Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-28
HEARD AROUND
THE CORRIDORS
CHILEAN
SEEKS IRRIGATION LORE
BY THE EAvEsDRoPPER

Carlos Hoerning, civil engineer of
Valparaiso, Chile, who is special
commissioner from his government to
America to study American methods
Of irrigation and building construc-
tion, is at the Westminster hotel. Mr..
Hoerning has been in San Francisco
for some time on his mission getting
information TO be used by his gov
ernment in the rebuilding of Valpa-
raiso, which was partially destroyed
by the earthquake.
Mr.. Hoerning is a very young man
to be entrusted with a matter of such
Importance, but one does not need to
talk with him very long to find out
he has a thorough grasp of the ques-
tions he has made his speciality. And
what a warm-hearted young patriot
he is! He loves his Chile and speaks
glowingly of his southern land-not
boastingly, it must be understood He
modestly expressed the wish that
Chile were better understood by the
people of other countries, especially by
Americans. He is a graceful, dark
and although he has travelled and seen
a good bit of life there is nothing Of
the sated man of the world about him;
rather he has the child's joyousness
and enthusiasm.
'In Valparaiso most of the damage
was done by the earthquake alone,
and very little by the fire that fol-
chiefly of brick and did not stand the
test of the shake. In rebuilding we
shall use the reinforced concrete, and
1t iSsplanned to make the city a model
one. A new sewer system is to be
installed and the streets are to be
Strengthened. This means a great deal
of work and will take long time, as
it will require the replatting of the
entire city.
valparaiso fronts on the bay and
all the streets follow the line of the
shore and consequently are very
crooked. The city lies so close to the
mountains that in the rainy season
great quantities of sand and earth are
washed down and choke up the sew
ers. These faults we hope to over
come in reconstructing the city 1t
is also intended to level the ground
which entails the filing up of many
hollow places and the cutting down
of hills.
What we need most in my country
is capital; we have the resources
agricultural and mineral-but capital
is needed for their development. Since
the earthquake labor has been higher
than ever before. common working
men receiving SO Chilean money, which
would be 81 in American, and carpen-
ters getting as high as SIS a day.
The cost of living is low and for
one dollar of our money one can buy
almost as much as with SO of Amer
lean money in the United States
These wages have only obtained since
the earthquake, however, and will
probably drop to a lower scale with
the return to normal conditions. Labor
has been scarcer owing to the unusual
demand and Italians are being i'm
ported"
Mr.. Hoerning has been an admirer
of the United States ever since he
was a little fellow, 1t used to be a
joke among his comrades, and when
ever one ran across anything about
this country that was particularly
laudatory they would give it to him
with the remark, Here is something
about your Yankee friends" His in
terest was aroused early in life by the
tales of his grandfather, Fernando
Doll, now a resident Of Paris, who In
the early days Of the gold excitement
in California shipped wheat and salt
peter to California on his own vessels
from his Chilean estate, and often ac-
companied his cargoes.
After spending week here Mr.
Hoerning will go TO San Diego to in
speet the Sweetwater dam, and then
viii return to San Francisco before
going home.