LAND OWNERNO.2.

LAND OWNERNO.2.Land OwnerNo.2 possesses more land thanNo.1, but his holdings are very small. He owns a cart, a few yoke of oxen, some cows, sheep, hogs and poultry. He freights grain, flour, and charcoal for others from haciendas to the mills or railway stations, thereby adding to his income. The surplus from his earnings he prudently invests in property. These farmers are, as a rule, provident, having always food supplies in their houses, yet they seldom lift their families out of the rut of poverty. Most members of the family, including the head of the house, either go barefooted or wear only rawhide sandals upon their feet the year round, except Sundays, feast days and special occasions. It is only the women who are permitted to indulge frequently in the luxury of shoes and clean gowns. The sons work with the father and not as peons for others. These people associate with FarmersNo.1, and even with the peons as equals. Not, however, without prideful reflection, for they consider themselves above their poorer neighbors, although they do not say so. They are not admitted to the society of Land OwnerNo.3, or the hacendados, although they have many interests in common and commercial relations with those classes. If you arehis guest he will serve you wine or water in a glass tumbler, but he never uses such an article himself, and perhaps you will be given a knife and fork with which to eat your food. These middle class farmers constitute the best element in Chile. They work honestly to gain a livelihood, and ask no favors from others. They are too poor to engage in politics.A peculiar feature of the life of this class of people is the methods they resort to to save money and increase their possessions. They live solely upon the products of their little farms, and seldom eat what they can sell. They make bread, but eat very little of it, the family consumption being limited to the equivalent of the profits on that which is sold. They keep liquors in the house, but to sell. If an animal is slaughtered, some kind of a function is arranged, to which the neighbors are invited and the meat disposed of in a feast, their guests being served as long as they have money with which to buy. If a woman desires some article of dress or adornment, and has not the money with which to purchase it, she gives a feast. She will go to a neighbor who has a hog and negotiate for the animal on credit: she also purchases an “arroba” (ten gallons) of “chicha,” for which she gives her promise to pay, the credit extending until the respective articles are disposed of. The hog, “chancha,” is slaughtered, and the feast is announced. There is music and a number of women who dance and sing are there as a special attraction. These feasts always attract a crowd and by the time the chancha and the chicha are disposed of, the woman conducting the affair has made sufficientprofit to pay her indebtedness and to purchase the desired article.

Land OwnerNo.2 possesses more land thanNo.1, but his holdings are very small. He owns a cart, a few yoke of oxen, some cows, sheep, hogs and poultry. He freights grain, flour, and charcoal for others from haciendas to the mills or railway stations, thereby adding to his income. The surplus from his earnings he prudently invests in property. These farmers are, as a rule, provident, having always food supplies in their houses, yet they seldom lift their families out of the rut of poverty. Most members of the family, including the head of the house, either go barefooted or wear only rawhide sandals upon their feet the year round, except Sundays, feast days and special occasions. It is only the women who are permitted to indulge frequently in the luxury of shoes and clean gowns. The sons work with the father and not as peons for others. These people associate with FarmersNo.1, and even with the peons as equals. Not, however, without prideful reflection, for they consider themselves above their poorer neighbors, although they do not say so. They are not admitted to the society of Land OwnerNo.3, or the hacendados, although they have many interests in common and commercial relations with those classes. If you arehis guest he will serve you wine or water in a glass tumbler, but he never uses such an article himself, and perhaps you will be given a knife and fork with which to eat your food. These middle class farmers constitute the best element in Chile. They work honestly to gain a livelihood, and ask no favors from others. They are too poor to engage in politics.

A peculiar feature of the life of this class of people is the methods they resort to to save money and increase their possessions. They live solely upon the products of their little farms, and seldom eat what they can sell. They make bread, but eat very little of it, the family consumption being limited to the equivalent of the profits on that which is sold. They keep liquors in the house, but to sell. If an animal is slaughtered, some kind of a function is arranged, to which the neighbors are invited and the meat disposed of in a feast, their guests being served as long as they have money with which to buy. If a woman desires some article of dress or adornment, and has not the money with which to purchase it, she gives a feast. She will go to a neighbor who has a hog and negotiate for the animal on credit: she also purchases an “arroba” (ten gallons) of “chicha,” for which she gives her promise to pay, the credit extending until the respective articles are disposed of. The hog, “chancha,” is slaughtered, and the feast is announced. There is music and a number of women who dance and sing are there as a special attraction. These feasts always attract a crowd and by the time the chancha and the chicha are disposed of, the woman conducting the affair has made sufficientprofit to pay her indebtedness and to purchase the desired article.

