Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-05-28

population fell or, and there Is not
one-third as many people here now as
when Pizarro came. The roads. not
withstandlng modern inventions. are
not as good as they were In the days
of the Incas, and the condition of the
common people is very much worse.
HOW CHILE LOOTED PERU.
Still the Spanish Peruvians. up until
the war with Chile remained rich. The
silver mines of Cerro de Pasco turned
out vast sums and the government
revenues We're so large that there was
good picking for every one with any
kind of pull. One of the Viccroys
of the eleventh century rode from his
palace to the cathedral in Lima over
n path paved with ingots OF solid sill
yer. His horse was shod with shoes
of solid gold. and every hair of the
horses name and tail was strung with
pearls. Later on. to the wealth OF
the mines was added that of the guano.
and Peru got hundreds Of millions OF
dollars out of her manure piles. This
source of wealth was being worked
when the great nitrate fields Were
discovered and in 1878 Peru exported
sl7,5O0.00o worth OF nitrate, which in
the then value of silver was worth
nearly twice as much as all her cN-
ports In 1896 The total exports that
year were si7,000,000 and the govern
ment receipts from guano and nitrate
and other sources We're more than
S700O.000 Then the Chileans, who
We're poor, cast their covetous eyes
upon these riches. They trumpet up
an excuse for war about their boun-
dairy lines and invaded the country.
They had about $4,000 men, and they
laid Peru waste, demanding ransom
Of various sections and destroying
everything when II was not granted.
Nal 4.
sugar factory and railroad shops
nlled with fine machinery imported
from the United States. The Chilean
general demanded that the owners
should pay him 100000 in three days.
They could not and they blew up the
machinery with dynamite. destroyed
the beautiful houses of the hacicndas
and killed 500 sheep, which his soldiers
could not carry of. The Chilean army
destroyed the magnificent residences
at the summer resorts below Lima.
In their fights they gave no quarter,
bayonetting not only the wounded SOL
diers, but the defenseless civilians as
well. They looted Lima, taking the
university for barracks, and de-
stroyed the archives. They also sacked
the public library. which contained
10000 volumes and many valuable
manuscripts. They even robbed the
geological garden, sending an elephant
to Chile They cleaned out the palace
and the treasury and collected mil
lions In the way of customs. getting
SOS 900, 900 in one year from that source
alone. The war lasted for nearly
three years and when It was closed by
the cession to Chile of the nitrate ter
ritory, which she coveted, Peru had
been raked by the Chilean soldiers as
with a fine tooth comb, and nearly
everything OF value taken away. l
understand that the Chileans have now
about used up all that they stole and
that they are making trouble with
the Argentines in the hope of another
great haul. Since then Peru has had
a number of revolutions such as
have described and between the upper
and neither mill stones of personal
politics., the people have had little
chance to do anything but keep out
of the way of the bullets.
THE PRESIDENT AND THE
CHURCH.
Since Pierola has been president,
however, the country has been re-
marltably quiet and the general belief
| here is that this Will continue. Bush
ness is steadily growing better and
there are number of movements I'M
der way for internal development
Foreign capital is coming in and the
president is doing what he can to en-
courage 1t. He Is improving Lima, re-
| pairing the great cathedral. building a
new city postofiice and, as far as pos
1 sible reorganizlng the army. The
president of a South American repub-
| lie has far more power, in some things,
than the President of the United