CHILI. 



121 



Two fifths of the population live in towns. The 

 registered marriages in 1892 numbered 12,895; 

 births, 103,065; deaths, 99,371 ; excess of births, 

 3,694. Though primary education is provided 

 on a liberal scale, the common people are slow 

 to avail themselves of the schools. Superior 

 education in the professions, art, technical sci- 

 ence, and the humanities is also supplied at 

 public cost. 



Finances. The revenue for 1892 was 62,- 

 400,000 pesos, and the expenditure 60,900,000 

 pesos. The public debt in 1894 consisted of for- 

 eign loans amounting to 11,712,420 sterling, 

 paying mostly 4| per cent, interest, with a sink- 

 ing fund of per cent., and internal debts pay- 

 able in currency and amounting to 65,971,143 

 pesos. The annual servipe of the foreign debt 

 is 605,000, and that of the internal debts 1,100,- 

 000 paper pesos, equivalent to 55.000. The in- 

 ternal debts comprise a perpetual debt of 19,- 

 520,394 pesos, due on account of the entail of 

 property which has been cut off on paying cer- 

 tain sums to the Government, which undertakes 

 to pay interest at 4 per cent, to the heirs ; sun- 

 dry consolidated loans paying 3 per cent., 

 amounting to 2,421,365 pesos ; the sum of 8,918,- 

 833 pesos due to banks on which Balmaceda 

 levied contributions, which pays no interest, but 

 must be discharged in full in 1895 ; the sum of 

 5,651,180 pesos, being debts raised for improve- 

 ments by municipalities and assumed by the 

 Government; and Government notes in circula- 

 tion amounting to 29,459.364 pesos. The con- 

 version law of Nov. 26, 1892, provided that all 

 the paper money must be redeemed in silver at 

 the rate of 48 cents on the dollar before July, 

 1896. The new Congress elected in 1894 ap- 

 proved a plan of resumption of specie payments 

 on a gold basis. The customs were ordered to 

 be paid in gold, and the Government decided in 

 July, 1894, to pay half of all salaries and pen- 

 sions in gold. There, was a surplus of 5,000,000 

 pesos from the revenue of 1893. From the sale 

 of nitrate beds on Oct. 15, 1894, the sum of 1,- 

 137,000 was realized, and the beds not sold were 

 valued at nearly as much more. The conversion 

 fund held by the Government amounted to $11,- 

 700,300, which included $4,300,000 in silver dol- 

 lars, and $3,000,000 in gold. The Government 

 agreed to convert the note issues of the banks, 

 amounting to 17,000,000 pesos, making the total 

 amount . of paper to be redeemed 46,459,000 

 pesos. The bank notes were secured by munic- 

 ipal bonds and other securities to the extent of 

 half their value. 



The commission appointed to adjudicate on 

 claims of Americans against the Chilian Govern- 

 ment and of Chilian citizens against the United 

 States, which sat at Washington under the pres- 

 idency of M. de Claparede, former Swiss min- 

 ister to the United States, ended its labors in 

 April, 1894. There were 18 American and 2 

 Chilian cases left undecided, and under the 

 agreement they were thereby barred, the Chilian 

 Government having declined the request of Sec- 

 retary Gresham to extend the term of the com- 

 mission. A proposition was made to hold a 

 supplementary investigation in order that no 

 injustice may be done to these claimants. Some 

 of the larger American claims were thrown out. 

 on the ground that the claimants had extended aid 



to the enemies of Chili. The awards granted to 

 American citizens, aggregating more than $250,- 

 000, were promptly paid over to the American 

 Government. 



A tribunal met in Santiago in October, 1894, 

 to adjudicate claims of British subjects growing 

 out of the civil war of 1891. 



A suit of the Chilian Government against cer- 

 tain British bankers for the restoration of 338 

 bars of silver abstracted from the Chilian treas- 

 ury by the late President Balmaceda, although 

 they were reserved by law to guarantee the note 

 issue, and carried off on a British Government 

 vessel, was decided by an English court ad- 

 versely. The chief issue was over the sum of 

 106.000 advanced on the security of the silver 

 to Balmaceda's agent on the day after he re- 

 signed, on which point the court ruled that the 

 bankers had no certain or official knowledge of 

 the fact, and therefore were not bound to with- 

 hold the advances they had contracted to make. 



The Swiss Federal Court was named as arbiter 

 of a claim brought by the French Government 

 against Chili in behalf of the House of Dreyfus, 

 a holder of guano contracts. The Chilian Gov- 

 ernment seized the guano and sold it, depositing 

 20,000,000 francs in London, which Dreyfus 

 claimed on the ground that Chili had assumed 

 the obligations of Peru in respect to the guano, 

 but which the Peruvian bondholders asserted 

 should be merged in the general assets of the 

 Peruvian Government. 



Commerce. The value of imports in 1892, 

 reckoning the peso at 75 cents, was 78.003,104 

 pesos, and of the exports, 64,205,038 pesos. The 

 values of the principal exports were : Niter, 31,- 

 785,000 pesos ; bar copper, 5,007,000 pesos ; sil- 

 ver, 5,435,000 pesos; wheat, 7,284,000 pesos. 

 The chief customer of Chili is Great Britain, 

 and next Germany, after which come the United 

 States, France, and Peru. 



Navigation. The tonnage entered in 1891 at 

 Chilian ports was 2,242,572 tons : cleared. 2,089,- 

 466 tons. The commercial navy in 1893 con- 

 sisted of 147 vessels, of 108,626 'tons, of which 

 41 were steamers, of 46,612 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 mileage of railroads in operation in 1892 was 

 1,735 miles, of which 860 belonged to the Gov- 

 ernment. The cost of the state lines was 58,- 

 827,000 pesos. There are 438 miles more under 

 construction. The postal traffic in 1891 was 

 18,996,646 letters, and 15,931,046 newspapers and 

 circulars. The telegraph lines in 1892 had a 

 total length of 13,730 miles, of which about 

 8,000 miles were state property. 



Boundary Questions. The Argentine fron- 

 tier, which never has been delimited, has been 

 surveyed for the purpose of establishing the 

 exact boundaries. 



The treaty under which Chili occupied and 

 administered the provinces of Tacna and Arica 

 provided that ten years from the date of the ex- 

 change of ratifications the people of these prov- 

 inces should declare by popular vote whether 

 the territory should pass, like Tarapaca, defi- 

 nitely under the dominion and sovereignty of 

 Chili or should be restored to Peru, the country 

 to which the territory falls being obligated to 

 pay to the other $10,000,000 in silver. The 

 term of the treaty expired March 30, 1894, but 