LAND OWNERNO.3.The transition of Land OwnersNo.3, from what is recognized as the inferior classes, to respectable citizens is generally due to the accumulation of property. Wealth constitutes recognized citizenship, and when obtained, they think that the right of sovereignty is theirs in the fullest degree. This transition often carries with it the idea that all law and government should be administered by them. Fortunately their inexperience and lack of education seldom permits them to rule higher than municipal legislation, or perhaps sub-delegate of a district. The phlegmatic temperament of this class of Chilenos is universal. If emotions ever stir the depths of their souls they manage to conceal the fact by an apparent calm composure.Most of them are illiterate, but to their credit they have in recent years been endeavoring to secure for their children better education than that afforded them. The educational facilities of the country are not good, but the majority of the children of this class of farmers secure sufficient technical training in the schools to suffice for their simple lives. They are orderly, hard working people, and generally honest, as they interpret the meaning of the term. The Chilean characteristic of sticking tenaciously to custom and tradition is exemplified in the home life of these people. Their condition is little better or above that of Land OwnersNo.1 and 2. From choice, rather than necessity, they follow the custom of their Indian ancestors by sittingupon the ground, a stone or a billet of wood; the food for the family is served from one dish, there being as many spoons as persons to be served. The materials which enter into the composition of the food of these farmer folk consisting of wheat, corn, beans, fruit, pepper, etc., are ground between stones. In fact the grinding stones are the most useful utensils in the equipment of the kitchen. They consist of one large flat stone with a smooth surface, and a smaller one, oval shaped. The material is placed upon the large stone, and the other in the hand of the operator is used to crush and grind the grain or dried vegetables to the proper consistency. This work is always done by the women. In the kitchen may be found a few pots, clay dishes, tin cups, wooden spoons and quantities of dirt. Occupying the kitchen, and apparently upon the most intimate terms with members of the family are pigs, goats, dogs, and chickens. If there are guests in the house, food is served in the dining room with some show of formality, but when the family is alone, the food is served in one dish from which the members help themselves with spoons until the supply is exhausted. It is then refilled with some other kind of food and the meal continues until all are satisfied. With a change of food the same dish and spoons are used without being washed. Tea and coffee are sometimes served when strangers are present, but when the family is alone, mate only is served as a drink, with their meals. The mate cup is filled and passed to the head of the house who drinks the contents through a “bombilla.” The cup is filled again and again, each member of the family drinking out of the same vessel and through the samebombilla. When there are no guests in the house the servants sometimes form part of the family group, eating out of the same pot, and having their turn at the mate through the family bombilla.The tile-roofed adobe houses inhabited by this class of farmers are very plain. They are devoid of ornamentation within or without, and there is seldom a tree or shrub to relieve the dreary monotony of the surroundings. There are no windows in these places of abode, and the floor is either dirt or common brick. The furniture consists of beds, one or two home-made tables, and a few chairs of the commonest kind.If a person of the better class visits the home of one of these Chilean farmers, he must do most of the talking, and it will be necessary to limit the conversation to subjects pertaining to the church, crops, animals, gossip, or questions relating to their districts. They know little of the great world lying beyond the narrow horizon of their local environments. The methods employed by this class of farmers in cultivating the soil are crude and primitive. The wooden plow used by the Spaniards and Greeks a thousand years ago, furnishes the model for the implement used by these people in this twentieth century. It is made by mortising one piece of a small tree trunk into another, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. A piece of iron is usually fastened over the point of the portion that is intended to stir the ground. Oxen, attached by a wooden yoke fastened to their horns with rawhide thongs, are employed in drawing the plows. A stick serves as a handle, and holding on to the crude implement with one hand, the other used in directing theoxen, the plowman manages to scratch the ground, but is never able to stir the soil to any depth. When the plowing is done and the grain planted or sown, some branches of trees serve as a drag for covering it. Forks for handling grain and hay are made from branches of trees.The grain is harvested with reap hooks, and the threshing is done with animals. The wheat or barley is placed upon the ground within a circular enclosure. A number of animals, usually young mares from the farm, are turned into the enclosure, and one or more men mounted upon strong horses, follow them around, shouting, whipping and pursuing them over the grain until the tramping of hoofs has crushed the grain from the straw. Then comes the process of separating the chaff from the grain. This, as are all other methods employed in cultivating and preparing products of the farm for market, is curious and primitive. The wheat and chaff are placed in baskets, which men hold in their hands above their heads allowing the contents to empty slowly. As it falls the chaff and refuse are carried to one side by the wind, leaving the grain, which is heavier and which falls directly to the ground, clean and ready for the market.Nearly all the land occupied and cultivated by this class of farmers is what is known as “campo de rulo” (dry hill land), which constitutes the greater part of agricultural Chile. The only moisture it has is from the three or four months’ rainfall from June to October. For about half the year these hill lands are brown, sear and desolate looking, but in the autumn, winter and spring, they are covered with a mantle of rich verdure, presenting alandscape scene that is attractive and prepossessing. During the rainy season the mud is deep, roads are often impassable, bridges are carried away by the swift current of the streams and there is little communication between different communities or between country and city.The theory of these hill farmers is to get as much out of the soil as possible, without expense. The land is never fertilized, and crops are grown alternate years. The plowing is done after the rains set in in the autumn, and the soil being clay, remains very hard and lumpy. This plowed land, called “barbecho,” is left over the winter, the rains having the effect of pulverizing and putting it in condition for the sowing or planting for the next season. Oxen are used for plowing, and it is a novel sight to see a large number of those slow, plodding beasts winding about the hills dragging the crude plows. Fifty yoke of oxen are often engaged in plowing on one hacienda. This method of cultivating is employed until the soil becomes so worn that it will not produce a satisfactory crop. It is then let stand for several years until nature rejuvenates it, and it is again put into service. The grain is harvested by hand, and brought from the hills in primitive wooden carts, or upon the heads of peons. The general appearance of the soil would indicate that this hill land is valueless for agricultural purposes, but it produces annually a large per cent. of the agricultural products of the country, besides maintaining many horses, cattle and sheep.The farmers of this class live in a narrow world. The majority of them have never been out of the province in which they were born and many of themnever saw a railway train; they know the villages in their vicinity, and perhaps the provincial capital, but one who has seen Santiago, the national capital, is the rare exception. The customs prevailing in other countries, or what is going on in the great world, are of little consequence to them; they are interested only in what they are doing. Even if one can read, he seldom subscribes for a newspaper, as that is considered a useless expenditure.The men engage only in the larger affairs of the business of the family, such as marketing the animals and the grain raised on the farm. The small trade in chicha, liquors, poultry, etc., is attended to by the women. In nearly every house is kept a supply of such articles as may be required by the peons. In the sale of these, the money that is paid out by the farmer, in wages, comes back in small amounts, and with interest. The profit made on this small mercantile business, in the sale of sugar, mate, chicha, etc., pays for the articles of the same class consumed by the farmer’s family. In these transactions they never refuse credit to anyone, but politely say they have not the article called for, notwithstanding the fact that it may be in plain view of the would-be purchaser, or sold to another before his eyes. They understand each other and their method of dealing with delinquent customers furnishes an example that might be emulated with profit by more progressive and up-to-date tradesmen.These farmers are received at the haciendas, not exactly as equals, but because of a money consideration. They have land, stock, and usually money in the bank. Notwithstanding the fact that many of them have a competency, they resort to a methodof economy that is absolute penuriousness,—stinginess personified. They never visit their friends, or entertain their neighbors. They never keep a coach, for two reasons, one being that where they reside, and places to where they journey, there are no coach roads, and for the more general reason that they never spend money for such an unnecessary luxury. The men always ride horseback, and when the women go away from home, which is seldom, they also travel on horseback. Few of them possess sidesaddles, and the common custom is for them to go “en anca,” sitting upon a cloth spread upon the back of the horse, behind the saddle occupied by the man. There is still another class of dry land, hill farmers, who own large tracts of land, and farm upon a large scale. In sandy or loam soil they employ modern machinery and implements. This class often becomes rich, in which case they invariably move to the provincial cities and work their estates through an “administrador.” These hill farmers are autocrats in their respective communities; not in the same despotic manner as the owners of the large irrigated estates, for the inquilinos and peons of the hills are more independent, are treated with greater consideration, and are more nearly on an equality than is the case on the great hacienda.

The transition of Land OwnersNo.3, from what is recognized as the inferior classes, to respectable citizens is generally due to the accumulation of property. Wealth constitutes recognized citizenship, and when obtained, they think that the right of sovereignty is theirs in the fullest degree. This transition often carries with it the idea that all law and government should be administered by them. Fortunately their inexperience and lack of education seldom permits them to rule higher than municipal legislation, or perhaps sub-delegate of a district. The phlegmatic temperament of this class of Chilenos is universal. If emotions ever stir the depths of their souls they manage to conceal the fact by an apparent calm composure.

Most of them are illiterate, but to their credit they have in recent years been endeavoring to secure for their children better education than that afforded them. The educational facilities of the country are not good, but the majority of the children of this class of farmers secure sufficient technical training in the schools to suffice for their simple lives. They are orderly, hard working people, and generally honest, as they interpret the meaning of the term. The Chilean characteristic of sticking tenaciously to custom and tradition is exemplified in the home life of these people. Their condition is little better or above that of Land OwnersNo.1 and 2. From choice, rather than necessity, they follow the custom of their Indian ancestors by sittingupon the ground, a stone or a billet of wood; the food for the family is served from one dish, there being as many spoons as persons to be served. The materials which enter into the composition of the food of these farmer folk consisting of wheat, corn, beans, fruit, pepper, etc., are ground between stones. In fact the grinding stones are the most useful utensils in the equipment of the kitchen. They consist of one large flat stone with a smooth surface, and a smaller one, oval shaped. The material is placed upon the large stone, and the other in the hand of the operator is used to crush and grind the grain or dried vegetables to the proper consistency. This work is always done by the women. In the kitchen may be found a few pots, clay dishes, tin cups, wooden spoons and quantities of dirt. Occupying the kitchen, and apparently upon the most intimate terms with members of the family are pigs, goats, dogs, and chickens. If there are guests in the house, food is served in the dining room with some show of formality, but when the family is alone, the food is served in one dish from which the members help themselves with spoons until the supply is exhausted. It is then refilled with some other kind of food and the meal continues until all are satisfied. With a change of food the same dish and spoons are used without being washed. Tea and coffee are sometimes served when strangers are present, but when the family is alone, mate only is served as a drink, with their meals. The mate cup is filled and passed to the head of the house who drinks the contents through a “bombilla.” The cup is filled again and again, each member of the family drinking out of the same vessel and through the samebombilla. When there are no guests in the house the servants sometimes form part of the family group, eating out of the same pot, and having their turn at the mate through the family bombilla.

The tile-roofed adobe houses inhabited by this class of farmers are very plain. They are devoid of ornamentation within or without, and there is seldom a tree or shrub to relieve the dreary monotony of the surroundings. There are no windows in these places of abode, and the floor is either dirt or common brick. The furniture consists of beds, one or two home-made tables, and a few chairs of the commonest kind.

If a person of the better class visits the home of one of these Chilean farmers, he must do most of the talking, and it will be necessary to limit the conversation to subjects pertaining to the church, crops, animals, gossip, or questions relating to their districts. They know little of the great world lying beyond the narrow horizon of their local environments. The methods employed by this class of farmers in cultivating the soil are crude and primitive. The wooden plow used by the Spaniards and Greeks a thousand years ago, furnishes the model for the implement used by these people in this twentieth century. It is made by mortising one piece of a small tree trunk into another, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. A piece of iron is usually fastened over the point of the portion that is intended to stir the ground. Oxen, attached by a wooden yoke fastened to their horns with rawhide thongs, are employed in drawing the plows. A stick serves as a handle, and holding on to the crude implement with one hand, the other used in directing theoxen, the plowman manages to scratch the ground, but is never able to stir the soil to any depth. When the plowing is done and the grain planted or sown, some branches of trees serve as a drag for covering it. Forks for handling grain and hay are made from branches of trees.

