VILLAGES AND CITIES
All the villages in Chile are similar in appearance and general aspect. There is little variety and few attractive features to distinguish any of them, or one from another. The one story houses are almost invariably built of adobe, and roofed with tile or thatch. The architecture, if the style of the village buildings can be dignified with the term, is Spanish. The houses front directly upon and are flush with the sidewalk, most of them being built round a patio.
There is an unattractive sameness about Chilean villages, even to the disagreeable smells. There is usually one long, straight street upon which are located the shops and better class of dwellings. This main thoroughfare is backed by a few other streets, flanked with low, rambling huts, the habitations of the poorer classes. In the center of the town is the plaza, the chief feature of every Spanish-American municipality, large or small,—the common meeting place of the village people and playground for the children. Ornamented with trees and flowers, it forms a pleasing contrast to the dull gray of dusty streets and adobe walls. In the more pretentious of the municipalities, the plaza is frequently enlivened in the evenings with music by a band, which never fails to attract a crowd. On such occasions the plaza presents a scene of lively interest and animation. There the people congregateto visit, gossip and enjoy the music. Black-eyed señoritas and stout matrons, with faces framed in mantillas, join in the promenade, passing and repassing the caballeros with whom they exchange knowing looks and significant glances, the method employed in love-making and conducting flirtations in Chile. Upon the green sward, beneath the friendly trees, happy children engage in juvenile sports and youthful pleasures. It is in these public meeting places that the village people are seen at their best; there they abandon themselves to the simple pleasures and enjoyments to which their environments limit them.
A curious feature of every Chilean village is the varied and violent colors used in painting the houses. Shades of blue, red, yellow, pink and green frequently appear in strange contrast in the same row of buildings. Intermingling with these peculiarly contrasting hues are red tile roofs, the lighter shades of thatch, and the gray of undecorated adobe walls, relieved by occasional stretches of whitewashed houses and garden enclosures.
The little “despachos,” with their inartistically decorated windows and curious assortment of bottles of “chicha,” wine, “aguardiente,” dry goods, provisions, firewood and charcoal, are a feature of every town in the country. In the front of these shops where articles of various kinds are dispensed, is a sort of hitch-rack which may be used as a place for customers to leave their horses when on business, or as a means of engaging in the common sport of the country, “topiadura.” It is in the village drinking places that the country people meet to exchange news and gossip of the neighborhood,and to indulge in a social cup. On feast days and Sundays crowds congregate in these places where drinking is indulged in to excess. There are few places of amusement, and perhaps no place where the opportunities for entertainment of an intellectual or elevating character are more limited and restricted than in a Chilean village. The despachos with their gambling, drinking and accompanying vices, afford the only relief from the monotonous home life of the poor people, which has little in it to encourage mental or moral improvement.
The population of the villages varies from three to five thousand in the departmental centers, and from one to two thousand each in the others. They have no industries except a few shoe shops, blacksmith and carpenter shops. Some of the general stores have well assorted stocks, and in some of the small towns there is a drug store with a billiard room and cafe. These together with the drinking places fill the commercial list. The business of the villages depends entirely upon the people living in the adjacent farming country. When in the towns they spend their time in eating, drinking, talking politics, singing, dancing and playing cards.
The crops of the adjoining farms do not enter into the business of the towns and villages, but are shipped to the nearest mill, railway center or seaport. In all the towns there is wealth, not extensive, but considerable, when the necessities and modes of life are taken into account. In Chile, as in other countries, there is a predisposition on the part of the country people to congregate in the towns and villages, be they great or small; in close proximity to any of the municipalities, any day inthe week, one will meet all classes and conditions of rural residents on horseback, in ox carts and on foot, wending their way to town. It is another evidence of the universal desire of mankind to seek companionship and association with his fellow man, even though the contact furnishes no novelty or new sensation.
