1. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, March 10, 1895. Despatches from United States Consuls in San Salvador, El Salvador, 1868-1906, National Archives, Washington, D.C. (this collection hereinafter cited as DUSC).

2. DuPre, despatch to Department of State, March 17, 1887, DUSC.

3. For insights into the intellectual atmosphere that prevailed in El Salvador during this period see E. Bradford Burns, ''The Intellectual Infrastructure of Modernization in El Salvador, 1870-1900," The Americas 41 (January 1985): 57-82.

4. Diario oficial , February 10, 1892.

5. See Julio Alberto Domínguez Sosa, Génesis y significado de la constitución de 1886 (San Salvador: Departamento Editorial, 1958).

6. Baruch, despatch to Department of State, November 21 and December 26, 1898, DUSC.

7. See n. 11, chap. 4.

8. Biddle, despatch to Department of State, February 21, 1872, DDES, vol. 2. Bureau of the American Republics, Commercial Directory of the American Republics , 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1898), 2: 564-565. The years were selected because of the availability of volume of exports for both commodities and not for being particularly representative. However, the trends are unmistakable (see table 19).

9. There are no GNP figures for this period, but population growth was less than 2 percent per year. There is nothing in the evidence that would lead us to expect that other factors of production or technological change (in areas other than coffee) grew any faster than the population.

10. Diario oficial , September 7, 1887. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1889, vol. 80, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Report for the Year 1888 on the Trade of Salvador," p. 4 (of

the report). Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1890 , vol. 77, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Report for the Year 1889 on the Trade of Salvador," p. 6 (of the report).

11. Imports are detailed in English and American consular reports. They are well analyzed by Knut Walter in "Trade and Development."

12. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1893-1894 , vol. 96, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Report for the Year 1892 on the Trade of Salvador," p. 7 (of the report).

13. Consul's Duke despatch of November 15, 1885 is a commercial report that includes, as an appendix, a long description of a coffee plantation that he requested from a planter who remained anonymous. The discussion that follows is based on both Duke's despatch and the planter's description.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

13. Consul's Duke despatch of November 15, 1885 is a commercial report that includes, as an appendix, a long description of a coffee plantation that he requested from a planter who remained anonymous. The discussion that follows is based on both Duke's despatch and the planter's description.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

13. Consul's Duke despatch of November 15, 1885 is a commercial report that includes, as an appendix, a long description of a coffee plantation that he requested from a planter who remained anonymous. The discussion that follows is based on both Duke's despatch and the planter's description.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

13. Consul's Duke despatch of November 15, 1885 is a commercial report that includes, as an appendix, a long description of a coffee plantation that he requested from a planter who remained anonymous. The discussion that follows is based on both Duke's despatch and the planter's description.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Consul Duke, despatch to Department of State, June 10, 1886; Lorenzo López, Estadística , p. 130.

18. Consul Duke, despatch to Department of State, June 10, 1886, DUSC.

19. DuPre, despatch to Department of State, August 11, 1887, DUSC.

20. Duke, despatch to Department fo State, November 15, 1885, DUSC.

21. Ibid., June 10, 1886, DUSC.

20. Duke, despatch to Department fo State, November 15, 1885, DUSC.

21. Ibid., June 10, 1886, DUSC.

22. Turnstall, despatch to Department of State, June 10, 1886, DUSC.

23. Duke, despatch to Department of State, June 10, 1886, DUSC.

24. Ibid., July 10, 1885, DUSC.

23. Duke, despatch to Department of State, June 10, 1886, DUSC.

24. Ibid., July 10, 1885, DUSC.

25. Pollock, despatch to Department of State, April 15, 1894, DUSC.

26. One of the private companies involved in the money-lending business, Blanco y Trigueros, is said to go back to 1835 and survived until the twentieth century. Bureau of the American Republics, Handbook of Salvador , p. 68.

