Education.—Although Bolivia has a free and compulsory school system, education and the provision for education have made little progress. Only a small percentage of the people can read and write. Although Spanish is the language of the dominant minority, Quichua, Aymará and Guarani are the languages of the natives, who form a majority of the population. A considerable percentage of the Indians do not understand Spanish at all, and they even resist every effort to force it upon them. Even the cholos (mestizos) are more familiar with the native idioms than with Spanish, as is the case in some parts of Argentina and Paraguay. According to official estimates for 1901, the total number of primary schools in the republic was 733, with 938 teachers and 41,587 pupils—the total cost of their maintenance being estimated at 585,365 bolivianos, or only 14.07 bolivianos per pupil (about £1: 4: 6). The school enrolment was only one in 43.7 of population, compared with one in 10 for Argentina. The schools are largely under the control of the municipalities, though nearly half of them are maintained by the national government, by the Church and by private means. There were in the same year 13 institutions of secondary and 14 of superior instruction. The latter include so-called universities at Sucré (Chuquisaca), La Paz, Cochabamba, Tarija, Potosi, Santa Cruz and Oruro—all of which give instruction in law, the first three in medicine and the first four in theology. The university at Sucré, which dates from colonial times, and that at La Paz, are the only ones on the list sufficiently well equipped to merit the title. Secondary instruction is under the control of the universities, and public instruction in general is under the direction of a cabinet minister. All educational matters, however, are practically under the supervision of the Church. The total appropriation for educational purposes in 1901 was 756,943 bolivianos, or £66,232: 6s. There are a military academy at La Paz, an agricultural school at Umala in the department of La Paz, a mining and civil engineering school at Oruro, commercial schools at Sucré and Trinidad, and several mission schools under the direction of religious orders.
Religion.—The constitution of Bolivia, art. 2, defines the attitude of the republic toward the Church in the following words:—“The state recognizes and supports the Roman Apostolic Catholic religion, the public exercise of any other worship being prohibited, except in the colonies where it is tolerated.” This toleration is tacitly extended to resident foreigners belonging to other religious sects. The census of 1900 enumerated the Roman Catholic population at 1,609,365, and that of other creeds at 24,245, which gives the former 985 and the latter 15 in every thousand. The domesticated Indians profess the Roman Catholic faith, but it is tinged with the superstitions of their ancestors. They hold the clergy in great fear and reverence, however, and are deeply influenced by the forms and ceremonies of the church, which have changed little since the first Spanish settlements. Bolivia is divided into an archbishopric and three bishoprics. The first includes the departments of Chuquisaca, Oruro, Potosi, Tarija and the Chilean province of Antofagasta, with its seat at Sucré, and is known as the archbishopric of La Plata. The sees of the three bishoprics are La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Mission work among the Indians is entrusted to the Propaganda Fide, which has five colleges and a large number of missions, and receives a small subvention from the state. It is estimated that these missions have charge of fully 20,000 Indians. The annual appropriation for the Church is about £17,150. The religious orders, which have never been suppressed in Bolivia, maintain several convents.
Finance.—No itemized returns of receipts and expenditures are ever published, and the estimates presented to congress by the cabinet ministers furnish the only source from which information can be drawn. The expenditures are not large, and taxation is not considered heavy. The estimated revenues and expenditures for 1904 and 1905 at 21 pence per boliviano, were as follows: 1904, revenue £632,773: 15s., expenditure £748,571: 10s.; 1905, revenue £693,763: 17: 6, expenditure £828,937: 19: 9. The revenues are derived principally from duties and fees on imports, excise taxes on spirits, wines, tobacco and sugar, general, mining taxes and export duties on minerals (except silver), export duties on rubber and coca, taxes on the profits of stock companies, fees for licences and patents, stamp taxes, and postal and telegraph revenues. Nominally, the import duties are moderate, so much so that Bolivia is sometimes called a “free-trade country,” but this is a misnomer, for in addition to the schedule rates of 10 to 40% ad valorem on imports, there are a consular fee of 112% for the registration of invoices exceeding 200 bolivianos, a consumption tax of 10 centavos per quintal (46 kilogrammes), fees for viséing certificates to accompany merchandise in transit, special “octroi” taxes on certain kinds of merchandise controlled by monopolies (spirits, tobacco, &c.), and the import and consumption taxes levied by the departments and municipalities. The expenditures are chiefly for official salaries, subsidies, public works, church and mission support, justice, public instruction, military expenses, and interest on the public debt. The appropriations for 1905 were as follows: war, 2,081,119 bolivianos; finance and industry, 1,462,259; government and fomento, 2,021,428; justice and public instruction, 1,878,941.
The acknowledged public debt of the country is comparatively small. At the close of the war with Chile there was an indemnity debt due to citizens of that republic of 6,550,830 bolivianos, which had been nearly liquidated in 1904 when Chile took over the unpaid balance. This was Bolivia’s only foreign debt. In 1905 her internal debt, including 1,998,500 bolivianos of treasury bills, amounted to 6,243,270 bolivianos (£546,286). The government in 1903 authorized the issue of treasury notes for the department of Beni and the National Territory to the amount of one million bolivianos (£87,500), for the redemption of which 10% of the customs receipts of the two districts is set apart. The paper currency of the republic consists of bank-notes issued by four private banks, and is therefore no part of the public debt. The amount in circulation on the 30th of June 1903 was officially estimated at 9,144,254 bolivianos (£800,122), issued on a par with silver. The coinage of the country is of silver, nickel and copper. The silver coins are of the denominations of 1 boliviano, or 100 centavos, 50, 20, 10 and 5 centavos, and the issue of these coins from the Potosi mint is said to be about 1,500,000 bolivianos a year. The silver mining companies are required by law to send to the mint 20% of their product. The silver boliviano, however, is rarely seen in circulation because of the cheaper paper currency. To check the exportation of silver coin, the fractional denominations have been slightly debased. The nickel coins are of 5 and 10 centavos, and the copper 1 and 2 centavos.
The departmental revenues, which are derived from excise and land taxes, mining grants, tithes, inheritance taxes, tolls, stamp taxes, subsidies from the national treasury and other small taxes, were estimated at 2,296,172 bolivianos in 1903, and the expenditures at 2,295,791 bolivianos. The expenditures were chiefly for justice, police, public works, public instruction and the Church. The municipal revenues aggregated 2,317,670 bolivianos in 1902, and the expenditures 61,510 bolivianos in excess of that sum. These revenues are derived from a lighting tax, leases and ground rents, cemetery fees, consumption and market taxes, licences, tolls, taxes on hides and skins, personal and various minor taxes. There is a multiplication of taxes in trade which recalls the old colonial alcabala tax, and it serves to restrict commerce and augment the cost of goods in much the same way, if not to the same degree.