The grain is harvested with reap hooks, and the threshing is done with animals. The wheat or barley is placed upon the ground within a circular enclosure. A number of animals, usually young mares from the farm, are turned into the enclosure, and one or more men mounted upon strong horses, follow them around, shouting, whipping and pursuing them over the grain until the tramping of hoofs has crushed the grain from the straw. Then comes the process of separating the chaff from the grain. This, as are all other methods employed in cultivating and preparing products of the farm for market, is curious and primitive. The wheat and chaff are placed in baskets, which men hold in their hands above their heads allowing the contents to empty slowly. As it falls the chaff and refuse are carried to one side by the wind, leaving the grain, which is heavier and which falls directly to the ground, clean and ready for the market.

Nearly all the land occupied and cultivated by this class of farmers is what is known as “campo de rulo” (dry hill land), which constitutes the greater part of agricultural Chile. The only moisture it has is from the three or four months’ rainfall from June to October. For about half the year these hill lands are brown, sear and desolate looking, but in the autumn, winter and spring, they are covered with a mantle of rich verdure, presenting alandscape scene that is attractive and prepossessing. During the rainy season the mud is deep, roads are often impassable, bridges are carried away by the swift current of the streams and there is little communication between different communities or between country and city.

The theory of these hill farmers is to get as much out of the soil as possible, without expense. The land is never fertilized, and crops are grown alternate years. The plowing is done after the rains set in in the autumn, and the soil being clay, remains very hard and lumpy. This plowed land, called “barbecho,” is left over the winter, the rains having the effect of pulverizing and putting it in condition for the sowing or planting for the next season. Oxen are used for plowing, and it is a novel sight to see a large number of those slow, plodding beasts winding about the hills dragging the crude plows. Fifty yoke of oxen are often engaged in plowing on one hacienda. This method of cultivating is employed until the soil becomes so worn that it will not produce a satisfactory crop. It is then let stand for several years until nature rejuvenates it, and it is again put into service. The grain is harvested by hand, and brought from the hills in primitive wooden carts, or upon the heads of peons. The general appearance of the soil would indicate that this hill land is valueless for agricultural purposes, but it produces annually a large per cent. of the agricultural products of the country, besides maintaining many horses, cattle and sheep.

The farmers of this class live in a narrow world. The majority of them have never been out of the province in which they were born and many of themnever saw a railway train; they know the villages in their vicinity, and perhaps the provincial capital, but one who has seen Santiago, the national capital, is the rare exception. The customs prevailing in other countries, or what is going on in the great world, are of little consequence to them; they are interested only in what they are doing. Even if one can read, he seldom subscribes for a newspaper, as that is considered a useless expenditure.

The men engage only in the larger affairs of the business of the family, such as marketing the animals and the grain raised on the farm. The small trade in chicha, liquors, poultry, etc., is attended to by the women. In nearly every house is kept a supply of such articles as may be required by the peons. In the sale of these, the money that is paid out by the farmer, in wages, comes back in small amounts, and with interest. The profit made on this small mercantile business, in the sale of sugar, mate, chicha, etc., pays for the articles of the same class consumed by the farmer’s family. In these transactions they never refuse credit to anyone, but politely say they have not the article called for, notwithstanding the fact that it may be in plain view of the would-be purchaser, or sold to another before his eyes. They understand each other and their method of dealing with delinquent customers furnishes an example that might be emulated with profit by more progressive and up-to-date tradesmen.

These farmers are received at the haciendas, not exactly as equals, but because of a money consideration. They have land, stock, and usually money in the bank. Notwithstanding the fact that many of them have a competency, they resort to a methodof economy that is absolute penuriousness,—stinginess personified. They never visit their friends, or entertain their neighbors. They never keep a coach, for two reasons, one being that where they reside, and places to where they journey, there are no coach roads, and for the more general reason that they never spend money for such an unnecessary luxury. The men always ride horseback, and when the women go away from home, which is seldom, they also travel on horseback. Few of them possess sidesaddles, and the common custom is for them to go “en anca,” sitting upon a cloth spread upon the back of the horse, behind the saddle occupied by the man. There is still another class of dry land, hill farmers, who own large tracts of land, and farm upon a large scale. In sandy or loam soil they employ modern machinery and implements. This class often becomes rich, in which case they invariably move to the provincial cities and work their estates through an “administrador.” These hill farmers are autocrats in their respective communities; not in the same despotic manner as the owners of the large irrigated estates, for the inquilinos and peons of the hills are more independent, are treated with greater consideration, and are more nearly on an equality than is the case on the great hacienda.

