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CHILE OF TO-DAY 391 selves of the inducements held out by the government in the shape of a free forty-acre farm for the head of the family and twenty-five acres additional for each ten-year-old boy, with free transportation and a pension of S15 a month the first year in addition. But the immigrant's life is a hard one at best; trying to reclaim these primeval forests he finds himself beset with many difficulties he never dreamed of when he left his father- land. There is certainly room for him, for Chile is larger than any European country save Russia, and is inhabited by a population only a little greater than that of Paris. The government holds out glowing induce- ments, but as is usually the case with immigration pamphlets, the bright side only is depicted. The poor colonist soon finds that there is a column of losses to set over against the column of prospective gains ; but this the home seeker finds wherever he may go. It would seem that there is room in Chile for the business man, the merchant, the miner, the capitalist, the banker. English and German capital and enter- prise receive splendid returns. Particularly in the mat- ter of railroads and public works of all kinds is this true, and in banking. The monetary system and credit of the country are satisfactorj', Chile's credit being not far behind that of France, and political agitations are not now more violent than in other republics. The absence of coal mines was, until recently, a great drawback to the material development of the country ; but now this want is in part supplied by the opening up of the mines at Lota and other places in the south. The Lota mines have an annual output of 200,000 tons, other mines aggregate about the same, so that the annual output is not far from 400,000 tons. There is still imported from England and Australia, from 250,000 to 300,000 tons annually. The Chilean