New-York tribune., 1907-12-26
TRADE AND FINANCE ABROAD.

The nitrate strikes at Iquique and other ports OF
the Atacama and Tarapaca regions reported by
cable dispatches from Santiago, the capital of
Chill. must be considered as semi-of1cial news
for the Chilian government would exert all its
efforts to suppress any baseless information rela-
tive to the product which is the handspring of
public and private fortunes in the Andean Republic
Many strikes have occurred in the nitrate provinces
and have been queled with shedding OF blood 1t
is known that when the guano ON the rocks of the
Peruvian coast had been used up for agricultural
purposes by the nations of the world 1t was re-
placed by the nitrate OF soda. salitre. This
mineral became after the of 1S79-1SS3 the prop
erty of the Chilian government, which had taken
possession of the Atacama and Tarapaca districts
where it gathered from the nitrate DEVELOPMENT A
sum or money about Sufficient to pay the national
budget Some so-called specialists have said that
the Chilian nitrate beds would be exhausted in fifty
years. Others said that substitute for nitrate had
been discovered and satisfactorily tested There
seems to have been no basis for these assertions
On the contrary, 1t appears to be demonstrs ted
that there is in existence quantity of salitre sli-
cient to meet the demands of the world for two
hundred years to come. There are more than
10 600 100000 quintals of salitre in the beds extending
between Atacama and Tarapaca. Moreover these
beds cover the territory between the Atacan,a
Desert and the city Of Copiapo. but have not
yet been opened. and it is calculated that the,,
would give another ten billion cf quintals of sslitre
n fhe
Chinese railways is published in lie Memorial
Diplomatique, the semi-official organ of interns-
tional diplomacy. This programme was Announced
on August 2l of this year. Peking is admitted IN
be the centre Of the network of the RAILWAYS II
will be composed of four great lines startihg from
Peking in the direction of the four cardinal points
and VIII be completed by series of secondary
lines The four great lines of railroads established
by the programme of the Ministry of Communica-
tions with their proongations some of them longer
than the principal lines. constitute n remarkable
system of unity, the Importance of which will be
great not only for China but for other nations
of the world The network will cover not only the
eighteen provinces of China, but also Manchuria
Mongolia. Tibet and Turkestan. Its rails will touch
Siberia at two points and also French Indo- China
as far Ill., where it joins the Russian railroad DIS
of Western Siberia, will be the principal one be-
tween Europe and the Far East: in fact il will be
the Caais-Shanghai route, dreamed of and pre-
dicted by the famous geographer, Jean jacques
Elisee Reclus
Agricultural problems in the Argentine Republic
arc rather a question of transportation than of
crop raising This latter object is always OBJ
of wheat. nseed etc, has been so plentiful
efforts had urged in regard to transportation
of crop from the interior provinces to the sea-
ports. 1t happens often In Argentina that thou
sands OF bags of wheat, and linseed remain
for several days in the railway stations. where
there warehouses. so that the products
exposed the weather. This year as early as
October official action was taken 10 prepare 20
ship the cereals aud improve handling ut the
ports. The latest reports by mail show that this
handling has been better managed this year.