p. 15 | A Visit to Chile by N. Z. Town

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 19, 1910

A Visit to Chile

By N. Z. Town

On the morning of March 20 J. W. Westphal, A. N. Allen, and the writer left Buenos Aires en route for Chile, via the Andes. After an uneventful journey of forty hours we arrived safely at Santiago, Chile. The ride by coach over the summit was only about two hours, and the drivers were much more careful than when I made the trip two years ago.

After a stop of two days at the hospitable home of Brother Ed. W. Thomann, we went south, a ride of twenty hours on the train, to a small town where the annual conference was to be held. On reaching our destination we found that thoughtful friends had anticipated our coming; and we were taken to a snug corner curtained off in a comfortable room, where two good beds and other conveniences awaited us.

We were glad to meet here Brother and Sister F. H. Westphal, with whom we were associated for several years in the work in Argentina. They are growing gray in the work, but their hearts are as young and warm in the message as ever.

To one who has been accustomed so long to the Argentine plains, this visit to southern Chile was a pleasant change. Here we see woods on every side, and even the streets of the town where the meeting was held, wind in and out among the stumps. Sister Westphal showed us the skin of a tiger that a peon killed near their house not long ago. The buildings are all of wood, as are also most of the sidewalks.

The president's report showed that the Lord has richly blessed the cause in Chile during the past year. There has been an encouraging increase in the membership, and the tithe received showed a gain of more than four hundred dollars gold over the previous year. The Pua school also had a good year.

The tract society has had a hard pull during the last two years. To encourage the canvassers, the brethren had put very low prices on their books, resulting in financial ruin to the tract society. At this meeting a new schedule of prices was made, which resulted in raising the prices, on an average, about forty per cent. The canvassers were present to help arrange these prices, and voted them with good cheer. We believe this change will prove a blessing both for the canvassers and the office. During the last few years other commodities have gone up in Chile, in some cases more than one hundred per cent; and the brethren believed the time had come to put the prices on our books where the office can live.

Before the meeting closed, Brother Allen and I had to leave in order to catch our boat for Valparaiso for the north. April 4 we embarked, he for Mollendo, Peru, and I for Antofagasta, Chile, whence the train goes to La Paz, Bolivia, arriving here April 7. Those who have been absent from home six or eight months can perhaps imagine how I felt when I learned I must wait here in the hotel four and one-half days for the next train.

This town is the outlet of one of the mining districts of northern Chile, and is as barren, dirty, and desolate a place as one would wish to see. The people are largely English, who are in business here or connected with the railway and mines. This evening my train leaves, and I am glad to get away.

Some one has called Chile the “shoe-string republic,” and one does become impressed with its length when traveling in this country. The average width is about the same as from Philadelphia to New York; while its length would extend from the Atlantic coast to beyond Salt Lake City, Utah. In time our work will probably be divided into three parts, — a conference in the south, another in the center, with a mission field in the north. The outlook for the work in Chile is encouraging. N. Z. TOWN.