The principal imports comprise live animals, fish, coffee, maté (Ilex paraguayensis), tea, sugar, wood and its manufactures, structural iron and steel, hardware and machinery, railway and telegraph supplies, lime and cement, glass and earthenware, cotton, woollen and silk manufactures, coal, petroleum, paints, &c. Import duties are imposed at the rates of 60, 35, 15, 5 and 25%, and certain classes of merchandise are admitted free. The higher rates are designed chiefly to protect national industries, while wines, liquors, cigars and tobacco are admitted at the lowest rate. The 25% rate covers all articles not mentioned in the schedules, which number 2260 items. The duty free list includes raw cotton, certain descriptions of live animals, agricultural machinery and implements, metal wire, fire engines, structural iron and steel, and machinery in general. The tariff is nominally ad valorem, but as the rates are imposed on fixed official valuations it is essentially specific. The duties on imports in 1905 amounted to 91,321,860 pesos, and in 1906 to 103,507,556 pesos. The principal exports are gold, silver, copper (bars, regulus and ores), cobalt and its ores, lead and its ores, vanadium ores, manganese, coal, nitrate of soda, borate of lime, iodine, sulphur, wheat and guano. Nitrate of soda forms from 70 to 75% of the exports, and the royalty received from it is the principal source of national revenue, yielding about £4,000,000 per annum. In 1904 mineral products made up fully seven-eighths of the exports, while agricultural and pastoral products did not quite reach one-eighth.

Agriculture.—According to the census returns about one-half the population of Chile lives in rural districts, and is engaged nominally in agricultural pursuits. What may be called central Chile is singularly well adapted to agriculture. The northern part of this region has a sub-tropical climate, light rainfall and a long, dry summer, but with irrigation it produces a great variety of products. Alfalfa, or lucerne (Medicago sativa), is grown extensively for shipment to the mining towns of the desert provinces. There were no less than 108,384 acres devoted to it in 1904, a considerable part of which was in the irrigated river valleys of Coquimbo and Aconcagua. Considerable attention is also given to fruit cultivation in these subtropical provinces, where the orange, lemon, fig, melon, pineapple and banana are produced with much success. Some districts, especially in Coquimbo, have gained a high reputation for the excellence of their preserved fruits. The vine is cultivated all the way from Atacama and Coquimbo, where excellent raisins are produced, south to Concepción, where some of the best wines of Chile are manufactured. In 1904 there were 93,370 acres devoted to grape production in this region, the product for that year being 30,184,704 gallons of wine and 212,366 gallons of brandy. The universal beverage of the people—chicha—is made from Indian corn. Although wheat is produced in the northern part of this region, it is grown with greater success in the south, where the rainfall is heavier and the average temperature is lower. There were 1,044,025 acres devoted to this cereal in 1903, which produced 17,910,614 bushels, or an average of 17 bushels (of 60 lb) to the acre. In 1904 the production was increased to 19,999,324 bushels, but in 1905 it fell off to 15,771,477 bushels. At one time Chile supplied Argentina and the entire West Coast as far north as California with wheat, but Argentina and California have become wheat producers and exporters, and Chile has been driven from all her old consuming markets. Great Britain is now her best customer, and Brazil takes a small quantity for milling mixtures. Chile has been badly handicapped by her crude methods of cultivation, but these are passing away and modern methods are taking their place. Formerly wheat was grown chiefly in the region of long rainless summers, and the ripened grain was thrown upon uncovered earth floors and threshed by horses driven about over the straw, but this antiquated process was not suited to the climate and enterprise of the more southern provinces, and the modern threshing-machine has been introduced. Barley is largely produced, chiefly for home consumption. Maize (Indian corn) is grown in every part of Chile except the rainy south where the grain cannot ripen, and is a principal article of food. The green maize furnishes two popular national dishes, choclos and humitas, which are eaten by both rich and poor. Potatoes also are widely cultivated, but the humid regions of the south, particularly from Valdivia to Chiloé, produce the greatest quantity. The total annual production exceeds three million bushels. The kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is another staple product in every part of the country, and is perhaps the most popular article of food among all classes of Chileans. Peas are largely cultivated south of the Maule. Walnuts have become another important product and are exported, the average annual produce being 48,000 to 50,000 bushels. The olive was introduced from Spain in colonial times and is widely distributed through the north central provinces, but its economic importance is not great. Of the European fruits introduced into the southern provinces, the apple has been the most successful. It grows with little care and yields even better than in its original home. The peach, apricot, plum, quince and cherry are also cultivated with success. Wild strawberries are found on both sides of the Andes; the cultivated varieties are unsurpassed, especially those of the province of Concepción.

