constructing such a line along the public road
between Li nana be and Pueblo Nueva. General Salazar has gone to be
minister plenipotentiary of Ecuador to the courts of England, Germany,
Italy, and France. The progress this republic is making in the
development of its natural resources and in the establishment of great
public works, the conception of a single mind, (President Moreno,) is
perfectly marvelous—universities, public roads, light-houses, and
dredging-machines—all within a year, and now a railway is determined on
between Guayaquil, the sea-port, and Quito, the capital.
