CHILI. 



141 



years. Tho Ministers will open a book, In which they 

 \> ill neuter those obligations and their number. Tho 

 Ministry of Fmimco will decree monthly the quantity 

 to be emitted, up to the Bum of six million dollars. 



ABT. 11. Tho Treiusury bills mentioned will serve 

 as legal tender lor the payment of nil kinds of obliga- 

 te 'in whatever bo the dute thereof and the terms in 

 whtafi they are drawn, In conformity with Art. I. of 

 the law of the 10th of April last. 



ART. III. Tho chief accountant will sign those ob- 

 ligations, and will keep a register of the number cor- 

 responding to each. 



ART. IV. The Mint will keep an account of the 

 Treasury bills issued under this decree, up to the sum 

 of six million dollars, and the superintendent will sign 

 and seal thorn with the seal of the Mint. 



AKT. V. In each successive year, in forming the 

 estimates of tho national expenditures, a sum will be 

 sot apart for the quantity to _be withdrawn from circu- 

 lation. The Government will propose to Congress in 

 due time that tho product of a new tax, or a part of 

 those already existing, shall be devoted to the redemp- 

 tion of said bills. 



ART. VI. The Mint will incinerate annually bills to 

 the amount referred to hi the preceding article, and 

 will credit tho account ordered to bo opened by Art. 

 IV. with tho sums set down hi the estimates for this 

 purpose. The Ministers of tho Treasury are ordered 

 to present to tho Mint the bills that are to be de- 

 stroyed. Tho operation will be witnessed by the chief 

 accountant, the Superintendent of the Mint, and the 

 Ministers of tho General Treasury ; and a record of 

 the destruction will be drawn up in triplicate, as a 

 voucher for tho acquittances to be made by the three 

 offices respectively that intervene in the emission of 

 the bills. 



ART. VII. Until these operations are effected, the 

 Ministers of the General Treasury and the chief ac- 

 countant will sign provisional bills for 100, 50, 20, 

 and 10,000 dollars each, which will possess provision- 

 ally the character assigned to the obligations created 

 under Art. V. of this decree. These provisional bills 

 shall bo withdrawn when the General Treasury shall 

 have come into possession of the definitive bills. 

 PINTO, 

 AUGUSTO MATTE. 



The foregoing measure was received with 

 uniform good will. "The bonds," writes an 

 English journalist from Valparaiso, under date 

 of May 24th, " which the Government has begun 

 to float in the market, and which will reach 

 the amount of $6,000,000, are well received by 

 the public, who are ready to make any sacri- 

 fice for the safety of the nation. Chili's fiscal 

 resources are amply sufficient to meet the ex- 

 penses of the war. The most convincing proof 

 of this lies in the fact that, notwithstanding 

 the large expenses incurred by the army, the 

 Government has limited itself merely to the 

 suspension of the sinking fund of the foreign 

 debt, upon due arrangement made with the 

 bondholders, and has continued to pay the in- 

 terest on her bonds with the usual punctuality. 

 This will strengthen the credit of the republic, 

 and allow her to recover herself rapidly after 

 peace is restored to the Pacific. The capital- 

 ists of Santiago and Valparaiso have petitioned 

 Congress to authorize an income-tax to meet 

 the expenses of the war ; this idea has been 

 well received, and in a few days longer will 

 become a reality." 



The extensive failure of the crops and re- 

 duced price of copper, already referred to, pro- 

 duced a decrease of little less than $15,000,000 



in the value of the exports for 1877, aa com- 

 pared with those of the year immediately pre- 

 ceding. In this falling off the agricultural 

 products figured to the extent of 8*61 per cent. ; 

 minerals, 23*61 per cent. ; and manufactures, 

 15-55 per cent. Comparing the value of the 

 exports with tho population of the republic, 

 the following relations are observable: Agri- 

 cultural products, $8.94 per capita; mining 

 products, $7.23 ; manufactures, $0.12 ; miscella- 

 neous, $0.02. 



The shipping movements at the various ports 

 of tho republic were as follows in 1877 : 



FOREIGN TRADE. 



COASTING TRADE. 



There are at the present time in Chili 1,015 

 miles of railway completed and in operation. 

 Of these, 594 miles are the property of the 

 state. The total cost of construction and 

 rolling stock for these lines was $49,857,037. 

 of which $38,329,635 stands for the Govern- 

 ment lines. Chief among the latter are those 

 from Santiago to San Felipe, from Santiago to 

 Curic6 and Palmilla, from Curic6 to Chilian, 

 from Chilian to Concepcion and Talcahuano, 

 and from Los Angeles to Angol on the Arau- 

 canian frontier. The principal lines belong- 

 ing to private companies are those from Cal- 

 dera to Copiaptf and Chafiarcillo, from Copia- 

 p6 to the mines of Puquios, from Coquimbo 

 to La Serena, and from Coquimbo to Ovalle ; 

 besides which there is a number of others 

 chiefly engaged in the service of the silver and 

 copper mines. The more densely populated 

 portion of the republic is intersected by a net- 

 work of telegraphs wires, of an aggregate length 

 of 3,659 miles, with 68 officers, many of which 

 are in charge of female operators. The Trans- 

 andine telegraph, from Santiago to Buenos 

 Ayres, was constructed by a Chilian company, 

 whose principal office is at the first-named city. 

 The postal service is conducted through 347 

 post-offices. The number of letters transmit- 

 ted in 1878 was 14,921,168, and that of money 



