The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-25

thing like their cost, on the understanding
that the United States would aid them in
case OF foreign complications. This was also
proposed as to the Chilean navy alone, but
it never got further than the Presidents
council chamber. At this time the United
States made a proposition to Chile to buy
her fine armored cruiser O'IIiggins which
has just been finished in England, but on.
account of the danger from the Argentine,
Chile did not dare SELL AT present Chile has
an excellent fleet and one which is believed
here to be far superior to that of the Ar
gentine. 1t consists of five armor clads, five
cruisers, eleven gunboats and nineteen tor
pedo boats. It has four destroyers, which
were launched in 1896, and all Of which
have speed of more than thirty knots. The
Chileans are excellent sailors. and they
have, in addition to their navy, COM
mercial fleet of over $50 vessels of more
than one hundred tons each. They have
twenty-five steamers and they have an Eng
lish steamship line, the Pacific Steam Nav
igation Company. which they subsidize. IF
there is a war there may be a naval en-
gagement near the Strait of Magellan, but
here the Chileans will have the advantage
of thorough knowledge of the waters.
Their navy has sailed about there for years,
and within the last two years careful sur
veys have been made of the seas about the
Horn by the Chilean naval officers. Chile
will there have the advantage of her town
Of Punta Arenas as a coaling and supply
station. The idea expressed by some inf1u-
entail people here, however. is that it will
be much better for the Chilean fleet to go
at once to the River Platte and to center
%I.1 <olxf, 1f Awe
This, they believe, would mean the end of
the war, as Buenos Ayres is as much the
Argentine, as Paris is France.
ATTITUDE OF OTHER STATES.
If this war occurs it will hardly be con-
fined to Chile and the Argentine. All of
the adjoining countries will probably be
forced to take part Peru hates Chile with
good reason, for Chile has taken the best
of her money-producing territory and has
made her bankrupt. She has looted her pub
lie buildings and has butchered her people
by the tens of thousands. The Chileans
scraped the Peruvian territory as with a
fine-tooth comb for things valuable. They
wiped out villages and demolished cities.
They destroyed plantations and burned fac
tories. They sacked Lima and brought
away everything of value. The books in the
public libraries, the art in the museums and
even the animals in the geological gardens
were carried to Santiago At the end of the
struggle Chile demanded the nitrate fields
as one of the prices of peace. and she is now
getting a great part of her revenues from
the export duties which she collects from
what was once Peruvian territory. Bolivia
would join Peru and the Argentine for much
the same reasons and also because the
Bolivians think, as do also many of the
Peruvians, that if Chile is victorious over
the Argentine she will at once push her
conquests further north, swallowing up all
of the countries on the west coast and max
ing Chile extend from Cape Horn to the
Isthmus of Panama The Argentines, on the
other hand, fear that Brazil will unite with
Chile. The Brazilians and the Argentines
are old-time enemies, and the Argentines
despise and hate the Braziians.
They fear that in case of war the Brazil
ians will demand back some of the territory
which President Cleveland, as arbitrator,
awarded them in a dispute during his adj
ministration, and that in case of union
with Chile and their own defeat that the
Argentine would he carved up to suit the
two. One thing that is holding Chile back
from declaring war is the large amount OF
property in the Argentine belonging to for
eigners. The best things of the Argentines
are either mortgaged to or have been
bought by Europeans, and Chile does not
see where she could get enough stuff in the
country to pay the expenses of the war.
Said one of the most influential of the Chill
cans, a man who is very close to the Presi-
dent, to me last night: 'If the Argentine
had any available assets we would make
war at once. If there was anything there
that would pay the expenses of our army
We would go in and take it; but there is not,
and we don't see where we can come out
whole. 1t is like entering into a lawsuit for
damages with pauper. He may give you
a hard fight and if you succeed you can
collect nothing. The Argentine has a debt
of almost half billion gold dollars and it
now runs behind some millions of dollars
year With the foreign influence against us
we would find it hard to get anything cut
of the nation should we succeed, and should
we lose they will carve us to pieces They
will take the whole of lower Chile for them
selves. and will allow Peru and Bolivia to
have what we captured in our war with
Peru" FRANK G. CARPENTER.