Politics is the most genteel occupation in Chile to-day, for the army, navy and church, formerly so popular with the Spaniards, no longer appeal to the Chileno of good and influential family. A government appointment means easy or no work, fair pay, and less danger than martial occupations, where the call to arms might come at any time. It is not because of lack of courage, for no braver or more courageous people can be found in South America than these same Chileans, who sit in the cafés and drink their spirits or puff tobacco wrapped in thin paper. With the Chilean a valiant spirit covers a multitude of sins. His greatest boast is the courage of his race. He is willing to make almost any kind of a personal sacrifice for his country, if the occasion demands, but to pay taxes is a hardship.
The Chileans resemble very much the Irish in some of their characteristics. One of these is their love of fighting, and the Chileans have made about the best soldiers of any of the South American people. They have an intense spirit and patriotism, which has shown itself in their wars and revolutions. In addition to the Spanish blood a large percentage have more or less of the blood of the Araucanian Indians, who were the most stubborn race to conquer of any that the Spaniards encountered in South America. As soldiers the Chileans have no sense of mercy, and this characteristic has shown itself in all of their wars. They are impetuous, impulsive, passionate and generous, but have very little self-control. Many of them fight simply for the love of fighting, just as do many of the Irish, who seem to scrap simply for the sake of scrapping.
The Chileno as a rule has a fiery temper. He loves a fight. It is not a fist fight that he will indulge in, but it must be a fight with revolvers, or, better yet, with knives. The knife is an indispensable equipment with the roto. It used to be said that as many lives were lost in a Chilean fair as in a decent battle. It is a sad fact that murders are extremely frequent, and scarcely a day passes in Santiago or Valparaiso without some fatal affray. Aguardiente may be placed at the bottom of most of these, just as rum is the primary cause of most of the murders in the United States. It inflames the naturally hot temper of the race and brings out all the passions of envy, hatred and jealousy. The death penalty is seldom inflicted, although sentence is frequently imposed. The prisoners are kept in confinement, and their sentence commuted from time to time. If the convicted one belongs to a family of prominence, he will eventually be released; if of poorer origin, he may be sent to some remote section of the country and set to work. Among the rotos there is a general contempt for death, which also adds to the prevalence of murders, and sometimes of brigandage in the mountains. A little judicious weeding out of some of these criminals would not be a bad thing for the country.
The rotos constitute the masses in Chile. In the country the roto is a peon or inquilino,—an agriculturalist; in the city he is a longshoreman—a roustabout. In all of them there is a race admixture with the white race. Of the native races this mixture is not all Araucanian, for there are at least ten distinct aboriginal tribes. This roto is not always an agreeable companion, for he is not generally so cleanly as he might be. But he is not a hopeless element in society. His vices are generally the result of a lack of restraining power of the passions. His virtues are independence and industry. He is a prejudiced individual, and persists in his prejudices. He is intensely patriotic, and has fought the battles of his country—and always in the ranks. Neither in the army nor in the navy has he been permitted to rise above this position.
Peonage is the common form of labour on the large landed estates, although it is somewhat more favourable to the labourer than in Mexico or Peru. The labourer, or peon, is rented a small tract of land, including a little hut, and is allowed to grow his own vegetables. He may also be allowed to pasture a few animals. In return, he must work, or provide labour, for the hacendado as required. For this he is paid a certain small wage. The landlord allows him credit for supplies at the store, which is invariably a part of the establishment, at prices which mean a good profit. As long as he is indebted to the owner, the peon must stay on the place. If he is even in his account, he is at liberty to depart wherever the notion takes him.
The proprietor is a magistrate, and has power to put a man in irons if he deems it necessary. As a rule the peons do not change employers often, and it is seldom that one is compelled to leave. They are not ambitious, and a living, permission to celebrate holidays, and, perhaps, get drunk occasionally, constitutes their idea of happiness. So long as these conditions exist the peon does not seek anything better, for, to his mind, such a condition is ideal in itself. He has,
“The sun, and moon and air,
And never a bit of the burthen of care;
And with all our caring, what more have we?”
The landlord, on his part, is satisfied, for he has labour at hand at a small cost, just as his fathers had before him. It is true that it takes more labourers of this kind to accomplish a given amount of work, but the total cost is still comparatively small.