CHILE. 



111 



Lynch, and Almirante Condell; 4 destroyers; 2 

 gunboats; 2 armed transports; and 7 first-class 

 and 8 smaller torpedo craft. The school-ship 

 Baquedano was not yet completed at the begin- 

 ning of 1901. The South American Steamship 

 Company, which receives a subvention of 125,000 

 pesos a year, is under obligation to adapt its 15 

 steamers for the transport service in case of war. 

 The navy was manned in 1898 by 199 officers, 

 155 employees, and 3,794 seamen. 



Commerce and Production. The total value 

 of imports in 1899 was 100,260,358 pesos, and of 

 domestic exports 163,106,133 pesos. The values in 

 pesos of the imports from and exports to various 

 countries were as follow: 



The imports of animal and vegetable products 

 was 17,696,659 pesos in value; of textile manu- 

 factures, 29,058,119 pesos; of raw materials, 21,- 

 089,398 pesos; of watches and jewelry, 2,091,536 

 pesos; of machinery, 12,695,066 pesos; of house- 

 hold furniture, 5,686,111 pesos; of paper, 2,940,975 

 pesos; of wines and spirits, 931,831 pesos; of 

 tobacco, 336,268 pesos; of ores and metals, 42,- 

 319 pesos; of articles connected with arts and sci- 

 ences, 837,045 pesos; of drugs, 1,690,254 pesos; 

 of arms and ammunition, 786,709 pesos; of mis- 

 cellaneous merchandise, 9,970,402 pesos. The ex- 

 ports of mineral substances were 137,637,603 pesos 

 in value; of agricultural produce, 10,597,870 

 pesos; of manufactures, 3,862,117 pesos; of wines 

 and spirits, 328,615 pesos; of animals and animal 

 products, 5,050,108 pesos; of miscellaneous do- 

 mestic products, 1,460,424 pesos; of foreign mer- 

 chandise, 1,573,819 pesos; of coin, 2,595,577 pesos. 

 Of the nitrate export 39 per cent, went to Ger- 

 many, 17.3 per cent, to France, 13.3 per cent, to 

 the United States, 11.2 per cent, to Great Britain, 

 and 10.9 per cent, to Belgium. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at the ports of Chile during 1899 was 7,267, of 10,- 

 016,704 tons; cleared, 7,154, of 9,738,769 tons. 



The merchant navy comprised 142 vessels, of 

 71,214 tons, of which 39, of 27,387 tons, were 

 steamers. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 total length of railroads in 1899 was 2,841 miles, 

 of which 1,223 miles belonged to the Government 

 and 1,618 miles to companies. The Government 

 lines cost 85,907,165 pesos to construct; receipts 

 in 1899 were 13,997,800 pesos; expenses, 13,911,783 

 pesos; number of passengers carried, 6,346,184 

 pesos; tons of freight, 2,089,330. 



The post-office in 1898 handled 55,404,009 pieces 

 of mail-matter in the internal and 6,519,281 pieces 

 in the international service; receipts were 1,791,881 

 francs, and expenses 2,122,195 francs. 



The Government telegraphs in 1899 had a total 

 length of 11,200 miles. The number of despatches 

 was 1,183,691. The length of telegraphs and cables 

 belonging to Companies and railroads was 3,860 

 miles. The length of telephone lines was 11,329 

 miles. 



Internal Affairs. The presidential election 

 which occurred in Chile in 1901 influenced all 



events in the early part of the year. Pedro Montt 

 was announced as the Liberal Conservative candi- 

 date early in February, and a month later .Jenuan 

 Riesco, a nephew of President Erni/nri/, was 

 nominated as the candidate of the Liberal Alli- 

 ance, the Government party. A special session of 

 Congress being called on JVlarch (>, the Cabi- 

 net resigned to give place to one to be com- 

 posed of Liberals only. The new ministry was 

 constituted with difficulty after a protracted 

 crisis. One that was formed by Amunategui Ri- 

 vera on March 15 did not meet with the approval 

 of Congress, which passed a vote of censure on 

 the following day. The President exhibited no 

 haste in appointing other ministers, and strained 

 relations bet\veen him and Congress resulted. 

 Julio Seegers, whom he commissioned to form a 

 ministry on April 2, was not successful in his 

 efforts. On April 21 a Cabinet was formed at last, 

 composed as follows: Prime Minister and Minis- 

 ter of the Interior, Anibal Zanartu; Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, Worship, and Colonization, Au- 

 gusto Orrego Luco; Minister of Justice and Edu- 

 cation, Venture Carvallo; Minister of Finance, 

 Luis Martiniane Rodriguez; Minister of War and 

 Marine, Gen. Vicente Palacios; Minister of In- 

 dustry and Public Works, Joaquin Fernandez 

 Blanco. Even then the crisis was not ended. On 

 May 1 the ministry was satisfactorily recon- 

 structed as follows: Minister of the Interior, 

 Anibal Zanartu; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Luis Rodriguez; Minister of Justice, Ramon Es- 

 cobar; Minister of Finance, Juan Sanfuentes; 

 Minister of War and Marine, Gen. Wenceslao Bul- 

 nes; Minister of Industry and Public Works, 

 Joaquin Blanco. On the same day President Er- 

 razuriz resigned his office into the hands of the 

 Minister of the Interior until after the presi- 

 dential election, asking leave of absence from Con- 

 gress until June 25, on the ground that repub- 

 Ifcan precepts and traditions forbade him to -con- 

 tinue in the exercise of the presidential authority 

 when a relative of his own was a candidate for 

 the presidency. Anibal Zanartu accordingly dis- 

 charged the presidential functions with the title of 

 Vice-President. The regular session of Congress 

 began on June 2. The Vice-President in his mes- 

 sage stated that the relations with the Argentine 

 Republic were satisfactory, and that the ques- 

 tions with Bolivia and Peru remained in abey- 

 ance. He expressed approval of the idea of arbi- 

 tration provided it did not interfere with national 

 independence and the rights of sovereignty. The 

 extension of a trunk railroad to the nitrate dis- 

 tricts and the laying of a cable were urged as of 

 pressing importance, while public works for which 

 money had been appropriated, causing a deficit 

 of $6,000,000 in the estimates, could be postponed. 

 New measures on education, law reform, public 

 health, police, and the condition of the working 

 classes were the legislative program. The election 

 for President would be conducted with the free- 

 dom guaranteed in the Constitution, and the con- 

 version law would be maintained in its integrity. 

 The presidential election was attended with some 

 disorder. In Valparaiso the police fired on sup- 

 porters of Senor Riesco, who was elected by a 

 decisive majority over Senor Montt. President 

 Errazuriz died on July 12, and Vice-President 

 Zanartu remained at the head of the executive 

 until Sept. 18, when President Riesco was in- 

 stalled. 



The industrial condition of Chile was more 

 favorable than it had been, the price of copper 

 having risen and the crisis in the nitrate trade 

 having been overcome by a combination of the 

 companies for restricting production. The efforts 



