Nacionalizar el salitre: Debates iniciales sobre el control fiscal de la industria (Chile, 1880-1916)

This article analyzes the proposals intended to emphasize the need to strengthen the fiscal intervention in the saltpeter industry before the start of the First World War, in relation to the strategic nature of the activity to the national interests and the etymological sense given in the period of study to the concept of nationalization. Our proposal refers to a number of important initiatives, all of which clashed against the pressures of industrialists themselves, the null operational capacity of the State to promote a change and the limited theoretical and methodological support of such proposals. From this premise, we conclude that these conditions were as strong as, or stronger than, the apathy of the political class to modify an economic system which, by sponsoring the commercial freedom, enabled the State and the private sector to have significant income without making substantial investments.