The sun., 1894-01-28

bnlps' anu sIhto VI sleRo was pToclalmou
The opponents OF Balmaceda had ex'
pected revolt OF the army. but In
that respect were disappointed. The army
partly through loyalty TO It's ostensible chief
partly through jealousy Of the navy. and partly
owing to an increase OF nay, stood by the Pres
ident, and. as there were some six thousand
soldiers In Valparaiso. which. moreover, was
strongly fortified. there was nothing for the
revolutionary leaders to do but to proceed
northward to 1quique. and there attempt to
convert to their use the main sinews OF war
to wit the annual revenue Of upward OF 500.
600. 900. derived from the nitrate fields
We need not recapitulate the events that
followed. and which eliminated on Sept 18
1891. when Balmaceds shot himself at San
tago In the house OF tho Argentine Minister
where he had taken refuge We pass to the
last Ave chapters OF this volume. which con-
tain many interesting data with relation to
the Chile OF to-day.
v.
Chile is long. narrow tract OF country.
stretching some 2.600 miles along the Pacific
coast OF North America; its breadth varies
from forty to one hundred miles. and its area
Is computed at nearly 294, 900 square miles. a
larger superhcies than that OF any European
State. with the exception OF Russia Before
the recent acquisitions OF territory from Peru
and Bolivia Chile was bounded on the north
by the Atacama desert but By the treaty OF
October. 1SS3 tho adjoining coast districts OF
Antofagasta and Tarapaca were csded to It by
Bolivia and Peru respectively. It was also
provided that the Peruvian districts OF Tacna
and africa should remain In the possession OF
Chile for ten years from the date OF the
treaty. at the end OF which period .
plebiscite should determine to which coun-
try these districts should belong. the
sum oil SlO.oOo.oOo being paid By
the successful competitor to the other. Tho
population OF chile In January. 1S0o. was esti-
mated at 2flo.4 .4oo. which gives an average OF
only e2 inhabitants to tho square mile. Tho
number OF Indians does not exceed oo.oOo
while. on the other hand the foreign popula-
ton Is said to be upward OF SIooo The ex-
ternal debt OF Chile In January. 1880. was
little more than S4T.Oooooo, the Internal debt
over s24'oooooo while tho paper money In
circulation amounted to nearly s22'5OOOO0
The estimated income for that year was s5s,-
ooo'ooo' but in addition to this. there was an
unexpended balance from lSSe OF more than
S3l.OOo.OOO. Tne estimated expenditures for
1880 were about sohooo,ooo The annual
Imports and exports were notfar from S6o.oOO.-
600 each. In these figures. we have accepted
Tor convenience the silver peso at Its nominal
value OF u It's actual value In 1891 was
91,2 centa We may here mention that be-
sides the silver peso. the following coins are
Issued from the Chilean mint; ten dollar (con-
DOR. nve dollar 'medio condor or doolonl. two
dollar (escudoh and one dollar tpeso) gold
pieces There are silver pieces. worth respec-
lively half. q fifth. and stwentieth OF a dol
lar. and there arc nickel and copper coins
valued at two and half cents. one cent, two
cents. and half cent.
Chile has no single city with the population
OF Buenos Ayres but her urban population ia
distributed among many important centres,
Santiago the capital had on Jan. l, 1890 not
far from 200 900 Inhabitants. Valparaiso had
half as many. Talca Conception. Chillan La
Serena. and Iquiqus came next In the order OF
population There are seventy seven cities
and towns In Chile which are emporia too con-
siderable to he rank ed as villages. Let US now
see what facilities exist for communication
between these large centres Concerning
this point. 1t 10 worth noting that Chile
was the nrst country In South America
TO build railroads. and, from the start,
in 1880 their construction was regarded As n
legitimate function OF tho Government. At
present the State owns and operates the line
between Santiago and Valparaiso, with the
important branch OF Los Andes. which is a
section OF the great transeontinental line from
Santiago to Busnos Ayres. The State also
owns and works the line from Santiago to
Talcahuano. together with its several branch
ea These lines have q combined length Of
nearly seven hundred miles. and are valued at
about $50. 600 900; they carried in 1890 over
5000. 900 passengers. and returned a clear
profit OF exactly 3.ll per cent. upon the capital
The State also owns in one OF the northern
provinces line from ChaharAl to Animis and
salados. about forty miles in length. There is
also = large amount OF private capital invested
in railways. more than a thousand miles Of
private corporations. There are. moreover,
about dozen private lines under way or pro-