One unfortunate condition in Chile is the unusually high death rate. This has been placed as high as seventy per thousand, but this rate would only be in exceptional instances. It is a fact, however, that the cities of Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepción will frequently show a mortality rate of fifty to the thousand of population. The average for the whole republic is about thirty-five per thousand, which is nearly double the death rate for countries in the temperate zone. As Chile is not in the torrid zone, it is not subject to epidemics of yellow fever or other tropical scourges. Foreigners who live there find the climate, especially in the central part, not only delightful, but healthful, and very old people are quite common. The reason for this condition of affairs is the indifference to personal comforts and sanitation of the roto. This leads to a frightful mortality among the children. Occasionally there are severe epidemics of smallpox, and the measles has caused great ravages among children. Statistics show that in some years, even with the large birth rate among the lower classes, the births exceed the deaths by only a few thousands. It is a condition that demands action by the state, for the government is paternal in its character, and is depended on by the people to look after these things. The sturdiness of the roto may be due to the law of the survival of the fittest, for only those who possess a sound constitution reach manhood. One who can survive the lack of comforts and harsh conditions of life to which he is subjected, and reach manhood, is at least robust if not cultured or refined. There is, indeed, much room for improvement in the sanitary conditions of the cities in the sections occupied by the poor, and some measures have been taken in recent years. For the nation it would be a good economic policy, as the decrease in the death rate would aid in giving the population so much needed for the development of the country.