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diff --git a/41104-0.txt b/41104-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95cd24c --- /dev/null +++ b/41104-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8107 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41104 *** + + THE AMAZING ARGENTINE + + JOHN FOSTER FRASER + + [Illustration] + + + + + THE AMAZING ARGENTINE + + [Illustration: THE MAYO AVENUE, BUENOS AIRES.] + + + + + THE AMAZING + ARGENTINE + + A NEW LAND OF ENTERPRISE + + BY + JOHN FOSTER FRASER + + WITH FORTY-EIGHT PLATES + FROM PHOTOGRAPHS + + NEW YORK + FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + 1. THE INVADERS 1 + + 2. SOME ASPECTS OF BUENOS AIRES 21 + + 3. ROUND AND ABOUT THE CAPITAL 31 + + 4. RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT IN THE REPUBLIC 43 + + 5. SETTLEMENT ON THE LAND 52 + + 6. ARGENTINA'S PART IN FEEDING THE WORLD 63 + + 7. THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT 72 + + 8. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COUNTRY 89 + + 9. "CABBAGES AND KINGS" 101 + + 10. LIVE STOCK IN THE REPUBLIC 116 + + 11. THE STORY OF THE RAILWAYS 134 + + 12. ROSARIO 154 + + 13. CORDOBA AND ITS ATTRACTIONS 158 + + 14. BAHIA BLANCA AND THE COUNTRY BEYOND 176 + + 15. THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE 186 + + 16. MENDOZA 199 + + 17. A TRIP INTO THE ANDES 212 + + 18. THE CAMP 223 + + 19. A MIXED GRILL 235 + + 20. TUCUMAN AND THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 248 + + 21. THE INDUSTRIAL SIDE OF THE REPUBLIC 257 + + 22. THE NORTH-EAST COUNTRY 265 + + 23. PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS 270 + + INDEX 281 + + +LIST OF PLATES + + The Mayo Avenue, Buenos Aires _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + + Plaza Del Congreso, Buenos Aires 20 + + The Plaza Hotel, Buenos Aires 22 + + The Tigre, Buenos Aires Rowing Club 26 + + Lola Mora Fountain, Buenos Aires 32 + + La Recoleta 36 + + The Government Building, La Plata 38 + + The Southern Station at La Plata 40 + + In the Great Square at La Plata 40 + + Statue presented to Argentina by the French Community on + the occasion of the Centenary of Independence 42 + + Central Argentine Railway Company's Grain Elevators at + Buenos Aires 46 + + Latest Type of Passenger Locomotive 50 + + Latest Type of Dining Car 50 + + View of Grazing Lands 54 + + A Drinking Place on an _Estancia_ 54 + + Branding Calves on an _Estancia_ 60 + + A Group of Gauchos 64 + + The Chamber of Deputies 74 + + The Kindergarten at Mendoza 78 + + Ox-Carts in the Argentine 90 + + A Typical Argentine Public Park 100 + + A Regatta near Buenos Aires 110 + + A Fine Argentine Bridge 114 + + Breaking-in Horses in the Argentine 120 + + Interior of Dining Car, Central Argentine Railway 134 + + The Statue of Christ on the Argentina-Chili Frontier 148 + + Plaza Constitution Station at Buenos Aires 150 + + The Rosario Express, Central Argentine Railway 156 + + On the Way to Market in Cordoba 162 + + The Ninth Green at Alta Gracia 166 + + In the Courtyard of the Monastery at Alta Gracia 166 + + The Hotel at Alta Gracia 170 + + A Typical House in Cordoba Province 174 + + A Street in Bahia Blanca 176 + + The Elevators at Ingeniero White 180 + + Plaza Riverdavia, Bahia Blanca 182 + + A Bahia Blanca Bank 184 + + The Town Hall at Bahia Blanca 184 + + Conveying Alfalfa to a Railway Station 194 + + The Entrance to the Park at Mendoza 200 + + The Promenade in Mendoza Park 202 + + The Grape Harvest in the Suburbs of Mendoza 204 + + In a Mendoza Bodega 208 + + "Chico" in Charge 212 + + A Corner of the English Club at Mendoza 212 + + The Hotel at Inca 218 + + The Inca Bridge in the Andes 220 + + General View of an _Estancia_ 224 + + A Gaucho and his Family 226 + + La Rambla, Mar Del Plata 234 + + The Esplanade, Mar Del Plata 238 + + A Historic Building: "Casa Independencia," at Tucuman 250 + + The Statue of San Martin at Tucuman 256 + + The Longest Girder Bridge in the Republic, near Santa Fé 266 + + + + +THE AMAZING ARGENTINE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE INVADERS + + +It was on a boat which was laden with bananas and running from Colon, on +the Isthmus of Panama, to New York. + +The steward called me at dawn. He thought I was mad because I stood in +pyjamas without apparent heed of the mirky drizzle. Beyond the sad +waters there was little to see but a low-lying and dreary island with a +melancholy lighthouse. No vegetation brightened the scene. There was no +gorgeous sunrise. There was nothing but a lump of barrenness heaving out +of the sea. But this was the island of San Salvador, the western land +which Columbus first touched when he sailed to find the Indies. + +There are now near one hundred and fifty millions of people of European +descent in the Americas. And a little glow came into my imagination that +rain-swept morning when I felt I was the only traveller on the boat who +had crawled forth to gaze at San Salvador. I tried to picture what +thoughts must have crowded the mind of Columbus when he sighted this +shore. He never knew what he had discovered for Spain. He could never +have dreamt he was the first in the greatest invasion the world has ever +witnessed. + +A year later I was on an Atlantic liner. The fo'c'sle was thronged with +poor Spaniards from Vigo and poor Portuguese from Lisbon. In the voyage +across the Atlantic I had watched them in the steerage--tawny-visaged, +easygoing men, and broad-set, figureless women, sprawling, gossiping, +drowsing. To the accompaniment of an accordion they lifted their voices +in song on the balmy, starlit evenings whilst the ship churned through +the tropical seas. + +Another misty morning and I climbed on deck. Saloon passengers were +tucked in their bunks. But all the steerage had turned out and were +crowding the foredecks, and were gazing at a dim strip of land and +watching a blinking light. The land was the coast of Brazil, and the +light was the harbour of Pernambuco, which means "the Door of Hell." + +The immigrants raised a long-drawn shout of joy. They hailed Latin +America. There was the country of which they had heard so much. They had +broken with the Old World. Four hundred years ago their ancestors came +across these seas with eyes greedy for gold. Now they came, not to +snatch gold from temples or to terrorise the natives into showing where +the metal could be found, but to work on sugar plantations, to nurture +the coffee plant, to rear bananas, to do the humble work in the building +of towns and the construction of railways, to toil in the jungles, to +sit in the saddle and round up cattle on the prairies. They had come to +the New World to get gold by industry. + +How much we talk and write about the enterprise and colonising power of +the Teutonic races, and how prone we are to dismiss the Latin races as +effete and played out! But our generalisations will not bear +examination. The spirit of adventure cannot have left Italy and Spain +and Portugal. Every year hundreds of thousands of people sail from those +countries across the Atlantic. + +We speak of North America as Teutonic--made prosperous by the stock of +northern Europe--and South America as Spanish. Latin America, however, +does not all lie south of the Panama Canal. We must begin to reckon it +from the territory line which separates the United States from Mexico. +Southwards from the banks of the Rio Grande the Latin tongue is spoken, +chiefly Spanish, but with much Portuguese in Brazil, and Italian in +places right down, through the Torrid Zone, the heavy tropics, reeking +with luxuriant vegetation, to the bleak and rocky, inhospitable Tierra +del Fuego. + +There are millions of Latins. They have set up half a score of +Republican governments. The wealthy world slowly and then impetuously +realised the possibilities of this strangely diversified region. Untold +gold has been poured forth to develop it and get quick return. + +It is not stories of treasure which bring a glint into the eye of +modern men. It is enterprise and development which appeal. There are +cattle to be reared on the ranches of Mexico; there is rubber in Peru; +there are nitrates and fabulous mineral wealth in Chili and the +neighbouring lands; there are cotton and sugar and coffee in the mighty +sweep of Brazil; there are the illimitable wheat areas of Argentina, and +cattle rearing and the giant possibilities in supplying Europe with +frozen meat; there is the opening up of immense areas by networks of +railroads. + +"The stuff is there; it has only to be got," says the man who knows and +talks with the fire of enthusiasm. + +South America is not the land of the future. It is the land of to-day. +Nowhere in the world is the speculator, the investor, more busy than in +Latin America. The tales told by the first Spaniards are baby talk to +the stories told to-day by those who have been and seen and are +fascinated. Of course it is overdone. Of course there is exaggeration. +Of course some of the jewels in El Dorado are useless stones. Of course +some of the caves of Aladdin are found empty. But what the modern world +ranks as precious is in abundance. + +I like to conjure a contrast between the little barques of a few hundred +tonnage bobbing on unknown seas with the big fifteen-thousand tonners +which make their ports of call according to time-table. The early +invaders went into the unknown, crept along unmapped coasts, battled +with savages, and died like flies before the scourge of fever. The +whole story of the conquest and settlement of the Americas is one of +slow victory through a mist of tragedy. The invaders of other days left +their native lands with little hope to return. The invaders of to-day +set forth waving an au revoir to their friends on the dock side. + +The man with the flimsiest imagination can think of the tiny craft, +ill-lit, ill-furnished, with scurvy-providing food, running before the +trade winds, lolling with idle sails in the doldrums, and with +uncertainty as constant companion. To-day the huge vessels scorn the +tides. Aflame with electric light they press through the dusk, and the +ship's orchestra plays ragtime music. You cross the Equator to the tune +of a Gaiety light opera. Sultry afternoons are relieved with +exhilarating deck sports. The warmth of the dinner hour is softened by +the whirl of electric fans. In the evening a space on deck is enclosed +and hung with the flags of all the nations, and dancers in fancy dress +whirl blithely on the powdered floor. These are the circumstances of the +modern invasion. The journey is a holiday with nothing of grim adventure +about it. + +What Latin America means to-day is told in the personalities of the +passengers. There are the rich Argentines, after six months in Europe, +returning to Buenos Aires, occupying the cabins de luxe. They offer you +the information how much they are paying, contribute largely to the +sports fund, and their ladies dress with frank display. Whether Spanish +or English they are proud of the name of Argentine, and never weary +telling of the progress of their country. They have open contempt for +their Portuguese neighbours in Brazil. The wealthy Brazilian men, +swarthy and fat and bejewelled, do not join the deck games, but, with +cigar between lips, saunter the decks, leering at every woman with a +passable countenance. The Argentines thank God there is no nigger blood +in their veins. The Brazilians retaliate they could buy the Argentines +up. Care must be taken not to mix the two nationalities at the ship's +tables. Each nation sports its own flag. Sometimes rivalry threatens +tragedy. + +There is the Englishman "with interests in Argentina" going out to look +after his property, frequently an _estancia_, or ranch, purchased when +land was cheap, and before the boom came. Now a railway cuts through his +property, and it has increased seventy-fold in value. Sometimes he +mentions drought; occasionally he shudders at the mention of locusts. +But he recalls the state of things when he went out thirty or forty +years ago "with not much more than a bob," and now he has a fortune made +out of meat shipped to Europe, and his only regret seems to be the +iniquitous amount