27. Dionisio González, n.p. Williams, despatch to Department of State, Sept. 23, 1867, DDES, vol. 1.

28. Jan. 1875, Mensaje del Mariscal González. Diario oficial , March 8, 1878. Enrique Franke, The Banknotes of the Republic of El Salvador (San Salvador: Banco de Fomento Agropecuario, 1974), p. 21. Francisco de Paula Suárez, Noticias generales sobre la República del Salvador reunidas y publicadas por F. de P. S. (Lima: Tipografía de "La Patria," 1874). It is not clear whether the Suárez contract was a direct result of the 1873 mission. The reason why there were two contracts is that Marshal González was overthrown by Rafael Zaldívar in 1876.

29. The Banco Occidental, founded in 1889, had headquarters in Santa Ana; and the Banco Ahuachapaneco (1895), which never got off the ground, was based in Ahuachapán.

30. A small amount remained outstanding due to claims against Kerferd & Co. by a few bondholders. The final settlement took place early in 1879. An account of the transactions was published in The Pacific Mail , London, June 6, 1875. See also Hyde Clarke, secretary of the Council of Foreign Bondholders, to Foreign Office, February 10, 1879, FO 66-24. There is evidence that George B. Kerferd & Co. operated in El Salvador until the 1880s, and one of Kerferd's

nephews was in charge of the business in El Salvador. Unfortunately, it has been impossible to find the papers of the company; apparently it was not registered. There is no record of its existence at the Public Record Office or at the London Search Room of Companies House.

31. J. LaFerriére, De Paris à Guatémala , p. 51.

32. La Gaceta , January 23 and 30, February 6, 13, and 16, 1861. Diario oficial , March 9, 1894.

33. Public Record Office, Board of Trade Files of Dissolved Companies, group BT, class 31, no. 3574/21914. The company was dissolved in 1913.

34. Public Record Office, Board of Trade Files of Dissolved Companies, group BT, class 31, no. 9217/68395.

35. British merchants to Foreign Office, November 23, 1898, FO 66-45.

36. The federal government minted limited amounts of silver coins. The state of San Salvador also minted provisional coins between 1828 and 1835. See Rafael González Sol, "Principios generales de numismática y bosquejo histórico de la circulación monetaria en El Salvador," Anales de la Sociedad de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala , vol. 15, no. 1 (September 1938): 79.

37. Duke, despatch to Department of State, June 10, 1885, DUSC. DuPre, despatch to Department of State, September 14, 1886, DUSC.

38. J. LaFerriére, De Paris à Guatémala , p. 419. Carl von Scherzer, Travels in the Free States , p. 195. José María Peralta Lagos (T. P. Mechín), Burla burlando , 2d ed. (San Salvador: Departamento Editorial, 1955), p. 166.

39. El Salvador, Ministerio de Hacienda y Guerra, Memoria (1875), p. 50.

40. T. P. Mechín, Burla burlando , p. 166.

41. Rafael González Sol, "Principios generales," p. 83.

42. J. LaFerriére, De Paris à Guatémala , p. 420.

43. El Faro Salvadoreño , March 1, 1869.

44. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1893-1894 , vol. 96, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Report for the Year 1892 on the Trade of Salvador," p. 4 (of the report). Diario oficial , August 27 and September 3, 1892.

45. Diario oficial , September 7, 1892.

46. Ibid., September and October 1892, passim.

45. Diario oficial , September 7, 1892.

46. Ibid., September and October 1892, passim.

47. Bureau of the American Republics, Commercial Directory , p. 564.

48. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, July 26, 1893, DUSC.

49. Diario oficial , July 17, 1893.

50. The American Annual Cyclopaedia , 1894, p. 709.

51. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, October 3, 1894, DUSC. Diario oficial , June 19, 1894.

52. General Ezeta's fondness for currency reform was attributed to the great profits that could be made by minting new coins. However, every single event in the nineteenth century is full of allegations of corruption.

53. Jenkins, despatch to Department of State, April 15, 1898, DUSC.

54. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1893-1894 , vol. 96, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Report for the Year 1892 on the Trade of Salvador," p. 3 (of the report).

