Omaha daily bee., 1914-11-15

NAG eNdNS TdhWhys anu SDeuu bOfuS Il IL
lions on the harbor at Valparaiso.
Indeed. the opportunities for the intro
duction of all kinds of American goods
are now at their height. Our trade has
been steadily gaining over that of Eng
land and Germany before the war In
Europe occurred. In 1918 the increase in
American trade was more than S3.OOO0o0,
while during that year the decreaee In
the German trade was $500. 900. and that
OF England s2.5OO.OO0. At present the i'm
portations from France and Germany are
practically stopped, and those of England
are clogged- by the war. In addition are
the better transportation facilities that
will come from the lines of shipping
under the American flag. the great ad-
vantages from the Panama canal, ana
also to the fact that American capital
to the amount of $500 900 or more has
recently been invested here. outside OF
this our capitalists have taken options
on other mining properties. including
gold. copper and iron, and the invasion
OF such capital seems to be only at its
beginning.
Have American street Cars.
I took an American street car and rode
across to Talcahuano to see the port AMI
naval station The road Is an electric
trolley. built by our firm OF Grace &
Co.. and the cars run from one place TO
the other in thirty-five minutes. the dis
tance being about eight miles. We
passed the race track and cricket and
polo grounds and rode for some dis
lance on the edge of the sea. Entering
Talcahuano, we found ourselves in the
heart of a rapidly growing city OF 4o.oC0
people. The stores are good and there
are large wholesale establishments.
The naval station is carefully guarded,
and had TO get a permit from the adj
miral 10 go over II. I rode to II on a
construction train seated on a dirt car.
The main bulldogs are four or five
miles away, at the entrance TO the har-
Dor or bay, which is we'll protected from
the sea. The bay is large enough TO
float all the navies OF the world and n
has deep water right up to the wharves
Preparations are now making TO Inn
prove the docking facilities and II will
eventually be great commercial port
The naval arrangements are excellent.
Great storehouses OF reinforced concrete
have been put up and something like fifty
acres have been covered with buildings
and machine shops for repairs In some
Of the basins ! saw them putting eight
inch guns on the older war vessels, and
In the drydock one OF the cruisers, the
Esmeralda, was being cleaned and re-
paired Another drydock, large enough to
hold a dreadnaught. is now building, the
construction going on under the water.
The station has the latest OF modern Inn
provements. including a large electric
machine shop, electric cranes and all the
necessary machinery for handling great
weights.
Proud OF Their Navy.
The Chileans are proud OF their navy.
They have two dreadnaughts of $500 tons
each now building. They have two ar
mored cruisers. the Esmeralda and the
O'Higgins, which are OF 1900 or 5000 tons,
ana three protected cruisers. They have
three torpedo gunboats, thirteen do
stroyers, five modern torpedo boats and
two submarines. There Is also a mine
ship ana a hospital ship. The total
strength OF the navy is about 5000 officers
and men.
The Esmeralda, now in the dry dock.
Is named after the little boat OF about 500
tons which fought so well in the great
engagement with Peru about thirty-riye
years ago. At that time the Esmaralda
and the Cavadonga were lying off the
nitrate port OF iquiaue when two much
larger vessels belonging 10 Peru, the
Huascar and Independence, attacked
them. The Chilean vessels were made OF
wood and the armament OF each consisted
OF twelve four-pound guns. Neither was
over $50 tons. The Huascar had more than
LOCO tons and its guns shot shells of 300
pounds. The Independence was an iron
clad Of more than 1000 tons. and II had
ewelye seventy-pounder guns. NOtwith-
standing the Esmeralda blazed away at
the Huascar, sending its little four pound
shells against the others So0-pound shells
II continued until II was almost q wreck
and when the Huascar finally bore down
upon IL and rammed II with it's great iron
clad PROV the Chilean captain, Arturo
Pratt, who commanded IL. leaped 20 the
deck o. the HuascRr and called his men
20 follow him. Before they could do so
the boats AGAIN separated. Pratt fell be
meath the Peruvian bullets and the Es-
maralde fought on without q commander |