of death duties which will have to be paid by his +heirs. + +"Argentina is not what it was," he tells you. That means the winning of +a fortune is going to be increasingly harder to this and subsequent +generations. But he is a fine type of Englishman, for he went forth +before South America had grown beyond its monthly revolution, when the +continent chiefly bred restlessness amongst the Spanish settlers, and +when life and prosperity was a gamble. He has come through the fire. +Foresight, daring, and good luck have swung him, as they have swung +thousands of others, into affluence. He has "retired." He lives at home +in Belgravia, and gives fine dinner parties. But he keeps an eye on +Argentine stock, and when you encounter him in the club he repeats that +"Argentina is not what it was, but still----" and then he makes you wish +you could place your hand on some of the plums that remain. + +There is the rich Argentine who shows what he is made of by insisting +upon everybody in the smoking-room drinking champagne at his +expense--and he is uncomplimentary if anybody deliberately refuses his +hospitality. There is the man who hires a band to play to him during the +voyage. There is the delicate lady who has a special cow on board so +that she may be sure of fresh milk. The boat carries a cow so that the +children may have milk. The charge per pint for the milk is high. "Why," +said one passenger when he heard what the price was, "I think I will +give my children champagne; it will be cheaper." + +British gold has flowed like water into South America to make the +dormant region fruitful. British interests are colossal. The United +States has not taken much of a hand in development, partly because the +Latins do not love their northern neighbours, and partly because the +financiers of the States have been sufficiently occupied in their own +country. Three hundred million British pounds sterling has been invested +in Argentine railway and tramway companies, and there are on board men +who manage the lines--tall, stalwart, clear-skinned Englishmen, with +cool nerve and steady eye. + +There are the big _estancia_ men, proud and ambitious, who pay enormous +prices for famous race-horses and get the best breeding stock from home +in cattle and sheep, no matter what competition forces the price up to. +There are shrewd men going out on behalf of syndicates to throw their +eyes round the country and scent out possibilities for money-making on +the grand scale. In the free talk of the smoking-room they speak with +vagueness of what their special mission is. There are the men who have +been charged to take control of city development schemes--for all ports, +towns, and cities in South America are crazy for development, and are +piling their backs with debt to achieve their desires. There are the men +who represent English firms who are intent on extending their +connections or in establishing branches. There are engineers, with jobs +in the far interior, proceeding to fill five-year contracts. There are +young bank clerks, flushed with increased salary, exchanging London for +a pampa town and scarcely realising they will find living three times as +expensive as at Bromley. There are the men who laughingly acknowledge +they have no direct mission except that they intend to see what they +can pick up. But they are mostly a good brand of Briton, well set, and +with courage in the veins. And when one remembers the growing Latin +population, and listens to captivating explanations about potentialities +and hears what has been accomplished--more wonderful in the making of +cities than a tale out of the Thousand and One Nights--there is the fact +in the background that all this continent must long have continued to +lie undeveloped if it had not been for the constant and confident inflow +of British money. + +Beyond the rails are the second-class passengers, folk of humbler aim, +but going to play their part in the land of adventure. But, above all, +are the third class, the steerage--few British here--travelling to South +America with little but hope and muscle to do the labourer's part. It is +labour the country needs to-day more than capital. In the spring of the +southern hemisphere the Atlantic is trailed with ships packed with +Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese. The continent swallows them. They +are men of courage, or they would never have gone forth. They take with +them their fiery Latin temperament and fierce political, frequently +anarchist views. The native Indians are mostly too cow-like to be of +much use in industry. The millions of negroes in tropical Brazil are too +lazy to be relied upon. Labour is the need, the ever-pressing need. +Emissaries are busy in southern Europe booming South America and filling +the boats which sail from Lisbon and Vigo and Genoa--chiefly from Genoa, +for the Italian is the ideal immigrant for a warm clime. He is +industrious, sober, frugal. + +All the towns along the South American coastline have futures. They talk +about the future, always the future, and are preparing for it. Swung in +a basket from the deck of the liner, I boarded a tug and went ashore at +Pernambuco. The buildings which stood were decrepit, as though erected +by the original Portuguese, like their ramshackle homes on the other +side of the ocean, and they had done nothing to them since except an +occasional smear of pink, blue or yellow colour-wash. Most of the place +was in ruins; whole streets were literally choked with débris, +suggesting there had been a frightful earthquake, or that a +revolutionary episode had perpetrated dire havoc. In fact, Pernambuco +was in the throes of improvement. The first necessity of all these South +American towns is not a system of drainage but an Avenida--a wide main +thoroughfare with bedizened buildings on either side, and cafés and +bands and electric lights and motor-cars and a theatre. They have begun +with a theatre. But the ways of Western civilisation have travelled so +far because, instead of drama and opera being presented, the theatre is +devoted to kinema entertainments. + +As though cleared with a hundred cannon, there is a way right through +the town; this is where the Avenida is to be. Open matchbox tramcars, +drawn by weedy mules, rumble over uneven metals. The next time, however, +I visit Pernambuco electric cars will whiz along the roads. There are +no cabs or carriages, even of ancient pattern, to be hired; but there +are plenty of motor-cars. There is a breakwater built on a coral reef; +yet huge harbour works are in progress, and before long liners instead +of lying outside will be fastened to the dock side. There are big shops +where you can buy most things, including the inevitable picture post +cards, though you pay twopence each for post cards of a kind which you +can buy for two a penny at home. I paid 1s. 8d. for a drink for which no +hotel at home would have charged me more than 6d. The neighbourhood is +rich in vegetation, but potatoes and fruits are imported from Portugal. +The people are town proud. They are proud of Brazil. The Brazilian flag, +with its yellow ground and star-spangled blue globe in the centre, waves +everywhere. + +The next day we were at Bahia, picturesquely reclining on a wooded hill. +It used to be the great port in the slave trade, and most of the +inhabitants are negroes. Indeed, it must not be forgotten that most of +the population are negroes, or negro Indians, or negro Portuguese, or a +mixture of all three. However, it is only the Portuguese, a mere handful +in the total, who exercise political influence in the country. On the +boat came many Bahians. All down the coast, whilst we were losing the +European invaders, we were taking on board and losing Brazilians. Most +of them were podgy, and an inky tinge on their skins indicated there was +mixture in their blood. + +The healthy sports which had entertained the English travellers on the +Equator were things of the past. There was a new sport, and it was +played in the smoking-room all day long and far into the night, when +most of us had gone to bed. The rattle of the dice-box never ceased. +Gambling was in the veins, and the English sovereign was constantly +shuffled from hand to hand on the green baize tables. There was +baccarat, first for low stakes and then for high. There were two glib +Yankee-Negro-Spaniards who had such luck that spectators shrugged +shoulders and exchanged glances. In a single game they netted £150, and +one young Englishman was a loser by £80. + +From gambling at the tables one turned to talking about gambling in the +country. The enormous liabilities to foreign countries are all incurred +in a great gamble that the hinterlands will yield produce which will pay +for all and leave massive surpluses. The coffee trade of Brazil is +immense. But all merchants do not make their incomes by watching and +nursing the market. That is too slow. Transactions are decided quite as +often by the throw of the dice as by negotiation and bargaining. +Reckless, far removed from business principles, all this is; but it +bespeaks a buoyancy of belief that, notwithstanding the lapse of luck, +there is a bottomless well of prosperity to be dipped into in the +natural productions of the country. It is scarcity which breeds +timidity; it is the confidence of affluence which occasions waste. + +Of course there was much talk about Rio de Janeiro, the city with the +most gorgeous setting in the southern hemisphere. + +"Rio harbour is the most beautiful in the world," said the Brazilian. + +"It cannot be a patch on Sydney harbour," said the Australian, who had +never seen Rio. + +"Tut!" said the Brazilian, who had never seen Sydney. + +It was in the fall of an exquisite Sunday afternoon that our glasses +caught sight of the hills around Rio. As we approached and ran past +picturesque islands a wonderful panorama was unfolded. The scenery was +unlike any other scenery in the world. The hills, radiant with +equatorial vegetation, rose like strange humps out of the sea. In the +background giant mountains reared their heads in the crimson-grey clouds +of approaching evening. The picture was not like real scenery. It was +like the realisation of a disordered imagination. I would say it was +like an imitation of Turner, were the illustration not so trite. Then I +thought there was something Chinese about the outreness of the +landscape. Then the sun went down in a hurry, and the background was a +weird purple. The ship dropped anchor, and the front part of Rio town, a +tumble of fantastic red and yellow washed houses, was for all the world +like a drop curtain to a stage. I felt we had slipped into another +world--and I am not given to rhapsody. + +A thousand lamps began to blink along the esplanade which curves to the +bend of the bay. A thousand lights pricked the hill sides. There were +two big black Brazilian warships, and somebody had to tell the old story +how two battleships were sent out to visit the Brazilian convict island +in the Atlantic, and how one returned with the awful story that the +island had disappeared, for they sailed straight for it and it had gone, +whilst later on it was learnt that the other vessel had certainly found +the island, for it got piled up on the rocks. Gaily illuminated launches +scurried about whilst our liner was slowly being berthed alongside the +quay. + +"Ah!" cried the Brazilian to me, whilst his eyes glowed brightly, "say +that Rio is the most lovely harbour in the world!" + +"There's nothing to shout about," interrupted the Australian, "alongside +Sydney harbour; and you've seen Sydney harbour," he added, turning to +me. + +As a sort of amateur Solomon, I was turned to for judgment. My first +comment was to laugh. I had seen the two harbours which are each claimed +by their champions to be the grandest thing Nature has ever +accomplished. It was amusing to witness the fervour of the two men, as +though they had a hand in the making of these famous harbours. They were +both of the stuff which leads men to believe that for any other country +to have pretensions to beauty is just dull-witted boastfulness. + +"Well," I remarked, "I think Vigo