CHILI. 



CHINA. 



127 



the Constitution providing that Congress shall have 

 lid power ti> vote any sum of money in excess of the 

 amount designated in the budget. The budgets 

 for the last few years, after going through Congiv . 

 show an ever-increasing amount of money voted 

 by Congress in excess of the sum asked for by the 

 Executive, the consequence being that all the calcu- 

 lations of the Government are upset, and a pre- 

 sumptive surplus running into millions is swallowed 

 up in appropriations for local schemes concocted by 

 crafty politicians to strengthen their hold on their 

 constituencies. In this way 7,000,000 pesos was 

 voted away by the preceding Congress, and the 

 Government asked to have this vote annulled. An- 

 other bill forbade any foreign bank to be established 

 with a less capital than 2.000,000 pesos, and required 

 insurance companies doing business in Chili to de- 

 posit with the Government a guarantee for a reserve 

 fund of 1,000,000 pesos. The Government further 

 proposed to limit the expenses of the state railroads 

 to the amount of their earnings, and accordingly 

 framed a bill which will not in future allow them 

 to fall back upon the national treasury for large 

 deficits as they have done in the past. The rail- 

 road department will fix the estimates for each 

 year, and the total expenditure will have to be paid 

 but of the income, and will no longer figure in the 

 budget. Another bill provides that no municipality 

 shall have power to contract loans without the au- 

 thorization of the Senate. Till now the municipali- 

 ties have raised loans indiscriminately on their own 

 responsibility, and in the end, to save confiding in- 

 vestors from losses, the Government has saddled 

 itself with obligations contracted without its leave 

 by local authorities all over the country. 



The regular session of Congress was opened on 

 June 1. The chief subject of legislation brought 

 forward was the reform of the customs tariff for 

 the protection of national industry. The new pro- 

 tective tariff took effect on July 1. With wool pro- 

 duced in the country and cotton in Peru, and with 

 abundant deposits of iron, copper, tin, and other 

 minerals, and wheat and wine, more than sufficient 

 for their annual consumption, the Chilians look 

 forward to economic independence and industrial 

 development. 



Presidential Election. The election of a new 

 President to succeed Admiral Montt took place on 

 June 25. A coalition convention, in which Cler- 

 icals and Conservatives joined with the section of 

 the Liberals allied with the aristocratic class and 

 moneyed interests, nominated Federico Errazuriz 

 on a platform calling for the faithful execution of 

 the plan for the conversion of the paper currency. 

 The candidate of the Advanced Liberals was Gen. 

 Vicente Reyes. Xo contest for the presidency was 

 ever attended with such excitement and tension of 

 public feeling. When the day drew near, fights oc- 

 curred between partisans of the two candidates in 

 Santiago and Valparaiso. The Government an- 

 nounced that it would preserve the peace with the 

 utmost strictness, but would abstain from all inter- 

 ference or pressure and allow the people to decide 

 the issue with perfect freedom. The sincerity of 

 this declaration was proved by the removal of 

 officials who too actively supported Errazuriz. the 

 candidate approved by 'the Administration. The 

 election passed off. indeed, without any executive 

 interference, the first perfectly fair and free elec- 

 tion that has been held in Chili. Peace and quiet 

 reigned generally throughout the republic, and this 

 also was a novel phenomenon in the country's his- 

 tory. The election was so close that the public 

 were held in suspense as to the result even after the 

 colleges of electors gave their vote on July 25. show- 

 ing a majority of 4 for Errazuriz. The question of 

 the nullity of "certain electors was considered by the 



united houses of Congress after they met on Aug. 

 30. On Sept. '> Sefior Errazuriz was proclaimed 

 President by Congress, having obtained a majority 

 of 2 votes. The supporters of the unsuccessful 

 candidate behaved with exemplary moderation. 



The President-elect had much difficulty in select- 

 ing his Cabinet, which he desired to have com] 

 of Liberals who had supported him, excluding on 

 the one hand the Keyesta section of the Liberal 

 party and on the other his Conservative allies. It 

 was considered inexpedient, moreover, to take mem- 

 bers of Congress into the Cabinet, because that 

 would weaken the President's party. A ministry 

 constituted under these conditions was not likely 

 to last or to accomplish anything in the face of the 

 Keyesta majority in the House of Representatives. 

 Anibal Zanartu accepted the task of forming the 

 new Cabinet, which was announced on Sept. 14, as 

 follows : Premier and Minister of the Interior, 

 Anibal Zanartu ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, En- 

 rique de Putron ; Minister of Justice, Adolfo Ibanez; 

 Minister of Finance, Jose Francisco Fabres : Minis- 

 ter of Public Works. Francisco Baeza ; Minister of 

 War and Marine, Gen. Manuel Bulues. The Presi- 

 dent was inaugurated on Sept. 18. Admiral Montt. 

 the retiring President, was appointed the head of 

 a naval commission to visit Europe for the purpose 

 of examining ships and armaments. The new Gov- 

 ernment was confronted with a monetary and com- 

 mercial crisis and a shrinkage of revenues indicat- 

 ing a deficit of 10.000,000 pesos. While many 

 Chilians clamored for the reissue of paper money, 

 foreign bank managers declared that the only 

 means of solving the crisis was an announcement 

 by the Government that it would maintain the 

 gbld-conversiou law at all hazards. When Con- 

 gress convened on Nov. 2 its first act was to cen- 

 sure the ministry. The ministers resigned, and 

 Sanchez Fontecilla, having given up the task of 

 forming a new Cabinet of the President's adherents 

 because the majority insisted that all shades of 

 Liberal opinion should be represented, E. F. Albano 

 was commissioned to form a ministry, which was 

 completed on Xov. 17. as follows: Minister of the 

 Interior, Carlos Antunez: Minister of Justice, Luis 

 Claro Solar; Minister of Finance, Justiniano Soto- 

 mayor; Minister of Public Works, Elias Fernandez 

 Albano; Minister of Foreign Affairs. Carlos Morla 

 Vicuna ; Minister of War and the Navy, Gen. 

 Amunategui. 



CHINA, an absolute monarchy in eastern Asia. 

 The Government is regulated by historical prece- 

 dents and the Confucian principles of morality. The 

 throne is hereditary in the Manchu or Tsing dy- 

 nasty, established by the Tartar conquest in 1644. 

 The Emperor chooses his heir from among his sons 

 by his first three wives. The present Emperor, who 

 reigns under the style of Kwangsu. which means 

 continuation of splendor, was proclaimed irregu- 

 larly, his uncle and predecessor having died a minor 

 without leaving a legal successor. He was born 

 Aug. 2, 1872. being the son of Prince Chun, seventh 

 son of the Emperor Trokwang. and came to the 

 throne after the death of the Emperor Tsaichun, 

 Jan. 12, 1875, under the direction of his aunt and 

 adopted mother, the Empress Dowager Tsu-Hsi, 

 mother of the late Emperor, who as co-Regent and. 

 after the death in 1881 of the Eastern Empress, sole 

 Regent, continued to direct the affairs of the em- 

 pire until the young Emperor became of age and 

 married, and on March 4. 1880, assumed the Gov- 

 ernment. Only the literati, men who have passed 

 the literary examinations, of which there are many 

 grades, are eligible to public office. There is a 

 Tsung-Tu, or governor-general, over the capital 

 province of Pechili. and others have charge of 

 the Liang-Kiang, Min-Che, Liang-Hu, Chan-Kan, 