Every village has a Catholic church, and the female portion of the population finds relief in the “iglesia,” from the monotony of domestic life. They attend every service, and on Sundays and feast days the scene about the village church suggests a convent, as the women all wear mantillas draped over their heads, giving them the general appearance of nuns.
There are few municipalities of sufficient size and commercial importance to entitle them to be classified as cities. Santiago, the capital, is a beautiful city of over 300,000 inhabitants, charmingly situated in the verdant valley of the Mapocho, and surrounded by rugged, snow-crowned mountains. Few cities possess so many natural advantages in situation and environments. All around loom giant peaks of the Andes, their white crests among the clouds. In the smiling valley, clothed in the green of perennial summer, is Santiago. Long, quiet streets, badly paved, are lined with handsome houses, French and Spanish in architectural design; many of them palatial in proportions. The lack of industrial life and commercial activity, and the peaceful repose of this daughter of Latin America, give to the capital of Chile more the appearance ofan indolent Oriental city than the metropolis of an ambitious young Republic.
Situated in the center of a great natural amphitheater, in a beautiful fertile plain, through which flow several streams, supplied with crystal waters from melting snow in the higher ranges of the Cordilleras, Santiago, viewed from any of the many points of advantage, presents an attractive, picturesque and prepossessing appearance. In the center of the city, rising abruptly from the level plain upon which it rests, is “El Cerro Santa Lucia,” a precipitous, rocky hill, four hundred feet high, and covering at its base an area of eight acres. This wonderful natural formation, often described as a freak of nature, is one of the most remarkable of its kind in the world. The entrance to the “cerro” is through a gateway of artistic design, with approaches of fine stone columns and buttresses. The summit is reached by winding carriage roads of easy grade, which are flanked with stone walls, towers and battlements. There are also shaded walks, lined with many hued flowers, by which the hill may be ascended. From the summit one looks down upon tile roofs, flower bedecked patios, adobe walls green with moss and overrun with rose-vines, streets and avenues fringed with poplars and alamos. The Alameda, one of the finest avenues in the world, with its wide roadways, fine old trees and shaded promenades, starting at the foot of the Santa Lucia, extends for a distance of three miles, cleaving the city in halves, marking the center and focus of traffic in the metropolis. The Cathedral with its double towers and central dome, fronting upon the Plaza de Armas, in the heart of the city isa good viewpoint from which to trace and locate other objects of interest. In the near distance are the parks and the “Quinta Normal,” the government agricultural and horticultural propagating station, all robed in the gorgeous green of semi-tropical verdure and adorned with a variety of beautiful flowers that grow luxuriantly and bloom most generously in the soft, sweet air and golden sunshine of temperate Chile. This lovely picture, this charming ensemble of city and plain, hill and river, parks and gardens, this municipal mosaic with emerald green settings, crowned with a dome of turquoise blue, is framed in a wall of wonderful mountains composing a part of the Andean range.
In detail Santiago is not unlike other cities, resembling in many features some European municipalities. Being the capital it has attracted to and includes in its population the rich landowners, the aristocratic classes, political elements, literary and cultured people and the exclusive society of the country. The homes of these well-to-do, traveled and cultured people are equal in appearance, appointment, furnishing, decoration and equipment to those occupied by similar classes in older countries. The social life of the rich and seclusive classes in Santiago is composed of a pleasure loving people, with an inherent love of display. They are musical by nature, with a keen appreciation of, and an aptness for acquiring quickly a little knowledge of music, and other accomplishments, conveying the impression that they are clever, if not brilliant. They lack, however, the industry and application that lead to thoroughness, and few of them develop great talent for any art or profession. Theirknowledge is more general than genuine, more superficial than special.
The life of the poor people in Santiago, the manner in which they live, their customs and habits, the misery and vice, the depravity, the disregard for law, and the low level of intelligence that prevails, form a sharp contrast to the picture presented in the homes of the rich.