HACIENDAS AND HACENDADOS.In the fertile valleys, through which flow the rivers of Chile, are many magnificent estates, some of them including thousands of acres of productive land. Upon an eminence in the midst of broad acres, of golden grain, waving corn and verdant pastures, all framed with avenues of stately alamos,stands the splendid residence of the owner, overlooking the picturesque and pastoral scene. The majority of these country mansions are built upon the same general plan, varying only in size and ornamental elaboration. They represent a letter H in form, with a front entrance in the middle of the bar connecting the main lines of the letter, the drawing-room upon one side and the dining-room on the other. A wide, roomy corridor leads from the main entrance in front to the beautiful patio, upon either side of which is arranged the sleeping apartments. These residences are almost invariably well furnished and finished with artistic interior decorations. Some of them include rare old paintings and splendid specimens of wood carving. The drawing-room and dining-room usually contain the best of the furniture and decorations, as those are the portions of the house most occupied by guests. There is an absence of fireplaces and stoves, due to the mild climate. The house is surrounded by well-kept parks and gardens containing rare trees, shrubs and flowers. There is a peaceful harmony in the beauty of the surroundings and everything in the environment is suggestive of comfort and luxury.The hacienda constitutes a small empire, with various executive and administrative branches. The territorial limits are usually defined by walls made of loose piled stones or adobes. The irrigated portions are divided into potreros (fields), of from one hundred to two hundred acres each, the dividing lines being indicated by rows of growing trees, usually poplar, or alamos, that grow straight and tall, and which not only add to the beauty of the landscape, but also furnish shade for the animalsin the pastures. The hill lands are divided into larger sections, frequently as much as one thousand acres constituting one pasture field or range. These potreros are enclosed with thorned hedges, from the espino which grows abundantly in the low lands. Irrigating canals carry water from the hill streams to the cultivated fields and the pasture land, where clover, alfalfa, and other grasses grow prodigiously in the rich loam soil.Roads flanked with graceful trees lead out from the residence and from the corrals to various parts of the property. A photographic view of one of these country homes needs only a few touches of the artist’s brush to make it an idyl. A home glimpse in Chile, even on an hacienda, is no exception. Sunlight through a camera glorifies vistas and ennobles foliage; it promotes stucco and plaster to marble and gives grace and beauty to commonplace things. The lumbering teams of oxen and the huge two-wheeled carts add to the picturesque placidity of the scene which presents an appearance of perpetual summer and glorious afternoon. But the photograph says nothing, and it is well for the chronicler to omit any mention of the dust through which the carts creak and groan at harvest time, in a country where rain falls only between May and September.The servants on a large hacienda consist of an administrador, a capataz (sub-manager), various mayordomos, vaqueros (cowboys), shepherds and a troop of peons. The administrador, or manager, is the responsible executive head, and has entire charge of the farm. He receives orders only from the proprietor. He suggests to the owner the workand improvements necessary, and when his suggestions are approved he gives orders to his subordinates to execute the plan; he receives from the mayordomos accounts of the work done and wages earned, pays employés, etc. It is also the business of the manager to dispose of the animals raised on the farm, when ready for market. These sales are usually made at auction at the most convenient railway station or shipping point. Sometimes the sales amount to as much as fifty thousand pesos in one day. The owner or his representatives are always present, and animals are never sold for less than they are actually worth.The service of an hacienda manager consists in whatever the owner may order; he passes most of his days on horseback, as do the other servants, except the peons. The pay of this important personage is three hundred pesos, equal to one hundred dollars United States currency, a year. In addition to this meager money compensation he has the use of ten acres of dry land, suitable for growing wheat, six or eight acres of chacra, or vegetable producing land, and pasture for fifteen to twenty animals. Ten horses of the hacienda are usually set apart for his exclusive use.The capataz occupies a position next in importance to the manager; his business is to ride over the farm daily, and make reports and suggestions to the manager. It is also the duty of this functionary to impound all animals not belonging to the estate found in the potreros. A fine of so much per head is assessed against all such animals, and the owner is required to pay the amount before they are released.Vaqueros, who are under the direction of a manager, have certain fields and animals under their charge. Each is held responsible for the animals under his care. A daily count is made, and if any are missing the vaquero is sent in search of them. The vaquero is the cowboy of South America, and represents a type peculiar to the country.His leggins usually consist of untanned goat skin, worn in the natural form and without attempt to make them conform to the shape of the legs. They not infrequently differ in color and marking, causing the wearer to present a grotesque appearance. He also wears immense spurs and other articles correspondingly fantastic, not the least conspicuous of which is his hat, an enormous cone-shaped sombrero made of felt and embroidered in fancy colors. His lasso of plaited rawhide, loosely coiled in two-foot circles, rests upon the back of his horse. These servants on the hacienda receive as compensation fifty pesos in cash annually, the use of two acres of chacra, four acres of wheat-growing land, and pasture for six or eight animals.For each department of labor on these properties, including canals, corrals, repairs, storehouse, direction of peons, etc., there is a mayordomo, or foreman. Their pay is the same as that of the vaqueros. The proprietor furnishes horses but not saddles for all of his employés, except the peons.“Ovejeros” (shepherds), connected with these estates live in the hills and work on contract. They receive twenty-five centavos for each lamb born, or one-third of the lambs. In case one receives a per cent. of the lambs as compensation for his labor, he is compelled to sell them to his master for one pesoeach. Each shepherd has in his care from five hundred to one thousand sheep.“Inquilinos,” or farm tenants, comprise the servants living on the farm. They must work when ordered or furnish someone to labor in their stead. The head of each of the families is given an allowance of four acres of wheat-growing land, and pasture for six animals; they receive no cash compensation. The peons on the hacienda are not given land and pasturage for animals, but are furnished with a daily ration of food. The owners of estates furnish houses for their servants, free of rent.The owners of the large, irrigated and well-equipped haciendas constitute the wealthiest, most cultured and aristocratic class in Chile. Presidents, senators and congressmen are elected from this class, and ministers, judges, admirals and generals are selected from the landed gentry. Prominent and influential professional and business men rely upon their estates for both pleasure and profit. The owners live upon their haciendas a portion of the year, but their homes are in the cities, most of them in Santiago, where they live in mansions and spend with lavish hand the income from their estates. The majority of them spend more than their income and as a result the heavily capitalized mortgage bank of Santiago has its octopus-like hand upon ninety per cent. of the beautiful and valuable country estates in Chile. The extravagance of the wealthy class in the Republic is cause for comment, and a surprise to most foreigners. Their prodigality furnishes a ruinous example to the middle classes, who try to emulate them, producing thereby a cheap, imitative kind of aristocracy. Most of thembelong to old and influential families who inherited their fortunes and names from pioneer colonists. Some, however, are parvenu aristocrats who have gained access to the exclusive social circles by means of money, a position which from lack of education and breeding they are not qualified to maintain.Large landowners give little time to the cultivation of their estates, and as a result the haciendas never produce to their full capacity. The chief occupation of the owners is a calculation of the probable income, with the application of as little capital and labor as possible on the property.Notwithstanding the fact that Chile owns the richest and most extensive nitrate fields and guano deposits in the world, and that thousands of tons of fertilizing material are exported annually to other countries, to enrich depleted soil, little or none of this valuable re-creative agency is utilized to rejuvenate the sterile soil of the worn hill farms of the Republic. They refuse to return to the soil by artificial means that which is annually drawn from it in the production of crops, and as a result much valuable land has lapsed into disuse, being considered sterile and valueless because its producing quality has been exhausted. Under existing circumstances the farmer’s expenses are heavy and certain and his income decreasing and uncertain. The result is that the handsome estates are fast falling under the bane of mortgages, the payment of the interest on which is sapping the life of the soil. Economy is not one of the ruling characteristics of the Chileno; social and political prestige must be maintained, even if the inevitable result is financial ruin.Mortgages will not permit of a disunion of theestates they cover, or selling of a portion of the land with which to pay interest, and when the owner is unable to longer meet his obligations the hacienda is sold at auction. The family then retires to a life of seclusion, and thereafter live upon a very meager income. There is no moral; remembering their former achievements and the splendor of past life, they indulge in no regret over present conditions. These families do not as a rule, however, belong to the best blood of Chile. They generally consist of those who go from country to the city and whose vanity leads them into unwonted extravagance.The artificial and realistic phases of social life among the above mentioned classes furnish some sharp and well-defined contrasts. The phase most commonly known, and the one invariably presented to the world, is the artificial, with stage effects and deceptive lights; the other is the real,—the everyday home life, where the natural characteristics of the actors are presented. In the home, all show, pomp and exhibition can be safely discarded; no stage effects are necessary. A “peep” into the home life of some of these families will reveal the female members sitting in groups upon low stools, or on the floor, around a “bracero,” charcoal fire, the servants squatting in close proximity, discussing in a familiar way the latest social triumphs or the day’s hidden economies.Another striking contrast in the home life is the different characteristics possessed by the men and women. The women are domestic by nature, patient to a degree, long suffering, good mothers and loyal wives. They are content with little, and either by inheritance or through generations of experienceand training they do not expect much from their lords and masters. Their education, which is generally secured in the parochial schools, is influenced by religious prejudice. They manifest little interest in politics or world affairs, and a professional career is not to be thought of by a Chilena. ’Tis considered more respectable for a woman to live proudly in abject poverty than to earn a livelihood in a profession or commercial occupation. Many of the Chilean señoritas possess great beauty, are graceful and vivacious. They know the force and effect of flattery, and are artists in the use of that dangerous weapon of society. They have natural talent for languages, usually speak French and have some knowledge of English, and their own language they use with consummate skill.The sons in the families of the better class are often educated in the belief that labor is degrading, and encouraged to lead lives of indolence. Instead of being taught that labor is honorable, that the gods sell everything to those who work; that the most useless and uninteresting members of society in this busy world are the drones; that intelligent industry is the chief factor in modern civilization; that honest effort is the advance guard of commercial and industrial progress, the youth of Chile is encouraged in the belief that it is honorable and manly to rely upon paternal dependence. Their education and youthful training too often lead them into the erroneous idea that business is drudgery, and that discipline of mind and will are hardships to be endured only by the servants and poor classes.The men who constitute the wealthy class in Chile contrast sharply in characteristics with the womenin the same social cast. They have an agreeable, dignified manner and polite address. Intellectually keen, they are quick to grasp a theory and clever in presenting it. Super-sensitive, they are quick to take offense, but will keep a smiling countenance, a polite, unruffled exterior, and even manifest a liking for people whom they inwardly detest. They are drawn together by business and political interests and whenever their interests conflict, enmity and even hatred are the result. This is carried to such extent that in the cities the families of the managers or heads of competing commercial houses or business firms will not associate with each other, and friendship between two Chilean gentlemen engaged in opposition business is the rare exception. Political opponents are enemies so long as their interests clash.It is generally among the hacendados that political schemes, resulting in combinations of far-reaching consequence, have their origin. When a candidate aspires to an elective office, he makes his wants known to the managers of the party to which he belongs, and assures them of his willingness to pay the required sum to carry the election. After securing the nomination the candidate puts himself in communication with the influential men of his party in the province in which he stands for election. Among these men he distributes the amount he is willing to pay for the office. These confidants distribute the fund among their friends, who in turn re-distribute it, each retaining as it passes through his hands what he believes is the value of his services. There is never any accounting, and no questions are asked. On election day, which is a generalfeast and field day for the peons, each candidate has friends and money representing him at the various voting places. The peons have no political faith or party, probably do not know, much less care, for what the election is being held. Their votes are for sale, either publicly or privately, to the highest bidder. Those from the same farm, district or village, usually band together, one of the number acting as spokesman. When the polls are declared open the inspectors of registration take their places behind the ballot box, and the bidding for the purchase of votes begins. The agent of one candidate approaches a group of peons and asks for their votes, the spokesman for the crowd asking in turn what is bid for their suffrages. After some bargaining an offer is made. Taking that as a basis, negotiations are then opened by a representative of the peons with the agent for another candidate. When convinced that they cannot secure more the peons close with the highest bidder, and march in single file to the voting place. One by one their names are called, and as their right to vote is admitted, the agent of the candidate making the purchase deposits the vote. After the voting is completed according to agreement, the peons receive the money in the presence of the inspectors, politicians and other voters. There is no attempt at secrecy. There is a law upon the statute books making the purchase or the sale of a vote a crime, with severe penalties attached, but it is disregarded and has become almost a dead letter. The laws of Chile also provide for a secret ballot, but it is neither secret nor sacred. The election of a president in Chile is by the electoral system, the electors being selectedby popular vote, and apportioned on a basis of population.The constitution gives to the poor of Chile the birthright of freedom, and all men are supposed to be equal under the laws of the Republic. Many of those living upon the large haciendas, however, have little freedom of action or individuality and some of them are little more than a part of the general farm equipment. They are dependent and apparently defenseless. Inquilinos almost invariably sell their labor in advance to the owners of the property on which they live. They never leave the hacienda, for conditions are everywhere the same. The rich landowners are powerful enough to force into subjugation all within their domains, and they assert their authority with the arrogance of autocrats. The inquilinos have nothing beyond a meager living; they always remain poor. They are not permitted to sow, reap or do any work for themselves until all the work of a similar character on the hacienda is finished.The majority of these poor people are honest with their patrons. When crimes are committed it is against others and not their master. As a rule the only offense of which they are guilty is that of harboring friendly thieves in their houses on the haciendas, thereby indirectly aiding in theft committed. If an hacienda changes hands, it makes not the slightest difference with the servants, who remain, many of them spending their entire lives upon the estate where they are born. The average wage of these farm laborers is about forty centavos per day. This low compensation is not due to a surplus of farm labor, for in fact there is a scarcity.The condition of the poor people in the farming communities has resulted in recent years in an exodus of labor to the nitrate fields and mineral districts of Atacama, Tarapaca, Copiapo and Coquimbo, where they receive good wages and are paid regularly. This inviting field for labor, within the territorial limits of the Republic, is encouraging a more independent spirit among the working classes. That, together with the resentment against oppression so long imposed upon them by the hacendados, has already produced a marked effect and is rapidly growing into a condition of open hostility between employer and employés. The laborers are already organizing themselves into unions which opens a fruitful field for the agitator and the political demagogue. This has been evidenced by organized demands for shorter hours and higher wages among the employés in many of the seaport towns within the past few years. It had its most striking and tragic illustration in the riots in Valparaiso in May, 1903, when the city was sacked and property burned by a mob of striking stevedores.This independent movement, this breaking away from former conditions had its origin in the revolution of 1891, which inaugurated new and worse relations between capital and labor. The uprising gave the Roto Chileno an opportunity to unmask and to manifest his natural characteristics. Not at first upon a strike plan, but in secret combination against those who employ labor; to shield each other in infractions of the law; to organize a class into a union of criminals that includes in its depredations every act in the category of crime. An undeclared war is waged, unexpressed antagonism, and unspoken enmityhave been inducted into being. The policy of weak submission, in which they so long acquiesced, is gradually but surely changing to one of open defiance. Generations of smoldering hatred burst forth in the flame of strife and revolution, and the growth and menacing hostile attitude of labor and capital to-day is the outgrowth of that movement.These labor troubles, felt first in the populous centers, are gradually finding their way to the farms and haciendas, and it is easy to predict the changed condition that will result within a few years; conditions that will reach the other extreme. There is no class of people so tyrannical, so unreasonable and dictatorial, as the ignorant, the poor and oppressed, when once they hold the balance of power. The Roto Chilenos, as an organized force, would be a desperate, dangerous class, a menace to society and good government. Let us hope that the distance between these extremes will be narrowed, that capital will be given the protection and encouragement to which it is entitled, and upon which its existence depends, and at the same time labor will be given the best remuneration, the broadest field and the amplest opportunity possible. This is a problem that should concern the politicians and statesmen of Chile. The time has passed when the working class will submit to intolerance and oppression, and the fact that conditions are changing, even in a country where the common people cling tenaciously to tradition and usage, must be recognized. The sons and daughters of farmers go to the cities and take service with foreigners. When they return to their country homes they take with them manners and ideas acquired from a different people—transplantedcustoms from another world. And so, slowly, backward and forward among the people passes the shuttle of changing methods, weaving into the fabric of life new and strange conditions. These influences are making themselves felt in many ways. In the typical Chilean village one sometimes sees among the thatched roof adobe huts, a house with some pretensions to ornamentation. Instead of an earthen floor, and the patio occupied by fowls and animals, there is a brick or tile floor, and the walls are ornamented with pictures. The poncho, which was formerly universally worn by the men, has been almost entirely discarded in the cities, and generally so in the villages. The mantilla, that most unsanitary of articles, with which all the women of Chile formerly draped their heads and faces, and which had also the objectionable feature of giving them a common and unattractive appearance, is fast growing into disuse, and is being supplanted by more modern feminine headdress. The country people are beginning to discard sandals for shoes, and in many ways manifest a more progressive spirit.A Chileno may appear upon the streets of a city in personal attire the same as that prescribed for gentlemen in any country, but custom in the country prescribes a different standard. A gentleman huaso, well mounted and properly equipped, will have several hundred dollars represented in his personal adornment and caparison, for he must appear “a la moda del campo” (in the costume of the country). The cost of the outfit of the average well-mounted Chilean gentleman farmer may be calculated as follows: Horse, three hundred pesos; silvermounted bridle and reins, seventy-five; silver mounted saddle, two hundred; inlaid silver belt and knife, fifty; silver spurs, seventy-five; poncho, fifty; hat, twenty; special riding suit, one hundred; embroidered leggins, seventy-five; boots, twenty-five; watch and other extras, two hundred; total, one thousand one hundred and seventy pesos, equal to four hundred dollars United States currency.

