156 



CHILI. 



by a definite quantity of carbide, made by F. 

 Wolff, point to considerable risks of explosion 

 as being incurred by the use of small generators, 

 and of table lamps in particular a danger which 

 can be avoided in large apparatus by employing 

 a reservoir of sufficient capacity to hold the ex- 

 cess of gas without undue compression. One of 

 the most effective methods of obviating this 

 danger of explosion is that of Miinsterberg, in 

 which a valve closes all communication between 

 the carbide reservoir and the water after the 

 former has been raised. The after-formation of 

 gas is therefore no longer produced, except by the 

 water contained in the pores of the carbide. Fur- 

 ther, in Mtinsterberg's apparatus the gas reser- 

 voir is of large size, so that the proportion of 

 air introduced at the same time with a fresh 

 charge of carbide remains below the limit of 

 explosive mixture. 



CHILI, a republic in South America. The 

 legislative power is vested in the Congress, con- 

 sisting of a Senate and a House of Deputies, each 

 elected by the votes of adult male citizens able 

 to read and write, the Senators by provinces 

 and the Deputies in the proportion of 1 Senator 

 to 3 Deputies and 1 Deputy to every 30,000 in- 

 habitants or fraction thereof. The President is 

 elected for five years by a college of electors. 

 Federico Errazuriz was elected for the term end- 

 ing Sept. 18, 1901. The Cabinet formed on April 

 25, 1898, was composed as follows: Prime Min- 

 ister and Minister of the Interior, Carlos Walker 

 Martinez; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Worship, 

 and Colonization, Rear- Admiral Juan J. Latorre; 

 Minister of Justice and Public Instruction, Carlos 

 Palacios Zapata; Minister of Finance, Rafael 

 Sotomayor; Minister of War and Marine, Ven- 

 tura Blanco Viel; Minister of Industry and Pub- 

 lic Works, Emilio Bello Codecido. 



Area and Population. The area of Chili is 

 293,970 square miles. The population in 1895 

 was 2,712,145, not including about 50,000 uncivi- 

 lized Indians. The enumeration was far from 

 complete, and at the end of 1897 the estimated 

 population was 3,049,352. Santiago, the capital, 

 had 256,413 inhabitants on Nov. 28, 1895; Val- 

 paraiso, the chief port, 122,447. The number of 

 marriages in 1897 was 13,454; of births, 109.057; 

 of deaths, 88,456. The number of immigrants in 

 1896 was 2,102, of whom 402 were French, 400 

 Germans, 365 Spaniards, 274 Italians, 261 Brit- 

 ish, 179 Dutch, and 106 Belgians. The total 

 number in 1897 was 870. In 1898 the Congress 

 appropriated 616,890 pesos for the encourage- 

 ment of immigration. 



Finances. The revenue in 1897 was 85,439,021 

 pesos, and expenditure 84,614,284 pesos. The 

 budget of expenditure for 1898 was 79,931,452 

 pesos. The revenue for 1899 was estimated at 

 84,398,357 pesos from ordinary and 9,446.442 

 pesos from extraordinary sources. The budget 

 of expenditure amounted to 76,349,361 pesos, not 

 including 4,444,444 pesos for the Tarapaca Bank. 

 Of the receipts 22,000,000 pesos come from import 

 duties, 42.000,000 pesos from export duties in 

 nitrate, 317,500 pesos from export duties on 

 iodine, 380,857 pesos from surcharges, 13,500,000 

 pesos from railroads, 1,200,000 pesos from posts 

 and telegraphs, and 5,000,000 pesos from stamps. 

 Of the expenditures 8,213,190 pesos were for the 

 interior, 1,261,073 pesos for foreign affairs, 441,- 

 728 pesos for public worship, 515,790 pesos for 

 colonization, 3,778,120 pesos for justice, 4,594,941 

 pesos for education, 17,634,197 pesos for finance, 

 13,800,791 pesos for war, 9,608,273 pesos for ma- 

 rine, and 15,906,075 pesos for public works. The 

 expenditure actually voted by Congress was 94 - 



506,312 pesos, an increase of more than 15,000,000 

 pesos over the previous year, chiefly in the finance 

 department. 



