| Show CHILE AND THE ARGENTINE il antiago chile august 1898 there ft great danger of a war breaking out Ite tween the argentine republic and ashile within thin the next three months the dases of the chileans Chi leans want it and Ijo pular meetings axe are held all over the nm try demanding it not long ago oa secretary of war resigned from the jnet telling the president that he apted ed the place because he supposed at chile was going to tight fight the ar artine ine and that if there was to be war he preferred to resign the ident and his administration would ilce to avoid a conflict if possible but of the people Is such that the overt act on the part of the ar AJ antines nes would inflame them beyond the government appreciates and it has for months been making U tary and naval preparations the mm national inq 1 I guard has been called out and althis at J this are under arms ad soldiers are being rigidly drilled in asery part of chile I 1 saw them first in tate northern provinces at valparaiso I found the alameda filled with young teen jhan going through the military evolutions of the german army many hours 4 d day y and the drills of the artillery and infantry are to be seen 5 auy in the parks of santiago in the every one is talking war you beor teor it in the clubs and on the streets sits in il secret cret sessions on the and at a convention held a few ks ago resolutions asking the ad tiM to declare war were adopt adl p and sent to the president at the bump gnp time the people of the argen argentine ine igo much excited over the situation situa uon aid he newspapers of both countries 1 aed with war editorials ibbe trouble rouble t between the two coun ls x as to just where the boundary between chile an and d the argentine re taff a iles aie this has been the subject Q diplomatic discussion for years and it has again and again threatened to acme war in 1876 the relations of the 40 countries were so strained over this tey e ir that an armed conflict seemed nent anent and it was only avoided by V governments vArn ments negotiating for a commission of experts to mark etite atho tj boundary line the present ex es trient ent Is the result of the conflicting lations lons df the treaties which aalde ade i through these the negotiations fr k ga first t attempt to settle the matter d another trial was made in it was not until 1881 that a treaty 1 ente le entered red into and this was largely result of the friendly offices of admas M 0 0 osborne then our m minister inister A and his hia cousin thomas 1 osborne Oa berne who was then united states i minister nuter 1 3 to td chile this treaty stated 1 atha boundary from peru as tar far as the fifty second degree of lat which is in about the eastern en 10 the strait of magellan should cordillera of the andes the wed that the croutier line tf run along thip highest summits mountains stains that divide the waters and should pass between the sources of the streams which lie on one side or the other the argentine getting all on the side of those flowing into the atlantic and chile taking all on the pacific side in cases where the boundary line was not clear it was to be settled by two experts one chosen by each country and it if they were not able to come to a decision a third agent chosen by both governments ern ments was to decide the matter it was also provided that chile should have no port on the atlantic and d the lie argentine none on the pacific abe line so fixed was to remain fot for all time and if other matters of dispute arose they were to be submitted by the two governments ern ments to some friendly power tor for arbitration this was a beautiful treaty full of 01 common sense and brotherly love but when the experts began to work on the I 1 boundary the temper of the people changed and all sorts of disputes dispute arose be in 1895 in advance ot of his report to the government the chilean expert published his statement of the situation this wa attacked at once by the argentine press sand and the relations of the two countries again became strained then a little later on an the argentine expert rushed into print in a book on the subject which was bitterly attacked by the chilean chile an press and which is the cause of the war talk of today according to this book the chilean line in the south is close to ito the pacific while the people here believe it should be far inside of patagonia the land in question la Is I 1 am told not worth the price 0 of the powder that would be burned in the impending conflict and in fact the real cause of the ill III feeling dates considerably further back by this treaty the strait of magellan and the greater gre after part of flerra del fuego are given to chile the Ar gentines think they should have a large part of them and that the chileans Chi leans have really no right to anything mat east of the andes although they have agreed to bo the contrary they think chile la Is scheming to grab a great part of their territory as she did the rich rach nitrate fields of peru and feel that she is atter after a barof war of cou conquest chile feels that the argentine took a large part of patagonia from her and knows that a port on the pacific would be of great advantage to her neighbor she knows the ithe A argentine rg entine is growing and wants a war now before the