Valparaiso, the principal commercial port in Chile, and the second city in population in the Republic, is picturesquely situated upon a poorly protected harbor on the Pacific. It is crescent in shape, describing a semi-circle around the bay. The business section occupies a margin of low lying ground along the water front, the residence portions extending back over a series of high, rugged hills. Viewed from the harbor it presents an attractive appearance. Along the “malecon” are the business houses, uniform in height, and presenting a straight stiff sky line, back of and beyond which rise rugged, terraced hills. Adobe houses, painted in various colors, red tile roofs, and patios green with verdure and brilliant with the bloom of flowers, are some of the features of the scene presented in a view of the hills forming the residence districts of Valparaiso. Conspicuous objects in the view are the church of El Espiritu Santo, a large, inartistic building topped with a huge, single, square tower, and situated in the center of the city, and the “Escuela Naval” (naval school), a fine architectural creation crowning one of the numerous hills that surround the bay.
Valparaiso is as cosmopolitan in architecture as it is in population. It possesses no architectural features that can be considered national in character; it has few public buildings worthy of the name, no system of parks or boulevards,—nothing to distinguish it, except a consistent mismanagement of municipal affairs. Being a great seaport, into which sail annually thousands of ships, representing nearly all the nations of earth, it has caught in the net of travel a cosmopolitan conglomeration, and includes in its population all kinds and conditions of people.
It is more European than Spanish in appearance, and the languages spoken are as varied and numerous as the nationalities of which its population is composed. The majority of the business is done by foreigners, the British, Germans, Americans, French and Italians taking the wholesale, importing and exporting trade, in the order named, while the small retail business is largely in the hands of Italians and Spaniards.
There are few places of amusement, especially for the poor people, and desirable, or intellectual public entertainments are infrequent. The municipal theater is a fine building with a capacity sufficient to accommodate several thousand people, but with the exception of two weeks of Italian opera during the winter it is little used.
The municipal government has done nothing in recent years to improve or beautify the city. There is practically no drainage, except for streets receiving the water from ravines coming down from the hills, and they are usually in a state of disorder that renders them useless. The streets are miserablypaved and proverbially filthy, and during the rainy season they are filled with sludge washed down from the hills.
Notwithstanding the great shipping interests represented, and the fact that Valparaiso is the chief commercial port in the country, the bay upon which it is built affords one of the most insecure harbors on the west coast of South America. There is absolutely no protection to ships and shipping interests against the strong winds and severe storms that prevail during the months of June, July and August. There is no breakwater in the bay, which faces to the north, the direction from which the storms and heavy seas come during the winter, and as a result great damage is done to vessels in port, and to cargo along the water front.
The majority of foreigners and many Chilenos engaged in business in Valparaiso find relief from the disagreeable features of life in the port by living in Viña del Mar, a beautiful residence suburb situated on the opposite side of the bay, six miles distant, and connected with the city by steam and electric railways.
Viña del Mar, which includes the stations of Mira Mar and Chorrillos, is the popular pleasure and seaside resort of Chile. It is attractively situated in a verdant valley, surrounded by rugged hills, has a fine bathing beach, a number of large hotels, many beautiful residences and cottages, and during the summer season, December to March, it is thronged with visitors from Santiago and other interior cities, who go annually to that favorite resort for thebaths and the social pleasures incident to a season at Viña. Among the attractive features of the resort are a fine race course, where are held two race meetings a year, polo, cricket, football, tennis, golf, etc.
Concepcion, the third city in size and commercial importance in the Republic, has a population of 60,000. It is a characteristic Spanish-American municipality, with some European features, Oriental and indolent in appearance, with long stretches of unattractive streets, flanked with houses painted in many colors.
Situated in the verdant valley of the Bio Bio, near its confluence with the bay of Arauco, it is surrounded by orchards ladened with fruits, and gardens brilliant with the bloom of beautiful flowers. Well tilled, irrigated haciendas, with stone walls and lines of graceful alamos defining their limits, cover the lovely plain, back of which rise tree-crowned hills, adding a picturesque feature to the scene. It is the commercial metropolis of a large section of productive country, and enjoys a business prosperity and trade activity surpassed only by Valparaiso. The ports of entry for Concepcion are Talcahuano and Coronel, a few miles distant and situated on the bay of Arauco.