harbour is charming." + +"Oh, Vigo!" they both exclaimed in disgust. + +"And there is something to be said for the Golden Gate leading to San +Francisco," I added. + +"But the Golden Gate and any other place is not in the same street with +Sydney harbour," blurted the Australian rather angrily, though he had +never seen the Golden Gate. "It cannot be," he said decisively. + +"But what do you really think of Rio compared with Sydney?" asked the +Brazilian, who saw I was attempting to be funny at the expense of them +both. + +"I'll tell you," I said, actually throwing half a cigar overboard, for I +was called upon to give a verdict on one of the most debatable subjects +in the world. "It is like passing judgment on two lovely women. For +grand, impressive spectacular effect, being hit right between the eyes +with stupendous gorgeousness, seeing Rio harbour at the hour of sunset +is the most wonderful sight in the world." + +The Brazilian smiled, and the Australian made a contemptuous noise with +his lips. + +"But hold," I added. "You see all the beauty of Rio harbour at one view. +It is like suddenly coming face to face with an imperial lady of +dazzling attractions. When you have seen her you have seen everything. +Sydney harbour does not knock you over with bewilderment of beauty like +Rio does. It is more calm, less turbulent; it impresses you. The more +you know it the more it impresses you. And it has lovely arms, +stretching up between soft woodlands, as peaceful as the best bits of +the Thames. Rio has nothing like that. No, no; I'm not competent to pass +judgment. You two gentlemen can go on fighting over the matter, as I +dare say the people of your two countries will continue to do, till the +crack of doom. I admit the unrivalled grandeur of Rio, but personally I +have more affection for the grace and the delights of Sydney." + +The Brazilian bowed politely. The Australian wanted to argue I had ceded +too much to Rio. Happily, just then a group of friends came on board to +rush me off to a dinner party on shore. + +Rio will always remind me of Imre Kiralfy, the White City, and Earl's +Court. There are some narrow, old European-like streets that recall +places on the other side of the Atlantic: the houses high and sombre and +with a little mystery behind the shutters. But most of Rio is rampantly +new and garish. The people have driven a magnificent Avenida right +through the heart of the city, and hang the expense! The piles of +buildings, hotels, public offices, great stores along this Avenida are +generally eccentric in architecture--and there comes the feeling that +here these transplanted Latins, with a strain of negro in their veins, +are struggling to express themselves as a new people. The wonderful +thing is that five years ago this Avenida was not. + +Nothing that the Riviera has can outvie the esplanade, broad, well made, +with miles of bright gardens and statues--and the motor-cars whiz along +at the maddest, breakneck pace. There is one exquisite avenue lined with +nothing but palm trees. Many of the houses, designed surely by someone +who has built palaces for pantomimes, are half buried behind splashes of +prodigal tropical vegetation. Everything is ornate, showy. From the +standpoint of British comfort the buildings are gaudy palaces, lacking +real ease. But always one has to remember one is in the tropics. + +I know no place so dazzling as Rio. Behind all the glitter, however, +there is gold. There is commerce, abounding speculation, the +devil-may-care assurance of the gambler. Broad ways, electric car +services, hundreds of expensive motor-cars, extravagant restaurants, +ladies laden with jewels, the men eager, all tell the opening chapter in +the story of Brazil's future. In the cool Strangers' Club I met men of +the Saxon breed, quiet Englishmen, quiet Americans, representatives of +syndicates with millions of money at their backs, negotiating, +wire-pulling, securing concessions for railroads, for developing +stretches of that great back country of Brazil, as little explored as +Central Africa, but the possibilities of which the world is realising +and will scramble hungrily to turn into profit. What Brazil has +accomplished so far is but the turning of the key in the door. + +The morning comes with a gasp, and a flavour of old oil is in the air. +The heavy stillness makes one recite the agony of the Ancient Mariner. +We are leaving the ocean, and the steamer is churning a way up an +ochreish river, banked on one side, but with a stretch of malarious +jungle on the other. We are making for Santos, and an old German who +rests his elbows on the rail tells how he has known this coast for +thirty years, and how, in the old days, it reeked with yellow fever; +how whole ships' crews went down before the scourge, and how no +passenger boats dared lie at Santos for the night, but always slipped +down to the mouth of the river in the evening so that fresh air could be +obtained. + +Now drainage has done wonders, and Santos, a great export town for +Brazilian coffee, is improving itself. I get into conversation with the +man who has been engaged to settle in Santos and see that the place is +improved. The river is deep, serviceable, and runs far inland. Casting +my eye over the flat lands, matted with vegetation, and dotted with many +a wretched nigger shanty, I have a vision of the time when docks will be +delved and many of the riches of Brazil will find their outlet to the +world by this gateway. Great wharves are on the river front at Santos. + +The town, however, is in a hugger-mugger of change. The Brazilians seem +to lounge round, but they are forging for the future. Men who have been +with us for a fortnight hasten ashore. They have eagerness. They are off +by the quaint hill-climbing railway to San Paulo, high perched, healthy, +throbbing with trade. Others are bent for the interior, away from their +kind, to seek their fortunes. + +"And that's the end of my six months' leave," says a red-faced +Englishman with a sorrowful smile. "I lived away back there for three +years, and never saw or talked to another Englishman. I've been home for +my holiday, and now it will be another three years before I come back +from the plantations. Good-bye. I'll hunt you up when I'm in London +again." Off he goes--one of the brave men of the world. + +A peep at Monte Video, the neat capital of the miniature Republic of +Uruguay, and then the black-green of the ocean we have been travelling +for three weeks is left behind, and we are forcing a way up the yellow +waters of the River Plate. A river; but for hours there is no land in +sight, so wide is the mouth of this great stream. And shallow, for at +intervals the steamer shivers as she bumps on the bottom. + +"That is all right," says the captain, "for we do not mind a couple of +feet of mud." + +The journey of the new adventurers is nearing its end. Shipboard +friendships are sworn to be eternal. The ship's sports are long over, +and the prizes have been distributed. The fancy dress ball on deck is a +memory. There is the distribution of largesse amongst those who have +made things pleasant. Cabin passengers are light-hearted. The throng of +Spaniards and Italians in the steerage are silent and strangely +impressed. They were sad when they left the old lands; they were happy +during the voyage; now the mystery of the unknown is laying hold of +them. We pass a crowded emigrant ship from Italy, and cheers are +exchanged. + +Out of the haze of the hot day rises the low land, Argentina. We see the +buildings of La Plata, once intended to be the capital of the country. +The ship makes strange zigzags, for it is following a channel known +only to the pilot. There rises a bank of smoke. As we get nearer we run +into shipping. From the background emerge tall buildings, white mostly, +and recalling the skyscrapers of the United States. So slowly, +laboriously, the good ship _Avon_, which has behaved so well, is brought +to rest in front of Buenos Aires. It is night, but the wharves are all +commotion. There is the shrieking of tugs. There is the shout of excited +Argentines, but their garb is south European. Beyond the Custom House +can be seen hastening motor-cars and whizzing electric tramcars. And +here is a newspaper man, wanting an interview. We are entering "the +amazing Argentine." + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by H. G. Olds, Buenos Aires._ + PLAZA DEL CONGRESO, BUENOS AIRES.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SOME ASPECTS OF BUENOS AIRES + + +The Argentines call their city of Buenos Aires the Paris of the southern +hemisphere. It has a population nearing a million and a half, which is +greater than that of any other town below the line of the Equator. The +people promise that in time it will overtake London. + +You insult an Argentine if you mix him up with Chilians, Brazilians, and +other South Americans. He does not thank you for being reminded his +father sailed from Italy, or his grandfather from Spain. He has no +affection for any old land from which his sires came. The beginning of +the world for Argentina was in May, 1810, when the Republic was set up. + +He has no pride of historic race. When he makes money and visits Europe +it is not to find the ancestral home in Spain or Italy. It is to have a +good time in Paris. When he takes his family to Paris it is not to spend +three, five, or six months. It is to spend three, five, or six hundred +thousand pesos--and the value of a peso is one shilling and eightpence. +When the pesos have flown he returns to Argentina and makes more. + +The Argentines are a dignified people. They accept the English because +in round figures five hundred millions of British capital in gold have +aided in developing the country. They dislike the citizen of the United +States because the big brother Republic of the north patronises them, +and they need nobody's help. They have a contempt for all other Latins +beneath the Isthmus of Panama, particularly the Brazilians. They are +conscious of their own qualities. + +And the visitor blinks, and rubs his eyes, and admits the wonders of +Argentina. If his acquaintance with geography is casual he has shrugged +his shoulders at South American Republics, where they have revolutions +every six weeks, and where tawny Spaniards in quaint costumes drive +mules and die from difference of opinion with other Spaniards. + +Then he goes to "B.A."--the familiar description of Buenos Aires--and he +finds he has landed in a rampantly modern American-cum-European city. +There is none of the sloth of the Southern, no checking of business +between noon and three to pass in siestas. + +It is a busy city. The port is thronged with shipping, mostly British. +High-shouldered elevators stick out long tongues, and streams of wheat, +grown on the plains of the interior, pour food for Europe into the +holds. Trucks of cattle grunt through the noisy railway yards. There are +huge killing establishments, and animals go to their death by the many +thousand every day with a celerity which would awaken a Chicagoan. There +are mighty avenues of chilled and frozen meat. Labour-saving machinery +carries it on board the steamers which hasten across the Atlantic, +carrying cheap beef to the London and Liverpool markets. Commerce is +conducted on the latest scientific lines. The North Americans have +nobbled the meat trade, and the Jews have control of the wheat market. