CHAPTER XVII
PRESENT CONDITIONS AND FUTURE POSSIBILITIES
Nitrates have heretofore formed the chief wealth of Chile, and will continue to do so for some time in the future. But agricultural and industrial development will eventually overshadow all else—even the saltpetre deposits. The great central valley will be the chief centre of a permanent and growing population. In this region all kinds of farming, fruit-growing and stock-raising, flourish. Temperate and semi-tropical products grow, for the orange and the grape, the pear and the apple are found side by side. It not only grows enough for home consumption, but large quantities of grain are exported. The raising of live stock, especially cattle and hogs, is continually on the increase. Agriculture in this valley is susceptible of very great expansion. The proprietors of the large haciendas are satisfied with comparatively small returns from their lands, and this fact retards the development through its lack of encouragement to the small farmer. There is no doubt that small farms would add greatly to the production of this fertile valley, because the effectiveness of each acre would be increased. More than sixty thousand acres are set out in grapes alone. The beet root has been introduced and is said to grow very well.
Then come the forest lands of the southern provinces, which must certainly prove a source of great natural riches in the not distant future. Tierra del Fuego promises great things in the way of sheep-raising. Sheep grow an especially fine quality of silky wool there, which brings a good price in the market. There are already several million head of sheep in that district.
Chile still has a wealth of undiscovered mineral treasures within her boundaries. The labour, transportation and fuel problem have heretofore been the drawbacks, as well as isolation from the world’s consumption. In the northern part of the republic, at the coast ports, coal costs almost ten dollars per ton, a price that does not stimulate its use. In the interior it is still higher because of the cost of transportation. The government has enacted very favourable mining laws. A discoverer of a new claim is entitled to fifteen hectares, or about thirty-six acres. An ordinary mining claim is only one-third as large. No person can file more than one claim at a time in a district, but other names are oftentimes substituted in order to group claims together. Development of a claim is not compulsory, and the tax upon undeveloped claims is very low, so that it is not a burdensome proposition to hold a claim as long as the law allows. Many wildcat companies have been organized in Chile, as elsewhere, and there has been much speculation in these stocks. It is not difficult to interest the Latin people in any form of gambling or speculation.
Chile promises great development in manufacturing. In fact, Chile is more likely to become a commercial nation than any republic of South America. There are already more than eight thousand industrial establishments of all kinds. Tanning of leather, making of shoes, refining of chemical products, woollen and cotton mills, etc., are included in these. The government policy has been one of protection and, in some instances, of actual bounties. Sugar refineries have thus been built up which refine the raw product imported from Peru. They now grind much of their own wheat. Some of the railway equipment used on the national railroads is made in the country. The roto seems to make a competent workman in the factories. The coal mines and prevalence of water power almost everywhere gives Chile a great advantage over her neighbour, Argentina, in the way of manufacturing advantages.
Although the operation of the national railways has been unprofitable, and permeated with gross mismanagement and graft, yet the dogged persistence with which the parallel iron rails have been spread over the country has been most commendable. The longitudinal railway has been pushed little by little each year, and sometimes at the expense of national sacrifice. The first transandine railway is now an accomplished fact, and another route now occupies national attention. After the settlement of the boundary question with Argentina, the vast sums that had been expended annually in preparing for war were diverted to internal development. The beneficial results can easily be traced in both cities and country. The fearful earthquake of 1906 caused a severe back-set, as the government was obliged to step in and aid in the rebuilding of its principal port, Valparaiso.
A MARKET SCENE, VALPARAISO.