Evening star., 1903-07-11
coast for years. said this was their first
sight of 1t.
Center Of Nitrate Production

Center Of Nitrate Production.
The masts of the hundred sailing vessels
which are sometimes gathered in the road
stead of Iquique. and of which I had read.
were not discerned on this occasion as we
approached the world center of nitrate pro-
duction. Instead there were. perhaps,
score. It was too late in the season and
the fleet had sailed. The heavy shipments
are made semi-annually. and 1T is then
that the huge five masters are seen with
their cluster of smaller ships like peace
full convoy. Yet If the shipping was not
imposing the sight of the great mountains
back of Iauiaue was compensation.
Reaching land at Iauiaue is fully as ex-
citing as at the other roadsteads, but once
over the reef and inside the rude break
water in rowboat the excitement calms
down, though the sea does not. The town
is a progressive. pushing one OF 3o,OOO or
40 600 inhabitants, the buildings frame and
even of fragile appearance except few
which are of corrugated iron, earthquake
reminders again. The municipal building
fronting the plaza has rather an imposing
front. A unique sight is the double decked
mule tramway cars, but / saw no one on
the upper deck.
The Chilean administration is excellent
so good that the large English colony has
little fault to find and even admits that the
community Is as well of as 1t would be un-
der British administration. The laws gov
erning the nitrate industry are declared 10
form very satisfactory code. Inc Town
is about half Chilean and half English and
the English language seems to be spoken
almost commonly as Spanish The at
mosphere is British. as Is natural with a
country club. cricket and lot OF swift
young Englishmen whose fathers made fof-
tunes in the early development Of the nj
trate fields and have sent them OUT to ad-
minister established business
Nor are the elderly Britons slow. fair
share of them are hard drinkers-whisky,
hra avay xxyffh
and French iqueurs. They say 1t IS the,
climate which creates the thirst and they
are only seeking to equalize nature. II Is
not the mission OF passing Vlsltor 10 sus
gest that the climate needs reforming, yet
If the British Total Abstinence society
wants to expand it would find Aeld mere
moist enough to be fruitful.
Iauique is the richest city on the coast
between Valparaiso and Panama. yet citi-
zens of the United States do not have mucn
part in it's prosperity. A school maintain
ed by the Methodist Church Is pralseo on
all sides. and Consul Winans Is schooi
States can claim little. 1 asked In one 0.
the stores If any Americans were engaged
In business in Iquique. "Yes. two. what
is their line?" lone is miner ana the
other Is waiting for something to dO
Ships delays deferred a trip 1 had hoped
to make to the nitrate fields. ana II was
necessary to be content with seeing tne @
trains trailing along the sides OF the mis-
like serpenR lans gatherlng gdus1rw ,nlofS None
of them feaHsd that the deposits were CIV
ing out or that the world was likely TO 1all
short of ferttfizing material through the
early exhaustion Of the Tarapaca deposits
Controlled by Trust.
The industry now Is controlled by COM
bination or trust, which regulates produc-
ton and distribution about as trusts do In
Europe and the United States. Hence no
reproduction" The governor Of Tara
paca. Mr. Enrique Fisher Rubio, has just
resigned his position to become the man,
ager of the trust I found him surrounded
not only with the samples and specimens
of nitrates, but with library of current
literature concerning fertilizers The re-
ports of the United States Department OF
Agriculture, the experimental stations and
the various state agricultural colleges form
a large share in this literature
In 1902 the nitrate production was 3OOV,-
900 Spanish quintales. an increase OF l.
500 900 Quintales over the previous year
The exports were little more than 3OO0O,-
600 quintales, some stock from the former
year being included, and were greater by
100000 quintales than in 1901. The In
creased consumption in the United states
and the consequent eXpOrtauOn 10 IL was
400, 900 qunntales
A propaganda is maintained by the nj
trate trust in almost every part OF the
world. The delegates or representatives
pay special attention to educating the
farmers in the value and methods of uttlfz-
ing nitrates for fertilization. A sharp EYE
is also kept on possible or prospective COM
petition from new discoveries. At this time
the Sahara desert and the experiments in
California are receiving close attention. An
investigation also has been made to deter
mine whether the manufacture of nitric
acid at Niagara Falls is likely to displace
natural nitrates by artificial fertilizers. The
conclusion given is that, whatever may
be the ultimate possibilities of the Niagara
artificial products. the Tarapaca nitrates
are in no immediate danger from that
source. CHARLES M. PEPPER.