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by H. G. Olds, Buenos Aires._ + THE PLAZA HOTEL, BUENOS AIRES.] + +Buenos Aires is the mart where the produce of the rich back-lands is +bartered. It levies a heavy toll. The most imposing business buildings +are the banks--national banks, British, German, French, Spanish, and +Italian banks. In and about Reconquista are these banks, ever busy. Near +by are the rival shipping offices, a glut of them. The offices of the +great railway companies are enormous. Wide-spreading premises exhibit +the latest and best agricultural machinery that Lincolnshire and +Illinois can produce. There is the hustle of commerce. The streets are +as narrow and as crowded and as vital as within the City of London. +There is earnestness about the men. + +The Argentine is sombre in manner. He dresses in conventional black. A +light waistcoat, a gay tie or fancy socks, is bad form. You cannot tell +the difference between a millionaire and one of his clerks, except that +the former has an expensive motor-car and the latter hires a taxi or a +victoria, or travels by electric tramcar. At every corner you see +evidence of prosperity, of successful money-making. And money speaks in +"B.A." as loudly as it does in New York. + +Folk of the Saxon breed tend to scoff at the decadence of the Latin +race. But there is something revivifying in the transplanting of a +people. We have evidence in our own colonies. The man of Spanish descent +in the Argentine is not always the spry fellow he thinks himself; but he +has dropped the cloak of sluggishness which enwraps Spain. He is often +rich; he lives in a gorgeous residence; his extravagances are beyond +those of a Russian archduke. He is polite and hospitable. + +But the wealthy Spanish Argentine is not the creator of his own wealth. +I heard of only one case of a Spanish Argentine owing his great fortune +to commercial enterprise. The fortunes of most of these Argentines come +from land. Their grandfathers got immense areas by the easiest means. +Properties were so enormous that extent was not reckoned in acres, or +even square miles, but by leagues. But a hundred leagues, however good +for cattle or sheep, or wheat growing--what was its value a couple of +hundred miles from a port? Then came British railways. They pierced the +prairies. The land bounded in value, tenfold, a thousandfold. Other +people came in; first shrewd Scotsmen; then industrious Italians; then +Englishmen bent on becoming _estancieros_. Their children are +Argentines. But the mighty fortunes are mostly in the possession of the +early Argentines--those who were settled fifty and more years ago. They +have sat still and seen their land blossom in value. They pay no income +tax; there is no tax on unearned increment. Mr. Lloyd George was once +in the Argentine, associated with a land development company. That, +however, is another story. + +Hundreds of thousands of immigrants pour into the Republic every year. +They come from every land on earth. Mostly do they come from Spain and +Italy. Italy provides the greatest number, and splendid colonists they +are. Though the language will always be Spanish, the race is rapidly +becoming Italianised. There is a commingling of the sterner stuff from +Europe. So in this rich land--rivalling Canada and Australia in +productiveness--there is being blended a new people, keen, alert, +successful, ostentatious, pagan--a people that has a destiny and knows +it. + +The Argentines are town proud. You are not in Buenos Aires a couple of +days before you are bombarded with the inquiry, "Don't you think this is +a beautiful city?" It is not that; but it is an interesting city. + +In the oldest quarters the streets are narrow, after the Spanish style. +So narrow are they that, with electric cars jingling along them, +vehicles are allowed to journey only one way. To reach a shop by +carriage it is sometimes necessary to drive along three and a half sides +of a block of buildings. Funny little policemen, brown faced, blue clad, +and with white gaiters and white wands, direct the traffic. In the +Florida--the Bond Street of "B.A."--all wheeled traffic is prohibited +between the hours of four and seven in the afternoon, so that shoppers +may have an easier way. + +Most of the streets are called after Argentine provinces, or +neighbouring republics, or national heroes, or some politician or rich +man who can influence the authorities. When a popular man has lost his +popularity the remnant of his fame is obliterated by the street called +after him being named after someone else. It is as though the Government +at home decided to change Victoria Street, Westminster, into the Avenida +Asquith, with the prospect of its being altered later on to the Calle +Bonar Law. + +Wide plazas decorate the city. Vegetation is luxuriant, and statues are +numerous. The Plaza Mayo is not called after an Irish peer, but after +the month of May, 1810. The shops are as big as those in London. +Argentina manufactures practically nothing, and all the lovely things +have to be imported from Europe. The hotels are imitations of those in +Paris. The restaurants are on a par with the best we have in London. A +Viennese band plays whilst you have Russian caviare and the waiter is +asking your choice in champagne. But everything is expensive. A man +needs three times the salary in Buenos Aires to live the same way he +would live in London. If you calculate exchange rates you go mad. It is +best to count the peso (1s. 8d.) as a shilling, and then remember that +you are spending your shilling in South America, where things are dear. +You can get a modest luncheon for 10s.; but you will pay 2s. for a +bottle of beer, and 3s. 6d. for a cigar worth smoking. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by A. W. Boote & Co., Buenos Aires._ + THE TIGRE, BUENOS AIRES ROWING CLUB.] + +Yet nobody minds. Immense sums are being spent on improving +the city. It is built on the American T-square plan. But it is to be +subjected to the plan of Haussmann, with great tree-girt avenues +radiating diagonally from the Plaza Mayo. An underground railway, +honeycombing beneath the town, is in rapid construction. The railways +have a great suburban traffic, and are being electrified. There are +British colonies at Belgrano and Hurlingham, and you have a choice of +three golf courses. In the summer months--December, January, and +February--there is river life on the Tigre, the Thames of the Argentine. +A charming spot is Palermo, a combination of Hyde Park and the Bois de +Boulogne--open sweeps and charming trees, a double boulevard with +statues and commemorative marbles in the middle, well-cared-for gardens, +radiant flowers and the band playing. + +A drive through Palermo at the fashionable hour causes one to gasp at +the thought that one is six thousand miles from Europe. Nowhere in the +world have I seen such a display of expensive motor-cars, thousands of +them. Ostentation is one of the stars of life in the Argentine. +Appearances count for everything. You must have a motor-car, even though +you have not the money to pay for it, and you owe the landlord of your +flat a year's rent. The ladies are exquisitely gowned, but they have not +the vivacity of the French women nor their daring in dress. There is a +demureness, a restraint which reminds one that the atmosphere of +far-away Castile is still upon them. + +On Sundays and Thursdays there are races at Palermo. The price +Argentines pay for horseflesh has become a proverb. It is a good +race-course. We have nothing in England, neither at Epsom, Ascot, nor +Goodwood, so magnificent as the grand stand. It is a glorified royal +box. The restaurant is like the Ritz dining-room. Everybody dresses as +they would at Ascot. There are no bookmakers. The totalisator is used. +Betting is officially conducted by the Jockey Club, and there is +constant announcement of the amount of money put on the horses. Those +who have backed the winners share the spoil, less ten per cent. As this +ten per cent. is deducted from the total amount put on each race, the +income of the Jockey Club runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds. So +the Club maintains a good race-course, offers capital prizes, has a +house in "B.A."--undoubtedly the most palatial club-house in the +southern world--and distributes the remainder amongst the hospitals. +The income of the Jockey Club is so large it is really embarrassing. +The members are proceeding to build an Aladdin's palace of +super-gorgeousness. + +But at the races at Palermo I noticed that no ladies attended, except in +the members' enclosure. Even there they did not mingle with the +men-folk. There was no mirth, such as we are used to in Europe. They +kept themselves to little groups. Moving from wonder to wonder, I was +present at a gala performance at the Colon Theatre. I have seen all the +great theatres in the world, and this is the loveliest--a harmony of +rose and gold. The audience was as fashionably dressed as at the opera +in London, though I missed the dazzling display of diamonds which had +been promised. Most of the audience were ladies; there were boxes of +them, and most of the men were in the stalls. There was one gallery +reserved for women. + +I began to discern a strange Orientalism in the relations between the +sexes. The Argentine women are amongst the best mothers in the world. +But there is practically none of the good fellowship between young +fellows and young girls which is so happy a feature of our English life. +For a man and a woman to take a walk together would shock the +proprieties. There are brilliant receptions, but dinner parties, as we +know them, are rare. An Argentine seldom introduces a friend to his +wife. Except amongst the poorest a woman scarcely ever goes into the +streets alone. If she does she runs risk of being insulted. There are +Argentines, who would be offended if refused the name of gentlemen, who +think it excellent sport to walk in the Florida in the evening and +mutter obscenities to every unprotected woman who passes. Buenos Aires +is the most immoral city in the world. So the Argentine guards his +women-folk from contact with other men. His attitude is a relic of the +days when the Moors had possession of Spain. + +I have called Buenos Aires a pagan city. So it is. The men are frankly +irreligious. In conversation I have been told of the tolerance to all +religions. What is really meant is indifference to any religion. + +Money-making and flamboyant display--these are the gods which are +worshipped. The houses in the wealthier districts are exotic in +architecture. I remember driving along the Avenida Alvear, a street of +palaces, reminiscent of the Grand Canal at Venice if it were a roadway. +But the fine stone blocks are nothing but stucco. The ornamentation, the +floral decorations, are not carved stone; they are stucco. Imitation, +pretence, showiness, the flaunting of wealth, are everywhere. + +Yet this city, which has grown in a generation on the muddy flats by the +side of the muddy Parana River, has something that is weird in its +fascination. