234 VALPARAISO. 



The ordinary rates of interest being from three fourths to one per cent, per month, and the 

 peaceful condition of the country for ten to fifteen years offering security to foreign capitalists, 

 it is reasonable to infer that shippers have allowed a large part of the gradually accumulating 

 balances against Chile to remain invested there. There is another mode in which a part of the 

 $11,000,000 maybe explained away. The value of imports is not the cost at the place of 

 shipment, and shown by the invoices, but that of appraisers at the port of entry; so that a 

 merchant who brings goods into the market which have cost him $100, and for which sum only 

 he is responsible to the foreign creditor, finds himself subjected to duties on a valuation of $130 

 to $150, his shipment entered at the custom-house books at that amount, and an apparent deficit 

 of $30 to $50 thus created. Supposing only fourteen per cent, to have been added to the 

 invoice prices, and the whole indebtedness disappears. However, most of the houses having 

 large transactions only receive goods on commission, and of course are accountable to shippers 

 for the market value of their consignments; their charges for sales, guaranty, &c., being seven 

 and a half per cent. These firms have agents at many of the ports and interior towns on the 

 western side of the continent, and their business is so profitable that partners are able to retire 

 with handsome fortunes after twelve or fifteen years. 



Being almost without factories of any description, Chile is dependent on foreign nations for 

 every supply except food ; and even of this its yerba mate, coffee, and sugar are all imported. 

 Proportionally to its population, more of the last is consumed than in almost any other country; 

 the quantity introduced in 1850 being 13,600,850 pounds, and 2,281 pounds of sweetmeats, or 

 9^ pounds for every individual.* On the other hand, except with its immediate neighbor, 

 Peru, its isolated position has prevented its agricultural products from being brought into trade ; 

 and it was only when the discoveries of gold in California hurried a living tide to the auriferous 

 region that its cereals and dried fruits found a market proportioned to their abundance. Even 

 within a very few years North American flour has had preference in the markets of Valparaiso 

 and Lima; the mills of Chile being so far behind the age, that large quantities were annually 

 imported at handsome profits to the shippers. At the same time good wheat could be pur- 

 chased, in the provinces immediately south of Santiago, as low as six reals (a real is 12| cents) 

 the fanega of two and a quarter bushels ; and as late as the close of 1849 it would only command 

 from seven to nine reals, according to quality. With wheat at such prices, the new and exten- 

 sive mills introduced by Americans at Santiago and Concepcion, and which were wholly managed 

 by American operatives, soon drove flour made by their fellow-countrymen at home from the 

 Chilean and Peruvian markets. To send it from the eastern coast of the United States to Cali- 

 fornia, it had to cross the equator twice, exposing it when in bulk, as ordinarily prepared, to 

 almost certain loss by heat ; and, on this account, Chile has not only the advantage of one 

 transit, but is on an average sixty days nearer the market to be supplied. Early appreciating 

 these facts, at the commencement of 1850 three wealthy speculators made a monopolizing ar- 

 rangement with the millers at Santiago and Concepcion, which would enable them to control the 

 California market, one of them, an American just retired from office, writing such an account 

 of the quantity, quality, and cost of wheat in Chile over his ex-official signature as would deter 

 shippers in the United States from attempting competition. The unfairness of the statement, 

 and its object, were so transparent to those who knew of his participation in the speculation 

 a fact perhaps forgotten in writing his letter for the press that it was at once pointed out to 

 the government at home. But the evil somewhat corrected itself in the course of a year, though 

 not before each of the trio had netted above $30,000. 



Finding that the eastern States of the great confederation were sending no flour to their infant 

 sister on the Pacific, and that its price had risen enormously at home, the haciendados (farmers) 

 as the original producers of the staple began to believe themselves entitled to at least a small por- 

 tion of the wealth flowing into the coffers of millers and speculators ; and, their demands growing 



* 21,025 pounds of sweetmeats were exported during the same year. 



