A most tragic example of municipal mismanagement was witnessed in Valparaiso in 1905, when the smallpox plague visited the port. Finding there in the filth of the streets, in the general lack of sanitary observance, in the crowded, foul, disease-breeding condition of the “conventillos” (apartment houses) and in homes of the poor, a prolific atmosphere for contagion, the plague spread so rapidly that the number of cases reached into the thousands, and the death rate was two hundred daily. When the municipal authorities found the city in the throes of a disastrous epidemic, and the public was demanding ways and means for combating and checking the plague, and caring for those stricken with the malady, the municipal government proved utterly impotent, absolutely incompetent to handle the situation. The result was a national tragedy in which thousands of lives were sacrificed. The municipal treasury which from various sources is annually augmented by two millions of pesos, was found empty, and to make a showing at combating the epidemic the national government was requested to provide means for establishing a vaccination service, hospitals, ambulance and medical corps. Speaking of the first appropriation by the central government for this purpose, amounting to ninety-two thousand pesos, _La Union_, one of the leading dailies of Valparaiso, under date of July 12, 1905, discussed the question in an article from which the following is an abstract and translation: “Ninety-two thousand pesos in sand, mud and mire. This fact is in reality worthy of mention in history, because one who reads in foreign lands of the project of law passed by the President to Congress, to solicit the above sum to clean drains and carry away sand, mud and mire from the streets of the first port of Chile, cannot but feel the horror and dread for the country whose principal port on the Pacific lies in a pestilential pool. Years go by, cruel and compassionless plagues and calamities afflict us, the government money is squandered upon frivolous matters which are far from curing the evils, and Valparaiso lies in her muddy bed, inhaling the breath of death evaporated from the infested and unhealthy drains and streets.” The following is an extract from and translation of an editorial that appeared in _El Mercurio_ of Valparaiso, July 8, 1905: