The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-11

aa individuals or as a nation,
 The middle classes are merchants and small land holders. Among them are many pure whites and many who nave more or less Indian blood mixed with that which comes down from the Spanish.
 The lower class are known as the Inquilinos, or. erroneously, as rotos. The word roto is one of contempt It conveys the idea of a drunken. good nothing loafer. allied to that of a quarrelsome. bad character. This Is not rhe nature of the Inquilino. the Chilean peasant. He is good. hard working, honest man as a rule and anything but loafer. He is a descendant of the peasant class of north Spain and of the Araucanian Indians. He iss lntel- -ligent, and quick to learn anything that requires handiness and craft. He can do all kinds of work. and makes an excellent merchant, farmer or or Chardist. He is a born horseman. and Is skilled in the handling of stocks. He IS hardy and vigorous. and noted for his endurance and patience. At the same time he is brave. he is very quick tempered and will fight upon slight provocation. He seems to care nothing tor life. and very little for pain.
 Indeed, the Inquilino will do all sorts of foolish things rather than be des- pissed by his friends. The other day several peons were drinking together with a crowd of their fellows. when one man charged another with being coward.
 You think so?" was the reply. Well, l will prove that I am not. Would coward do this?' And thereupon he pulled out his knife and plunged 1t. into his bowels again and again. be- fore the admiring eyes of the crowd.
 "I will show you that l also am not a coward" rejoined the first speak CT. and he began to stab himself. The two men would have committed sui eide had not young priest rushed in and torn the knives from their hands, and called in the police to take the men to the hospital. These men were drunk. but even so no drunken man but Chileno would think of proving his courage in such a way.
 Speaking of drunkenness. this is the crying evil among the Chilean peasa ntry. city and country. Their chief end seems to be to get drunk, and the majority have spree once a week. Monday is called the roto's holiday, for he Is often so drunk Sunday that he has to take Mon day to recover. The liquor used is the vilest of alcohol, being often made of po- tatoes and rotten vegetables. It would. as one of the employers says, kill the or dinary man at thousand yards. The stuff is gulped down in great quantities, not because 1t is liked. but because it makes the drunk come. There are many saloons and a recent census showed $500 places in Santiago where liquor was solt and in Valparaiso the average was on saloon for every 24 men. There are drink ing places in all the Chilean villages and every small town and hacienda stor keeps liquors for sale. Of late, ther have been some movements toward tenn perance. but so far but little has beer accomplished
 As result of these excesses and of the poor food and insanitary conditions of the houses, the mortality among the In- quilinos is great They breed like Aus tralian rabbits and their babies die like fiies It is only the strong children who live, and for this reason perhaps the peons, as a class, are as tough and strong. as any people of the world. l have seen them carrying nitrate bags weighing 300 pounds each and tossing them about like bags of feathers. Four of them will lift piano and carry it along the roadway, and in the mines a neon will tote bag of ore, weighing 15o