tudies and
examinations, which facilitates subsequent admission to the university
and the obtainment of degrees; probably they do better work than the
public schools, especially in the German settlements of the southern
provinces. A Consejo de Instruccion Publica (council of public
instruction) of 14 members exercises a general supervision over the
higher and secondary schools. There are schools of music and fine arts
in Santiago. The national library at Santiago, with 116,300 volumes in
1906, and the national observatory, are both efficiently administered.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were 41 public libraries in
the republic, including public school collections, with an aggregate
of 240,000 volumes.

_Charities._--According to the returns of 1903 there were 88 hospitals
in the republic, which reported 79,051 admissions during the year, and
had 6215 patients under treatment at its close; 628,536 patients
received gratuitous medical assistance at the public dispensaries
during the year; there were 24 foundling hospitals with 5570 children;
and there were 3092 persons in the various _hospicios_ or asylums, and
1478 in the imbecile asylums.

_Religion._--The Roman Catholic religion is declared by the
constitution to be the religion of the state, and the inaugural oath
of the president pledges him to protect it. A considerable part of its
income is derived from a subsidy included in the annual budget, which
makes it a charge upon the national treasury like any other public
service. The secular supervision of this service is entrusted to a
member of the president's cabinet, known as the minister of worship
and colonization. The executive and legislative powers intervene in
the appointments to the higher offices of the Church. The greater part
of the population remains loyal to the established faith. The law of
1865 gives the privilege of religious worship to other faiths, and the
laws of 1883 made civil marriage and the civil registry of births,
deaths and marriages obligatory, and secularized the cemeteries. Under
the reform of 1865 full religious freedom is practically accorded, and
it is provided that the services of religious organizations other than
the Roman Catholic may be held in private residences or in edifices
owned by private individuals or corporations. Of the 72,812 foreigners
residing in Chile in 1895, about 16,000 were desc