In the fertile valleys, through which flow the rivers of Chile, are many magnificent estates, some of them including thousands of acres of productive land. Upon an eminence in the midst of broad acres, of golden grain, waving corn and verdant pastures, all framed with avenues of stately alamos,stands the splendid residence of the owner, overlooking the picturesque and pastoral scene. The majority of these country mansions are built upon the same general plan, varying only in size and ornamental elaboration. They represent a letter H in form, with a front entrance in the middle of the bar connecting the main lines of the letter, the drawing-room upon one side and the dining-room on the other. A wide, roomy corridor leads from the main entrance in front to the beautiful patio, upon either side of which is arranged the sleeping apartments. These residences are almost invariably well furnished and finished with artistic interior decorations. Some of them include rare old paintings and splendid specimens of wood carving. The drawing-room and dining-room usually contain the best of the furniture and decorations, as those are the portions of the house most occupied by guests. There is an absence of fireplaces and stoves, due to the mild climate. The house is surrounded by well-kept parks and gardens containing rare trees, shrubs and flowers. There is a peaceful harmony in the beauty of the surroundings and everything in the environment is suggestive of comfort and luxury.

The hacienda constitutes a small empire, with various executive and administrative branches. The territorial limits are usually defined by walls made of loose piled stones or adobes. The irrigated portions are divided into potreros (fields), of from one hundred to two hundred acres each, the dividing lines being indicated by rows of growing trees, usually poplar, or alamos, that grow straight and tall, and which not only add to the beauty of the landscape, but also furnish shade for the animalsin the pastures. The hill lands are divided into larger sections, frequently as much as one thousand acres constituting one pasture field or range. These potreros are enclosed with thorned hedges, from the espino which grows abundantly in the low lands. Irrigating canals carry water from the hill streams to the cultivated fields and the pasture land, where clover, alfalfa, and other grasses grow prodigiously in the rich loam soil.

Roads flanked with graceful trees lead out from the residence and from the corrals to various parts of the property. A photographic view of one of these country homes needs only a few touches of the artist’s brush to make it an idyl. A home glimpse in Chile, even on an hacienda, is no exception. Sunlight through a camera glorifies vistas and ennobles foliage; it promotes stucco and plaster to marble and gives grace and beauty to commonplace things. The lumbering teams of oxen and the huge two-wheeled carts add to the picturesque placidity of the scene which presents an appearance of perpetual summer and glorious afternoon. But the photograph says nothing, and it is well for the chronicler to omit any mention of the dust through which the carts creak and groan at harvest time, in a country where rain falls only between May and September.

