tween Sr. Arturo Alessandri, the candidate of the so-called
Liberal Alliance, comprising the Radical and Democratic parties
and a portion of the Liberals, and Sr. Luis Barros-Borgono,
the candidate of the so-called National Union, made up partly
of Liberals and largely of Conservatives. Sr. Alessandri was
distinctly the exponent of the labour and middle classes. Sr.
Barros-Borgono belonged, as had virtually all former presidents
of Chile, to the dominant political aristocracy, comprising the
long-established families closely affiliated with the landowners
and the clergy. The election was held June 25 and the
announced electoral vote was 179 for Sr. Alessandri, and 175
for Sr. Barros-Borgono. Under the constitution of Chile, as in
the case of the United States, the electoral vote for president
is to be canvassed by both Houses of Congress sitting jointly,
and in case no candidate receives an absolute majority the
power of election rests with Congress. Now with the electoral vote
so close and the validity of various electoral votes questioned,
a situation arose almost identical with that which occurred in
the United States in the famous Hayes-Tilden contest in 1877.
The Senate was openly in favour of the candidacy of Sr.
Barros-Borgono, and public opinion, which had been raised to
the highest pitch, demanded that the counting of the electoral
vote should be delayed until the matter could be passed upon by
a special court of honour, a proposal put forth by Sr. Suarez-
Mujica, a former minister of Chile to the United States.
Here again was a reproduction of the extra-legal election com-
mission in the settlement of the Hayes-Tilden dispute. This
court of honour, after a strenuous period of activity, finally
decided on Oct. 4 in favour of Sr. Alessandri by a vote
of five to two, as having received a majority of one electoral
vote, 177 valid votes against 176. Congress accepted this finding
two days later and declared Sr. Alessandri elected. For a
brief period popular excitement ran at fever heat and a general
strike was even instituted. The election was remarkable, alike
in the manner of its final settlement and in the character of the
man elected to the chief magistracy. It was remarkable also,
because of the general participation of the labour and middle-
class elements and a relatively greater freedom from the practice
of buying votes than had ever been experienced before. It
was looked upon, therefore, as a distinct triumph of democratic
principles.
One further development at the close of this period is worthy of mention, namely, the relation of Chile to the League o Nations. Chile, not being a belligerent, in the World War and having adhered to her policy of neutrality, was of course not represented at the peace table. Nor was she, for the same reason, among the original members of the League. She was, however, among those specifically invited by the Covenant to accede thereto, and in his message of June 1919 President Sanfuentes approved the League. This suggestion prevailed, and Chile joined the membership of the League Nov. 4 1919. She was represented at the first meeting of the assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva Nov. 15 1920 by a delegation headed by Sr. Antonio Huneus, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was honoured with the chairmanship of the commission on the admission of new states.
Population. In the period between the census of 1895 and that of 1907 (the last official census), the pop. of Chile had increased from 2,712,145 to 3,249,279 showing an annual in- crease of 1-52%. The estimated pop. on Jan. i 1918 was 4,038,050. The greatest absolute increase was shown by the province of Santiago in which is located the capital. An increase of more than 100,000 inhabitants was recorded for that province in the interval between the last two censuses. Other provinces that showed a large actual increase were Anto- fagasta, Valparaiso, Concepcion, and Valdivia, while the prov- ince of Maule showed a decrease. The provinces of Atacama and Talca showed an estimated decrease in the to-year period from 1907 to 1917. The great bulk of the population was still comprised within the 12 provinces in the Vale of Chile from Coquimbo to Concepci6n inclusive, although Antofagasta, Valdivia, and Llanquihue showed a larger actual increase than
did any of these 12 favoured provinces except Valparaiso and Santiago and a much larger proportionate increase than any of them. The territory of Magallanes showed an increase of more than 300% between 1895 and 1907 and a further estimated in- crease of nearly 100% in the succeeding decade. The percentage of urban pop. rose from 38-6% in 1895 to 43-3% in 1907 and as the estimated population for the 47 largest towns in 1918 showed a greater percentage of increase than for the country as a whole, the process of urbanization apparently continued. According to the census of 1907 there were 134,524 foreigners in the country, representing 4% of the population. The chief nationalities represented were Peruvians, Bolivians, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, English, French and Argentinians in the order named. In the lo-year period 1907-17 there was a decline in the marriage-rate and in the birth-rate, but an even greater decline in the death-rate, so that the excess of births over deaths continued. The total excess of births over deaths in this period amounted to more than 350,000.
Provinces Tacna . Tarapaca Antofagasta Atacama Coquimbo Aconcagua Valparaiso Santiago O'Higgins Colchagua Curico Talca Maule l.indres Ruble Concepcion Arauco Bio-Bio Malleco Cautin Valdivia Llanquihue Chiloe Magallanes (Ter.)
Capitals Tacna . Iquique Antofagasta Copiapo Serena . San Felipe . Valparaiso . Santiago Kancagua . San Fernando Curico . Talca . Cauquencs . Linares Chilian Concepcion . Lebu
Los Angeles Angol . Temuco Valdivia Puerto Montt Ancud . Punta Arenas
Communications. By the end of the year 1918 there were in all 8,512 km. of railway in Chile of which the Government controlled 4,567 km. and private lines the other 3,945 km. The private lines were almost altogether in the three provinces of Tarapaca, Anto- fagasta and Atacama, in the two former of which (containing 97% of the total mileage of private railways) there were no Government- owned lines at all. Every one of the provinces had some railway mileage within it, varying from 9 km. in the territory of Magal- lanes to 1 ,840 in Antofagasta. One effect of the World War was virtually to suspend construction of all kinds of railways. In the six years 190914 the Government lines showed a loss of from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 pesos (i peso nominally is. 6d.) each year; during 1915-7 they made profits of 4,738,423, 3,687,340, and 1,061,502 pesos respectively; but in 1918 they lost 9,124,365. Dur- ing the 10 years 1909-18 the private railways showed profits from 9,000,000 to 20,000,000 pesos a year. As no explanation of
Pop.
Pop. Est.
Census 1907
Jan. I 1918
28,748
39,357
110,936
134,935
113,323
220,049
63,968
63,950
175.021
191,117
128,486
131,750
281,385
347,757
5i5,78o
627,491
93-429
125,847
159,030
163,407
107,095
"5,563
131-957
131,071
110,316
110,368
109,363
127,818
166,245
198,908
216,094
271,497
61,538
74,974
97,968
106,510
109,775
136,153
139,553
164,463
118,277
187,202
105,043
150,621
88,619
99,044
17-330
32,623
Pop.
Pop. Est.
Census 1907
Jan. i 1918
9,176
12,073
40,171
46,941
32,496
64-584
10,287
11,147
15,996
16,170
10,426
10,426
162,447
212,659
332,724
415,641
10,380
16,633
9,241
1 1 ,067
17,573
23.071
38,040
42,563
9,683
10,717
11,122
15.722
34,269
39,691
55,330
72,785
2,687
2,687
11,691
16,254
7,391
10,537
16,037
21,635
15,229
26,091
5-408
7.807
12,199
22,964