55. Charles Rufenacht, Le café et les principaux marchés de matières pre -

mières; la monnaie, les changes, les marchés à terme; statistiques s'étendent de 1845 à 1955 (Le Havre: Société commerciale interocéanique, 1955), p. 280. Jenkins, despatch to Department of State, June 16, 1898, DUSC.

56. Jenkins, despatch to Department of State, December 8, 1897, DUSC.

57. Ibid., December 23, 1897, DUSC.

56. Jenkins, despatch to Department of State, December 8, 1897, DUSC.

57. Ibid., December 23, 1897, DUSC.

58. T. P. Mechín, Burla burlando , pp. 169-170.

59. U.S. Congress, House, Commercial Relations of the U.S. with Foreign Countries , H.R. 483, 55th Cong., 2nd sess., p. 615 (of the document). The Monthly Bulletin of the Bureau of the American Republics , July 1898, p. 57. Maurice de Perigny, in Rafael Menjívar et al., El Salvador de 1840 a 1935 (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1978), p. 104.

60. Jenkins, despatch to Department of State, April 15, 1898, DUSC.

61. Ibid.

60. Jenkins, despatch to Department of State, April 15, 1898, DUSC.

61. Ibid.

62. Diario oficial , January 3, 1898.

63. Manuel Vidal, Nociones de historia de Centro América , 2 vols. (San Salvador: Dirección de Publicaciones, 1969), 1: 340.

64. Diario oficial , January 3, 1898. Abelardo Torres, Tierras y colonización , p. 37.

65. Historians resent General Regalado's decision.

66. Torbert, despatch to Department of State, Aug. 6, 1870. Manuel Vidal, Nociones , 2: 248. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1883 , vol. 74, "Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls on the Manufacture, Commerce etc. of Their Consular Districts," p. 2205 (of the report). Diario oficial , July 21, 1882.

67. The American Annual Cyclopaedia , 1881, p. 805. DuPre, despatch to Department of State, October 28, 1887, DUSC.

68. Maria Leistenschneider, ed., Dr. Rafael Zaldívar , 1: 279, 1: 283.

69. New International Year Book , 1899, p. 716.

70. DuPre, despatch to Department of State, September 10, 1887, DUSC.

71. Biddle, despatch to Department of State, April 3, 1872, DDES, vol. 3. Bueron was a native of Prussia, a naturalized American who had resided in Mexico and Cuba before going to El Salvador in 1871.

72. J. LaFerriére, De Paris à Guatémala , p. 207. "Mensaje dirigido por el Presidente de la República del Salvador Mariscal Don Santiago González a la Asamblea General" (San Salvador: Tipografía Nacional, 1875), p. 5.

73. Gaceta oficial , July 27, 1876.

74. Duke, despatch to Department of State, Jan. 31, 1872, DUSC, SS.

75. Diario oficial , June 7, 1882.

76. Ibid., August 23, 1882. Ross, pp. 308, 317.

75. Diario oficial , June 7, 1882.

76. Ibid., August 23, 1882. Ross, pp. 308, 317.

77. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1886 , vol. 66, "Commercial Reports" no. 10, p. 531 (of the report). Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1888 , vol. 103, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Salvador, Report for the Year 1887 on Trade of San Salvador," p. 7 (of the report). President Zaldívar was overthrown in 1885 amidst allegations of corruption and of mishandling the railroad contracts. As a result of these allegations the Constitutional Assembly of 1886 ordered the executive to renegotiate the contracts. According to the terms of the

contract with Camacho the Salvador Railway Construction Company could retain the vote of its 3,000 shares until it was paid in full the 200,000 pounds that it had advanced.

78. "Los ferrocarriles de Guatemala y El Salvador" Centro-América 4: 1 (January, February, March, 1912), p. 93.

79. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1893-1894 , vol. 96, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Report for the Year 1892 on the Trade of Salvador," p. (4 of the report).

80. "Ferrocarriles de El Salvador," Centro-América 5: 2 (April, May, June, 1913), p. 286.