argentine gets TO 80 rich and powerful that she ate cannot hope to conquer her it Is hardly probable that these troubles oan can evev ever be finally settled without a war both countries realize this and the argentines Ar gentines know that their best policy is to put the conflict off as long as aa possible the chiles chileans Chi leans must fight soon if at all ajl they cannot stand the expenses of their present war establishment I 1 am aai told that the army and navy are now costing about 80 go id A day enormous sums have been spent for arms and ammunition and during d a which I 1 made two week toche to the marioaa mm miHi tory establish ments here I 1 found that the guns gune end and equipment are of the finest load and recent makes the soldiers are armed with mauser rifles in the barracks I 1 was shown sao gum which were made at the krupp woke in 1896 and other arms ot of ime che am a date the soldiers are well uniformed aad their drill Is as good ss as that army ot of europe they have Pru tesi army officers as instructors and ahe most rigid discipline has been the most arduous gymnastic exer clata ore are practiced so that the bodies of the men are like iron and so that tody today there to is not an army in the world blutt Is more ready and better fitted to td take the field than that of chile the buildings of the army and navy at santiago and valparaiso cover a ores acres and they are among the fine buildings of the country just opposite the moneda mo neda or the chilean whitehouse is the headquarters of the presidents guard this consists of cavalry who are mounted on some of the finest horses of chile during my visit the command er held a review of the troops that IE might see what the chileans Chi leans can do on horseback they are among the best horsemen of the world and it to Is a common expression that the chilean is born on horseback the presidents cavalry moved as one man the cami companies of troops went galloping over the hedges and ditches and hur hurdles dlen which are kept in the la large rge court ot of the quarters for practice dummy soldiers in uniform were scattered about the ground to represent the wounded on the field of battle and these the men pierced with their lances as they went galloping by at the military school or west point of chile I 1 saw the sons of the best families of the country undergoing der going the most rigid gymnastic and military training boys of from nt teen to eighteen whose fathers ar worth millions were marching through the same pame exercises as the rec recruit or of the national guard they handled their guns well and the discipline was perfect there is a naval school at val na nn ralso there are mili military and naval clubs here and chile has military and naval journals jour subsidized by the state there Is no lack of martial spirit a anat an the ambition in a military way of both aldand old and young to Is boundless speaking of the necessity abr br immediate action op on account of expense senor torge jorge alft the son of the former chilean minister to the united states and tor for A time chilean secretary of the legat legation don at ton accompanied me on my tour qt of military inspection here during taft day I 1 remarked several times on s splendid 0 o bendid training and equipment of OW men when senor asta buriaga said yes they are very fine and they look very well but chile must usA use haft soon if at all we are like a wen roan who has twenty five alne carriages 4 and nothing with which to W he may bave the sarr lage brought around to Us his door every morning anil and the people will open their eyes and say ay see Bee what magnificent turnouts that man has while all the time he may be starving in the kitchen these soldiers are very fine but chile cant tend stand the expense long this to is true chile has all told only people not as many as a number of our american states five sixths sixtus of these are peons geons or laborers who pay practically no taxes and the burden of the military establishment comes on but few the country does not grow in population to any extent and its tillable territory to is comparatively small it has however good credit and it has always promptly paid its foreign indebtedness 1 I have not yet seen the soldiers of the ithe argentine but I 1 doubt whether their amy farmy will compare with this for effective work the chileans Chi leans are natural soldiers eold lers they would rather fight than eat and when the call was made tor for the members of the national guard between the ages of seventeen and twenty to bo come to the field tor for the present drill more than fifty per cent above the quota asked for applied business men tell me they could not bold their employed emp loyes and that thousands sods were ready to enter the ranks who could not get in it is said that chile could put soldiers in the field within a week and by the reorganization of the national guard according to the law of 1896 every chilan imn from twenty to forty years of age must serve by this system the fighting force of chile Is now over and the ithe and more young fellows now mow in training are under those ages the argentine militia nd national guard are more numerous than that of chile but it is believed here that the men inen are not auch good soldiers and that they are anxious to