CHILI. 



125 



pesos to the sale of nitrate properties. During the 

 live years ending with ls<5 the cost of the civil 

 war, amounting to 104.62s. 1112 pesos, was paid; the 

 internal consolidated debt, which in 1892 amounted 

 to 77.772.370 poo*, was reduced by 45,559,100 pesos ; 

 the floating debt of 25.noo.ouu peace in favor of cer- 

 tain banks was paid and 21,000,000 pesos lent to the 

 banks: s. 41111. nou pesos were paid for liquidation of 

 guano accounts under the treaty with Peru ; foreign 

 claims for upward of 2.000.1 MIO pesos were paid off; 

 47.ono.000 jicso.s was expended on railroads; and 

 7,136,000 pesos expended on the Talcahuano dock 

 and port improvement. 



The public debt owing in Europe amounted at 

 the end of 1894 to 11.626.300 sterling. In 1895 a 

 new loan of '.2,000.000 was obtained. The amount 

 of the internal debt is 60.721,963 pesos. The inter- 

 ii the external debt is 4 and 44 per cent., re- 

 quiring the annual payment of 605,000. The serv- 

 ice of the internal debt requires 1.100.000 silver 

 pesos a year. In the beginning of 1896 a bill was 

 passed authorizing a new foreign loan of 4,000.000, 

 the proceeds to be applied to the purchase of the 

 Coquimbo Railroad from the English stockholders, 

 and used on public works and for Government ex- 

 penses. Minister Mclver had asked for 6,500,000, 

 but this was subsequently reduced by 2.500,000. 

 Already 2,000.000 had been advanced" by the Eng- 

 lish house of Rothschild, which eventually took 

 the loan, paying 5 per cent., and the price of 95i. 



Currency Reform. There were in 1895 banks 

 of issue to the number of 24, having an aggregate 

 capital of 47,000,000 pesos and authorized to issue 

 24,000.000 pesos of bank notes, of which amount 

 19,196.807 pesos had been taken out. The banks 

 were required by a new law to deposit as security 

 for their notes either gold, Government notes, or 

 Government bonds. The conversion law of 1*92 

 provided for the redemption of the forced paper 

 currency at the rate of 24(7. English for the peso. 

 The law of Feb. 11, 1895, provided that the redemp- 

 tion should begin on June 1 of that year, and changed 

 the rate to 18rf. English, and Australian sovereigns 

 were declared legal tender for two years at this 

 rate, i. e., 13^ pesos to the pound sterling. The 

 currency act provided for a gold coinage and es- 

 tablished a bimetallic standard, the monetary unit 

 being the uncoined gold peso. The gold coins are 

 the 5-peso piece, called the escudo ; the doblon, 

 worth 10 pesos; and the colon, or condor, of the 

 value of 20 pesos. The doblon contains 5'99103 

 grammes of gold 0'916 fine, or 5'49178 grammes of 

 pure gold. The silver coins authorized are the 

 peso, weighing 20 grammes 0'835 fine, and frac- 

 tional coins worth a fifth, a tenth, and a twentieth 

 of a peso. The law prescribed, however, that these 

 token pesos should be withdrawn from Dec. 31, 

 1895. and replaced by pesos of full legal tender 

 weighing 25 grammes 0'900 fine, or by gold coins. 

 The proceeds of the sales of nitrate lands were 

 devoted to the establishment of a metallic currency. 



The Government paper money, which in May, 

 1895, amounted to 41,000.000 pesos, was reduced 

 within twelve months to 7,037.279 pesos and 7.658.- 

 190 pesos of bank notes were exchanged for gold. 

 During the year 39.120.881 pesos of metallic cur- 

 1 rency was substituted for Government and bank 

 notes. Of the funds accumulated for conversion 

 the sum of 27,000.000 pesos remained, while the 

 paper money. Government and bank, still to be re- 

 deemed was only 1S.000.000 pesos on June 1. 1896. 



The Army and Navy. The law of Nov. 6, 1894, 

 restricted the strength of the regular army to 6,000 

 men, organized in 3 artillery, 7 infantry, and 4 cav- 

 alry regiments, with an engineer corps. There 

 are 10 generals. 58 colonels and lieutenant colonels, 

 and 555 minor officers. The National Guard num- 



bered 8,970 artillery and 42.120 infantry in 1894. 

