New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-05-11
ALONG A RAINLESS COAST.
IL.
APPROACHES TO BOLIVIA.
AxToFAGAs TA-sPoILS OF WAR WHICH COULD
HAVE BEEN AVERTED BY hRBlIRAIIoN-
rorE RAILWAY sCHEMES-CHIL1AN

RAILWAY sOIEMf-S- tiillNN
ENTERPRISE AND AMBITION.
uRon A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRibUNE''
Antofagasta, February Is.
rrh;s &c ono Of the main gatcways by which
pol;,.;, may he approached. Ii lies on the edge
30 the Atocama Desert, which extends from tho
Cordilleras to the sea. Once in ten years there
may be n heavy rain i'll this barren land, and then
the deserts arc clothed with lower forms of stunned
vegetation for a brief space; but during the re-
naming nine years there VIII hardly dc Il shower
from January 10 the end OF December. WAFER Is
obtained mainly by distlaion and is sold at h8h
prices and delivered from house to house every
morninr The desert produces nothing by which
human life can be sustained. All the food sup
plies except fish are brought from Valparaiso ana
Southern Chili-cattle, cereals, vegetables ana
fruits 4 more misunderstanding town could not
be easily found on any save rainless coast.
There is n small church on bleak plaza, ana
there are several shabby hotels, and many cheap
drinking saloors, and there are blocks OF frame
bouses Of the paincst sort, built in anticipation
of an e,rtLcuaLc wave The most ambitious
decorative effect in the primitive architecture of
the town is the painting of wooden front in
imitation of brick wall. There is a railway
station Offering facilities for escape into the in
tcrior from so forlorn and unnatural centre
Of Human habitation: there are signs OF business
cntcrprisc in factory chimneyS and warehouses.
and There arc several vessels in the roadstcad
taking carcocs from lighters. This is Antofa-
gista. one of the great prizes of the war Of de-
vastation fought for the possession OF the manure
beds of the rainlcss coast.
Al the outbreak Of that war Bolivia had n small
strip Of aboard with TWO unprotected roadscads,
Cohijah and Antofasasta II WAS desert per
hans sixty miles wide, with the COrdllcrs be
hind it, Beyond the Andcan passes was one
of the richest and cast-dcvclopcd countries i'll
South America. Owing 10 lacl, of communication
with the coast Bolivia more Isolated than
Paraguay, which could De approached by LOCO
miles Of waterway from the Atlantic. futile
attempt had been made 10 construct a railway
line from the interior and to open a trade route
down the Momora and the Madeira to the mouth
Of the Amazon. The European hondholdcrs got
in. creating a public debt for agricultural
State which had mcagrc facilities for increasing
it's revenues but the produce Of the country did
not co out Bolivia was equal in territorial cN-
tent 10 the four new States admitted last year
into the American Union, with Texas md Oregon
added and II had population OF 2.0oo.o 600, with
all the natural resources required for the making
OF n great nation; but il was the most backward
country in South America. rs mountains were
filed with silver. copper and tin it, forests
abounded in cabinet woods Of the finest quality;
It's high platcaus offered plentiful pasturagc 10
great drovcs Of alpacaS. lis lower valleys 70
sheep and the plains Of MoNos TO cattle: II com
bned the climates Of the temperate zone and the
tropics is resources as wheaf-h"lt riValled
those Of Southern Chill. and It's coffee. chocolate.
sugar and cotton areas being equal IN productive
ness 10 tho>c OF Brazil II bad an inc>hau>'ihic
supply Of inda-rGbhcr ~ the hcodwat"rs 90 the
Amazon and millions OF II chinchonA tees avail
able for repcuishng the worlds stock Of quininc
and on the coast II had ritrat" beds OF unknown
extent Nature with proAi.al generosity. had
done everything for Bolivia but lis resources
were undeycloIrd. its products were without "A
market and its people the most primitive in their
customs and the least progressive In their IDEAS
10 De found In South America. Ihrcc-'inh> u
the population were in the Amazon Valley. com
plctcly isolated from contact with The commercial
world Tie approachc, to Arc, and Aut"lagastl
were long and difficult: the Southern Peruvian
railway system had not been extended 10 Ia
Paz. and the Argentine railways were then a long
way from the frontier. Bolivia Was cut ~ from
the world and rent asundcr by continual political
anarchy and faction strife.
The mcagrc coast-linc from thc River Loa -
the 18th parallel was not coveted 10y Chill until
the nitrate and guano beds were discovered IN
what had been regarded worthless desert levels.
Then began game of intrigue. in which the sim
ple minded Bolivian was no match for the willy
and ambitious Southcrncr. 4 boundary diSput"
arose in which Chill advanced an untcnnhlc
claim 10 the 23d parallel a, its northern frontier
and bcncvolcntly accepted the eth rs a COM
promise The Caracocs mines. discovered twenty
years ago, lay TO the north Of that parallel with
Antofagasta as the ncaIc,; port. This did not
prcvcnt the development Of Gillian enterprise at
the expense of Bolivia. Various concessions were
obtained for working nitrate beds opening a mar
row gauge railway 10 Caracocs, improving Anto-
fagasia harbOr and building mole and other
public works. So aggressive was the commercial
enterprise Of the Chilans thai Bolivia. IN 1913,
was compelled 10 enter into secret treaty arrange
mcnts with Peru providing for mutual boundary
guarantees. For several year, half of the cN-
port duties Of the Bolivian scaboard had been
claimed by Chill. This profession abandoned
in 1871. but treaty was negotiated c,cmpting
lis own industries this scaboard from export
duties The Bolivian Congrts rejected the
treaty. but consented 10 make q contract with
the Chilian nitrate company, with the understand
ing that an export duty of 10 cents per hundrcl-
wcipht should he levied on the salt, This con-
dition was not accepted The taX was levied
The manufacturers, acting under the advice OF the
Gillian Government, refused 10 pay il. The sale
of a portion Of the property was authorized in
order that the requirements of the law might be
complied with CHILEAN troops al once occupied
Antofagasta and Goblin, and the first sIirInish
Of the war was fought short distance inland
at Calarna This the immediate cause Of
the wharf.-the laying of tax of 10 cents per
hundrcd-weight the desert manurcs, in viola
ton. as the Chlians maintained of the contract
with their nitrate capitalists As soon as the
Province of Tarapaca and the Bolivian scaboard
were conquered Chill itself imposed duty of 81 90
on every quintal of alkaline salts exported. The
customs receipts from this source amounted 10
SI7,83s. $50 lChilian currency in 1855. The
Government has been paving the interest on It's
war and railway debts largely by means of nj
trdtc duties, although it brought on a war ofIc-