The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-03-17
VAST RESOURCES IN CHILE
AWAIT AMERICAN CAPITAL
Industrial Possibilities Shown in Its Geographical Posi-
ton Transportation, Motive Power Labor Conditions
and Natural Supply of World Needed Products.
NJ CARLOS CASTRO RUE.

By CARLOS CASTRO RUE.
Consul-Generul Of Chas IN the o. S. 4.
Specially Written 10, fhe South American
Section Of THE sur.
The geographical position of Chile, in
spite Of being at the extreme point Of
| South America, gives moro facilities for
communication with all parts OF that
continent than any other of its nations
enjoy. The completion Of the Transan-
dine Railway has given II the advantage
Of having the only route by which It Is
| possible to pass by land from the At
lantic TO tho Pacific side. Even for many
| OF the Argentine provinces the shortest
| way toward the sea In through Chile So
much % that IL II were desired to form
general depot from which all South
America had to be supplied It's habitat
would undoubtedly Be Chile. By virtue
| of those circumstances It can be foreseen
that Chilean industries would not only
enjoy their own local markets, but those
OF the greater part of South America.
The confguration of Chilean territory
Is another very important characteristic
OF its industrial possibilities. It has
\ all the advantages OF an island by the
proximity OF the sea to practically all
parts OF its land. In no part has Chile
| breadth OF moro than 40 miles. Its
coast line Is longer than that OF any
other South American country, having
length of 1855 miles.
Facilities for Industry.
Besides the maritime advantages this
signifies II permits central arterial
| railway which practically serves the
whole Of the country. This main line IL
known in Chile as the Longitudinal Rail-
| way and was completed four years ago.
Any Industrial centres which may estab-
| lish themselves in Chile can therefore
| rely upon exceptional facilities both by
! land and sea.
The geological formation of the sub
soil Of Chile offers the best basis for
Industrial enterprise. It's deposits of
coal arc abundant and II Is believed
there are many deposits yet to be
located and worked. It's iron deposits
arc enormous. From antiquity the out
put of its copper mines has made the
country figure among the first of the
| worlds producers, and now, owing to
establishments recently erected with
| American capital. Chile will hold the
second place among producers OF copper.
| ranking next to the United States. Be
Sides the soil Of Chile possesses an ex-
| traordinary variety OF substances of
various kinds from the unique and
|
a natural state, which no other country
possesses. down to tho modern clay.
which Is SO largely used in the manu-
| facture OF cement
| Plenty of Motive Power.
The motive power produced by its
waterfalls constitutes also very i'm
| portant factor in Its Industrial progress.
Owing to the comparatively short dis
lance between the Andes and the Pacific
Ocean its rivers are generally torrential,
and these lend themselves admirably To
provide motive power either directly or
by conversion into electrical energy.
Some Of the falls. such as those OF
Aconcagua and LaJa. assume exceptional
proportions: nevertheless their power and
| utility are but small when compared
| with the total force represented by the
| innumerable waterfalls found throughout
the whole of the land. With the sole ex-
| ception Of the provinces OF the extreme
| north. one may say there Is no part of
| the land without these natural water
powers, which could be most profitably
employed in manufactures Of every kind.
l However, all these natural forces
| would be of little value unless the hu-
man factor. properly trained. is present
to harness and employ them in an ade-
Quate manner.
Workmen Are Energetic.
From that point of view Chile enjoys
the advantages OF homogeneous race.
1t Is the product of a native element. the
Araucanians whose history shows they
possessed long before the present mod
ern civilization a high intelligence and
great energy. and OF Spanish people of
character and enterprise strengthened
I IA hxyt he atr ooln
lasting for centuries. in the Indian wars.
To-day the fusion OF these two strong
races is complete. and the good results
are testified by the unanimous opinion
OF foreigners who have had to deal with
the Chilean laboring classes. All agree
that these workmen are energetic. physi-
| cally strong and possess a considerable
technical ingenuity.
think I may be allowed 20 insist
on the aptitude of the Chilean work
men for Industrial purposes without
being accused OF a glorifcation OF my
countrymen, because It is In my opin-
ion the result Of natural circumstances
and more particularly due to tho climate
In this respect II will not be out
Of place to quote what Prof. Hunt
ington Of Yale University raid of cli-
mate and efficiency in a book published
this year. The author maintains that
the most essential tnlnR IN ire IL the
ordinary daily work. and the best ell
mate for work Is that which most
closely approaches the ideal. According
| TO ha opinion, the positions OF the
globe which most approximate 10 that
ideal are those where the mean tenn
perature OF winter fuctuates round
about 80 degrees and that OF summer
about 80 degrees. These regions, he
declares are England, the Pacific coast
of the north Of the United States and
the south of British Columbia. New
Zealand and a great part of Chile.
Industry in Chile.
As an indication Of what may be
expected from the industrial side, l
will 1uctesAsme figures extracted from
the States statistics.
According TO the latest published off,
ciai figures. corresponding 20 the year
1e13-14. there were in Chile at that time
7,S41 factories, which gave employment
to S4,72S people and used machinery OF
90,0os horse power.
To look at these figures In the proper
light II Is important to bear in mind
that although Chile has a larger super
ficial area than France and italy to-
gether. II has only population OF
10000 inhabitants.
This scarcity of population makes II
imperative that our industrial efforts
should not he directed to the manufac-
ture OF a great variety Of articles which