New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-15
NExvyoRK DAILY TRIBUNE SUNDAY JULY sxrEEN PAGES

not exist there, except among some OF the iaiiies
Of the old Spanish aristocracy.
We know more, perhaps. of tho progress OF Chill
than OF any other Of the Spanish American coun-
tries through its overwhelming triumph over Peru'
in the recent war; No other country has been sup
posed to be endowed with so large a snare OF tie
pushing, gra>png. and arrogant spirit when Is re-
gardcd as charact ,risc of the Yankee OF the North
Mr. Curts's account Of the Chillano character Is
extremely inter sting He gives them credit for
great bravery and endurance Spanish tcnacity,
and an Irish wit. He finds much resemblance be-
tween the Chillanos end the Irish They are alike
in their patriotic pride, their reckless bravery and
their vanity The Chilliano will not endure siege
fight at long range: but as soon as he secs the
enemy he fires one volcy, drops his gun, and rushcs
in with his curvo This is long curved knife.
which he carries q dagger and uses TO cut
threats. lie never fights with his fists and never
carries revolver but in quarrel springs with tHis
knife at the throat of his enemy like q blood
hound AT least one or two throat-cuttng affairs
are to be found in every days paper, and on feast
days or carnivals they fill columns The awful
scenes that took place on the battlcfclds during
the war with Peru are said to have been without
parallel in modern warfare. Nne-tenths of the
dead were found with their threats cut and the
Ohllanos took no prisoners, except when a whole
army surrendered. They ask no quarter and give
none. The fear of the cruel Chillano knife had
much to do with the subjugation of the more hu-
name Peruvans
1t follows that the Chilano soldier is not easily
disciplined and has great talent for devastation
Everywhere in Santiago is to be seen the plumber
OF the late war-statuary and fountains, orna-
mental street lamps, benches Of carved stone in
the parks, and almost everything that beauties
the streets The ships that carried troops to the
war came back laden with pianos. pictures fur
niturc, hooks. and innumerable household articles
stolen from the homes of the Peruviars. They
took laiappoStS, iron fences images from the
cemeteries, altar equipments of silver from the
churches even stccplc clocks everything in fact
they could reach. They stripped the eflgcs of the
saints of their embrOidcrics and Jewels and even
carried off marble statues Of Wash
ington and Lincoln to set them up
in the court yard Of the post Office in
Santiago These things have done much toward
the adornment of Valparaiso rs we'll, which ex-
cecds any city in the United States Of the same
population G25, 600 in the beauty Of its shops
and the display Of luxury. There are clubs as
fine as the average in New-Yorl1 or London The
strcet-car conductors are women, which has caused
strcct-car riding to become a popular amusement
with the young men about town The morals Of
the country are not high. Ladies of lofty social
position and great wealth often seen wearing
the white costume of the penitentas' In the
Orphan Asylum at Santiago there said to be
two thousand children of unknown parentage, sup
ported by the Church. ana this in a city of two
hundred Thousand people The enterprise of the
Chlians in commercial affairs is well known.
Mexico is our nearest neighbor, and a country
in which American ideas, as we find it convenient
to call them, are making rapid progress. Mr..
CurtiSs account of the struggle between the old
and new civilizations is comprehensive and in
tecstins. We content ourselves with this quo
taticn:
With the exception of Bucnos Ayres and Santi-
iago. Chill, the City OF Mexico is the largest and
the finest capital in Spanish America: but I'M
fortunately. the shadow Of the sixteenth century
still rests upon it. II wounds the pride of the
Yankee tourist TO discover that little of our
and that the historic halls of the Montezamas are
only spattered with the modern ideas OK
empllfy. The native traveller still prefers his
donkey to the railroad train, and carries burden
upon his back instead of using a wagon. Water
il still peddled about the capital Of Mexico in
jars, and the native farmer uses. plough whose
pattern was old in the days of Moses. Nowhere
DO ancient ana modern customs come into such
intimate contrast rs in the City of Mexico. The
people are highly civilized il spots. Beside the
most novel and recent products of modern sci
cDcc enc finds in use the crudcSt rudest lmpe-
inert of antiquity. Tyres Of four centuries can
be seen III q single. group in any of the plazas.
Under the finest palaces, whose ceilings fres-
coed by Italian artists, whose walls are covered
with the rarest paintings, and shelter Libraries
selected with the choicest taste. one finds com
mon bodega, where the native drink is dealt out
in gOurds, and the pcOn stops to eat his tOrtlia.
Women and men are seen carrying upon their
heads enormous burdens through streets lighted
by electricity and stop TO ask through telephone
where their load shall be delivered
The correspondence Of the Government is die
tated to stcnographers and Transcribed upon type
writers: yet the postal service has remained un-
changed for half century. When mail arrives
at the post Office the names Of people to whom
letters are addressed are written upon slip of
paper and posted on a bullct!n-b0ard as the lists
of uncalled-for letters are in the United States
4 merchant banker goes every morning TO eX-
anime this announcement and, IL he finds his
name upon the list hands his card TO the clerk at
the delivery window and receives what is adj
dressed TO him. No postage stamps are SOLD, but
he who has letters to mail takes them to the post
office and pays the postage 10 the postmaster, who
sticks on the stamps. in all the public places, and
at the entrance Of the post cfcc. are men sqnatting
upon the pavement, with an ink horn and pad
OF paper, whose business 1t IS TO conduct the cor
rcspondcncc Of those whose literary attanmcnts
are unequal to the task. Such odd things are sill
TO be seen at the capital Of a nation that sub
sidizos steamship lines and railways and supports
schools where all the modern languages and sci
cnccs are taught, and has compulsory education
law upon its statute books. In the old InqulStlon
Building where the bodies of Jews and hcrctics
have been racllcd and roasted, is a medical col
lcgc. sustained by the Government for the free
education of all students whose altainmen's reach
the standard Of naturalization: and bones are now
sawn asunder i'll the name of science instead Of
religion.
The country within whose limits can be pro-
duced every plant that grows betwcen the equator
and the arctcs. and whose mines have yielded
onc-half of the existing silver in the world. is
habitually bankrupt. and wooden eisles OF saints
stolen from the churches are sold as fuci Tor
locomotives purchased with the proceeds of pub
lie taxation. What Mexico. needs most is peace,
no
NAYS a bounty TO steamships upon every inlmi-
grant they bring and is importing cooic labor to to
develop the coffee and sugar lands since 1870
Importance, and the prospect Of permanent peace
is hopeful
Want Of space forbids further commentary upon
q work which the general reader will find OF much
value Attention has been principally direct "a
in this article 70 the commercial side OF this sub
jcct Bat while the author has done this fuIi JUS
ticc he has subordinated il TO the presentation OF
vance Of Io+qiI rpoarlinr the Gust Oms and