The servants on a large hacienda consist of an administrador, a capataz (sub-manager), various mayordomos, vaqueros (cowboys), shepherds and a troop of peons. The administrador, or manager, is the responsible executive head, and has entire charge of the farm. He receives orders only from the proprietor. He suggests to the owner the workand improvements necessary, and when his suggestions are approved he gives orders to his subordinates to execute the plan; he receives from the mayordomos accounts of the work done and wages earned, pays employés, etc. It is also the business of the manager to dispose of the animals raised on the farm, when ready for market. These sales are usually made at auction at the most convenient railway station or shipping point. Sometimes the sales amount to as much as fifty thousand pesos in one day. The owner or his representatives are always present, and animals are never sold for less than they are actually worth.

The service of an hacienda manager consists in whatever the owner may order; he passes most of his days on horseback, as do the other servants, except the peons. The pay of this important personage is three hundred pesos, equal to one hundred dollars United States currency, a year. In addition to this meager money compensation he has the use of ten acres of dry land, suitable for growing wheat, six or eight acres of chacra, or vegetable producing land, and pasture for fifteen to twenty animals. Ten horses of the hacienda are usually set apart for his exclusive use.

The capataz occupies a position next in importance to the manager; his business is to ride over the farm daily, and make reports and suggestions to the manager. It is also the duty of this functionary to impound all animals not belonging to the estate found in the potreros. A fine of so much per head is assessed against all such animals, and the owner is required to pay the amount before they are released.

Vaqueros, who are under the direction of a manager, have certain fields and animals under their charge. Each is held responsible for the animals under his care. A daily count is made, and if any are missing the vaquero is sent in search of them. The vaquero is the cowboy of South America, and represents a type peculiar to the country.

His leggins usually consist of untanned goat skin, worn in the natural form and without attempt to make them conform to the shape of the legs. They not infrequently differ in color and marking, causing the wearer to present a grotesque appearance. He also wears immense spurs and other articles correspondingly fantastic, not the least conspicuous of which is his hat, an enormous cone-shaped sombrero made of felt and embroidered in fancy colors. His lasso of plaited rawhide, loosely coiled in two-foot circles, rests upon the back of his horse. These servants on the hacienda receive as compensation fifty pesos in cash annually, the use of two acres of chacra, four acres of wheat-growing land, and pasture for six or eight animals.

For each department of labor on these properties, including canals, corrals, repairs, storehouse, direction of peons, etc., there is a mayordomo, or foreman. Their pay is the same as that of the vaqueros. The proprietor furnishes horses but not saddles for all of his employés, except the peons.

“Ovejeros” (shepherds), connected with these estates live in the hills and work on contract. They receive twenty-five centavos for each lamb born, or one-third of the lambs. In case one receives a per cent. of the lambs as compensation for his labor, he is compelled to sell them to his master for one pesoeach. Each shepherd has in his care from five hundred to one thousand sheep.

“Inquilinos,” or farm tenants, comprise the servants living on the farm. They must work when ordered or furnish someone to labor in their stead. The head of each of the families is given an allowance of four acres of wheat-growing land, and pasture for six animals; they receive no cash compensation. The peons on the hacienda are not given land and pasturage for animals, but are furnished with a daily ration of food. The owners of estates furnish houses for their servants, free of rent.

The owners of the large, irrigated and well-equipped haciendas constitute the wealthiest, most cultured and aristocratic class in Chile. Presidents, senators and congressmen are elected from this class, and ministers, judges, admirals and generals are selected from the landed gentry. Prominent and influential professional and business men rely upon their estates for both pleasure and profit. The owners live upon their haciendas a portion of the year, but their homes are in the cities, most of them in Santiago, where they live in mansions and spend with lavish hand the income from their estates. The majority of them spend more than their income and as a result the heavily capitalized mortgage bank of Santiago has its octopus-like hand upon ninety per cent. of the beautiful and valuable country estates in Chile. The extravagance of the wealthy class in the Republic is cause for comment, and a surprise to most foreigners. Their prodigality furnishes a ruinous example to the middle classes, who try to emulate them, producing thereby a cheap, imitative kind of aristocracy. Most of thembelong to old and influential families who inherited their fortunes and names from pioneer colonists. Some, however, are parvenu aristocrats who have gained access to the exclusive social circles by means of money, a position which from lack of education and breeding they are not qualified to maintain.

Large landowners give little time to the cultivation of their estates, and as a result the haciendas never produce to their full capacity. The chief occupation of the owners is a calculation of the probable income, with the application of as little capital and labor as possible on the property.

Notwithstanding the fact that Chile owns the richest and most extensive nitrate fields and guano deposits in the world, and that thousands of tons of fertilizing material are exported annually to other countries, to enrich depleted soil, little or none of this valuable re-creative agency is utilized to rejuvenate the sterile soil of the worn hill farms of the Republic. They refuse to return to the soil by artificial means that which is annually drawn from it in the production of crops, and as a result much valuable land has lapsed into disuse, being considered sterile and valueless because its producing quality has been exhausted. Under existing circumstances the farmer’s expenses are heavy and certain and his income decreasing and uncertain. The result is that the handsome estates are fast falling under the bane of mortgages, the payment of the interest on which is sapping the life of the soil. Economy is not one of the ruling characteristics of the Chileno; social and political prestige must be maintained, even if the inevitable result is financial ruin.

Mortgages will not permit of a disunion of theestates they cover, or selling of a portion of the land with which to pay interest, and when the owner is unable to longer meet his obligations the hacienda is sold at auction. The family then retires to a life of seclusion, and thereafter live upon a very meager income. There is no moral; remembering their former achievements and the splendor of past life, they indulge in no regret over present conditions. These families do not as a rule, however, belong to the best blood of Chile. They generally consist of those who go from country to the city and whose vanity leads them into unwonted extravagance.

The artificial and realistic phases of social life among the above mentioned classes furnish some sharp and well-defined contrasts. The phase most commonly known, and the one invariably presented to the world, is the artificial, with stage effects and deceptive lights; the other is the real,—the everyday home life, where the natural characteristics of the actors are presented. In the home, all show, pomp and exhibition can be safely discarded; no stage effects are necessary. A “peep” into the home life of some of these families will reveal the female members sitting in groups upon low stools, or on the floor, around a “bracero,” charcoal fire, the servants squatting in close proximity, discussing in a familiar way the latest social triumphs or the day’s hidden economies.

Another striking contrast in the home life is the different characteristics possessed by the men and women. The women are domestic by nature, patient to a degree, long suffering, good mothers and loyal wives. They are content with little, and either by inheritance or through generations of experienceand training they do not expect much from their lords and masters. Their education, which is generally secured in the parochial schools, is influenced by religious prejudice. They manifest little interest in politics or world affairs, and a professional career is not to be thought of by a Chilena. ’Tis considered more respectable for a woman to live proudly in abject poverty than to earn a livelihood in a profession or commercial occupation. Many of the Chilean señoritas possess great beauty, are graceful and vivacious. They know the force and effect of flattery, and are artists in the use of that dangerous weapon of society. They have natural talent for languages, usually speak French and have some knowledge of English, and their own language they use with consummate skill.

The sons in the families of the better class are often educated in the belief that labor is degrading, and encouraged to lead lives of indolence. Instead of being taught that labor is honorable, that the gods sell everything to those who work; that the most useless and uninteresting members of society in this busy world are the drones; that intelligent industry is the chief factor in modern civilization; that honest effort is the advance guard of commercial and industrial progress, the youth of Chile is encouraged in the belief that it is honorable and manly to rely upon paternal dependence. Their education and youthful training too often lead them into the erroneous idea that business is drudgery, and that discipline of mind and will are hardships to be endured only by the servants and poor classes.

The men who constitute the wealthy class in Chile contrast sharply in characteristics with the womenin the same social cast. They have an agreeable, dignified manner and polite address. Intellectually keen, they are quick to grasp a theory and clever in presenting it. Super-sensitive, they are quick to take offense, but will keep a smiling countenance, a polite, unruffled exterior, and even manifest a liking for people whom they inwardly detest. They are drawn together by business and political interests and whenever their interests conflict, enmity and even hatred are the result. This is carried to such extent that in the cities the families of the managers or heads of competing commercial houses or business firms will not associate with each other, and friendship between two Chilean gentlemen engaged in opposition business is the rare exception. Political opponents are enemies so long as their interests clash.