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ROUND AND ABOUT THE CAPITAL + + +The way not to see a city is to be trotted round and shown all the +"sights." I have an idea I may have missed some of the "sights" of +Buenos Aires. I did not "do" the churches. Acquaintances who knew I went +to South America to pursue my trade of writer sometimes asked me what I +was going to write about, and the reply was, "I do not know." But I was +not believed. + +Anyway, I may say that I drifted about "B.A." I presented my letters of +introduction, made friends, lunched out and dined out, had motor trips, +went here and there as suggestion provided the inclination; maybe to a +theatre, or to smoke a cigar in one of the clubs with men who are of +account in Argentina or no account at all, or to spend a Sunday with an +Argentine family; maybe to idle an hour in one of the cafés; maybe to +have a serious talk with a Minister; maybe do nothing but idle round. +That is no scientific way to study a city. But it just happens to be my +way. + +The conclusions I draw may be wrong, for I may have met the wrong people +and seen the wrong things, especially as I had no system. Yet out of the +confused jumble of impressions and experiences something coherent +evolves, and that is the substance of my remarks when I am asked, "Well, +what do you think about Buenos Aires?" + +It is not my wish to accentuate the point, but open-handed extravagance +is one of the traits of the people. It is a fault of democratic +countries that, having no aristocracy of birth, they proceed to create +one of wealth. Argentina has fine old Spanish families; but, though +esteemed, they are in the background. In the wrangle-jangle of frenzied +progress they are not to be counted amongst the moderns. So garish is +the display of money that the idea left is that you have had your +attention called to it by the constant blaring of a bugle. + +But I would shrink from saying the display is vulgar. Keeping in mind +that the people are Latins, and are fonder of colour than we of the cold +and moral north, I would write there is a sort of ostentatious +restraint. Argentines glory in spending money, but amongst the older +settled people other things besides money have their place. They are +fond of music, and pride themselves that they discovered Tetrazzini and +Kubelik long before London. Here, as in Paris, London, and New York, +there is the mob which goes to the opera because it is "the thing" to +have an expensive box, and to wear lovely gowns and loads of diamonds. +The prices paid make the charges for a gala night at Covent Garden seem +like those of a twopenny show. It may be said that a well-known artiste +is sure of a kindly reception. Yet Buenos Aires has its moods; it has +its vagaries, and is petulant. For some undefinable reason it will take +a dislike to some performer who arrives with a European reputation. +Perhaps half a dozen ladies who lead the fashionable world will say the +artiste is overrated. "She may be all right for Paris, but she does not +come up to Buenos Aires standard"--that is the attitude. For anybody to +praise the poor singer after that is to advertise their inartistic +taste. There is a boycott. So a European singer or instrumentalist who +goes to the Argentine aglow with the prospect of a dazzling success +sometimes returns with the saddest of experiences--neglect. + +[Illustration: LOLA MORA FOUNTAIN, BUENOS AIRES.] + +With such a people, Latin in race and living in the sunshine, life is +something of a holiday. One hears stories of the looseness of life +amongst the men--on the boats running between France and Argentina can +be seen the girls going out to meet the requirements of the hundreds of +houses of ill-fame--but the Argentine women themselves are beyond +reproach. Indeed, their regard for correctness is often amusingly +prudish. Public opinion is so strong that no lady, if she wants the +esteem of her neighbours, dare show the slightest originality in costume +or conduct. Plays with the faintest hint of suggestiveness about them +are barred. Performances which would pass muster in a London West-end +theatre are shunned; plays to which the most innocent of girls cannot go +are taboo. The consequence of this is that there are other places of +amusement especially catering for men, which no respectable woman can +enter. Just outside the boundaries there are cinematograph shows "for +men only," which for indecency cannot be outdone in Port Said or Havana. + +I have mentioned how the visitor to Argentina soon begins to be aware of +the low position of women in the minds of men, the way in which there is +no real friendship between the sexes outside the family circle, and how +no Argentine will trust another Argentine in regard to his ladies. With +all their finery and jewellery and expensive motor-cars and boxes at the +Colon Theatre, you are prone to remark, "How un-European!" when you see +the segregation of the women. + +Yet with all their frivolity, dress, bridge, amusements, you make a +mistake if you fancy the Argentine lady a guarded, slothful doll--though +the description applies in thousands of cases. I had the opportunity of +seeing the other side of the picture. On two days, under the guidance of +ladies themselves, I visited the establishments of Las Damas da +Beneficencia and several Government hospitals. A noble work is being +done. I saw how the poor are cared for. There was the nurturing of the +old. There was tending the sick in buildings worthy of any city in the +world. There were the homes where the wives of poor folk could come to +bring their babies into the world. There is much illegitimacy, and +formerly there was much infanticide. So there was a kind of casement +where, at dusk, mothers could bring their unwanted offspring and deliver +them. No questions were asked, but the infant, because it was a +helpless little child, was cared for. The same work is done to-day, but +without the mystery of the casement. Foster-mothers are engaged to nurse +the children. As one went through the rooms, and saw the tiny morsels of +humanity, many of them feeble, with a shape of head which roused wonder +as to the future, it was hard to keep the tears away. + +Poverty, as we understand it in Europe, does not exist in Argentina. But +there are men who are stricken down in early manhood, unable to earn +anything, and who need help. There are widows and the fatherless to be +cared for. There are poor folk, but their trouble is due to misfortune +and not to economic causes. Charity, however, is great, and funds are +numerous and the Government provides handsomely, and there is no +distress such as we know it. But all this good work, hospitals, looking +after the aged, providing for the fatherless, is carried on by the women +of Argentina. Except to serve as doctors, no men have any voice in the +control or management. Ladies, with their presidents and boards of +management and committees, have the work placed entirely in their hands. +It is set apart for them, and no man interferes. Yet the suffrage +question has not extended to Argentina. + +Life is taken lightly and showily by this new nation. But when anybody +dies all the relatives go into mourning, to the fourteenth cousin. And +in death the display is just as rampant as in life. The Recoleta is a +strange cemetery, bizarre, ghoulish, tawdry. To own a tomb in Recoleta +is one of the necessities if a family wants to be in the swim. These +tombs are like chalets, occasionally of Italian marble, generally of the +Buenos Aires stucco--the capital surpasses all other cities in the world +in the amount of stucco--and they are ornate. There are streets upon +streets of them, and you take a walk through a town of the dead. The +doors are open, and you can step in and see half a dozen coffins ranged +round the shelves. Occasionally there are photographs of the dear +departed. On All Saints' Day it is usual for the living family to gather +in the tomb, have tea, and munch cakes. After a number of years the +coffins have to be removed, or a heavy sum paid, and the tomb is "to +let." The whole thing is repulsive to the Englishman, but the Argentine +loves it. + +The capital of Buenos Aires province is La Plata, about fifty miles +away. I went down one day by the luncheon train, which runs out of the +Plaza Constitution just after midday and does the journey in an hour. It +was a fine train, and the luncheon car was bigger, and the food better +than we have on English lines. The car was crowded with a +sallow-skinned, black-moustached, black-garbed lot of gentlemen, and I +gathered they were all Government officials. Nobody in Government employ +thinks of doing any work in the morning. The men go to the office late +and leave early. It was almost like home. + +La Plata is a town that has missed its way. Full of grandiose ideas, and +taking the United States as a model, it was decided to build La Plata +as the federal capital on the Washington plan. Gorgeous buildings were +erected; magnificent avenues were constructed; the loveliest of public +gardens were laid out; a fine museum was founded; a great municipal +theatre was piled up. In the public square bandstands were provided and +statues to national heroes hoisted. It was to be the flower of Argentine +towns. And every Argentine town, when it sets out to beautify itself, +must have an avenida and a plaza and an equestrian statue of San Martin; +the matters of water supply and drainage come later. + +[Illustration: LA RECOLETA.] + +But the federal capital absolutely refused to settle at La Plata. It was +too near Buenos Aires, where society lived, and where there was a whirl +of excitement. So, perforce, the capital had to be at Buenos Aires, and +a Government House for the residence of the President of the Republic +was built, and is known as the "Palace o Gold," because of the money +consumed in its construction. + +Argentina is ever willing to vote vast sums for town adornment; but the +money has a habit of evaporating before half the work is done, and then +more is needed. + +However, La Plata is the capital of the province of Buenos Aires; but +the majority of officials refuse to live there. They prefer to come down +from Buenos Aires at a quarter past one, and catch the quarter to five +train back. The Governor has made appeals; he has even threatened what +he will do if the officials do not live in La Plata. They take no +notice. The consequence is that this beautiful city--and without doubt +it is majestic in its spaciousness--is deserted, and a saunter through +it is like a walk through an old cathedral town on a drowsy afternoon. + +As a companion and a host no one could be more charming than the +Argentine. He loves his country, but is willing to hear praise about +other countries without thinking you wish to depreciate Argentina. He +will go to infinite trouble to secure some particular information you +are anxious to possess. Men on whom I had no personal claim whatever +laid aside their work and devoted a couple of days in my behalf. As the +men are courteous so the women are graceful, until lack of exercise and +over-eating makes them stout. The girls are modest, but, I am afraid, +centre their thoughts on dress. It rather shocked one to see that it is +a habit for quite young girls of thirteen or fourteen years to daub +their faces with powder. As for the young gentleman, he begins when +twelve years of age to smoke and to tell lewd stories. He is impudent to +the servants and to his parents, and I have known fathers smile when +told their sons of fifteen have taken to visiting houses of ill-fame. +Some Argentines are taking to healthy sport; but it would be better if +all of them took to outdoor exercises, cricket, football, baseball, +tennis, and golf. The Argentine young gentleman is bright but +superficial, and is too fond of the clothes of the dandy +and jewellery and perfumes to excite any admiration amongst men who +dislike effeminacy in their own sex. + +[Illustration: THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING, LA PLATA.] + +It was my good fortune to receive nothing but kindness from every class +of Argentine that I met. But I am not going to hide I met Englishmen, +who knew more about the Argentines and who had few generous things to +say. "There is no morality, unless the young women are guarded; the +Argentine is egotistic beyond words; domestic habits are dirty, and +taking a bath is rare; the men chatter, and, whilst voluble with +friendship, are suspicious; they are bombastic about patriotism, but are +not above receiving bribes; all the advantages the Argentine has he owes +to foreigners; he produces nothing himself; he is shallow and shiftless; +the only business instinct he has is cunning, and the old Spanish +_mañana_ spirit--always putting off till to-morrow the performance of a +business duty--is deep seated." All of which shows how impossible it is +to draw a composite picture of an individual to represent a nation. Just +as there are nice Englishmen and vulgar fellows, cultured Americans and +bounders, delightful Germans and hoggish sots, so in Argentina it takes +all sorts to make a people. The growing practice of well-to-do +Argentines of sending their children to be educated in Europe has its +advantages, though there is another side of the picture. They certainly +acquire better manners than they pick up at home; they learn that +Argentina is not the centre of the world. When they return to Argentina +and display the consequences of foreign travel they are not popular. + +As far as I could discern the Argentine, though still infused with Latin +traits, still showy and talkative, more inclined to gamble than to do +hard work, is breaking through and away from the old Spanish habits. +European business men told me they were keen witted, but incompetent in +practical affairs. But there is too much business now going on in +Argentina, too much development of industries in which foreigners