Omaha daily bee., 1884-06-03
THE CHILD OF TODAY.
Society, Amusements, Commerce and
Agriculture.
San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco Chronicle.
The steamer Santa Rosa, which arrived
a few days ago, brought about twenty OF
the wealthiest inhabitants of Valparaiso
and Santiago, Chile They are all bent
upon pleasure and sightseeing. Among
the visitors is Mr.. Vicuna, a name moi
unknown to students of Spanish history,
and the interviewer was not surprised to
hear that Mr.. Vicuna was the brother OF
B. Vicuna Makenna, whose researches
into history have made his name famous
in the Spanish speaking world.
eyes, sir" said he to the reporter,
perhaps it does not seem strange that
there are SO many of my countrymen
coming,s-here at thu same time, bur. it
would not be at all strange if we had a di,
rect passenger line connecting our coun-
try with San Francisco. You can Judge
of this by the number that have taken
advantage of making the trip upon that
fine steamer"
"Do you think that business and the
condition of affairs are settled enough for
any firm to make the venture of running
steamers"
eyes; Chile Is now settling down. 1 am
confident that before long there will be a
great period of prosperity. Matters have
been settled with Peru, and, though there
is some difficulty, with Bolivia over Gus.
toms duties, yet it will soon be arranged.
In BoIivlathere is no security, the people
are a turbulent set, and they have no re-
spect either for the..laws or the Govern.
ment that makes them. You know
added Mr.. Vicuna with p%ardonable pride,
that Chile is spoken of by foreigners as
the United States of America Certain.
ly we have railroads; why Harry Meiggs
of your city built the n now running
five trains daily between Santiago and
Valparaiso, a distance of 1OS miles. The
express takes four and a half hours TIC
perform the journey and the fair is Sc.
This line cost $14, 900, 0C0."
SIS it true that the English have a
strong foothold in your country"
eyes, in fact the stronges'. The largest
commercial houses are English. Oi
course we have some North Americans.
The French, too, do a great business,
but they prefer fancy notions and in that
way make large sums"
"Does your society acknowledgements"
Foreigners of education ar received
everywhere. We are rather gay in Santi.
ago. Our theaJer is the best lnthe South.
Naturally we indulge in balls and parties,
and our Alameda is a delightful resort.
To give you an idea of how money is
spent, Mr.. Cansino, who owns coal mines,
invested last year something like $500,
900 in amusements. We have imported
blooded stock from England and America,
o.,l o,r, a,rin, =, arn nall ottn,lnl h.
the aristocracy. You may smile, but
though we are a republican country we
have still an untitled nobility, and if you
should see our palaces, surrounded by
beautiful gardens, you would indeed
think so, and more 80 if you attended
the Salon Philharmonica."
"What about your minesl'
"The silver mines still yield abundant
ly. Our coal mines are fair, but l am
sorry to ay that the foreign trade in
~saltpeter is declining, 1t seems that
Europe does not import so largely as she
used to do. And then the government
is now engaged in a $3,000,0 900 lawsuit
with a French company, which under
took to work the fields. If the company
were wealthy enough, it could easily get
$40, 000, 900 out of the mine, but as it is
now they are in debt"
care you agricultural interests OF the
increased"
snow | am able to talk more intelli-
gently, said Mr.. Vicuna, ''for 1 have
haciendas and ! can ASSURE you that the
land lisa gosd mother, though we have to
undertake extensive irrigation works.
We have canals which have cost over q
million dollars. They are large, ffteer
broad and twenty feet deep with an in
clination Of one foot in a hundred feet.
We have splendid vineyards, and, per
haps, some day We will compete will
California"