It is generally among the hacendados that political schemes, resulting in combinations of far-reaching consequence, have their origin. When a candidate aspires to an elective office, he makes his wants known to the managers of the party to which he belongs, and assures them of his willingness to pay the required sum to carry the election. After securing the nomination the candidate puts himself in communication with the influential men of his party in the province in which he stands for election. Among these men he distributes the amount he is willing to pay for the office. These confidants distribute the fund among their friends, who in turn re-distribute it, each retaining as it passes through his hands what he believes is the value of his services. There is never any accounting, and no questions are asked. On election day, which is a generalfeast and field day for the peons, each candidate has friends and money representing him at the various voting places. The peons have no political faith or party, probably do not know, much less care, for what the election is being held. Their votes are for sale, either publicly or privately, to the highest bidder. Those from the same farm, district or village, usually band together, one of the number acting as spokesman. When the polls are declared open the inspectors of registration take their places behind the ballot box, and the bidding for the purchase of votes begins. The agent of one candidate approaches a group of peons and asks for their votes, the spokesman for the crowd asking in turn what is bid for their suffrages. After some bargaining an offer is made. Taking that as a basis, negotiations are then opened by a representative of the peons with the agent for another candidate. When convinced that they cannot secure more the peons close with the highest bidder, and march in single file to the voting place. One by one their names are called, and as their right to vote is admitted, the agent of the candidate making the purchase deposits the vote. After the voting is completed according to agreement, the peons receive the money in the presence of the inspectors, politicians and other voters. There is no attempt at secrecy. There is a law upon the statute books making the purchase or the sale of a vote a crime, with severe penalties attached, but it is disregarded and has become almost a dead letter. The laws of Chile also provide for a secret ballot, but it is neither secret nor sacred. The election of a president in Chile is by the electoral system, the electors being selectedby popular vote, and apportioned on a basis of population.

The constitution gives to the poor of Chile the birthright of freedom, and all men are supposed to be equal under the laws of the Republic. Many of those living upon the large haciendas, however, have little freedom of action or individuality and some of them are little more than a part of the general farm equipment. They are dependent and apparently defenseless. Inquilinos almost invariably sell their labor in advance to the owners of the property on which they live. They never leave the hacienda, for conditions are everywhere the same. The rich landowners are powerful enough to force into subjugation all within their domains, and they assert their authority with the arrogance of autocrats. The inquilinos have nothing beyond a meager living; they always remain poor. They are not permitted to sow, reap or do any work for themselves until all the work of a similar character on the hacienda is finished.

The majority of these poor people are honest with their patrons. When crimes are committed it is against others and not their master. As a rule the only offense of which they are guilty is that of harboring friendly thieves in their houses on the haciendas, thereby indirectly aiding in theft committed. If an hacienda changes hands, it makes not the slightest difference with the servants, who remain, many of them spending their entire lives upon the estate where they are born. The average wage of these farm laborers is about forty centavos per day. This low compensation is not due to a surplus of farm labor, for in fact there is a scarcity.

The condition of the poor people in the farming communities has resulted in recent years in an exodus of labor to the nitrate fields and mineral districts of Atacama, Tarapaca, Copiapo and Coquimbo, where they receive good wages and are paid regularly. This inviting field for labor, within the territorial limits of the Republic, is encouraging a more independent spirit among the working classes. That, together with the resentment against oppression so long imposed upon them by the hacendados, has already produced a marked effect and is rapidly growing into a condition of open hostility between employer and employés. The laborers are already organizing themselves into unions which opens a fruitful field for the agitator and the political demagogue. This has been evidenced by organized demands for shorter hours and higher wages among the employés in many of the seaport towns within the past few years. It had its most striking and tragic illustration in the riots in Valparaiso in May, 1903, when the city was sacked and property burned by a mob of striking stevedores.

This independent movement, this breaking away from former conditions had its origin in the revolution of 1891, which inaugurated new and worse relations between capital and labor. The uprising gave the Roto Chileno an opportunity to unmask and to manifest his natural characteristics. Not at first upon a strike plan, but in secret combination against those who employ labor; to shield each other in infractions of the law; to organize a class into a union of criminals that includes in its depredations every act in the category of crime. An undeclared war is waged, unexpressed antagonism, and unspoken enmityhave been inducted into being. The policy of weak submission, in which they so long acquiesced, is gradually but surely changing to one of open defiance. Generations of smoldering hatred burst forth in the flame of strife and revolution, and the growth and menacing hostile attitude of labor and capital to-day is the outgrowth of that movement.

These labor troubles, felt first in the populous centers, are gradually finding their way to the farms and haciendas, and it is easy to predict the changed condition that will result within a few years; conditions that will reach the other extreme. There is no class of people so tyrannical, so unreasonable and dictatorial, as the ignorant, the poor and oppressed, when once they hold the balance of power. The Roto Chilenos, as an organized force, would be a desperate, dangerous class, a menace to society and good government. Let us hope that the distance between these extremes will be narrowed, that capital will be given the protection and encouragement to which it is entitled, and upon which its existence depends, and at the same time labor will be given the best remuneration, the broadest field and the amplest opportunity possible. This is a problem that should concern the politicians and statesmen of Chile. The time has passed when the working class will submit to intolerance and oppression, and the fact that conditions are changing, even in a country where the common people cling tenaciously to tradition and usage, must be recognized. The sons and daughters of farmers go to the cities and take service with foreigners. When they return to their country homes they take with them manners and ideas acquired from a different people—transplantedcustoms from another world. And so, slowly, backward and forward among the people passes the shuttle of changing methods, weaving into the fabric of life new and strange conditions. These influences are making themselves felt in many ways. In the typical Chilean village one sometimes sees among the thatched roof adobe huts, a house with some pretensions to ornamentation. Instead of an earthen floor, and the patio occupied by fowls and animals, there is a brick or tile floor, and the walls are ornamented with pictures. The poncho, which was formerly universally worn by the men, has been almost entirely discarded in the cities, and generally so in the villages. The mantilla, that most unsanitary of articles, with which all the women of Chile formerly draped their heads and faces, and which had also the objectionable feature of giving them a common and unattractive appearance, is fast growing into disuse, and is being supplanted by more modern feminine headdress. The country people are beginning to discard sandals for shoes, and in many ways manifest a more progressive spirit.

A Chileno may appear upon the streets of a city in personal attire the same as that prescribed for gentlemen in any country, but custom in the country prescribes a different standard. A gentleman huaso, well mounted and properly equipped, will have several hundred dollars represented in his personal adornment and caparison, for he must appear “a la moda del campo” (in the costume of the country). The cost of the outfit of the average well-mounted Chilean gentleman farmer may be calculated as follows: Horse, three hundred pesos; silvermounted bridle and reins, seventy-five; silver mounted saddle, two hundred; inlaid silver belt and knife, fifty; silver spurs, seventy-five; poncho, fifty; hat, twenty; special riding suit, one hundred; embroidered leggins, seventy-five; boots, twenty-five; watch and other extras, two hundred; total, one thousand one hundred and seventy pesos, equal to four hundred dollars United States currency.

