A TYPICAL COAST SCENE.
The foreign debt of Chile is in the neighbourhood of $100,000,000, most of which is held by the Rothschild interests. Much of this debt was contracted during the period of military expansion. Great quantities of paper money were issued by various administrations, and, as a result, the peso dropped in value. The gold peso has a fixed value of thirty-two cents in United States currency, and the paper peso is worth about twenty-one cents. The gradual drop in value of the currency has made railroad travel on the government lines and postage the cheapest in South America. It has also prevented much internal development. At the present time a number of cities are installing hydraulic electric plants, which are very practical for this country. Several schemes are under consideration for port developments, of which the work at Valparaiso will be the most important. Concepción, Talcahuano and Corral, Iquique and Antofagasta, will also come in for their share. Several irrigation projects are now being constructed which will add almost two hundred thousand acres of irrigated land suitable for agriculture. The electrification of the state railroad between Valparaiso and Santiago will also doubtless be one of the developments of the near future.
The postal and telegraph systems of the republic are good. There are more than one thousand post offices, and the amount of mail transported is very large. Newspapers circulate absolutely free, and domestic postage is lower than in the United States. Foreign letters only cost three cents for postage. There are more than eighteen thousand miles of telegraph wires stretched across the country. A wireless telegraph station has been opened at Valparaiso with a radius of eight hundred miles, and others will be opened very soon at other places, including the Straits district, where the wild and undeveloped nature of the country makes the stretching and maintenance of overhead wires difficult.
Like all the South American republics Chile is greatly in need of immigration. With such a variety of climate it could afford congenial homes for people from almost any country. A few thousand of immigrants come in each year, from three to five, but that number is paltry. Tens of thousands could be assimilated if they were agriculturalists. Argentina, with her broad level acres, is too near, and draws twice as many as all the other republics of South America together. Wages are higher there, too, and the Italians and Spaniards, who comprise the greater proportion of those seeking new homes in South America, are drawn there. A few Boer colonies were established in Chile after the war in the Transvaal, but the total number was not large.
One unfortunate condition in Chile is the unusually high death rate. This has been placed as high as seventy per thousand, but this rate would only be in exceptional instances. It is a fact, however, that the cities of Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepción will frequently show a mortality rate of fifty to the thousand of population. The average for the whole republic is about thirty-five per thousand, which is nearly double the death rate for countries in the temperate zone. As Chile is not in the torrid zone, it is not subject to epidemics of yellow fever or other tropical scourges. Foreigners who live there find the climate, especially in the central part, not only delightful, but healthful, and very old people are quite common. The reason for this condition of affairs is the indifference to personal comforts and sanitation of the roto. This leads to a frightful mortality among the children. Occasionally there are severe epidemics of smallpox, and the measles has caused great ravages among children.
Statistics show that in some years, even with the large birth rate among the lower classes, the births exceed the deaths by only a few thousands. It is a condition that demands action by the state, for the government is paternal in its character, and is depended on by the people to look after these things. The sturdiness of the roto may be due to the law of the survival of the fittest, for only those who possess a sound constitution reach manhood. One who can survive the lack of comforts and harsh conditions of life to which he is subjected, and reach manhood, is at least robust if not cultured or refined. There is, indeed, much room for improvement in the sanitary conditions of the cities in the sections occupied by the poor, and some measures have been taken in recent years. For the nation it would be a good economic policy, as the decrease in the death rate would aid in giving the population so much needed for the development of the country.
Chile dates her independence from Spain from the 18th of September, 1810, and last year was celebrated as her first centennial. On this day, in the year 1910, was laid the corner stone of a great monument in commemoration of that event. This was participated in by the President of Argentina and other officials of that neighbouring republic. This was but natural, for the soldiers of both countries fought and bled side by side at Maipu, Chacabuco and other places. A notable historic parade, with the costumes and military characteristics of that period, was a feature of the celebration. It represented the march of the victorious patriot army into Santiago after its evacuation by the Spaniards. The granaderos, a military organization in Buenos Aires which wears the same uniform as in the time of San Martin, came over from that city to take part. The parade halted in front of the statue of San Martin and saluted that noble hero. Solemn religious services and social events made up a day that will long be notable in the Chilean capitol. Elaborate decorations had been erected all over the city, and especially on the Alameda where the parades took place.
Almost the entire month of September was given up to the festivities incident to this national centennial throughout the entire republic. There was scarcely a town or village that did not have its local fiesta. Horse races, theatrical performances, fireworks, torchlight processions, etc., were all included in the list of events. A naval review was held in Valparaiso, in which four ships of the United States took part with those of Chile and other nations. An industrial Exposition was held in Valparaiso, and an Exposition of Fine Arts in Santiago. The death of President Montt and his successor, both within a month preceding the beginning of the festivities, cast somewhat of a gloom upon the occasion, but it could not mar the festal spirit in a very marked degree.
The relations between Chile and the United States have, in a number of instances, been considerably strained. As a result there was for many years an existant prejudice against the Yanqui. The first occasion arose during the war between Peru and Chile, when the United States offered its mediation, which was resented by Chile because that country desired to reap the spoils of war. Another instance happened during the Balmaceda administration. During his term, and the struggles which resulted between himself and Congress, the sympathies of the United States were with the President. A minister sent to the United States by the revolutionists, after they had established a junta at Iquique, and were in possession of the customs throughout northern Chile, was refused recognition by President Harrison. The steamship Itata, belonging to the Chilean line, which at that time ran as far as San Francisco, was seized and held for some time because she was loaded with arms and ammunition intended for the revolutionists. Although the vessel escaped it was followed by a United States cruiser and overtaken at Iquique, where the revolutionist junta turned it over to the cruiser and it was taken back to San Francisco. This kept the opponents of the government out of much-needed supplies.
Later arose what is known as the “Baltimore incident.” Admiral Schley, in charge of that gun boat, had been sent to Chile to protect American interests. He sailed freely in and out from one port to another, and was charged by the revolutionists with giving information to the government party of their movements. As the navy was all on the side of the revolutionists, they claimed that only in this way could the other party on land have secured certain information. Admiral Schley denied the accusations, and all of these charges were afterwards proven to be false. Near the close of that internecine struggle a number of sailors and others from the Baltimore had gone ashore at Valparaiso. While in a rather disreputable saloon in that city an altercation arose between some Chilean soldiers and the party of American marines. One of the Chileans was knocked down, and a general fight resulted in which the Yankees were assaulted with clubs, knives and revolvers. One American was killed instantly, another died from his injuries a short time later, and a score of others were more or less seriously injured. In the diplomatic correspondence which followed, an indemnity was courteously demanded by the United States, to which an almost insulting reply was made by Chile. International trouble threatened for a while, but Chile made apologies and paid the sum of $75,000 as compensation. The matter was then dropped, but the anti-American feeling did not evaporate as quickly as the war-cloud.