81. Pollock, despatch to Department of State, April 12, 1894, DUSC.

82. Percy F. Martin, Salvador of the Twentieth Century (London: Edward Arnold, 1911), p. 51.

83. Ibid. Pollock, despatch to Department of State, January 31, 1894, DUSC.

82. Percy F. Martin, Salvador of the Twentieth Century (London: Edward Arnold, 1911), p. 51.

83. Ibid. Pollock, despatch to Department of State, January 31, 1894, DUSC.

84. Council of Foreign Bondholders to Foreign Office, June 17, 1898, FO 66-45, fol. 47-53.

85. Diario oficial , March 1, 1899.

86. The La Unión line reached San Salvador in 1922 and was connected to the Guatemalan network in 1929 already under the ownership of IRCA. Fred Rippy in British Investment in Latin America and Rafael Menjívar in Acumulación originaria give detailed accounts of the transactions involved in the financing of railroads.

87. Fred Rippy, British Investment , p. 38.

88. Torbert, despatch to Department of State, Jan. 17 and Aug. 6, 1870, DDES, vol. 2.

89. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1888 , vol. 103, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Salvador, Report for the Year 1887 on the Trade of Salvador," p. 3 (of the report). Diario oficial , July 13, 1887.

90. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, October 23, 1894, DUSC.

91. Diario oficial , March 12, 1892. The American Annual Cyclopaedia , 1884, pp. 715 and 716; 1887, p. 728.

92. U.S. Congress, House, Commercial Relations of the U.S. with Foreign Countries , H.R., 50th Cong., 1st sess., p. 924 (of the document).

93. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, July 18, 1893, DUSC. Guatemala, Gosling, despatch to Foreign Office, April 15, 1892, FO 15-271.

94. U.S. Congress, House, Commercial Relations of the U.S. with Foreign Countries , H.R. 157, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., p. 203 (of the document). Gaceta Official , February 27, 1877; June 27, 1878. El Salvador, Ministerio de Hacienda y Guerra, Memoria (1875), p. 102. It is necessary to make two caveats: first, El Salvador was less than punctual in paying the subsidies; before the contract expired in 1874 El Salvador owed 56,598 pesos in overdue subsidies. Second, there is speculation that the contracts with the Pacific Mail had something to do with corruption at the highest levels of government. The basic argument, however, still stands. El Salvador was too small to break the company's monopoly power.

95. FO 66-2. Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1883 , vol. 74, "Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls on the Manufacture, Commerce etc. of their Consular Districts," p. 2204 (of the report); Great Britain, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 1893-1894 , vol. 96, "Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance: Report for the Year 1892 on the Trade of Salvador," p. 7 (of the report). The figures are approximate since the statistics for 1882 and 1892 count every time that a foreign ship touched a Salvadoran port but the figure for 1856 is for only one port. To solve the problem the figures for 1882 and 1892 were divided over three.

96. Francisco Solano Astaburuaga, Repúblicas de Centro América , p. 76. Rafael Reyes, Apuntamientos , p. 22.

97. Duke, despatch to Department of State, September 22, 1885, DUSC.

98. Ibid., March 17, 1882, DUSC.

97. Duke, despatch to Department of State, September 22, 1885, DUSC.

98. Ibid., March 17, 1882, DUSC.

99. The American Annual Cyclopaedia , 1883, p. 710.

100. Ibid., 1884, p. 715; 1885, pp. 722-723.

99. The American Annual Cyclopaedia , 1883, p. 710.

100. Ibid., 1884, p. 715; 1885, pp. 722-723.

101. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, October 7, 1893, DUSC. There were short-lived precedents for this tax. In the mid-1860s there was a tax of fifty cents per quintal. Twenty years later President Zaldívar imposed a 2 percent ad-valorem tax on coffee exports which was rapidly repealed by the legislature.

102. Ibid., May 17, 1893, DUSC.

101. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, October 7, 1893, DUSC. There were short-lived precedents for this tax. In the mid-1860s there was a tax of fifty cents per quintal. Twenty years later President Zaldívar imposed a 2 percent ad-valorem tax on coffee exports which was rapidly repealed by the legislature.