Under the constitution of Chile, municipalities constituted a part of the general government, and until recent years were controlled by national authority.Article 127 of the Constitution, 1833, says:
“The governor is the chief of all the municipalities in his department, and president of that one in which his capital is established. The sub-delegate is president of the municipality in his sub-delegation.”
The Intendentes, or governors of provinces, with jurisdiction over the cities and towns in their respective territories, are appointed by the president, and they in turn appoint the sub-delegates. All public improvements and municipal works were formerly authorized by the government and paid for out of the general fund. The purpose of the framers of the constitution was apparently to keep the municipalities out of politics. The authority of the legislative branches of the municipal government, whose members are elected for three years, was limited and their duties perfunctory.
The politicians of Chile were not satisfied, however, with leaving the management of municipalities with the national government. City offices were attractive political plums, and the control of public works and improvements could be used to advantage in influencing election results, and a means was found for placing them in the hands of officials elected by popular vote.
The scheme for changing the plan of municipal government originated with Senator Irrazaval, who having traveled in Switzerland, thought to engraft the system employed there upon the laws of Chile. After his return from Europe he secured the passage of a measure by Congress which provided for the election of municipal officers by accumulativevote. Under this system one man can cast as many ballots for a single candidate as there are names on the ticket. If there are ten offices to fill, the voter may cast ten ballots for one candidate instead of voting once for each of the ten different aspirants to office. This gave politicians an opportunity to deal with the lower classes, to encourage unscrupulous men to engage in questionable political practices, and the working classes now dominate municipal politics. Having become a political factor in the cities and towns, they aspired to higher positions, and in recent years a number of representatives of organized labor have been elected to Congress. There is an encouraging sign, however, in the fact that a better class of people is beginning to manifest greater interest in political affairs. There is also a strong public sentiment in favor of abolishing the law providing for the accumulative vote in municipalities.
As a result of the present political system the management of municipalities in Chile is proverbially bad. As an illustration of this fact, there could be no better example offered than Valparaiso. The business portion occupying a narrow strip of land along the water front, the residence districts extending over and occupying the hills that rise abruptly all around, Valparaiso affords natural facilities for drainage which should render it an easy matter to establish and maintain an excellent sewerage system. Yet it is proverbially and notoriously filthy, and it is only the influence of a salubrious and healthful climate that prevents the population from being annually decimated by contagion and epidemics.
A most tragic example of municipal mismanagement was witnessed in Valparaiso in 1905, when the smallpox plague visited the port. Finding there in the filth of the streets, in the general lack of sanitary observance, in the crowded, foul, disease-breeding condition of the “conventillos” (apartment houses) and in homes of the poor, a prolific atmosphere for contagion, the plague spread so rapidly that the number of cases reached into the thousands, and the death rate was two hundred daily. When the municipal authorities found the city in the throes of a disastrous epidemic, and the public was demanding ways and means for combating and checking the plague, and caring for those stricken with the malady, the municipal government proved utterly impotent, absolutely incompetent to handle the situation. The result was a national tragedy in which thousands of lives were sacrificed. The municipal treasury which from various sources is annually augmented by two millions of pesos, was found empty, and to make a showing at combating the epidemic the national government was requested to provide means for establishing a vaccination service, hospitals, ambulance and medical corps. Speaking of the first appropriation by the central government for this purpose, amounting to ninety-two thousand pesos,La Union, one of the leading dailies of Valparaiso, under date of July 12, 1905, discussed the question in an article from which the following is an abstract and translation:
“Ninety-two thousand pesos in sand, mud and mire. This fact is in reality worthy of mention in history, because one who reads in foreign lands of the project of law passed by the President to Congress, to solicit the abovesum to clean drains and carry away sand, mud and mire from the streets of the first port of Chile, cannot but feel the horror and dread for the country whose principal port on the Pacific lies in a pestilential pool. Years go by, cruel and compassionless plagues and calamities afflict us, the government money is squandered upon frivolous matters which are far from curing the evils, and Valparaiso lies in her muddy bed, inhaling the breath of death evaporated from the infested and unhealthy drains and streets.”
