File No. 180/2–3.
The relations with Peru have, according to the message, reached a
satisfactory point of improvement. Several new conventions with Bolivia
settling ambiguous and disputed points of the treaty of 1904 will soon
be presented to the Senate. Two treaties have been made with Argentine
Republic regarding the exchange of official publications and the
suppressing of counterfeiting of the national currencies.
In accordance with the recommendation of the Pan-American Conference the
government has appointed a commission to study the various conventions
entered into by the delegates of the congress, with a view of
recommending them for passage to the legislative bodies of Chile.
The invitation to participate in The Hague Peace Conference has been
accepted, and Chile will be represented by delegates.
The visit of Mr. Root to Chile is adverted to in a few words of
cordiality and courtesy.
Speaking of the great earthquake of last August, the President states
that $10,200,000 has been expended by the Government to meet the needs
growing directly out of the catastrophe. Of the $2,741,000.80 donated by
foreign governments, $2,000,000 was divided among the cities and
villages damaged by the quake, $300,000 was used to found an orphan
asylum, and the rest was distributed by public-spirited women of
Valparaiso and Santiago among the impoverished population of these
cities.
The income which the nation derived from its revenues amounted in 1906 to
$161,069,725. In arriving at an estimate of the total assets of the
nation the President adds the $20,000,000 of paper money issued last May
as an item of national wealth. In this manner he finds a total of
$183,535,392 with which to meet an expenditure of $169,951,601. The
result thus shown is a surplus of $13,583,790. But if the $20,000,000
government notes, which the Government must according to law stand ready
to redeem in specie in 1910, are not placed among the items of national
income, then the country in 1906 faced a deficit of $6,416,210.
The budget for 1907–8 will provide for the expenditure of $188,000,000.
In addition to this a loan of $32,000,000 will be sought for public
works. The list of expenditure shows an increase of about $20,000,000
over the previous year. The revenues of the State are computed as
exactly balancing expenditures.
The total foreign commerce of Chile increased $51,856,000 over the
previous year, the figure for 1906 being $525,554,513. These amounts are
given in the Chilean gold peso, whose value is fixed by law at 18 pence.
While the total value of the exports ($289,513,522) is $53,472,531
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in excess of the imports
($236,040,991), if the single item of nitrate and its by-products, which
constitutes 75 per cent of the value of Chile’s shipments abroad is
omitted, the “balance of trade” is overwhelming against the country.
Twelve and one-half per cent of the exports is copper and borax.
With an increase over 1905 of $12,643,757 in the customs revenues, the
President suggests, in view of the great increase in the cost of living
and of national production, that the duties in the cases of articles of
necessity be reduced.
Though the funds deposited by Chile in Germany and the United States for
the redemption of the $120,000,000 of outstanding government notes have
reached the enormous sum of $77,282,257 (pesos of 18d.), President Montt
recognizes that something more than the existence of this sum is needed
in order to keep the paper at par or near that point. It is not only the
ability of the Government to pay, but it is its readiness to act upon
the promise to pay it made in the various laws on the subject which is
particularly emphasized by Mr. Montt. This part of the message was
undoubtedly suggested by the general lack of confidence in the
Government’s declarations as to the resumption of specie payments.
In addition to the points which have been touched upon above, the message
devotes considerable space to the enumeration of plans for the
improvement of the ports, the advancement of education, and the building
of railways.
The rest of the message deals with questions of purely internal and
domestic interest.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Message of the President of Chile, June 1,
1907.
Fellow citizens of the Senate and the House of
Deputies: It gives me pleasure to preside for the first
time over this solemn ceremony, which has been repeated among us for
seventy-six years and which is a witness to the stability of the
constitutional regime on our soil.
The Republic is at peace with all nations.
The reestablishment of the diplomatic relations between Chile and
Peru places us in a position to settle the territorial question in
accordance with existing conventions and in harmony with the
aspirations of the two people, thus assuring the solidarity of
relations of neighboring countries that are bound together by
interests of every kind.
