The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-11-08
sCH|LE's NEW RAILWAYS;
!. OPENING FOR CAPITAL
Is Building Great Trunk
~ Line From Peru TO Strait
of Magellan.
ITS Y NGITUDINAL
SYSTEM
Nitrate Railroads That Yield Big
- Dividends-New Lines Across the
Andes = Government Ownership,
and How Ii Pays.
ny FRANK G. CARPENTER.

sa ts,naterials The country has several
enormous projects under way, and
sS there are n dozen new roads either sur
>'Veyed, or projected. For the past two
Weeks r Eavc been riding over the
sssgsstate railways, l have had pass from
1.-The. government, 'fud have gone here
8 H tahdt there at my wlliwithou; paving
ses sfaEc. The, place, where MIN now writ
S.tjng is the southern. terminus of the
system 1t is Puerto asontt, a thriving
tfport on the very frontier ef the settled
part of the country and as far south
of Pisacue, the northern terminus,
where the. railway begins. as the dis
iitance from BOSTON to Dallas. or New
(. s'sf orlS to Denver. This country is like
IN great sausage. 1t is. long and mar
) row. = II il were laid on the United
States. with its northern end ut Boston.
sit would stretch across New England
p tsand.the Appalachian system. across the
.Fwho1eFof the mississippi Valley and. far
I ( into the Rocky Mountains. ending in
utah. Cape Horn and the Strait OF
Magellan which form the. southern end
a.of the sausage. would be just about as
=. fart-west of Boston as, is Salt Lake
city. The country is nowhere much
& widsr than from Baltimore to New
York, and in many places It could be
< SdueeZed in between Baltimore and
Philadelphia.
q 1stYtswill pay our exporters to consider
ttheN future railway system of Chile.
stThis WILL consist of long line of rail
: Il from Peru TO the strait
. PL Magellan. with feeders going west
4 70 the coast and east to the mountains.
This line is known the longitudinal
.Isystem. and 1t is now being built. 1t
is already. almost 1000 miles long and
3Et IL VIII eventually connect Peru and
IMnta Arenas, tho metropolis OF the
a straits. The railway already extends
Il almost to the Peruvian boundary 1t
i. ,IraNerses the nitrate fields and con
meets them with Valparaiso and San
s-.ttaS-e..' The southern section extends
TO Puerto Montt. where this letter is
written. The first part of the road is
\ through Il desert rs barren tho Sa-
nara This goes southwark almost to
Il the latitude of Valparaiso where tb,
{ longitudinal system crosses the trans-
Andine railway, to. Buen6s Aires. Their
peEiEs the great central valley. an irri-
I gated region which corresponds in its
: fertility with The best parts of South
ern California. Below that the road
enters the forests, trarcrsing q coun-
try whore The farms have had to be
! cut out of the woods and where the
/ rainfall In places is 100 inches nor
3 year. The central valley section has
. been built a'loric time. and fifteen years
; ago, when ! first visited Chile they
were already penetrating into the for
1 cst region i then came on constrrc-
ton trains as far as Tcmuco the homo
OF the Araucanian Indians. and | am
+ now y days ride further south having
gone through pioneer settlements ali
I me way Within another fifteen years
me road viii probably haN. been ex-
tended toithc Strait OF Magellan This.
j should SaN ,is. rs; Inuch further south
OF mere as from st, Louis to New
l Orleans.
d The longitudinal railway belongs to
me EoVernmGnt, and contracts for ma
tefial ana carr: may be made with tho
7 government tiofiiciats r ;r,The goyernmcut
Is furnishing the capital for the extern
sions, and the building goes on stead
1 iiy. During 1913 zoo miles of new lines
IN.
! number of miles under construction w:ns
"oo. some OF this has. since been COM
! pieteu The railroad work paid for in
that year was valued at S75 900 600 y
! sum equal 10 more than 81 for every
man, woman and child in the country
AZ the present time Chile has over
! 1000 miles OF railroad In operation. and
OF this about onc-haif belongs IN Tho
state The government began to take
over the roads about n generation ago.
I ana by lsl0it had paid something like
5000, 100000 for them
me state railways are managed bv
4 oihciaIS appointed by the President
/ There Is a general manager. who is as
4 sisted by nine administrators The adj
Inihistrator holds similar poSition to
4 mat OF general manager of a priyhst
! railroad. and the system Is diEidsd into
i nine sections, each OF which has its
administrator. The chief offices of the
s.".e roads are at Santiago. and there
Is close connection with them and
INC government as TO all appointments
4 livery man VINO gets more than about
Si,ooo year receives his appointment
i directly from the President and The
others are selected by the general man
afer, with the advice OF his suborCli-
mates. This makes" every railroad Of
nee a government job. and all appoint
mentS, from the administrator to the
Drak cman and track layers are more ar
less affected by pull | have talked
with many people here concerning the
service. SO far have vet To meet an
N,Fi, h.,li
government ownership is e6od for the
roads or The people. Indeed, the rail-
way question is one of the live ones
OF public discussion. and the tlruros
show that the most OF the lines are
annually worked al q loss of several
millions OF dollars.
The difference between the receipts
ana the expenditures does not show
the whole deficit arising from govern.
mcnt management There is an cnor-
Z nous ADDITIONAL loss in the wear ana
tear on the roads and the rolling
stock. owing 10 carelcssness am,
waste. This isnsso great that emile
mas recently passed an act appropriate
ing more than $50 900. 600 to rc-cuuip
~ and reorganizc the system large
amount Of ;his will no into new cnrs
ana VIII result in large orders from
the United States. AS II is now most
oil The cars have come from our coun-
try, and, rs originally shipped. they
were the best OF their Kind. Thc,
now show the effects OF the long laci,
of repairs. Those in which have
travelled need paint and varnish The
windows rattle and everything seems
rickety, shabby and going to seed
have been in Pullman cars where. M.
line Nenecring OF the ceiling has so
cracked and blistercd jhat it hung
down like The wallpaper OF a damn
building, and in some coaches the rain
dripped through. The freight cars
are in bad way. and no one watches
the leaks Others Of the cars are more
comfortable. the dining and sleeping
car service being fairly good. with
the new appropriation there should be