1888 12,000 1889 60,500 1890 70,200 1891 170,100 1892 380,000 1893 336,800 1894 482,000 1895 666,000 1896 1,002,000 1897 1,381,700 The municipal taxes are not high. The owners of real estate are required to pay only the taxes devoted to the maintenance of municipal police, street lighting and the domestic supply of water. Other municipal taxes comprise license fees for commercial business, for slaughtering cattle and hogs; for wine houses; taxes for registering of dogs; taxes on tanneries, breweries, coffee-cleaning establishments, cemeteries, etc. Other important factors of the economic life of Costa Rica are the existing _banking establishments_. The first bank of Central America was established in 1857, in Costa Rica, by Crisanto Medina. This institution ceased and, in 1863, was replaced by the Banco Anglo-Costaricense with an authorized capital of 2,000,000 pesos and a paid-up capital of 1,200,000. This bank still exists, together with the Banco de Costa Rica established in 1867 with a paid-up capital of 2,000,000 pesos. It incorporated with itself the former Banco de la Union established in 1877. The Bank of Costa Rica has had from the Government the privilege of issuing paper money to the extent of four times its cash on hand. The average circulation of these bank notes since 1882 has been as follows: Pesos. 1882-83 35,000 1883-84 56,400 1884-85 168,890 1885-86 210,170 1886-87 1,004,010 1887-88 1,518,290 1888-89 2,191,930 1889-90 2,911,479 1890-91 3,249,914 1891-92 3,037,167 1892-93 2,820,892 1893-94 3,079,067 1894-95 3,565,041 1895-96 3,820,404 This issue privilege was withdrawn in 1897 on the introduction of the ‘colon de oro,’ and a special arrangement was made with the bank to uphold the contemplated change from a silver to a gold standard. The Banco de Costa Rica, on July 15, 1897, had a reserve fund of 745,000 pesos and a dividend account of 50,000. It has branches in Heredia, Cartago and Alajuela. The situation of this bank at the same date was in pesos as follows: