The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-01-16
ALL ABOUT THE CHILIlNS.
A South American State Which
Hopes to RuIe This Continent.
OUR NAVY LOOKED UPON WITH
CONTEMPT.

Chill Geographicaily-The Government an
o1igarohy why the Revolt against Bal
maceda A Dream of Universal Domin-
ion-Our Navy has Taught the ChiIians
to Dance and to mix Cocktails and little
else.
To the Editor of the Press:
Looking at the map of South America
did it ever occur to you that the little
strip of land on the west coast marked
Chill is so large as Texas? 1t really is,
and little larger too. Hardly more
than hundred and forty miles in aver
age width, Chill stretches out for
about twenty-eight hundred miles from
the Tropics to the Antarctic Ocean.
Of this immense span about sixteen
hundred miles, say from africa on the
north to Valdivia on the south, is inhabi-
ted as thickly as is our own Pacific coast
if not more so. But the twelve hundred
miles to the south of Valdivia is hardly
settled at all, and the native Indian, with
his stone pointed arrows chases the
Guanaco deer as freely as if the march
of civilization would never tend toward
his home. Of course there are small
settlements here and there along this
coast, notably Punta Arenas or SANDY
Point in the Straits of Magellan. But
they are very few and far between and
l..-- =. ~, with ono another
except by sea.
To get an idea of the northern half of
the republic, imagine a strip of our At
lantic coast sixteen hundred miles long
and of the same width as Chilli. 1t would
stretch from the northern boundary of
Maine to point on the Florida coast
some little distance below San Augustine
and Washington, Baltimore and Mont
pelier, Vt. would be near the inland
boundary But while this slice of Yam
keedom holds seventeen and quarter
millions of good Americans, Chill has
but three millions of cosmopolitan
mixture of many races.
Santiago, the capital, is a city of $780,
900 inhabitants. Valparaiso (the Valley
of Paradise), the largest seaport of the
country, has barely a hundred thousand,
and all the other cities are quite small,
some of them hardly deserving a more
dignifed title than Village though
they are really important commercially
The principal cities were built some
miles back from the sea; for in the days
when their towns were born, the Chilians
showed respect to the Anglo-Saxon sea-
men who were then in the habit of COM
ing around on buccaneering excursions.
But have no doubt that they hated
those seamen even as much as they hate
their descendants today.
But each city must have its outlet to
the sea; so port grew on the shores of
the nearest bay. And now we have,
scattered over the country, a number of
twin cities; one, the busy seaport, work
ing hard to support the other in idleness
and luxury, but gradually reaping it's re-
ward in the long, steady strides with
which it is overhauling the parent city
in the race for wealth.
CHILEAN cities are built of only two
materials, stone and adobe. The houses
are generally Of but one story, as, ac-
cording to the Chilians, earthquakes
make it unsafe to build more. But it
seems to be more general ignorance of
the principles of architecture that has
kept their houses low; because, since
modern ideas of building have been dis
seminated there are number of firmly
braced two and three story buildings go
inc up in different cities. AS there are
only two kinds of houses, the rich stone
palaces and the adobe huts, so are there
but two classes of people, the rich and
the poor And poverty hardly expresses
the condition of thousands of these peo-
pie. Destitution is a more fitting term.
Earning little more per day than the
value Of thirty cents of our money, kind
Providence has given to them and their
families only thirty cent stomachs. They
prefer to 90 barefoot, and cotton trous-
ers, shirt and blanket, with some large,
gaudy headgear seem to suit their no
lions of dress.
The upper class treats the poor people
as slaves. For instance, the report OF
people killed in some accident generally
reads like this: Senior Don Juan Maria
Francisco Garcia de Fulano; Senior Don
Jorge Vicente Carlos Ennay; Senior Don
FREDERICK Ruiz de Silva; and six peones.
Nobody seems to care whether the peones
had names OF not
Chilli is a Republic, at least in name.
She has practically universal suffrage.
But the power to vote does not carry
with it the power to elect if the votes are
adverse to the men in power. In the
government the rights or wishes of no.
body need be considered, except those of
the very rich people; and hence the Re-
public of Chill is as much an oligarchy
as was England under the rule of the
Barons.
The cause of the late rebellion and
revolution in the government was that
Balmaoeda had seen fit to use the power
entrusted to him by the constitution.
According to that document the Presi-
dent can hold office for five years, but
cannot be elected for two consecutive
terms. Yet all the election machinery is
in his hands. He can appoint and dis
miss at will any election judge in the
country. Naturally he contrives to be
ii - Il Iii L..