have +little hand, too thorough a grasp of some of the problems which face all +new lands, for the Argentines to be dismissed with a phrase. + +I could see they were inexact, that they were fond of showing off, that +knowledge of the world was thin; but I did understand their genuine +ambition to lift Argentina into the first rank among nations; that where +they lacked technical and mechanical knowledge themselves they were +willing to let others come in; that they were quite alive to what +progress means in the modern sense. The conservatism of the old Spaniard +has completely disappeared. The Argentine wants the latest and the best. +If one goes forth to gather faults it is easy enough to get a basketful. +What drew me, however, was not so much listening to a catalogue of +things he is not, but to mark down what he is, what he has done and is +doing, and what he intends to do. As a small instance, in Buenos Aires +the habit of the Spanish siesta is abandoned. There is no pulling down +of business shutters between noon and three o'clock. The climate is +enervating, but be the day never so steamy, with hot gusts panting from +the north, the city is early alive with commerce, the suburban trains +are packed, the Stock Exchange is a babble of excitement--and there +never seems to be any drawing of rein till five or six in the afternoon. +There is hustle. + +[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN STATION AT LA PLATA.] + +[Illustration: IN THE GREAT SQUARE AT LA PLATA.] + +The way the population jumps up is phenomenal. It signifies much that an +eighth of a million is added to the population of a capital in a single +year. Skyscrapers now tower over the buildings which were thought +enormous a dozen years ago. Notwithstanding the services of the +policemen directing the traffic, there is often a tangle of motor-cars, +electric tramcars, private carriages and carts. New broadways are +being driven through the city, and up go palatial stores. Most English +newspapers are modest in _locale_. But the Argentine newspapers keep in +the sun. _La Prensa_ is one of the best-informed journals in the world. +It has a noble exterior to its offices. Inside are luxurious suites of +rooms, lecture halls, libraries, and the public are invited to enter. +Every public building, all the clubs, even the churches, seem to be tied +up with long ropes of different coloured electric lamps, so that on +nights of festival the switch is jerked and the whole place is radiantly +illuminated. + +It is all very wonderful. The confusion, the barbarism, the love of +beauty and the display of dollars, the inflow of invested gold, the +coming of the immigrant, the whirl of business, the big deals, the +gambling, the making of fortunes and the losing of fortunes, dazzle the +mind. But you feel the fascination of Buenos Aires. It has grown so +astonishingly in so short a time that you gasp when you contemplate how +much more it is likely to grow. + +[Illustration: STATUE PRESENTED TO ARGENTINA BY THE FRENCH COMMUNITY ON +THE OCCASION OF THE CENTENARY OF INDEPENDENCE.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT IN THE REPUBLIC + + +The place Argentina holds in the world is due to the meat and wheat it +sends to other lands. But having recognised its fecundity as a good +food-producing area, it is well to start at the beginning. Argentina may +have had fine grazing tracks capable of rearing untold millions of +cattle and arable land that had only to be scratched to yield excellent +crops of cereals; but without transport values are at a minimum. +Accordingly, the development and prosperity of the Argentine is mainly +due to railways. The sum of £300,000,000 British capital is invested in +Argentine railways and electric tramways. + +I travelled a good deal in the Republic, from Buenos Aires to Inca in +the Andes, and from Tucuman in the north to Bahia Blanca in the south. I +journeyed over hundreds of miles of flat, featureless, dreary country +that grew nothing but wild grasses until a few years ago. And there are +plenty of sandy, bush-studded, alkali-stricken acres--just as you find +barren patches in the United States, Canada, Siberia, and Australia--but +there are thousands of leagues awakened into life, _estancias_ with +great herds of cattle munching at the alfalfa, stretches of wheat and +maize, on and on, as though without end, the only break on the horizon +being the colonist's mud hut, a clump of trees--and it always seems the +same clump of trees--which indicates a ranch, and the ever-whirring +American water-wheel. As you travel through England it is the spires of +churches that pierce the sky. The only thing that ever pierces the sky +on the Argentine pampas is the zinc American water-wheel. The Argentine +_estanciero_ thinks a water-wheel is of more use to him than a church. + +All over this land, zigzagging, curving, intersecting, sometimes running +in an absolutely straight line for a hundred and fifty miles, is the +greatest length of railway lines in the world for a population of seven +millions. The towns are far apart; villages are few. You journey half a +day, and, except at the little wayside stations, do not see more than +half a dozen folk on the land. Yet it is a smiling land, and greets the +sunshine with abundance. The railways in the Argentine are to garner +this wealth. Freight trains, with cars of the colossal American pattern, +trundle their long length across the plains. + +I recall one night when, at a forgotten siding, the engine drew out to +get water, taking a saunter along the train side. It was brilliantly lit +with electricity, and the restaurant car, with the usual little +red-shaded lamps on the tables, was busy; crowds of passengers were +dining, and the usual waiters were scurrying, and there was the usual +Continental fare, and champagne and Moselle wines, and the usual mineral +waters you get on the Nord express. That gleaming train in central +South America was the symbol of what railway enterprise has done in +Argentina. + +There are 20,000 miles of railroads in the Republic. The British showed +the way in the initial building, and their lines pass through some of +the fattest territory. The French have been tardy followers, but have +constructed useful minor lines. The Argentine Government has built State +lines through country that was suitable for colonisation, but which did +not appeal to the outside investor. These State railways are financially +a failure. One reason is that the territory through which they run is +not of the best. The principal reason is that they are the prey of the +politicians. Constituencies have to be considered, and innumerable jobs +found for the hangers-on of political parties. Business conditions are +the last to be thought of, and, though the Government has done well in +throwing these lines into distant regions needing development, they are +not likely to succeed until placed under different control. + +Not only have the Argentines themselves not started railway companies, +but they have no money invested in the foreign companies. One cause is +that, though the Government insists on a local board of directors, the +real board of directors is abroad, chiefly in London. Another cause is +that dividends are limited by law to 7 per cent., and that is not a +sufficient return for the Argentine. He does not care to touch +investments that do not yield 12 per cent., and when he gets 30 per +cent. he thinks that about fair--and the country is so prosperous it can +afford it. + +Although within the last fifteen years millions of British money have +poured into Argentina for railway construction, the investor in the old +days cast a hesitating eye on South America as a place to sink his +capital. In the 'fifties a railway a few miles long was all that +Argentina could boast, and ten years later, when 7 per cent. was +guaranteed, money was not forthcoming. As an inducement to construct a +line between Rosario and Cordoba the absolute ownership of three miles +on either side of the line was offered. Even with such an attraction the +British investor was shy. + +Gradually, however, money was forthcoming, and lines were laid. In the +'eighties there came a spurt. It was not till the years following 1900 +that money could be had for the asking. Lines cobwebbed the profitable +country; distant points were linked up; land which previously had little +beyond prairie value bounced up in price. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL ARGENTINE RAILWAY COMPANY'S GRAIN ELEVATORS AT +BUENOS AIRES.] + +Though to-day there is a thought in the public mind that a little too +much money has been thrown into Argentina, that land prices are too +inflated--which they are--I have traversed districts which three years +ago were wilderness; but a spur of railway has been driven into them, +and instantly farming has been started. I saw hundreds of freshly-built +homesteads--crude, and the life harsh, but it was the beginning of +great things--and alfalfa had been laid down, and cattle were feeding, +and wide spaces which previously were sandy and apparently inhospitable +were carpeted with the bright green of new wheat. Just as in Canada +there is a belief that the breaking up of the land had decreased the +severity of the frost, so there is a belief in Argentina that rains +follow the plough. Places which formerly had little rainfall, and which +had a doubtful agricultural future, are proving successful. Yet without +the advance of railways the country would have been as forlorn as when +the Indians roved the pampas. + +Railway companies in England have had to fight landowners to make +headway. In Argentina landowners welcome the coming of a railway, for +obvious reasons. Most of the wealthy Argentines owe their fortunes to +their land being benefited by the railways. As a rule, out in the far +districts, a railway company can get the necessary land for nothing. +Owners are willing to make financial contributions. The general managers +of the big British railways in Argentina get large salaries--£7,000 a +year. This is partly to remove them from the range of temptation of +being bribed by owners, syndicates, or land companies to authorise the +making of railways where they would not be economically advisable. Of +course, extensions near the big towns cost the railways as much as they +would in England. I know a man who thirty years ago bought a piece of +land for £1,600. He sold it to a railway company for over £200,000. + +Though foreign capital is having so extensive a run in networking the +country with railways, the Argentine Government has a much closer grip +on the working of the lines than the Board of Trade has on English +companies. It is therefore no misrepresentation to say that, whilst +private owners are glad to have their property enhanced in value by the +juxtaposition of a railway, the Government puts obstacles in the way for +what are ostensibly public reasons. Accordingly, expensive "diplomacy" +has sometimes to be used. The Government is sufficiently aware of the +return the foreign investor gets--and when fresh extensions are sought +it invariably withholds its consent until some concession has been wrung +out of the company, such as an undertaking to construct a line through a +district that cannot, for some time at any rate, be a success. There is +never any guarantee that another company will not be formed to work the +same district. The Government smiles at the fight between the two lines +for traffic--to the public benefit. When companies propose to amalgamate +the Government either makes such demands in regard to uneconomic lines +that the thing falls through or a veto is put upon the amalgamation +altogether. + +Perhaps it is due to the excellence of the railways that the Argentine +high roads are so bad. And frankly, though I know most of the new lands +of the world, I know of no region where the country roads are so +villainous as in this Republic. Rarely are they anything beyond mother +earth. In wet weather they are quagmires, and I have seen vehicles +stranded, unable to be hauled by a team of five horses. In summer, when +rain is absent, they are foot-deep furrows