The pastoral industries of Chile have been developed chiefly for the home market. The climate is admirably suited to cattle-raising, as the winters are mild and pasture is to be found throughout the whole year, but the proximity of the Argentine pampas is fatal to its profitable development. The government has been trying to promote cattle-breeding by levying duties (as high as 16 pesos a head) on cattle imported from Argentina, but with no great success. The importation, which formerly numbered about 140,000 per annum, still numbers not far from 100,000 head. There are some districts in central Chile where cattle-raising is the principal occupation, but the long dry summers limit the pasturage on the open plains and prevent the development which perhaps would otherwise result. As in Argentina, beef is generally dried in the sun to make charqui (jerked beef), in which form it is exported to the desert provinces. Horse and mule breeding are carried on to a limited extent, and since the opening of the far South more attention has been given to sheep. Goats and swine are raised in small numbers on the large estates, but in Chiloé swine-raising is one of the chief occupations of the people. Some attention has been given to the production of butter and cheese, but the industry has attained no great importance. A new industry which has made noteworthy progress, however, is that of bee-keeping, which is greatly favoured by the mild climate and the long season and abundance of flowers.

Manufactures.—The manufacturing interests of Chile have become influential enough to force a high tariff policy upon the country. They have been restricted principally to articles of necessity—food preparations, beverages, textiles and wearing apparel, leather and leatherwork, woodwork, pottery, chemicals, ironware, &c. In earlier days, when Chile had less competition in the production of wheat, flour mills were to be found everywhere in the wheat-producing provinces, and flour was one of the leading exports. Concepción, Talca, and other provincial capitals developed important milling industries, which were extended to all the chief towns of the newer provinces south of the Bio-Bio. There are over 500 large flour mills in Chile, the greater part of which are equipped with modern roller-process machinery. The development of the coal deposits in the provinces of Concepción and Arauco has made possible other industries besides those of smelting mineral ores, and numerous small manufacturing establishments have resulted, especially in Santiago, Valparaiso, Copiapó and other places where no permanent water power exists. Tanning leather is an important industry, especially in the south, some of the Chilean trees, notably the algarrobilla (Balsamocarpon brevifolium) and lingue (Persea lingue) being rich in tannin. To provide a market for the leather produced, factories have been established for the manufacture of boots and shoes, harness and saddles, and under the protection of a high tariff are doing well. Brewing and distilling have made noteworthy progress, the domestic consumption of their products being very large. The breweries are generally worked by Germans and are situated chiefly in the south, though there are large establishments in Santiago and Valparaiso. Small quantities of their products are exported. Furniture and carriage factories, cooperages, and other manufactories of wood are numerous and generally prosperous. There are likewise a large number of factories for canning and preserving fruits and vegetables. Foundries and machine shops have been established, especially for the manufacture of railway material. The sugar beet has been added to the productions of Chile, and with it the manufacture on a small scale of beet sugar. There is one large refinery at Viña del Mar, however, which imports raw cane sugar from Peru for refining. The manufacture of textiles is carried on at Santiago and El Tomé, and numerous small factories are devoted to clothing of various descriptions. The great mining industries have led to a noteworthy development in the production of chemicals, and a considerable number of factories are engaged in the production of pharmaceutical preparations, perfumeries, soaps, candles, &c.

Mining.—The most important of all the national industries, however, is that of mining. In 1903 there were 11,746 registered mines, on which mining dues were paid, the aggregate produce being valued at 178,768,170 pesos. These mines gave employment to 46,592 labourers, of whom 24,445 were employed by the nitrate companies, 13,710 in various metalliferous mines, 6437 in coal mines, and 2000 in other mines. Gold is found in nearly all the provinces from Antofagasta to Concepción, and in Llanquihue, Chiloé and Magallanes territory, but the output is not large. There are a great many placer washings, among which are some extensive deposits near the Straits of Magellan. Silver is found principally on the elevated slopes and plateaus of the Andes in the desert provinces of the north. The second most important mining industry in Chile, however, is that of copper, which is found in the provinces of Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, Aconcagua, Valparaiso, Santiago, O’Higgins, Colchagua, Curicó and Talca, but the richest deposits are in the three desert provinces. Chile was once the largest producer of copper in the world, her production in 1860-1864 being rated at 60 to 67% of the total. Low prices afterwards caused a large shrinkage in the output, but she is still classed among the principal producers. Iron mining has never been developed in Chile, although extensive deposits are said to exist. Manganese ores are mined in Atacama and Coquimbo, and their export is large. The other metals reported in the official returns are lead, cobalt and vanadium, of which only small quantities are produced. Bolivian tin is exported from Chilean ports. Among the non-metallic minerals are nitrate of soda, borate of lime, coal, salt and sulphur, together with various products derived from these minerals, such as iodine, sulphuric acid, &c. Guano is classed among the mineral products and still figures as an export, though the richest Chilean deposits were exhausted long before the war with Peru. Of non-metallic products nitrate of soda is by far the most important. Extensive deposits of the salt (called caliche in its crude, impure state) in the provinces of Tacna, Tarapacá, Antofagasta and Atacama owe their existence to the rainless character of the climate. Those of the first-named province have been discovered since the war between Chile and Peru, and have greatly extended the prospective life of the industry. The nitrate fields, which lie between 50 and 100 m. from the coast and at elevations exceeding 2000 ft. above sea-level, have been officially estimated at 89,177 hectares (344 sq. m.) and to contain 2316 millions of metric quintals (254,760,000 short tons). The first export of nitrates was in 1830, and in 1884 it reached an aggregate of 550,000 tons, and in 1905 of 1,603,140 tons. The latter figure is apparently about the production agreed upon between the Chilean government and the nitrate companies to prevent overproduction and a resulting decline in price. Nearly all the oficinas, or working plants, are owned and operated by British companies, and the railways of this desolate region are generally owned by the same companies and form a part of the working plant. Borate of lime also furnishes another important export, though a less valuable one than nitrate of soda. Extensive deposits of borax and common salt have been found in the same region, which with several other products of these saline deposits, such as iodine, add considerably to its exports. The coal deposits of Chile are found chiefly in the provinces of Concepción and Arauco, the principal mines being on the coast of the Bay of Arauco at Coronel and Lota. Coal is found also in Valdivia, on the island of Chiloé, and in the vicinity of Punta Arenas on the Straits of Magellan. Sulphur is found in the volcanic regions of the north, but the principal mines are in the provinces of Talca.