Although the treaty of peace of 1904 terminated satisfactorily, the
transitory differences between Chile and Bolivia, the complicated
nature of certain stipulations incorporated in said treaty, has
given rise to negotiations between the two Governments.
Conventions which have been subscribed recently, and which I will
submit to you for your approval, have settled the greater part of
the points of negotiation in a sincere and friendly spirit which is
in keeping with the interests of both countries.
With the settlement of the boundary controversy with Argentine
Republic and the removal of the causes of friction which had their
origin in this long litigation, both Republics have labored to
strengthen the ties that bind them together. In February of the
present year two conventions were entered into with the Argentine
Government. The first encourages the exchange of official and
literary publications. The second takes severe measures to repress
in the territory of the one the counterfeiting of the money or the
bonds of the other. Both Governments are at the same time studying
the best manner to give the proper aid to the commerce between the
two countries.
Our country took part in the Third International American Conference
which met in Rio de Janeiro during the past year. According to a
resolution adopted in said assembly, Chile has appointed a
commission charged with the study of
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the conventions passed in the former
conferences, which will report on the advisability of submitting to
you for your approval all or any of the agreements referred to.
I have accepted the invitation sent us by the Government of Holland
to attend the Second International Peace Conference, which is to be
held at The Hague in the course of the present month of June. Steps
have been taken in order that those designated to represent us in
said assembly may be furnished in a fitting manner with the
instructions necessary in the discharge of their duties.
The diplomatic service of our country remains incomplete on account
of the failure of the honorable senate to approve the various
nominations submitted during the last extraordinary period of your
sessions.
In the firm belief that a cordiality of relations with all States,
strengthened by the tie of economic interests, is one of the best
means of assuring the Republic domestic prosperity and prestige
abroad, it will be the constant endeavor of my Government to build
its international policy on this foundation.
The United States, through its special representative, Mr. Root, has
again made the offer to us of friendship and progress, which have
been cordially reciprocated by us.
I fulfill a duty in again expressing on this solemn occasion the
sincere gratitude of the Government and people of Chile to the
peoples and governments which, upon learning of the injury inflicted
on us by the catastrophe of August, 1906, manifested concretely and
generously their feelings of fraternal friendship and sympathy.
The Government is engaged in carrying out plans for a general census
of the Republic, and is studying with lively interest the manner of
doing this with the greatest exactitude. To this end a commission of
experts has been named to cooperate in the carrying out of this
important work.
The present administration began in the midst of the anxieties and
difficulties produced by the earthquake of the 16th of August of
last year, the effects of which we are yet feeling, and which will
weigh upon the country for a long time to come.
The Government strove to alleviate as far as it was able the injuries
suffered by individuals, and was aided efficiently in this work by a
group of friendly nations and by the foreign colonies, which
competed in zeal and in readiness to make sacrifices with our
compatriots.
In August, 1906, Congress voted the sum of $4,000,000 to aid those
who have suffered loss, and later on $850,000 for public employees;
$3,350,000 was also appropriated to pay for the requisition of
provisions and other things for private consumption made by the
public authorities during the days which immediately followed the
catastrophe.
The sum of $2,000,000 also was granted for the reinstalling of the
public service in those buildings which have been damaged by the
earthquake outside of Valparaiso.
Foreign nations contributed to the relief of the earthquake sufferers
the sum of $2,741,000.80. Of this amount $2,000,000 was distributed
in the cities mentioned by the decree No. 6354 of the 13th of last
December, $300,000 was set aside for an asylum for widows and
orphans in Valparaiso, and the rest was distributed to the public by
a group of women of this capital and of Valparaiso.
In the near future a report will be published containing the details
and documents which relate to the expenditure of all the funds which
have been enumerated.
Mention should be made of the generosity of the English colony, which
came together and distributed conscientiously and discreetly more
than a million pesos among the earthquake sufferers of
Valparaiso.
In the course of the year cases of bubonic plague have appeared in
the north and many cases of smallpox in the south. As this peril is
continually renewed, it is necessary for the Government to be
prepared to take rapid and efficient steps from the moment in which
any epidemic has begun.
