The total funded public debt, as shown by recent figures, amounts to $215,280,035, of which $173,644,000 is on account of external, and $41,640,035 internal, loans. The first public loan was for $5,000,000, raised in London in 1822. Others followed, and all were paid off. Then, from 1885 to the present time. Chile placed a series of loans, sometimes (as in 1889) on very favorable terms; and the acquisition of the nitrate fields, after the successful war with Peru and Bolivia (see above: History), placed a vast source of wealth at Chile's disposal, en abling her to meet all requirements of the government, including the large increase in ex penditures by the War and Navy departments; but this, unfortunately, did not prevent an excessive issue of paper. The annual expendi ture approximated $70,000,000 gold in 1917 ($7,460,000 for the Department of Interior; $1, 470,000 Foreign Affairs; $2,160,000 Justice; $6, 800,000 Navy; $7,400,000 War Department; $5,280,000 Public Works; $15,400,000 govern ment railways; $9,000,000 public debt service, etc.). The budget for 1918 is as follows: With the gold at 3654 cents American money and the silver peso at 23 cents, this amounts to a total of $61,880,780, almost $8,000,000 less than the budget for the preceding year. In February 1917 the Chilean Congress authorized a loan of 20,000,000 pesos, $7,600,000, for the extension of railway lines and the improvement of the condition of those now in existence. The profits of the fiscal year 1916-17 were ordered to be applied to certain railway con struction. Congress also appropriated 380,000 pesos ($130,870) to enlarge the Alameda sta tion; and 400,000 pesos for construction of the Lingue — Pichilemn line. The budget provides annually for the development of water and drainage-systems in the chief cities and for the construction of port works, which will represent an outlay,' when completed, of more than $26,000,000. The revenues and expenses of the country have increased in 20 years as follows: In 1894, income $25,945,000 and ex penses $20,739,000; in 1913, the last normal year before the war, the fiscal revenue amounted to $77,575,(300 and expenses amounted to $80, 800,000; the budget for 1914 attained the sum of $95,520,000; in 1915 the fiscal budget was re duced to $63,362,000, approximately.
Transportation and Longitudinal Railway, with a total length of 1,957 miles, extends from Iquique to Puerto Montt, through the :Longitudinal or Central Valley (see above: Topography) and with branches to the chief ports. Thus a double sys tem of intercommunication, by both land and water, is maintained. Besides this central line there are three transandine railways and -the independent lines of the nitrate fields—in all 4,521 miles. Other lines under construction increase the total to 5,684 miles (3,541 owned by the Chilean government and 2,143 miles pri vately owned). The Trans-Andean line, via Juncat, was completed in 1910. It connects Santiago, from Llai-Llai, with Mendoza, on the Argentine side of the Cordillera of the Andes. Another mountain-climbing line is the inter national railway from Antofagasta to Oruro and La' Paz in Bolivia, a distance of 719 miles. A railway built by the Chilean government with -the of Bolivia connects the port of Arica with La Paz. This road—a short line between the Bolivian plateau and the Pacific Coast, was opened to traffic in 1913.
Steamship routes are, at present, still those which were followed in colonial days, al though a single Japanese line crosses the Paci fic. Between Panama and Valparaiso, with calls at all the larger ports, and occasionally at the smaller ones also, English, Chilean, and other lines maintain regular service at highly remunerative rates; and by the southern route through the Straits of Magellan come and go vessels of all maritime nations. Coastwise shipping gives employment to many Chileans. In the aggregate, the shipping of Chilean ports exceeds—and to populations very greatly exceeds—that of other Latin American countries. There are, moreover, 21,000 miles of public road, 528 miles of navigable rivers and 660 miles of navigable lakes. The length of telephone line in operation is 44,000 miles, with 55,000 miles of wire. There are 17,497 sub scribers. A chain of wireless telegraph sta tions was nearing completion in 1917. These are located at Arica, Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Valparaiso, Talcahuano, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, and one on the Juan Fernandez Islands.
The telegraph service is chiefly performed by the State, which owns about 18,000 miles, with 367 offices out of the total of 22,500 miles. In the interest of public education, the govern ment has made a practice of circulating news papers, reviews and other periodical publications free of postal charges. The number of post offices is given as 1,114, handling over 65,000, 000 pieces of mail matter annually.
Army and males born in Chile, whether of native or foreign parentage, are, under the law of 1910, subject to compulsory service from the ages of, 18 to 45; and the nominal strength of the permanent army is 23,216, of which number 17,132 are in the land forces. A system of military instruction and drill is enforced which 'practically renders a much larger number available in an emergency; the National Guard comprising all other men between the ages of 20 and 45. Plans for the army include three regiments of field artillery, two of mountain artillery, one section of ma chine guns, four' companies, of sappers and miners, six regiments of cavalry, 16 of infantry, and one battalion of railway troops, besides the administrative units. The war strength of the first line is estimated at 150,000 men. The ar tillery units are armed with Krupp guns (7 and 7.2 centimetre) • the infantry with 7 milli metre Mausers. The police (about 506 officers, 1,000 non-commissioned officers and 6,000 men, organized on military basis) are in charge of Santiago, the provincial and departmental capi tals, etc. Establishments for military instruc tion are the Military Academy and school, cavalry schoo.1, artillery school, school for non-commissioned officers, and staff college, where higher studies can be pursued. The Chilean navy includes nearly 50 vessels of various classes: the armor-clads Capitan Prat, O'Higgins and Esmeralda; 4 protected or armored cruisers, 3 torpedo gunboats, 13 destroyers, 6 modern torpedo boats, I mine ship and 1 hospital ship: Two Chilean dread noughts being built in•England were purchased for the British navy; and two submarines were taken over by Canada. There is a naval academy at Talcahuano and a government naval school at Valparaiso.