The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-28

can electric plant is being put in at Punta
Arenas the southernmost city of our
hemisphere. and steel plates are being sent.
from Pittsburg to Valparaiso. There are
now two or three large firms here which
devote themselves to the importation and
introduction of American goods. One is
that of Grace & Co.. which has an English
branch as well as its New York house. and
another is the old firm of Beeche & Co,
which has lately united with Flint. Eddy
4 Co, of New York. Beeche & Co. handle
nothing but American goods. They have
their agents and travelling statesmen all
over Chile and are anxious to push the sale
Of American manufactures Both the
Graces and Beeche & Co do a big business,
and the general increase in our trade here
IS largely due to their efforts. doubt, how
ever, whether the United States can ever
equal Germany or England in this market.
We buy comparatively little of Chile, and
without the increase in the beet sugar in
dustry creates a demand for nitrate in the
United States the bulk of Chilean exports
will continue TO go to Europe. At present
Chile sends about three-fourths Of her ex-
ports to Great Britain, but large part of
this is nitrate, which finally gets to Ger
many, and is used there in the raising of
the sugar beet. We buy some nitrate and
iodine and a little wool and hides. About
half of the Chilean imports come from
Great Britain, the amount brought from
that country in 1894 costing more than
$50. 100000. Germany stands next, and, as
! have said, the German imports have been
steadily gaining. OF late, however. the
German merchants here have been detected
in number of attempts at fraud ON the
customs, and their methods of trade are
carefully watched.
SPANISH SOUTH AMERICA.
South America is fast passing out of the
hands of the Spanish-American natives. l
mean as far as the valuable properties and
business of all kinds are concerned From
the coast of lower California to Valparaiso
there has been of recent years a great Ger
man commercial invasion. which has been
crowding out the English who had come be-
fore. The strongest foreign element in Gen.
trail America to-day is the German. The
Germans own the best of the coffee planta-
tions of Guatemala, and you find their inn
porting houses in every Central American
city. The most of the business of the
Isthmus Of Panama is done by the Eng
lish, French and Germans. There is at
Panama an American banking establish
ment, that of Felix Ehrman & Co., and the
Panama Railroad, while owned by the
French, is still managed by Americans. In
Ecuador found large colony of Germans
Italians and English. The chief business
establishments of Guayaquil in their
hands. The native Peruvians have long
since sold their best properties out to the
foreigners. and among others the Chinese
own millions of dollars worth of Peruvian
estates. The sugar plantations are chiefly
in he han Of no he oil 6pld
are owned by English and Italians. The
railroads and the guano beds, as well
millions of acres of coffee lands in the in
terror of Peru, belong to the English syndi-
cate called the Peruvian Corporation, and
the silver and gold mines of the country
are owned to large extent by foreign
ers. The native Peruvian is either
ashamed Of trade or he does not know how
to go about it, and the stores of Lima are
managed almost altogether by German
English. Italian, French and Chinese mer-
chants. In Arequipa / found that the Ger
mans did the most of the trade, although
there were several English and American
mining companies which made this their
headquarters. 1t the same in La Paz
where there were about thirty American
miners. The English have a number of
the hest mining properties of Bolivia. They
practically control Antofagasta, and Iquique
is more English than Spanish. l have al
ready told you that more than $10O.OOOOO0
OF English capital is invested in the Chilean
nitrate fields, and other millions from the
same source are working some of the
mines. Southern Chile has a large colony
of Germans, and there are English and
German sheep farms in Patagonia. Both
Santiago and Valparaiso are full of Ger
man firms Many of the large estates here
which are owned by natives are managed
by foreigners, and this is so with nearly
ali of the mines and other large properties
of the different countries. The railroads
of Chile and. Peru were built by English
and American engineers, and the most of
them are managed by Anglo-Saxons to-
day. In short, the real work of South
America, as far as big things are concerned,
is in the hands of foreigners, and
even here in Chile the natives who are
wealthy are chiefly so from the vast estates
which they have inherited from their an
cestors. They own also valuable mines,
but only the fewest of them are rich as a
result of their individual efforts.
YANKEES OF SOUTH AMERICA.
And still the Chileans are by far the most
progressive people in South America. This
is, in fact, the only live country that 1 have
so Tar visited in my travels on this CONT
nent. Colombia is a slice out of the middle
ages. Ecuador has the same customs that
1t had when the Spaniards owned it. 1t is
priest-ridden and it's people are 800 years
behind the times. The Peruvians are fur
ther advanced, but they have little snap
ia them, and as to the Bolivians. they are
waiting for some other people to come in
and gobble up themselves and their coun-
try. You notice the difference the moment
you step Chilean soil. / was delighted
with Antofagasta, although it is a town
largely built of corrugated iron and drift
wood 1t had an air of business about it,
and the spirit of get-up-and-get was abroad
everywhere. When / asked one of the citi-
whether i could post my letters with
out danger of the postal officials destroying
them in order to steal the stamps as / had
been told was sometimes done by the clerks
of the postoffices of Bolivia he replied:
Certainly you can. This is Chile" He was
right. Chile is a land of its own kind. and
for South America ii is very much up to
date. 1t has its railroads., telegraphs and
telephones, and its people have much
patriotism as we have. The Chilenos, as
they call themselves. number about 3000 600.
They are like the other peoples of the west