of dust. I shall never forget +a motor excursion through the sugar plantations round about Tucuman. The +way was like a magnified ploughed field, and all the ridges were of +dust. We drove through it as an engine drives through snow. + +All railway material comes in duty free, but one of the conditions is +that 3 per cent. of the profits shall be used for the making of roads +leading to railway stations. The companies do not object, because the +call is not large, and it is to their interest that agriculturists +should be able to get their produce to the railway station to be +transported over the lines. + +The Direccion-General de Ferrocarriles is the authority over the +railways in Argentina. It decides the number of trains which shall be +run, and it insists on the number of coaches. There must be a certain +number of dormitory cars on all-night trains, and restaurant cars are +obligatory over certain distances. Every train carries a letter-box, and +recently the companies have been squeezed into carrying the mails for +nothing. A medicine chest, a stretcher, a bicycle--so that quick +communication can be made with the nearest station in case of +accident--and all sorts of necessities in case of a breakdown are +compulsory. Every carriage is thoroughly disinfected every month, and +there is always a card to be initialled by an inspector. All bedding and +mattresses are subject to scientific disinfection such as I have seen +nowhere in Europe. + +No time-tables can be altered without the sanction of the National +Railway Board at least two months before coming into operation. If +trains stop at stations for which they are not scheduled a heavy fine is +imposed; and all late trains, and the reason, have to be reported to the +Government authority. No alteration, however small, to a station +building or to the design of rolling stock is permissible without the +sanction of the Government representatives. A complaint book is at every +station, open to anyone to complain on any subject. Guards also keep a +book. Many of the complaints are amusing. I heard of one man who +insisted on writing in the complaint book that "everything was in +perfect order and the staff faultless." Occasionally passengers will +have a dispute, and whilst one will find fault in the complaint book +with the manners of the train attendants, another will write beneath +that the attendants are all right, and it is the complainant's manners +which are at fault. + +There are the usual buffers in front of an engine; but they are all +hinged, and have to be hoisted backwards when a train is travelling, +because if an animal were run into, the cow-catcher might not be able to +throw the beast aside, for it could be caught between the catcher and +the protruding buffer. Though, on the face of it, the Government +subjects the companies to innumerable restrictions, and frequently +imposes vexatious regulations, it must be recognised that public safety +is the thought behind them all. + +[Illustration: LATEST TYPE OF PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE.] + +[Illustration: LATEST TYPE OF DINING CAR.] + +The Republic lives by its exports of meat and agricultural produce. +Ninety-five per cent. of this trade is carried to the ports by the +railways. From the railroad cars one beholds productiveness; yet fifteen +or twenty miles away lies land just as productive but as yet untouched +by the plough, because there is neither sufficient population to +cultivate nor railways to carry. Within the next dozen years there must +inevitably be a further spurt in the making of feeding or auxiliary +lines. Something like £20,000,000 a year is crossing the ocean for fresh +railway enterprises in Argentina. Nearly 40,000,000 tons of goods are +carried over the lines each year, and the receipts are something like +£25,000,000 annually. And yet but a fragment of the harvest of this new +land is being garnered. Its untrodden millions of acres await new +railways to open up the country. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SETTLEMENT ON THE LAND + + +Prolific though Argentina is, and though its agricultural wealth has +only been scratched, it cannot be described as an ideal country for the +poor immigrant. The eyes of the land have been well picked, and there +are rich personal estates covering one hundred and fifty square miles. + +There is little disposition to voluntary splitting up of estates, but +rather to hold whilst annually the value increases with the coming of +people and the advancement of railways. The Government is doing +something to assist the small man with limited capital to settle on +distant Government lands. But the poor immigrant, with nothing but his +muscle and his industry, has a long and rough road to travel before he +reaches independence as a landed proprietor. It is a hard land in which +to start making a fortune; but the man of money who can step into the +Republic, say, with £25,000 to play with, and who invests judiciously, +can double his capital in three years. + +Whilst the old Argentines, those of Spanish descent, have waxed wealthy +simply by sitting still and letting the foreigner develop their +property, there are British Argentine families whose estates, if +realised, would produce double-figured millions, and whose proprietors +landed as labourers less than fifty years ago. Money has come to lots of +these people, shrewd and lucky, as though they held the key to a cave of +jewels. Some have remained modest in spite of possessions; others look +upon gold as the only god, and their blatant display at Mar del Plata, +and on the steamers of the Royal Mail Company, is something which would +make the conduct of the new rich of Chicago Quakerish by comparison. + +The cry of Argentina, like that of all new lands, is for population. +Over 300,000 fresh arrivals land annually from all corners of the earth, +Russia, Syria, France, Germany, and England, but mainly from Spain and +Italy. Whilst the Spaniard comes to stay, there is a considerable ebb +and flow amongst the Italians, thousands coming out for the harvest when +wages are high, and making sufficient to return for the rest of the +year; then they return for the next harvest. Allowing for the ebb, +Argentina gets a solid increase in population by immigration of over +250,000 persons a year, and there are no assisted passages and no offers +of free land. + +At each of the ports are Government hotels for immigrants. That at +Buenos Aires accommodates a thousand people. The new arrival, instead of +being distraught at landing in a strange country, or possibly falling a +prey to its sharks, is housed and fed for five days as the guest of his +new country. Careful inquiry is made as to capabilities, and, as there +is a never-satisfied demand from the interior for labourers, work is +certain, and officials see him and his baggage on the train, and an +official meets him at his destination and sees him firmly settled in his +fresh life. As work is assured, Argentina is a land where there are no +unemployed--except amongst the dissolute, who are to be found in all +countries. I saw these immigrants on the _Avon_ gathered at Vigo, and I +saw them in distant provinces, and I was struck with their sturdiness +and health. I place on record that I never saw a drunken man during all +my wanderings in the Republic. Blessed with a fine climate, and the +winter so temperate that fires are not necessary, life is easy, and +there is no crushing into towns for work, as is usual in Canada during +the frozen months. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF GRAZING LANDS.] + +[Illustration: A DRINKING PLACE ON AN ESTANCIA.] + +Owing to such immense tracts being held by individual owners--many of +whom prefer the pleasures of Paris and Buenos Aires to living on the +land where the cereals are grown--most of the cultivation is done by +"colonists." The system varies in different parts of the country, but +the general procedure is much on these lines. In a little centre of +population, maybe a village, but important because those who live many +miles round are dependent upon it for supplies, is to be found a store +where most things can be bought, from a plough to a tin kettle. The +storekeeper enters into a contract with the owner of vast lands to +cultivate it, either on rent or on shares of the value of the produce. +This storekeeper is a middleman, often a sweater. Though I have no +doubt there are honourable exceptions, he is often a thief into the +bargain. He gets a "colonist" to take over a certain area and to +cultivate it on shares. The "colonist" has to build a mud house, and +sink a well, and he has to buy his plough and hire his horses, and +obtain all necessaries from the middleman, who can fix his own price. +When the wheat or the maize is gathered the only man to whom the +"colonist" can sell is the middleman, who has it very much in his own +hands to say what the price shall be, and he frequently furnishes the +ignorant "colonist" with false returns as to quantity. But even then he +keeps back what is owing on agricultural implements and loaned horses, +with the consequence that the poor fellow has very little--if +any--margin. It is not too much to say that the "colonists" are in the +grip of the middlemen, and it is with difficulty they are ever able to +break free. + +Of course, the middleman runs risk of little return if there is drought +and a bad harvest, and, on the other hand, when he proceeds to sell the +wheat he finds himself encompassed by a ring of four Jewish firms, who +control the wheat market of the Argentine. The whole practice is +vicious, and I cannot but think that before long the Government will +have to take the matter in hand. + +Admitting the exquisite climate, and the fertility of the soil, and +Nature's quick response to light work, the lives of these "colonists" in +the distant camp is sad. Men of the Basque country, the north of Spain, +the north of Italy, they come from the homeland, where means of +livelihood were sparse, to this new land, where, although the chances +are rather against them to secure independence, their material +well-being is certainly better than in the Old Country. But they are +ignorant people; they know nothing of, and so care nothing for, the +refinements of life; their houses are not much better than kraals. They +are removed by long distances from neighbours; they live on a +featureless plain, and have no communication with the outer world; they +cannot read, and books and newspapers are foreign to them. Their world +is fringed by the horizon. A visit to the wayside station, where, maybe, +one train a day passes, is their excitement. There are no schools and no +religious instruction. Their moral standard is low. + +Many of these "colonists" take to farming with a minimum of practical +knowledge. Yet, though I have just drawn a rueful picture, I would not +have it thought there are no illuminating spots. A valuable work is +being carried on in agricultural instruction. On several occasions I +came across specially-built railway cars in which lecturers travel all +over the Republic and freely give advice to the peons how to get most +out of the soil. During the last seven years (since 1907) the Government +has zealously appreciated the need for organising the agricultural +and live-stock instruction. The work is not to be compared with the +splendid agricultural colleges to be found all over the United +States. The significant thing, however, is that the people of the +Argentine--perfectly conscious of all the advantages of science, and +with most of its best sons educated in Europe--have taken hold of this +problem of how to train its population to get the best out of the soil. +So schools are being formed over the country where information can be +obtained about the special productivity of particular districts, about +the growing of grasses, the feeding and care of beasts, milk production, +sugar-growing, cheese-making, market-gardening, fruit-rearing, and in +far western Mendoza I came across a college that is making instructive +experiments in viticulture. + +Besides agricultural courses at the Universities, there is