Village Scene, Central Chile.
The area of Chile is 289,829 square miles, about the size of the States of Texas and Arkansas combined, but the opposite to them in geographical contour. The population December 31, 1915, was 3,641,477 or 12.57 inhabitants to the square mile.
Each locality in Chile is famous for some special natural production or manufacture. Bywords denote the superiority of one article over others of a like species such as: Black pottery from Chillán, reed baskets from Linares, beer from Valdivia, marble from Valparaiso, cider and butter from Osorno, figs from Huasco, and frutillas from Puerto Varas. (Frutilla is the name given to a diminutive and highly flavored strawberry that grows both wild and in the domestic state.)
Chile has a system of longitudinal railways, nearly completed, which are of the greatest military value. Nearly two thousand miles from Puerto Montt in the south to Tacna in the north, with the exception of a short stretch between Pisagua and Arica, are open to traffic, and at no place do they touch the sea excepting at Coquimbo and their terminals. In quick time troops and ammunition can be moved to any part of the republic. There are many spurs and branch lines that run to the coast, to the mining centers, and to the numerous inland towns. Most of the railroads are broad gauge; some are both broad and narrow; others are narrow, while in the central valley there are a few light railways, for example the one between Linares and Panimávida, and the coöperative railway in the Province of Ñuble. There is a heavy traffic both in freight and in passengers, but sad to relate, most of the railways owned by the government, which constitute the majority, are run at a loss. This is caused in a great measure by the large personnel employed, most of whom are the henchmen of the politicians in power in Santiago. To overcome the monetary loss, one half of the regular number of trains have been taken off from the service schedule so that at the time of this writing one cannot enjoy a ride from Santiago to Concepcion on an express train or in a Pullman car as previously. The only express trains are those that run between Santiago and Valparaiso and vice versa. Even though but one half of the trains are still in operation, the State lines are still showing a deficit, and there is talk of leasing them to private corporations. The cars are mostly of American manufacture although some of the sleeping cars are English. The locomotives, formerly German, are now for the most part manufactured in Valparaiso. The narrow gauge lines in the north, which are in the nitrate regions, all pay for they are of private ownership and there is no chance of giving unnecessary employment. The Transandine Railroad, narrow gauge, which formerly had trains running thrice a week from Los Andes to Mendoza, Argentina, now has through trains only once a week, and the trip is made in the daytime on account of dangerous curves.
The Valdivia Breweries Company, Valdivia
Formerly the Anwandter Brewery
There is but little manufacturing in Chile, most of it being centralized in Valparaiso. The great drawback is on account of the lack of iron; some of this mineral has been discovered in the Province of Coquimbo, and I understand that the property known as La Higuera is on a paying basis. There is plenty of coal, the mines at Lota being the largest, but it is of an inferior quality. Outside of Valparaiso, the only manufactures of importance are those of beer and flour. In this respect the manufacturing conditions are similar to those of Argentina. Nearly every small town in the grain belt, the country lying south of the Bio-Bio, has its flour mills; as the brewing business is in the hands of a trust, there is but a small opportunity in this field unless one starts with considerable capital. The beer trust, capitalized at 18,000,000 pesos ($3,070,800) paid in, includes all the large breweries in Chile excepting two firms, that of Aubel in Osorno which is flourishing as an independent brewery and that of Keller which has two breweries, one in Concepcion and the other in Talca. Those belonging to the trust are the United Breweries Company in Limache-Cousiño, the Valdivia Breweries Company in Valdivia, the Andres Ebner Brewery in Santiago, the Calera Brewery in Calera, and the Floto Brewery in La Serena, the last named being a small one. Scattered through Chile are a good number of independent breweries all run on a small scale and catering only to local trade such as Horstmann's Brewery in Santiago, a brewery in San Felipe, one in Chillán, one in La Union, one in Puerto Montt, and two in Punta Arenas. Since the Anwandter firm in Valdivia sold out to the trust their successors brew a much better beer than previously was brewed there, but I am sorry to say that the product of one of the trust breweries, that of Calera, is vileness incarnate. Beer is cheap in Chile, three cents buying a schuper, but it likewise is apt to go to the head and make the imbiber see double lamp-posts. The German residents claim that it is mild, yet I have seen many of them unable to pace a crack in the floor after imbibing a few libations of it. The saloons in Santiago do a big business but they have to pay a high rent which cuts into their profits.