RODEO.One of the most exciting of the many peculiar practices indulged in by the country people, and one which requires great skill and courage, is the “rodeo” (method of managing wild bullocks in a corral, by men on horseback). It is the Chilean Corrida, taking the place of the Spanish bull fight, and is an inoffensive sport. A rodeo is an event of much general interest, and is usually attended by large crowds of people, friends and invited guests of the owner of the hacienda where it takes place. Special and elaborate preparations are made, and the rodeo is looked forward to with much interest, not only by those who take part in the dangerous proceedings, but also by everyone favored with an invitation or an opportunity to attend. The company first assembles at the residence of the gentleman giving the function, where all the specially invited guests and personal friends are entertained.The vaqueros have been instructed to collect in a large corral, representing a half circle, all the cattle from the hill potreros. The animals are usually unaccustomed to the sight of anyone except the vaquero who attends them, and are wild and easily excited. When the time arrives for opening therodeo, the horses of the men who are to participate, are brought out, each attended by a mozo (personal servant), who carefully adjusts the huge spurs always used on such occasions, to the boots of their respective masters. The men then mount and ride to the corrals, each followed by his mozo with several reserve horses to be used in case of necessity. About the corrals, which are decorated with flags and bunting, is a large crowd, including the mounted servants of the hacienda, as well as the inquilinos and servants from other farms, on horseback and in carts. Later the ladies of the household and their friends and guests arrive and occupy seats especially prepared for them, which command a good view of the corral. An order is given for the function to begin and employés of the hacienda enter the corral and drive the animals close together, encircling them to prevent their escape. The men who are to participate in this sport take their positions and a bullock is permitted to pass through the line encircling the herd. It is immediately charged by two of the waiting party, one following and urging it on, the other riding by its side, forcing the beast as closely as possible to the corral fence. When they have traversed the distance of the corral enclosure the person riding by the animal’s side rushes to its head, and by a clever move turns it suddenly around. The positions of pursuing parties are reversed, first one riding at the side of and turning the infuriated beast, and then the other, until it is completely subdued. Until it is conquered the riders must at no time leave the animal. If it bolt through the herd, or amongst the bunch of mounted servants on guard, they must follow, each keepinghis respective position. Their horses are well trained and enter into the sport with as keen a zest as the riders. When one animal has been conquered it is driven from the corral and another turned loose, different persons taking part in each separate contest. If a horse is gored, as is often the case, or the rider dismounted and trampled upon, others quickly take their places and the sport continues. During the rodeo the spectators applaud or groan at the acts of the participants, according to their merit or demerit. Rodeos sometimes last for several days. An intermission is given in the middle of the day during which lunch is served, and at night there is always entertainment and much merrymaking at the hacienda residence. This sport is full of surprises, both comic and tragic, as there is always an element of uncertainty in the actions of a wild and infuriated young bull, when pursued and harassed until he becomes desperate. The day’s entertainment often closes with some daring vaquero lassoing, saddling and mounting a big, untamed bull.One of the purposes of a rodeo is that the owners of cattle in neighboring haciendas may have all of the cattle brought in from the hills, identified and separated. The cattle belonging to each estate bear the registered mark of the owner by which they are identified. Frequently animals stray from their ranges and potreros and join the herds in neighboring haciendas. In these annual rodeos, or round-ups, they are divided and each lot according to mark or brand is returned to the owner. All the vaqueros of the different estates in the locality attend and participate. In this way the hacendados get all thewild young animals from the hills brought in, separated and branded at practically no expense. What is considered sport, and a festival by the vaqueros and employés on the big farms, is in reality the annual collection of cattle, as a matter of business to the owner.The crowd constituting the spectators at a rodeo is made up of peons, inquilinos and vaqueros from neighboring haciendas. They dance the cuaca, and there is music of primitive harps and guitars. There is much drinking of chicha and exchange of badinage, all mixed with talk of, and comment on the rodeo, and the personal skill and bravery, or the lack of those qualities, displayed by those engaged in the sport. In the evening, after the conclusion of the rodeo, along the dusty country roads leading to the homes of these people one may witness strenuous and exciting contests in topeadura, in which sturdy Chilean ponies and tipsy riders form the component part.

One of the most exciting of the many peculiar practices indulged in by the country people, and one which requires great skill and courage, is the “rodeo” (method of managing wild bullocks in a corral, by men on horseback). It is the Chilean Corrida, taking the place of the Spanish bull fight, and is an inoffensive sport. A rodeo is an event of much general interest, and is usually attended by large crowds of people, friends and invited guests of the owner of the hacienda where it takes place. Special and elaborate preparations are made, and the rodeo is looked forward to with much interest, not only by those who take part in the dangerous proceedings, but also by everyone favored with an invitation or an opportunity to attend. The company first assembles at the residence of the gentleman giving the function, where all the specially invited guests and personal friends are entertained.

The vaqueros have been instructed to collect in a large corral, representing a half circle, all the cattle from the hill potreros. The animals are usually unaccustomed to the sight of anyone except the vaquero who attends them, and are wild and easily excited. When the time arrives for opening therodeo, the horses of the men who are to participate, are brought out, each attended by a mozo (personal servant), who carefully adjusts the huge spurs always used on such occasions, to the boots of their respective masters. The men then mount and ride to the corrals, each followed by his mozo with several reserve horses to be used in case of necessity. About the corrals, which are decorated with flags and bunting, is a large crowd, including the mounted servants of the hacienda, as well as the inquilinos and servants from other farms, on horseback and in carts. Later the ladies of the household and their friends and guests arrive and occupy seats especially prepared for them, which command a good view of the corral. An order is given for the function to begin and employés of the hacienda enter the corral and drive the animals close together, encircling them to prevent their escape. The men who are to participate in this sport take their positions and a bullock is permitted to pass through the line encircling the herd. It is immediately charged by two of the waiting party, one following and urging it on, the other riding by its side, forcing the beast as closely as possible to the corral fence. When they have traversed the distance of the corral enclosure the person riding by the animal’s side rushes to its head, and by a clever move turns it suddenly around. The positions of pursuing parties are reversed, first one riding at the side of and turning the infuriated beast, and then the other, until it is completely subdued. Until it is conquered the riders must at no time leave the animal. If it bolt through the herd, or amongst the bunch of mounted servants on guard, they must follow, each keepinghis respective position. Their horses are well trained and enter into the sport with as keen a zest as the riders. When one animal has been conquered it is driven from the corral and another turned loose, different persons taking part in each separate contest. If a horse is gored, as is often the case, or the rider dismounted and trampled upon, others quickly take their places and the sport continues. During the rodeo the spectators applaud or groan at the acts of the participants, according to their merit or demerit. Rodeos sometimes last for several days. An intermission is given in the middle of the day during which lunch is served, and at night there is always entertainment and much merrymaking at the hacienda residence. This sport is full of surprises, both comic and tragic, as there is always an element of uncertainty in the actions of a wild and infuriated young bull, when pursued and harassed until he becomes desperate. The day’s entertainment often closes with some daring vaquero lassoing, saddling and mounting a big, untamed bull.

One of the purposes of a rodeo is that the owners of cattle in neighboring haciendas may have all of the cattle brought in from the hills, identified and separated. The cattle belonging to each estate bear the registered mark of the owner by which they are identified. Frequently animals stray from their ranges and potreros and join the herds in neighboring haciendas. In these annual rodeos, or round-ups, they are divided and each lot according to mark or brand is returned to the owner. All the vaqueros of the different estates in the locality attend and participate. In this way the hacendados get all thewild young animals from the hills brought in, separated and branded at practically no expense. What is considered sport, and a festival by the vaqueros and employés on the big farms, is in reality the annual collection of cattle, as a matter of business to the owner.

The crowd constituting the spectators at a rodeo is made up of peons, inquilinos and vaqueros from neighboring haciendas. They dance the cuaca, and there is music of primitive harps and guitars. There is much drinking of chicha and exchange of badinage, all mixed with talk of, and comment on the rodeo, and the personal skill and bravery, or the lack of those qualities, displayed by those engaged in the sport. In the evening, after the conclusion of the rodeo, along the dusty country roads leading to the homes of these people one may witness strenuous and exciting contests in topeadura, in which sturdy Chilean ponies and tipsy riders form the component part.

CHACRA.Chacra (vegetable farm), is usually land rented in small sections by the poor people from the rich landowners. After the servants have been allotted their portion of land in the poorest soil of the hacienda, other portions are rented, usually for a stipulated rental of two thousand kilos of beans for each quadra (four acres). At the harvest time the landowner must be paid his rent, either in the proportion of the products stipulated, or the cash market value of same. This settlement must be made before the “chacrero” is permitted to remove any of the crops. The lessee’s family live in the chacrain huts made of the branches of trees. The hacendado knows the productive capacity of his land, and gauges the rental value accordingly. If the renter manages to save a few sacks of beans, after living and paying his rent, he is fortunate. As a rule this class of tillers of the soil receive nothing more than a meager living for their labor.

Chacra (vegetable farm), is usually land rented in small sections by the poor people from the rich landowners. After the servants have been allotted their portion of land in the poorest soil of the hacienda, other portions are rented, usually for a stipulated rental of two thousand kilos of beans for each quadra (four acres). At the harvest time the landowner must be paid his rent, either in the proportion of the products stipulated, or the cash market value of same. This settlement must be made before the “chacrero” is permitted to remove any of the crops. The lessee’s family live in the chacrain huts made of the branches of trees. The hacendado knows the productive capacity of his land, and gauges the rental value accordingly. If the renter manages to save a few sacks of beans, after living and paying his rent, he is fortunate. As a rule this class of tillers of the soil receive nothing more than a meager living for their labor.

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