28 R. A. F. PENROSE, JR. 



lines or by tramways worked by mules, and some of the nitrate com- 

 panies have their own railways to the coast. 



Nitrate production. — For a large part of the time in recent years, 

 most of the large nitrate producers have been in a combination 

 (Combinacion Salitrera), which limits the output of refined nitrate 

 and apportions to each company the amount that it may produce 

 annually. This combination has been broken more than once by 

 dissensions among the producers, and as late as March, 1909, after 

 it had been in force for several years, it was again broken. Recent 

 reports, however, are to the effect that strong efforts are being made 

 to renew it. The object of the combination is to keep up the price 

 of nitrate; and the production of iodine is controlled in the same way. 

 The market for iodine is so limited that usually in a few months one 

 company can produce enough to supply its allotment for several years. 

 An organization is maintained to promote the use of nitrate, espe- 

 cially in agriculture, and agents are kept in all the large countries 

 of the world. As a result, the consumption of nitrate is rapidly 

 increasing, and the amount each company is allowed to produce 

 increases correspondingly. The product goes largely to the United 

 States and Europe, with smaller quantities to other countries. 



In 1830 the production of nitrate in Chile is said to have been only 

 8,348 long tons.' In 1900 it was 1,473,091 long tons.^ The com- 

 bination of nitrate producers now estimates the production from 

 April I of one year to March 31 of the following year. The pro- 

 duction in this period from 1907 to 1908 was about 1,780,818 long 

 tons, and from 1908 to 1909 it was about 1,808,986 long tons. 

 The value of nitrate varies from year to year, but the price landed 

 in New York or European ports in recent years has ranged between 

 about $40 and $50 per long ton. 



Nitrate reserves, taxes, etc. — Numerous estimates have at various 

 times been made to determine the amount of crude nitrate existing 

 in the nitrate regions. These estimates have differed very widely, 

 some showing that the supply would be exhausted at the present 

 rate of consumption in twenty-five or thirty years, others that it would 

 last for three or four hundred years. The cause of this great diver- 



1 Engineering and Mining Journal, February 23, 1901, pp. 241, 242. 



2 The Mineral Industry for IQOI, New York, 1901, p. 588. 



