El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-07

I tear on the roads and the rolling
stock, owing to carelessness and waste.
Appropriation Made.
This is so great that Chile has re-
Gently passed an act approprlat1nS
/ more than $20,000,000 to re-equip and
reorganize the system.
A large amount of this will go into
new cars and will result in large or
ders from the United States. As it IS
now, most of the cars have come from
our country and as originally shipped
they were the best of their kind Tney
now show the effects Of the long lack
of repairs. Those in which l have
travelled need paint and varnish. The
windows rattle and everything seems
rlckety, shabby and going to seed.
1 have seen Pullman cars where the
fine veneering of the ceiling has so
cracked and blistered that it hung
down like the wall paper of damp
building, and in some coaches the rain
dripped through. The freight cars are
IN a 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 ne lack of money and conditions
VIII probably improve
Low Fares Charged.
The rates of travel on the state rail-
ways are low, for a country like this.
First class fares are about 2 cents a
class less than two-thirds of 1 cent per
mile. There are additional charges of
oy percent on the express trains and
OF about 100 percent on the rapidOS
ana trains de luxe. There is a reduc-
Ion OF 10 percent on return tickets of
All classes. The freight rates are high,
and more than half of the earnings
come from freight. The extra charges
Tor baggage are much greater than in
the United States and on the central
system 4 percent of the total earnings
are C., made out of luggage.
The amount of freight carried is
about 100000 tons per annum, the
number of passengers are more than
lzOOO,OOO and the total receipts more
than Sl3,OOO,OO0 in gold. The expendi-
lures are more than SIS, 600, 600, so that
the deficit is more than $4,000 600. The
state is now operating about 1000 miles
of railway. and its employees are more
than 1000, over five to the mile.
Many Private Owned Roads.
In addition to the government rail-
ways are those owned by private par
ties and companies. These roads have
a trackage almost as long as that of
the government system, and their total
capitalization is quite as great Their
freight and passenger rates are higher,
but the service is better. Many of
them are run in connection with mines
and other interests and the returns do
not show the actual receipts or the
profits.
Take. for instance, the nitrate rail-
run from the ports out into the desert
and carry but little else than nitrate
of soda. They range in length from
80 miles to 900 or 400, and their bust
ness is in proportion to the nitrate
factories or Oficinas with which they
connect. The Pisagua railroad, that
runs between Pisagua and Iquique, has
length of $50 miles, and its cap
italizatiOn is $40, 100000. Its gage is
only 16 inches. Nevertheless, it has
been paying over Z percent on its com
mon stock for a number of years, and
its net receipts are now more than
S1i,OOO.O00 per annum. The road is
owned IN England
Profitable Nitrate Road.
Another profitable road is the Anglo
Chilean nitrate road, which runs from
the port of TocOpilla to several differ
ent Oficinas having a length of 700
odd miles It is capitalized at $1,000
600 and in 1911 its dividend was 10
percent.
Then there is road from MejiIIones
that connects with the AntOfagasta
railway TO Bolivia. That road is about
50 miles long. and it has a 80 inch
gage. It viii carry the copper Of the
Guggenheim syndicte mines down to
the coast and should have an enormous
profit therefrOm. At present it is a
part Of the Antofagasta- Bolivia rail-
way system, which is exceedingly
The Taltal Railway company, which
runs from the southern nitrate fields
70 the port OF IdlLal on the Pacific,
paid a dividend of percent in 1912
All of these railroads are feeders of
the longitudinal system, and that sys-
TEN has been built to connect them as
well as to give a line north and south
throughout the republic
TranscOntinentai Lines Planned.
most interesting feature of the
Chilean railway situation is the num-
Der Of lines that have been planned to
cross the continent traversing the
Andes and joining the Argentine rail-
way systems to those of the west coast.
The only one Of these that has been
completed is that which extends from
Valparaiso to BUenos Aires. This is
about as long as the distance be-
tween New York and Chicago.
It crosses the Andes at an altitude
o. 10,5OO feet above the sea through a
tunnel that is nearly two miles long.
The road was expensive to build, and
IT is so costly to operate that its
freight rates viii always be high.