Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/761

 PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY — COMMERCE 700

Military service is compulsory for all males from the 19th to the 50th year. The army is a militia, with a total service in the first line of 6 years, of which about 1 year is spent in the ranks. For the next 6 years (from the age of 25 to 30) the Bolivian soldier belongs to the 'ordinary reserve.' After this the men pass to the 'extraordinary reserve' for 10 years, and finally complete their service by 10 years in the Territorial Guard.

The permanent army consists of 4 infantry regiments, two of 500 men each, and two of 800 men ; a cavalry regiment 500 strong ; a mountain artillery regiment of 300 men ; a field artil.ery regiment of the same strength one with 4 batteries of the Schneider Canet system ; making a total of 4,187, including officers, officials and men.

In addition to the above troops there are small bodies of infantry of from 1 00 to 200 men (called eolumnas) at the chief towns of departments, which pan be expanded to battalions, if necessary. There also exist other units, for garrisoning the North, the North West, the South West, and the East, consisting of 300 men each.

The infantry armament is the Mauser (Bolivian Model) rifle of 1898.

Production and Industry.

It is estimated that about 4,940,000 acres are under cultivation, but agriculture is in a backward condition. Irrigation by means of artesian wells is being attempted in some regions. Wheat, maize, barley, beans, potatoes, are produced mostly for local consumption, and coffee, coca, quina, .vc, are exported to Chile and Argentina. Cocoa and coffee are grown on the slopes of La Paz and Cochabamba ; coffee and other products are grown in El Kmi and Santa Cruz. Rubber is produced on 40,642,000 acies in the National Territories, and in the Departments of El Bern and Santa Cruz, . and parts of La Paz and Cochabamba. Bolivia ranks as the second rubber exporting country of South America, coming next to Brazil. The quantity exported in 1918 was 4,287 metric tons. The public lands of the State have an area of about 245,000 square miles, of which 104,000 square miles are reserved for special colonisation.

The mineral wealth of Bolivia includes silver, copper, tin, lead, zinc, anti- mony, bismuth, wolfram, gold, and borate of lime. Bolivia produces one quarter of the total tin output of the world, standing next to the Malay Peninsula in the production of this metal. Large deposits of common salt are found near Lake Poopo" and in the South of Bolivia. In 1911 large tracts of land were taken up for the production of petroleum, especially near Calacoto. on the Arica-La Paz railway. In the east of the Republic there is said to be a part of an immense oilfield, stretching from near the Orinoco t* the Argentine Republic, portions of which are now being pro- spected.

Commerce.

Bolivia having no seaport, imports and exports pass chiefly through Ariea, Mollendo, Antofagasta, and the river-ports of Suarez on the Paraguay, Montes on the Itenez, Yilla Bella on the Madeira, and Bahia or Cobija on the Upper Acre. The Argentine route through Salta is now little used : the route now runs from La Quiraca, traversing the province Iujuy to Tucn- man and Rosario. The chief imports are provisions, hardware, wines, and spirits, cotton, woollen, linen and silk goods, and ready-made clothes. The chief exports are silver, tin, and rubber. There is scarcely any food export.