CHILE 



1334 



CHILE 



One of the most important in operation is that 

 connecting Valparaiso and Buenos Aires, Argen- 

 tina, a distance of nearly 800 miles. Chile has 

 over 9,000 miles of public road and about 400 

 miles of navigable rivers. 



Although harbors on the Chilean coast are 

 not of the best, shipping from its ports exceeds 

 that of any other South American country 

 ou the west coast. An excellent breakwater 

 recently built at the Valparaiso harbor has 

 greatly improved that port and made anchorage 

 safe. Besides Chilean lines, several British, 

 German and Italian companies in normal times 

 give continuous service, the chief ports being 

 Valparaiso, Iquique, Talcahuano and Antofa- 

 gasta. The completion of the Panama Canal, 

 greatly shortening the water route to Chile from 

 New York and Europe, is vastly increasing the 

 republic's commerce. The ocean route from 

 Valparaiso to New York has been shortened 

 from 8,337 miles to 4,627 miles, and that from 

 Valparaiso to Liverpool from 8,747 miles to 

 7,185 miles. 



There are extensive systems of telegraph and 

 telephone lines throughout the country, and 

 several wireless stations have been installed. 



Education. Until recently, public instruction 

 was in no satisfactory condition; but rapid 

 strides have been made, and through the ef- 

 forts of teachers brought from Germany and 

 the United States, modern methods and sys- 

 tems have been installed. Education is free 

 and at the expense of the state, but it is not 

 compulsory. There are over 3,000 public pri- 

 mary schools, and almost 500 private primary 

 schools. Besides sixteen normal schools, eighty- 

 six secondary schools, eleven commercial 

 schools, all public, there are agricultural and 

 professional .schools, schools of mines, music, 

 arts and trades, an institute for deaf mutes, a 

 school for the blind, public museums and the 

 National Library with almost 200,000 volumes. 



Commercial Opportunities. The Panama 

 Canal will very largely do away with the 

 rounding of Cape Horn, and the city of Val- 

 paraiso will miss the endless procession of 

 passing ships that for three centuries have 

 called at its harbor; yet neither this diversion 

 of ships from the old water route to the new 

 nor the diversion of transportation from ships 

 to railways is necessarily a menace to the pros- 

 perity of the republic. Its commerce should 

 rather be stimulated by the shorter routes and 

 easier transportation. 



The years -of construction of the canal were 

 marked by energetic action on the part of 



Chileans. Especially has this been notable in 

 the mining industry. Within eight years (1907- 

 1915) the production of copper advanced from 

 26,000 tons to 45,000 tons, and it is expected 

 that that output will be doubled by 1920. A 

 new National School of Mines ig to be estab- 

 lished at Coronel, in the mining district. New 

 railway lines are needed to meet the new con- 

 ditions. A "chain" of modern hotels, on the 

 American plan, is so earnestly desired that 

 efforts have been made officially to induce 

 North American capitalists to construct them. 

 In Chile, as in some other South American 

 countries, there are openings for North Ameri- 

 can banking houses to do a profitable and safe 

 business. Valparaiso has twelve banking 

 houses, of which five are native, three German, 

 two English, one Italian and one Spanish; 

 North America is not represented. Production 

 of beet sugar in Chile on the American plan has 

 been suggested as holding possibilities, for Chile 

 consumes a surprising amount of sugar and yet 

 places a protective tariff upon it. 



With the development of more intimate gov- 

 ernmental and social relations will come a 

 growth of business relations between Chileans 

 and North Americans. Mutual confidence and 

 esteem, the result of a closer acquaintance, will 

 lay the foundation for mutual trade patronage 

 for all the future. 



Government and Religion. Under a cons f itu- 

 tion in many respects similar to that of the 

 United States and adopted in 1833, the exec- 

 utive power is vested in a President, who is 

 elected for a term of five years by electors 

 chosen by popular vote. He is ineligible for 

 reelection for the next succeeding term. Voters 

 must be twenty-one years old, and able to 

 read and write. The day of the Presidential 

 election is June 25; the inauguration, Septem- 

 ber 18. A Cabinet of six Ministers aids the 

 President; also a Council of State, consisting 

 of eleven members, five of whom he nomi- 

 nates, six being nominated by Congress. 



Legislative power is vested in a National 

 Congress, consisting of a Senate with thirty- 

 seven members elected for a term of six years, 

 and a Chamber of Deputies of 118 members, 

 chosen for a period of three years. For local 

 government, Chile is divided into provinces, 

 which are divided into departments. Police 

 of the capitals of departments and of Santiago, 

 the capital of the republic, are organized by 

 the President at the expense of the treasury. 



Besides a High Court of Justice in the capi- 

 tal, there are seven courts of appeal through- 