The relative magnitude and value of these mineral products may be seen in the following abstract from the official returns of 1903:—

Unit.Quantity.Value pesos
(of 18d.).
Goldgrammes1,424,6251,745,115
Silver”39,012,3821,284,308
Copperkilogrs.29,923,13221,438,397
Lead”70,9849,097
Cobalt ore”284,99099,695
Lead and Vanadium ores”2,000
Manganese ore”17,110,000682,400
Coaltons827,1128,250,720
Nitratesmetric quintals14,449,200140,102,012
Iodinekilogrs.157,4441,687,327
Borates”16,878,9132,363,048
Saltmetric quintals162,635324,270
Sulphurkilogrs.3,440,642337,515
Sulphuric acid”1,600,000176,000
Guanometric quintals111,335267,466
Variouskilogrs.200800

Government.—Chile is a centralized republic, whose government is administered under the provisions of the constitution of 1833 and the amendments of the 9th of August 1888, the 11th of August 1890, the 20th of August 1890, the 22nd of December 1891, and the 7th of July 1892. According to this constitution the sovereignty resides in the nation, but suffrage is restricted to married citizens over twenty-one and unmarried citizens over twenty-five years of age, not in domestic service, who can read and write, and who are the owners of real estate, or who have capital invested in business or industry, or who receive salaries or incomes proportionate in value to such real estate as investment; and as 75% of the population is classed as illiterate, and a great majority of the labouring classes is landless, badly paid, and miserably poor, it is apparent that political sovereignty in Chile is the well-guarded possession of a small minority. The dominant element in this minority is the rich landholding interest, and the constitution and the laws of the first half-century were framed for the special protection of that interest.

The supreme powers of government are vested in three distinct branches—legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative power is exercised by a national congress, which consists of two chambers—-a senate of 32 members, and a chamber of deputies of 94 members. The membership of the lower house is in the proportion of one deputy for each 30,000 of the departmental population, and each fraction over 15,000; and the senate is entitled to one-third the membership of the chamber. The senators are elected by provinces and by a direct cumulative vote, and hold office for six years, one-half of the senate being renewed every three years. The deputies are elected by departments and by a direct cumulative vote, and hold office for three years. Both senators and deputies must have reached the age of thirty-six, must have a specified income, and are required to serve without salary. A permanent committee of 14 members represents the two chambers during the congressional recess and exercises certain supervisory and advisory powers in the administration of public affairs. Congress convenes each year on the 1st of June and sits until the 1st of September, but the president may prorogue an ordinary session for a period of 50 days, and with the consent of the council of state may convene it in extraordinary session. Congress has the privilege of giving or withholding its confidence in the acts of the government.

The executive is a president who is elected for a term of five years and is ineligible for the next succeeding term. He is chosen by electors, who are elected by departments in the manner prescribed for deputies and in the proportion of three electors for each deputy. These elections are held on the 25th of June in the last year of a presidential term, the electors cast their votes on the 25th of July, and the counting takes place in a joint session of the two chambers of congress on the 30th of August, congress in joint session having the power to complete the election when no candidate has been duly chosen by the electors. The formal installation of the president takes place on the 18th of September, the anniversary of the declaration of national independence. In addition to the prerogatives commonly invested in his office, the president is authorized to supervise the judiciary, to nominate candidates for the higher ecclesiastical offices, to intervene in the enforcement of ecclesiastical decrees, papal bulls, &c., to exercise supervisory police powers, and to appoint the intendants of provinces and the governors of departments, who in turn appoint the sub-delegates and inspectors of subordinate political divisions. The president, who is paid £2250 per annum, must be native-born, not less than thirty years of age, and eligible for election to the lower house. He is assisted and advised by a cabinet of six ministers whose departments are: interior, foreign affairs, worship and colonization, justice and public instruction, war and marine, finance, industry and public works. In case of a vacancy in the presidential office, the minister of interior becomes the “vice-president of the republic” and discharges the duties of the executive office until a successor can be legally elected. A council of state of 12 members, consisting of the president, 6 members appointed by congress and 5 by the president, has advisory functions, and its approval is required in many executive acts and appointments.