The section of hygiene and charity established recently in the
ministry of the interior is charged with the service in aid of the
action of the Government.
The advantages of immigration can not be overlooked in a country like
ours, which has a population inadequate for its present and future
needs.
The invitation to the foreigner to aid in our prosperity does not
imply the ignorance of the aptitude of our people. On the contrary,
we seek in the foreigner not a competitor, but an assistant to our
workmen, who, without diminution of forces and without compromising
their lives, can not carry out properly
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and by themselves the great and urgent works
to which our vitality calls us. Our territory, because of its extent
and wealth, requires a population very much superior to that which
we at present possess.
But immigration should be encouraged according to carefully
thought-out and prescribed conditions. Immigration ceases to be a
good institution if it is not selective and if it is not restricted
within certain limits recommended to us by the example of other
countries. The Government should avoid the introduction of vicious
elements into an organism which is yet free from strikes and
enemiesof order. In this manner immigration will not become a germ
or a suggestion of ideas contrary to the social order, but a factor
immediately active on the production of prosperity and wealth.
In spite of the small amount of the propaganda we have made abroad,
immigration is coming to us in a very increasing rate. In fact, the
immigrants, which in 1905 were not more than 293, increased to 1,221
in 1906, and it is encouraging to notice that in the first five
months of the current year this immigration has exceeded 4,000
foreigners.
In order that these technical schools give good results, they should
be installed in special buildings and be given over to teachers who
may be contracted in a foreign country if they can not be found
here.
In the higher branches of education the necessity of giving the
engineering school a special building is felt. Owing to the
development which experimental instruction is acquiring daily, the
said school does not find enough room within the walls of the
university building. The Government will begin in the current year
the construction of the new building as soon as the plans for it are
finished.
The board of public instruction, which, with laudable zeal,
superintends the secondary and higher branches of instruction, is
proceeding energetically with the improvement of national education
and of pedagogical administration. On their suggestion several
important measures have been taken to regularize said administration
and others have been suggested which provide for a modification in
the plans of study and the system of examinations.
Facilities have been given to the instruction directed by private
initiative. The normal schools in charge of private institutions can
give official titles to their graduates providing they pass the
regular examination which the State exacts of the students of the
public normal schools.
Measures have been taken to assure a correct and economical
expenditure of the funds devoted to the payment of the rental of
houses for schools, to the acquisition of the materials and supplies
for schools, and, in one word, for the good administration of a
service which, as that of education, is of special interest to the
Government.
The incomes of the nation during the last year went up to
$161,089,725, an amount which, with the $2,445,660 left over at the
end of 1905 and the $20,000,000 of the government paper money issue
authorized by the law of the 23d of May, 1906, gives a total of
$183,535,392.
The total of expenditure reached $169,951,601, leaving a balance in
favor of this year of $13,583,790.
The considerable increase of the ordinary revenues, which exceeded
the calculated returns by more than seven millions, the
noninvestment of considerable sums authorized by the budget or by
special laws, and the fact that more than 5,000,000 pesos have been
drawn and paid only this year for requisitions and other expenses
growing out of the earthquake of August, are the causes that have
produced this favorable balance.
The public revenues of this year, taking as a basis the returns of
the first quarter, are estimated at 177,000,000 pesos, and with this
sum and the balance from last year it is calculated that the
ordinary expenditures and those authorized by special laws will be
met and that then there will remain for 1908 a balance of 6,000,000
pesos. All public works are being pushed forward with energy, and a
reduction of unnecessary expenses has been made.
The navy has not received any additions in this last period, and
counts on the present date, with 11 ships in service, 5 disarmed,
and the transports, bridges, and survey steamers necessary for the
service.
The national merchant marine has been increased by 34 ships, with a
tonnage of more than 30,000 tons. At present it is composed of 85
steamers and 90 sailing ships, with more than 110,000 registered
tonnage.
Permission has been granted to establish three private floating
clocks, two in Talcahuano and one in Mejillones.
Pedro Montt.
Santiago, June 1,
1907.