102. Ibid., May 17, 1893, DUSC.

103. Diario oficial , May 20 and June 27, 1893. This event was related to the gold-standard crisis.

104. Dawson, despatch to Department of State, May 17, 1893, DUSC.

105. Duke, despatch to Department of State, June 9, 1885, DUSC.

106. República de El Salvador, Dirección e Inspección General de Hacienda, Tarifa de aforos para el cobro de los impuestos fiscales sobre la importación de mercaderías (San Salvador: Imprenta Nacional, 1895).

107. Diccionario Enciclopédico , s.v. "Salvador, El."

108. Henry Dunn, Guatimala , p. 228.

109. W. Goodyear, "Distritos Mineros de El Salvador" Anales de la Sociedad de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala 31 (January-December 1958): 138-139. Goodyear was hired in 1879 by the Zaldívar government to explore the mineral wealth of the country. The report published by the Anales seems to be the final report of his exploration.

110. W. Goodyear, "Distritos mineros," pp. 131 and 140. LaFerriére, De Paris à Guatémala , p. 142.

111. E. Bradford Burns, "Modernization," p. 303. Rippy, p. 39.

112. Domingo Juarros, A Statistical and Commercial History , p. 32; Henry Dunn, Guatimala , p. 221; Duke, despatch to Department of State, November 15, 1885, DUSC; José Antonio Fernández, "Al estilo de Vizcaya," passim.

113. Miguel Angel Durán, Historia de la Universidad , pp. 31 and 76. Bureau of American Republics, Commercial Directory , passim.

114. Needless to say, not every single immigrant bequeathed a fortune. The descendants of some had to earn their livelihood by teaching history.

115. Eduardo Colindres, Fundamentos económicos de la burguesía salvadoreña (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1977). Colindres's list was hotly discussed

when it came out. Even if it is not satisfactory to everyone it provides a good sample of the "movers and shakers" of the Salvadoran economy before the current civil war.

116. This classification is based on documentary evidence and interviews with members of the elite. Oral traditions on this subject are very strong. Most of this information is fairly recent, and knowledge on these matters is considered essential to function in certain circles of Salvadoran society. For documentary evidence see: Bureau of the American Republics, Commercial Directory ; Braulio Pérez Marchant, Diccionario biográfico de El Salvador (Santa Tecla, El Salvador: Escuela Tipográfica Salesiana, 1937); L. A. Ward, ed., "Libro Azul" de El Salvador (San Salvador: Bureau de Publicidad de la America Latina, 1916).

117. Corruption in politics was one of the trademarks of the nineteenth century. At least six of the twenty-one old families had a relative or two in the presidency, and all of them had relatives in high places at some time or another. (This is not to say that the only way to succeed was to steal money; the skills to succeed in politics were similar to the skills to succeed in business. Besides, it also took some talent to keep the money for more than a century. There were quite a few casualties.)

118. These data precede the land reform.

119. It is impossible to know the exact proportion of non-Spanish immigrants relative to the rest of the population; the Salvadoran census does not ask people about their national origin. A look at the telephone directory suggests that it is exceedingly small. I would be very surprised if it was anywhere close to 5 percent.

120. O'Reilly, despatch to Foreign Office, December 3, 1826, FO 15-5.

121. This is the same family that registered the Santa Ana Central Coffee Co. in London in 1900. See n. 34.

122. E. Alvin Fidanque et al., Kol Shearith Israel: A Hundred Years of Jewish Life in Panama (Panama: Congregation Kol Shearith Israel, 1977), p. 139.

123. The number has no meaning based on an objective criterion. Some social scientists advocate a higher number. An aristocratic Salvadoran lady has remarked that the number is totally inaccurate: "We are only three families," she stated. She has no credentials as a social scientist.

124. J. LaFerriére, De Paris à Guatémala , p. 163.

125. Rafael Reyes, Apuntamientos , p. 85.

126. Chatfield, despatch to Foreign Office, June 26, 1837, FO 15-19.

127. This document is owned by Juan Francisco Aguilar Bustamante, a direct descendant of the planter.