CHILE

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ing  and  boilings  from  foreign  matter,  then
bagged  and  shipped.  A  more  desolate  spot
than  a  nitrate  “officina,”  as  these  reduction
plants  are  called,  would  be  hard  to  imagine.
No  trees  or  vegetation  are  to  be  seen  and  even
water  has  to  be  carried  for  miles  in  cars  for
operating  the  machinery  and  for  other  uses.
Authorities  differ  as  to  the  extent  of  the  deposits, ­
  some  alleging  they  will  be  worked  out
in  20  years,  while  others  claim  there  is  sufficient ­
  supply  available  for  200  years.  Nitrate
is  used  extensively  in  the  arts,  for  manufacturing ­
  gunpowder  and  explosives  and  for  a  fertilizer ­
  in  agriculture.
Copper  is  found  in  great  profusion,  $7,947,-307
  worth  being  exported  last  year.  One  of
the  largest  copper  mines  is  owned  by  the
Braden  Copper  Company,  an  American  concern. ­
  In  1913  its  average  daily  production
was  30  tons  of  bar  copper.  Machinery  is  being ­
  installed  which  is  intended  to  double  this
output.  Chile  at  one  time  contributed  onethird
  of  the  world’s  supply  of  this  metal  and
mineralogists  state  that  there  are  yet  great  bod ­