The foreign debt at the end of 1897 amounted 

 to 17,734,970, on which the interest charge was 

 965,680, or 12,158,733 pesos. For the bulk of it 

 the rates were 4-J and 5 per cent. The internal 

 debt, national and municipal, amounted to 26,- 

 744,263 pesos. 



The Army and Navy. The law of Nov. 24, 

 1897, restricts the size of the regular army to 10 

 regiments of infantry, 8 of cavalry, 5 of artillery, 

 and a corps of engineers, the total strength not 

 to exceed 9,000 men. Under the reorganization 

 of the National Guard accomplished in 1896, 

 every Chilian is compelled to serve, from the age 

 of twenty, one year in the active National Guard, 

 from then until they are thirty in the passive 

 guard, and from then until they are forty in the 

 sedentary. Between 1896 and 1899 there were 

 512,700 men enrolled in the National Guard. In 

 1898 there were 16,309 enrolled in the active, 

 7,301 in the passive, and 5,672 in the sedentary 

 division. 



The Chilian navy comprises 5 armor clads, 2 

 second-class cruisers, 3 of the third class, 11 gun- 

 boats, 4 destroyers, and 15 first-class and 4 sec- 

 ond-class torpedo boats. The armored cruiser 

 Esmeralda, launched in 1896, of 7,020 tons dis- 

 placement, carries 2 8-inch and 34 quick-firing 

 guns, and with engines of 18,000 horse power has 

 a nominal speed of 23 knots. The O'Higgins, a 

 British-built belted cruiser, launched in the same 

 year, displaces 8,500 tons, and carries 4 8-inch 

 and 10 6-inch guns, with 34 quick-firing guns, 

 and having engines of 14,500 horse power, is 

 capable of steaming 22 knots. Of the same date 

 is the Ministro Zenteno, a protected cruiser, of 

 3,600 tons, armed with 8 6-inch and 14 small 

 quick firers, and engined for a speed of 20 knots. 

 The training cruiser General Baquedano, of 2,350 

 tons, has been completed at Elswick more re- 

 cently. It is said that the destroyers, launched 

 at Birkenhead in 1896, can make more than 30 

 knots an hour. 



Commerce and Production. The wheat pro- 

 duction of Chili is 28,500,000 bushels, and of other 

 grains about 8,500,000 bushels are grown. Wine 

 is made and exported and fruits and vegetables 

 are prolific. More than 500,000 cattle and 2,000,- 

 000 sheep and goats are reared each year. The 

 nitrate deposits, covering 89,177 hectares, are 

 believed to contain over 250,000,000 tons of com- 

 mercial nitrate. British capital is employed in 

 this industry, the product of which in 1898 was 

 1,254,000 tons. The annual product of copper is 

 about 45,000 tons; of silver, 160,000 kilogrammes; 

 of gold, 500 kilogrammes; of coal, 11,250,000 tons. 



The total value of imports in 1897 was 65,502,- 

 805 pesos, reckoning the peso at 76.8 cents; total 

 value of exports, 64,754,133 pesos. The imports 

 of sugar were 5,983,659 pesos; of coal, 4,122,918 

 pesos; of cattle, 2,756,600 pesos; of bags, 2,440,- 

 209 pesos; of Japanese kimonas, 2,131,679 pesos'; 

 of bleached cottons, 1,805,417 pesos; of petrole- 

 um, 1,458,090 pesos; of galvanized iron, 1,292,176 

 pesos; of cashmeres, 1,221,918 pesos; of candles, 

 1,176,557 pesos; of tea, 1,046,256 pesos; of wool- 

 ens, 835,153 pesos; of rice, 824,679 pesos; of tim- 

 ber, 719,247 pesos; of shirts, 610,887 pesos; of 

 iron, 354,592 pesos. The exports of nitrate were 

 37,461,559 pesos in value; of copper bars, 5,226,- 

 199 pesos; of silver, 3,781,125 pesos; of wheat, 

 2,599,640 pesos; of coal, 1,869,310 pesos; of shoe 

 leather, 1,344,005 pesos; of gold bars and ingots, 

 905,168 pesos; of barley, 887,573 pesos; of wool, 

 621,209 pesos; of silver ore, 434,231 pesos; of 



