Panimávida
Said His Excellency to me: "What Chile needs is population. Here we have thousands upon thousands of acres of the richest land in the world lying idle, because there is nobody to cultivate it. Until we have the proper number of inhabitants there is no use to cultivate these lands, because Chile produces four times more of an abundance of fruit than she can consume. You see how cheap fruit and wine is; there is an over production. Every year a million tons go to waste because there is no market. She cannot export them because the United States and Argentina are nearer to the European markets and the freight rates would eat up the profits. As there is a great demand for grain, people have gone more and more into the growing of cereals but as yet this industry is in its infancy. It should be encouraged for now there is grown just enough wheat to meet the internal demand."
"Supposing," I asked, "that Chile had four times more population than she now has, would she not have to import her wheat?"
"Never," he replied, "as there are here millions of hectares of the best wheat lands in the world that can be bought for a song. They are now lying idle. Something has to take the place of the timber of the southern provinces. When it is gone it will have to be cereals."
"I believe," he continued, "in encouraging a large immigration, chiefly from the northern countries—the United States, Germany, Scandinavia, and Great Britain. Their inhabitants have more initiative than the Latins and intermarried with the natives make a strong blood. Our people and those of all the Latin countries excepting the Frenchmen lack initiative and that is what we need. The Chilenos are content to live as they have lived for decades, which is all very well but it is unprogressive. Thanks to the British we now have a fairly large merchant marine; to the Germans is due the credit of the prosperous condition of the southern provinces. The only drawback to the foreigners here is that they run too much to cliques. They should scatter more. We should also have more capital to start factories, but I do not believe in, nor shall I encourage, any industry that will reap the profits here to spend outside of the country."
A couple of hours south of Panimávida are the springs of Quinamávida. They are said to be equally as good as those of Panimávida, but the hotel there is poorly managed and there is a lack of capital to well advertise its waters.
On the return to Linares something went wrong with the locomotive, which in appearance was similar to the dinky engines one sees in the lumber plants at home used in hauling lumber through the yards. A priest on the train who had a mechanical turn of mind got out of the car, and jumping into the engine cab soon had the locomotive in running order, much to the amazement of the train crew.
Southward from Linares the main line of the railroad passes through Parral, population 10,047, San Carlos, population 8499, Chillán, and Bulnes, population 3689. San Carlos is famous for its melons and Bulnes is likewise so for its wines. At San Rosendo, 315 miles south of Santiago, the train crosses a branch of the Bio-Bio River, which is named the Rio Claro in want of another name and Araucania is entered.