[Inclosure 1 in No. 151.]
Translation of parts of the President’s message
referring to commerce and finance.
* * * * * * *
The ordinary consequences of war have been hut little felt in Chili.
During its progress there has been a notable improvement in trade,
partly owing to the favorable crops of the last two years and to the
rise in the price of copper and nitrate, and partly to the effects of
the economies introduced into the country during the commercial crisis
of the former years.
Money is now more abundant than it was before the war; discount has
fallen; there is a greater ease in business transactions, and property
has risen in value.
During the past year the imports amounted to the value of $22,740,000 and
the exports to $36,620,226, giving a balance of $13,880,226 in favor of
the latter.
Compared with the preceding year we see an increase of $6,892,401 in
favor of exportation, while the importation diminished by
$2,582,011.
The value of agricultural produce exported last year amounted to
$12,811,570; exceeding the previous year $4,138,009. Minerals were
exported to the value of $20,280,258, which sum exceeds by $2,754,392
the exportation during 1878. The minerals exported from the port of
Antofagasta are not included in this, as the statements have not yet
come in.
The ordinary and extraordinary receipt during the year 1879 amounted to
$27,693,087.74, and the expenditure to $24,777,360.12. But in the latter
amount many sums spent by our legation in Europe are not included.
Large sums have been received from the sale of nitrate or from duties
levied upon that article.
The guano deposits are now being worked and will ere long, be
developed.
The expenses of the war have hitherto been paid by the sums voted on
several occasions, by the increase of the ordinary sources of income,
caused by the increasing riches of the country, and by the income now
derived from the territory occupied by our troops.
