Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-06-23

passage anu Lynn candi Oh tue Aias-
kan coast
When Chile Expanded.
1t is the extreme northern portion
/ Of Chile as shown by the maps that
is now the center Of interest. Chile
c4d not always have length of 200
miles. Until the last quarter of the
past century, the northern boundary
of the country fell more than 500
miles short of its present position.
North of II Bolivia owned a coastal
strip 200 miles or more In length, and
Peru's southern border extended some
300 miles Farther south than 1t does to-
day. All eof this region, which now
forms the northernmost 500 miles of
Chile. was considered Of little worth,
and much of 1t had not been explored.
When extensive nitrate deposits
were discovered In the Bolivian por-
tion Of the coastal strip fl the sixties.
there was a rush Hike that to Califor-
MAS gold fields in 1849. A large pro-
porsion Of the newcomers were Chill
cans. Friction arose between Chilean
mining companies and Bolivian tax
collectors. and finally in 1879 war
broke out between Chile and Bolivia.
Peru was drawn in as an ally of Bo-
livia, and the tlIree-cornered war ran
ON for several years. At Its con-
clusion Chile vas completely victor
ious and extended her boundaries ut
| the expense of the two vanquished
| countries. Bolivia became "the Swift
zerland of America in a double sense;
1T Is not only perched high among
mountains, but by the loss of its Pa
ciflc provinces 1t became completely
landlocked. This mountain country
has attempted In recent years to buy
from Chile corridor" to the sea.
Since the war of the Pacific, as 1t
was called. Peru has had toward Chile
| the relations which Italy held toward
| Austria In the late Nineteenth and
early Twentieth centuries. Tacna and
africa have constituted its peru IRE
denta," and all its leaders have
dreamed Of restoring the lost prov
| inces.
| Economically, Chile has profited
greatly by the war of the Pacific. Out
of the former Peruvian province Of
Tarapaca and the former Bolivian pro-
vince Of Atacama (now the Chilean
Autobiography have been taken since
| the war nitrates worth many millions
of dollars, and much remains to be
extracted. Valuable deposits of MI
trate have come to light, too, in Tacna
since the war. The export tax on MI
trates supplies nearly three-fourths Of
the income, of the government. Incl
dentally, in Tacna Is one of the few
areas along this desert portion of the
coast capable Of producing crops, and
the section is therefore of great strate-
gle value. These are some of the COM
pick factors. which make the. Tacna-
africa problem much more than mere
question whether pIebiscite shall be
held to assign the region permanently
to either Peru or Chile. p 3 ssss
Santiago the Capital. ~
Santiago is the chief city Of Chile,
, but not in the same degree as Buenos
Aires is of the Argentine republic.
Buenos Aires has become almost the
republic itself, in the sense that Paris
! is France; but Santiago Is but the cap
? ital of the country, which has other
cities that may. compare with it in 10.
J cal Importance. Santiago contrasts
with Buenos Aires as the conservative
, capital Of small country with the me-
tropolIs Of the continents You feel in
. 1.-the Chilean capital the conservative
, character Of the people; in Buenos
! Aires the liberal spirit of the world
/ city.
/ valdivia and his successors, the In
Z vaders Of Chile In the Sixteenth cen
4 tury, were soldiers bent solely on con
d quest, such as they had taken part II
in Peru, for immediate gain; whereas
i the colonists who In successive expe
: ditions founded Buenos Aires came
! with wives and children, with horses
4 mares. and implements OF husbandry
4 to settle in. the land, Thus there was
3 marked dffference between Chile ant
I Argentina from the beginning.
nj The warning invaders Of Chile me
) and mingled with wariike Indial
d race, the Araucanians. and their issu'
4 IL without question the most indie
+ pendent, the boldest, the most aggres
d sive Of South American peoples.