The middle and upper classes pay much attention to education. In Santiago there are two universities, the larger the University of Chile, open also to women, and the Catholic University, each with various departments; a National Institute or high school, a School of Mines, a Normal School, a School of Arts and Trades. In La Serena and Copiapó at the north are other Mining Schools, and in cities at the south Schools of Agriculture; also Normal Schools. An Industrial College is to be opened in Valparaiso. All towns have elementary schools; in all State schools including universities education is free, and in primary grades from 1921 compulsory. There are various private schools, in Santiago a large and excellent one for boys (managed for years by American Methodists), where the sons of many prominent families have been educated, as in La Paz, Bolivia. PRESS, RELIGION, ETC. =Press.= The Press is free, influential, and of high character, the _Mercurio_ of Valparaiso and Santiago having a world wide reputation, and ranking with the best of any country. There are about 700 newspapers and journals. =Religion.= The Roman Catholic religion is recognized as that of the State, but freedom is permitted to others. The women generally are very devout, though as in the other countries the men of the governing classes are inclined to agnosticism. =Telegraph.= Chile possesses 30,000 miles of telegraph lines and 46,000 of telephone. There are 32 wireless stations at intervals from Arica down to Punta Arenas, with one on Juan Fernandez Island. =Money.= A gold peso (there are no such coins) may be regarded as worth 36 cents, but the paper money which is in general use fluctuates in value, a peso varying from 14 to 25 cents, usually 18-22. There are silver coins of 10, 20, 40 centavos, and copper of smaller value. The =Metric System= of weights and measures is obligatory, all others being excluded by law. CHAPTER XXIX CHILE: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS The country of Chile has an extraordinary shape, very long and narrow. Unlike the other Republics of the West Coast, Chile has no trans-Andine region, as the watershed of the Andes constitutes the eastern boundary line. Thus confined between the sea and the mountain tops, while the coast line of the country is nearly 2700 miles, as far as from Labrador to Guiana, the width is scanty, mostly varying from 100 to 225 miles, though at one point in the south the western boundary of Argentina is but 26 miles from the Pacific Ocean.