Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1914 — AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN CHILI [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN CHILI

THE bride-elect is the preface to some concluding observations on the canal. She was petite, pretty and -plucky. Her trip also had some significance in relation to American industrial enterprises in the west coast countries. She came all the way from New York alone. When she left the steamer at Valparaiso she was not alone, and a hundred kindly eyes followed the pair. A few hours later I saw them in the American consulate. The civil cerecrony had been concluded in accordance with the Chilian law’s, and the religious ceremony had followed. Nominally three months’ residence is required in Valparaiso for foreigners bent upon matrimony, but when some official representative of their government is ready to vouch for their citizenship the Chilian officials are considerate and the formal requirements are waived. So it happened that in this case, with the aid of the consul, a few hours after the arrival of the bride-to-be she was able to leave for the mines with her American husband, writes C. M. Pepper in the New York Tribune.

With nearly every steamer that comes in from Panama a similar procedure is enacted. The American mining investments brought down a good many young Americans. Some“had wives to fetch along. Others left sweethearts behind them, and the sweethearts now sefem to he following in a regular procession. They are the visible evidences of the part that American capital is taking in giving fresh life to Chili’s mineral industries. Everybody now assumes that in the future the number of Americans coming will growlarger--Canal Prophecies.

Tbe matter of the Valparaiso harbor Improvements is another aspect of the American influence in Chili. This country originally did not look with favor on the construction of the canal by the United States. There was a political phase of the matter which need not now be revamped. There was also the economic phase, which was more serious. Chili, or a good many Chilians, really believed that the canal would have an adverse elect on the commerce of the country and would seriously divert trade. Punta Arenas, the metropolis of the Strait of Magellan, was then a free port, and benefited by its position at the uttermost end of the continent. It served the vessels from Europe and the United States which came up to this coast, as well as those on the route to Australia and New Zealand and other parts of the world. The assumption was that all this shipping would cease.

Reflection changed this pessimistic opinion somewhat, especially when it was realized that after the canal was opened many of the steamship companies would send their ships through the canal and back by way of the strait, or vice versa. Yet there is expected to be some loss of the Australian traffic, and while Punta Arenas will not diminish in commercial importance, it can hardly expect to grow. This possibly is the reason why the Chilian government a year or two ago took away its privilege as a free port and established a custom house in the strait. This southern toe of Chill is very" far from being In a position to affect the whole country when it loses a little of Re circulation.

Valparaiso Harbor. The commerce of Chili centers at Valparaiso. After it became certain that the canal would be built, the Chilian men of trade and Borne of the men of affairs began to study the question, and decided that Valparlso was not outside the Yadlus of the canal. If it had been, there would have been additional reasons for providing it with better shipping facilities, in order to hold its commerce against the canal competition. But the Baner view was taken —the shipping facilities should be strengthened, both to get the fullest benefit of the canal and in order to offset Buch incidental loss In the world's commerce as might occyr through the tendency of shipping alwayß to seek good harbors. After the earthquake of 1906 Valparaiso began to rebuild itself in a manner befitting; its commanding position. The reconstruction Is still gotng on, so that In* some parts a modern city has been created. This was an-

other reason why the port facilities should be modernized. Valparaiso as a city is more than one hundred years old, but as a harbor it did not show anything like a century of improvements. The natural conditions are all bad. The number of lives that have been lost, the ships that have gone down and the valuable cargoes that have been sacrificed in the terrific storms that are sometimes encountered, would make a formidable total, but the figures do not need to be added up now.

As to the preparedness of the United States to take advantage of the canal facilities on the west coast, after traversing- it all the way down, my judgment is that there is no lack of adequate preparation. Possibly some results of overbooming still exist, and there are manufacturers and exporters in the United States who think that the 12.00Q.0QQ people who inhabit the west coast countries are going to double or treble their trade in & year, just because the canal is opened. But these golden visions are vanishing as the situation is studied in the light of actual conditions. The whole proposition "is an economic one, and studied from the economic point of view .there is the basis for a normal and healthy growth of trade, but not a phenomenal one.

CAPITOL AT SANTIAGO