escape service while bile the chileans Chi leans court it at alt a recent call of troops in the argentine about half of the number failed to appear the argentine has about 1000 KW more people than chile but among these there are tens of thousands of italians who have bave been warned by their home government to keep out of the argentine army there are tens of f thousands of germans who still hold bold their allegiance to the kaiser and tens of thousands of english who are out here to make money and who will not fight for anything else buenos ayres lone alone has more than people of english blood and these have almost no patriotic regard for the country here in chile there are re comparatively few foreigners and every chilean calle an is a pa patriot there Is no country of the world which has so many flagstaffs flag staffs on its houses as this and the people are wild with enthusiasm aam for everything chilean this Is especially so among the higher classes the people thorun who run the government who own almost all the he property and are the leaders in everything they are as intelligent dind and as well educated as we are pew few vt vf them have any indian blood in them but they are to a man ready to fight tar chile if the war occurs it will be one of the bloodiest of history it will be fought with the latest improvements in arms and with all the savagery of the middle agos ages in the war with peru there was not much need of hospitals the chil 1 leans inns stabbed the wounded to fco death their lances or cut their throats jt as ae they lay on the field I 1 have bave toia told you u how I 1 saw the presidents guard lancing woun wounded led dummies in the re bew I 1 imagine that the argentines Ar gentines wald not irot be much better in this thin re opeo i peet and abid tt will be a war to th the death it to is hard for one who has not no t seen the chilean peon to understand him he to in as aa as a knot and he can ene ape 11 of 0 ardahl ps ve he pap MV on time the ground for weeks week at t a stretch and can live tor for months on I 1 rations of a handful or so of toasted flour for his meals he comes off of the I 1 best n blood crossed with that of the bravest indians of this continent and he will stick to his commander until he falls he seems to care cafe nothing for life and little tor for pain and will do the most moat foolish things rather than be thought a coward one day last week two peons geons were drinking together with a crowd of their fellows when one said to the other that he I 1 thought him a coward you do was the reply well I 1 will show you that I 1 am not nolt would a coward do this and thereupon he pulled out his knife and plunged it into his bowels again land and again 1 I will show you that I 1 also am not a coward rejoined the other ather and he began to stab himself the two men would have soon committed suicide had not a young priest rushed in and torn the knives from their hands and called in the police to take them to the ithe hospital the above story was tol told I 1 me by a man who saw the whole affair and he be said that no one else but a priest could have stopped shopped the ithe cut cutting tang it is believed that if war occurs it will be largely naval in order to prevent war it was suggested by some ot of the statesmen here at the time that the united states was buying up vessels for our fight with spain that both chile and the argentine give up their ships to the united states for something like their cost on the understanding I 1 that the united states would aid them in ease case of foreign complications this was also proposed as to the ithe chilean navy alone but it never got further than the presidents council chamber at this time the united states made a proposition to chile to buy her fine armored cruiser which has haa just been finished in england but on account of the danger from the argentine chile did not dare to sell at present chile has haa an excellent fleet and one which Is believed here to be tar far superior to that of the argentine it consists BI ats of five armor dads five cruisers eleven gunboats gun boats and nineteen torpedo lyoa boats ts it has four destroyers which were launched in 1896 and all of which have a speed of more than thirty knots the chileans Chi leans are excellent sailors and they have in addition to their navy a commercial fleet of over vessels of more than tons each they have twenty five steamers and they have an english steamship line the pacific steam navigation company which they subsidize if there Is a war there may be a naval engagement near the strait of magellan but here the ithe chile ans will have the advantage of a thorough knowledge of the waters their navy has sailed balled about there for flor years and within the last two years yeara careful surveys have been made of the ithe seas about the horn by the chilean naval officers chile will there have the advantage of her town of punta arenas as a coaling and supply station the idea expressed by some influential people here however Is that it will be much better for the chilean fleet to go at once to the river platte and to center lbs ita forces on the taking of buenos ayres this they believe would mean the end of the war as buenos ayres ayrea is as much the argentine as paris Is prance france if this war |
