(Part 2 of 2) LIABILITIES. +--------------------------------------------------- | Capital 1,200,000.00 | Reserve Fund 210,000.00 | ------------ 1,410,000.00 | Deposits account current 371,443.60 | Deposits on sight 10,778.00 | Deposits on credit 380,601.23 | ----------- 762,822.83 | Outside creditors 436,403.84 | Various debts 22,202.38 | ------------ 458,606.22 | Securities in commission 188,014.10 | Government of Costa Rica, | Treasury funds 1,500,649.79 | Government of Costa Rica, | exportation notes 93,275.00 | ------------ 1,781,938.89 | Dividends not collected | from 1895-96 700.00 | Dividends from 1896-97 | (15 per cent) 180,000.00 | ---------- 180,700.00 | Discounts on bills payable 39,779.55 | Profits for 1897-98 17,450.96 | ---------- 57,230.51 | ------------ | 4,651,298.45 Foreign commercial obligations were settled through these banks on the following terms: Drafts at three days’ sight on Paris cost one per cent. less than on London on same time; those at ninety days’ sight on Paris or London cost one per cent. less than at three days’ sight; those at sixty days’ sight, on New York, cost two per cent. less than on three days’ sight. Submarine cable transfers of money cost two per cent. more than by three days’ sight drafts with the cost of telegraphing added. Until the 24th of March, 1897, the Bank of Costa Rica sold drafts on New York for five points more than for those on London. Since the 25th of March, 1897, the difference of exchange between those cities has been eight per cent. The rates on London, in October and November, 1897, were 127, and those on New York were 135. XIII. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. Costa Rica is a republic, the government of which is representative, the representatives being classified so that one-half retires every two years. Since 1825 Costa Rica has had nine constitutions, the last one having been promulgated in 1871. The government is administered through three distinct branches; namely, the legislative, executive and judicial. Legislative powers are vested in a single house whose members are chosen, one for every 8000 inhabitants, for a term of four years by an electoral college. This body is called the “Constitutional Congress” and assembles every year on May 1 for a sixty days’ session, which may be extended for thirty days more. The executive power is vested in the President of the Republic who is elected for four years and has the power of naming or removing his four cabinet ministers.