“Ninety-two thousand pesos in sand, mud and mire. This fact is in reality worthy of mention in history, because one who reads in foreign lands of the project of law passed by the President to Congress, to solicit the abovesum to clean drains and carry away sand, mud and mire from the streets of the first port of Chile, cannot but feel the horror and dread for the country whose principal port on the Pacific lies in a pestilential pool. Years go by, cruel and compassionless plagues and calamities afflict us, the government money is squandered upon frivolous matters which are far from curing the evils, and Valparaiso lies in her muddy bed, inhaling the breath of death evaporated from the infested and unhealthy drains and streets.”
The following is an extract from and translation of an editorial that appeared inEl Mercurioof Valparaiso, July 8, 1905:
“The foreign press is beginning to occupy itself with the situation of Valparaiso, and take note of the sad state in which the first port of the Republic finds itself, and in which reigns a deplorable and filthy abandon that helps the devastating work of smallpox that is decimating its population. Valparaiso with its infested streets, sidewalks destroyed, pavements removed and full of holes, with the enormous piles of dirt and mud accumulated in residence districts; Valparaiso, where there is no municipal street sweeping nor watering, or even carrying away of dirt; with infested public buildings (like the prisons), without organization to resist an epidemic, must create the impression in the minds of people in foreign countries, who read of its deplorable condition, that it is not the city of 200,000 inhabitants, described in geography as possessing an advanced and cultivated population and situated in an agreeable climate; as not being the port of so much commercial and maritime movement, which, as a bitter irony has sometimes been called the ‘Jewel of the Pacific.’”
“The foreign press is beginning to occupy itself with the situation of Valparaiso, and take note of the sad state in which the first port of the Republic finds itself, and in which reigns a deplorable and filthy abandon that helps the devastating work of smallpox that is decimating its population. Valparaiso with its infested streets, sidewalks destroyed, pavements removed and full of holes, with the enormous piles of dirt and mud accumulated in residence districts; Valparaiso, where there is no municipal street sweeping nor watering, or even carrying away of dirt; with infested public buildings (like the prisons), without organization to resist an epidemic, must create the impression in the minds of people in foreign countries, who read of its deplorable condition, that it is not the city of 200,000 inhabitants, described in geography as possessing an advanced and cultivated population and situated in an agreeable climate; as not being the port of so much commercial and maritime movement, which, as a bitter irony has sometimes been called the ‘Jewel of the Pacific.’”
Translation fromLa Union, Valparaiso:
“Valparaiso is again unfortunately under the weight and opprobrium of the great calamity of every winter. Mud covers all the streets, traffic is interrupted, social life is suspended, and one touches on every side mud and filth. To this is added the calamity of administrative corruption, and life is little more than a fight of a few civilized elements against barbarism, which destroys everything, morally and maternally.”
“Valparaiso is again unfortunately under the weight and opprobrium of the great calamity of every winter. Mud covers all the streets, traffic is interrupted, social life is suspended, and one touches on every side mud and filth. To this is added the calamity of administrative corruption, and life is little more than a fight of a few civilized elements against barbarism, which destroys everything, morally and maternally.”
(The foregoing refers to Valparaiso before the earthquake in August, 1906, which destroyed the greater part of the business portion of the city, which has since been practically rebuilt, and the sanitary conditions somewhat improved.)
These and similar arraignments by the press of Chile of the management of municipalities, give a better idea of the existing conditions than any criticism that might be offered by a foreigner.