 It has been decided that this force shall be reorgan- 

 ized and augmented by requiring every able-bod- 

 ied Chilian citizen between the ages of twenty-., in- 

 arid forty years to be a member. By this tenta- 

 tive introduction of the system of universal mili- 

 tary service about 25.000 new men will receive 

 instruction every year. In the event of war the 

 National Guard will be merged into the regular 

 army. The Government in 1,895 spent 40,000.000 

 peso's on armaments and ships. The forts at Val- 

 paraiso have been armed with 43 10-inch Krupp 

 funs. Prussian military officers have been engaged 

 ar some years in instructing the Chilian troops 

 in German tactics with considerable success. The 

 formation of the new National Guard was accom- 

 plished in the spring of 1896. and nearly 100,000 

 were called out for parade, workingmen and mem- 

 bers of the wealthier classes marching side by side. 



The Chilian navy comprises 3 armored vessels, the 

 battle ship " Capifan Prat," the coast-defense iron- 

 clad " Huascar.'' and the armored cruiser "Almi- 

 rante Cochrane ": 4 second-class and 10 third-class 

 cruisers : and 1 first-class and 8 third-class torpedo 

 boats. The "Capitan Prat." built at La Seyne. 

 while having only a displacement of 6,900 tons, has 

 a very powerful armament, consisting of 4 9^-inch 

 Canet guns in armored barbettes. 8 4|-inch quick- 

 firing guns in closed turrets, and a large number of 

 smaller quick-firing and machine guns ; moreover, 

 she is engined to make 18i knots. The new "Blanco 

 Encalada," of 4,500 tons, built recently in Elswick. 

 has made 21f knots with natural draught. Four of 

 the Chilian cruisers made 20 knots or better on trial, 

 and 2 made 19 knots. A new ironclad, said to have 

 been built for the Japanese navy, was bought in 

 England and christened the"0'Higgins." The ves- 

 sels built in England for Chili were all delivered be- 

 fore the close of 1896, with the exception of 1. 

 These vessels were an ironclad, an armored cruiser, 

 a protected cruiser, a torpedo catcher, 4 destroyers, 

 and 6 torpedo boats. 



Commerce and Production. About half the 

 population is employed in agriculture. The wheat 

 crop amounts to 27.500,000 bushels a year and other 

 grains to 8,250.000 bushels. Great numbers of cat- 

 tle and sheep are reared, and wine is made and ex- 

 ported. The annual product of copper is about 40.- 

 000 metric tons ; of silver. 160,000 kilos ; of gold, 

 500 kilos ; of coal. 10,000,000 tons. Manganese and 

 other minerals are mined also. The nitrate fields 

 cover 89.177 hectares, and are estimated to contain 

 231,600.000 tons of commercial nitrate. The prod- 

 uct was 773.000 tons in 1888.903.000 in 1889.1.009,- 

 000 in 1890, 877.000 in 1891, 804,842 in 1892. 

 871 in 1893. and 1.082.285 in 1894. In this industry 

 a large amount of English capital has recently been 

 invested. An output exceeding by 25 per cent, the 

 active demand and the consequent competitive low- 

 ering of the price led early in 1896 to a combination 

 among the nitrate companies to resist the produc- 

 tion and export of nitrates, thereby reducing the 

 revenue of the Government from this important 

 source and throwing many thousand men out of 

 employment. 



The' value of the imports in 1894 was 54,483.716 

 pesos (1 peso = 92'6 cents), and the value of exports 

 72.040.420 pesos. The minerals exported amounted 

 to 61.32(1.280 pesos: agricultural products, 9,100,- 

 046 pesos. In a total of 6*. 235.^74 pesos, the value 

 of all imports in 1893. food substances stood for 14.- 

 127.106 pesos ; textile goods. 12.636,915 pesos ; raw 

 materials. 10.066.388 pesos : clothing and ornaments, 

 3.529.265 pesos; machinery. ln.N22.ls5 pesos: do- 

 mestic supplies. 4.568.040 pesos ; railroad materials. 



i liquors. 1.257.485 j 

 objects of art. etc.. 1.261 ,593 pesos ; drugs and chem- 