much done by +way of University extension lectures; but instead of lectures about +sea-power in the sixteenth century, or the relationship of Henry VIII. +to Rome, the lectures are on the breeding of cattle, the raising of +maize, the sowing of alfalfa. + +It was my fortune to meet many cultured and travelled Argentines, but, +summing the people in a lump, and excluding the viciousness which trails +behind the wealth of Buenos Aires, and also making allowance for the +lack of that virility and perseverance of those strong men who are +fighting the big battle in Canada, the thing which constantly confronted +me was the fact that here in South America was a nation, born yesterday, +thoroughly alive to the worth of its possessions, brusquely modern, +content with nothing but the latest appliances and machinery and +thoroughly determined that, in the contest amongst the widespread +agricultural lands to supply food to the millions in crowded Europe, +Argentina will not be satisfied with an inferior position. + +In a subsequent chapter I will deal with what has already been +accomplished in this field. Here, however, I limit myself to pointing +out that Argentina is increasing her capabilities with a purely +practical education. Men who can neither read nor write, but have come +under the influence of these itinerant schools, can talk with scientific +knowledge about their trade of food producing, be it meat or cereals. + +Now another step is being made, and I trust with happy results in view +of the unfortunate position of the "colonists." So successful has been +the agricultural instruction during the past half dozen years, that the +next thing is to develop the commercial spirit so that the farmer may +have some chance of getting a fair return for his labour. Free lectures +are given on the business side of agriculture. Then, attached to the +schools are special buildings for experiments; and boarded pupils, the +sons of men who understand the money value of knowledge, are given a +thorough training. So that all may benefit there are free scholarships, +and I found that preference is given to competitors who come from +districts, suitable for a special industry, where schools have not yet +been established. + +Anyone who visits the school for viticulture in Mendoza, for agriculture +and live stock in Cordoba, and for arboriculture and sugar-making in +Tucuman--and I saw all three--comes away nothing less than amazed at the +way these transplanted Latins, away south of the Equator and across six +thousand miles of ocean, are making headway--and the start only begun a +few years ago. There is the real spirit of enthusiasm combined with an +optimism which to a man from a staid old country seems exaggerated +until, seeing what has been done, imagination is allowed to jump freely +into the future. At Mendoza, nestling at the foot of the Andes and +reminiscent of a town in Tuscany, where the whole countryside is covered +with vineyards and wine is being made to supply millions of wine +drinkers in the country--for the Argentine peasant takes wine with his +breakfast--experiments are made with the best known vines from Europe on +a farm of sixty-seven acres, so that grapes suitable to the soil may be +matured. At Cordoba the school has 445 acres, and investigation is made +to secure earlier and higher yields, and with special attention to +obtaining varieties which have powers of resisting drought. The same +sort of thing goes on at Tucuman. The sugar industry is increasing at +astonishing speed. Many men with scant practical knowledge are attracted +to it. The school gives them instruction and will send members of the +technical staff to the sugar factories and distilleries to give +assistance. Facts like these argue that Argentina is a country really to +be reckoned with, and is not to be dismissed--as I have heard it +dismissed in England, even amongst those who consider themselves +educated--as a rubbishy South American Republic, whose only crop is +revolutions. + +All over the Republic "regional schools" are being set up to provide +instruction, not in general agricultural subjects, but in regard to the +special requirements of the locality--for Argentina varies in climate +from tropical in the north to stern cold in the south; dairying, with a +model dairy, at Belle Ville; fruit culture at San Juan; forestry in the +Benitz colony. A scheme has been devised to equip Argentina with +agricultural knowledge by means of courses for children and adults, +travelling lecturers, information bureaus, co-operative experiments, +regional shows, encouragement of agricultural societies, organisation of +regional agricultural experts and military farms. Further, the National +Government have done an enormous service in providing irrigation works +in regions where the rainfall is uncertain. + +It has to be admitted that some areas are subject to drought, and this +and other evils have to be taken into consideration when reviewing the +agricultural growth of a country like Argentina, which lives by its +produce, and which in 1912 exported £36,000,000 worth of live-stock +products and £53,000,000 worth of agricultural products. Given good +years, the _estanciero_ in average country makes 30 per cent. on the +year. He can afford to have one bad year in three and yet be prosperous. +But although districts suffer, the area of the country is so vast that +losses are swamped in general prosperity. + +[Illustration: The irons are heated by fire made of bones of dead +cattle.] + +[Illustration: + Putting cattle through the chute. + BRANDING CALVES ON AN ESTANCIA.] + +As the older countries of the world concern themselves with national +defence, Argentina has established a Department of Agricultural Defence, +chiefly to fight the plague of locusts, which can eat out a whole +district in a single night. I recall in Cordoba Province seeing in the +distance what looked like a cloud of smoke. It was a storm of locusts, +so dense as it passed that midday was reduced to twilight. The locust +blights the land--it is the enemy. The locust is the thing which makes +the farmer shudder. When it comes it not only devours every blade of +grass within miles, but it lays its eggs in untold millions. The pest +has to be destroyed. The Government readily assists localities to +destroy the ova. The route of the swarms from the tropical north is +known. The telegraph tells of the progress. When they land, the +countryside turns out and catches them by the cartload. Sometimes the +district in which they have settled is fired. The whole zone where eggs +have been planted is ploughed. Animals are driven forth to trample the +pest. The Government has in its possession over 20,000,000 yards of +metallic barriers to make a line of defence, and when a swarm is penned +it is suffocated, burnt, or trampled. The Government not only has its +inspectors out, is ever ready to meet and repel the locust invasion from +Brazil and Bolivia with suitable appliances, but gives financial +assistance to those who help in the extermination. The Argentines are +determined to stop this pest. The way they are setting about the work +is evidence of their earnestness. + +The point I specially desire to make, however, is that farming in +Argentina is not all casual, but is becoming a developed national +industry. There are many things to criticise about the Government; there +is maladministration and there is peculation. But that so much has been +accomplished, notwithstanding these drawbacks, accentuates the wonders +of progress. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ARGENTINA'S PART IN FEEDING THE WORLD + + +It is well to mark that of the British food supply from overseas +Argentina provides one quarter. Each person in the Republic, after +providing enough food to supply himself, sends at least £8 worth of food +to other countries. + +Argentina covers 776 million acres. Eighty million acres are suitable +for wheat, but only one-fourth of this area is cultivated. The +population is growing rapidly; it is now over seven millions, and is +being increased by about a quarter of a million immigrants every year; +but still the cry is for more inhabitants. + +At present there are six persons to the square mile; but when you +remember that the province of Buenos Aires has a population of two and a +half millions, you find the population for the outside areas is just +under two per square mile. + +Three-quarters of the population are Argentines; everyone born in the +country, no matter from what land the parents come, is reckoned an +Argentine. Of the new-comers half a million are Italian, a quarter +million Spanish, a tenth of a million French; then come the British, +numbering 25,000; Germans 18,000; Swiss 15,000; Austrians 13,000, and +so on, decreasingly. North Americans are few, though within recent +years much United States capital has quietly taken hold of certain +industries. Argentina is capable of carrying a population of fifty +millions, and it will secure them within the next half-century. In race, +language, customs, religion, it is especially favourable to folk from +the thronged Latin countries of Europe. + +Every settler becomes a violent Argentine. The emphatic patriotism of +the American is tepid alongside the hot-blooded nationality of +Argentina. It is daily inculcated in the schools. The blue and white +striped flag is honoured on every occasion. You are poetically reminded +it is of the blue of the sky. When the Argentines were in revolution +against Spain in 1810, and needed a banner to flaunt against the red and +orange of the enemy, they got pieces of blue and white cloth (intended +for garments) from an English warship lying at Montevideo, and made a +flag of it. So the Argentine flag, like much of Argentine prosperity, is +due to Britain. + +In proportion to the population there are as many millionaires in +Argentina as in the United States. There are sturdy old fellows, who can +hardly write their names, who scarcely know the extent of their wealth. +Fifty years ago an Irish labourer landed in the country. He died the +other day worth over £4,000,000. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by A. W. Boote & Co., Buenos Aires._ + A GROUP OF GAUCHOS. ] + +It is none of my business to boom land values in Argentina. Though the +tendency of late has been a little too buoyant, I know of no land where +there have been such enormous heaves in values, not fictitiously +hoisted, but legitimate on development of commerce, as in this Republic. +In 1885 you could buy land in the centre of Buenos Aires at 2s. 6d. a +square yard. Now you must pay £200 a yard. A suburban plot of 60 by 20 +yards, which you could have got twelve years ago for £5, will cost £150. +Fine camp land--the "camp" is the Argentine name for farming +districts--which could be got for a song a quarter of a century ago will +now fetch £100,000 the square league (three miles). I know a plot of +land at Rosario which has jumped in value from £2,000 to £40,000 in +twenty years. + +It is easy to understand how Argentine millionaires are made. In the +wars with neighbouring Republics Argentine officers were given tracts of +country in lieu of pay: of small value then, but their descendants are +fabulously wealthy. The careful Briton who came out when railways were +beginning to speed through the country, and acted shrewdly, got land for +next to nothing which will bring a better price per acre than land in +the home counties. I am writing this in mid-Atlantic on my way home, and +each morning on deck I exchange a bow with an old lady who owns 180 +square miles of the finest agricultural land in the province of Buenos +Aires. + +In a previous chapter my pen was somewhat free about the ostentation of +the Argentine. But the display of wealth is frequently put to a good +purpose. When a fabulous price is paid for a Derby winner it is an +Argentine who has found the money. Argentina has a fine breed of +horses. As the cattle industry is so important, the best stock is +purchased at home. I went to the agricultural show in September, 1913. +All the judges had been brought out from England, partly because good +judging was needed, but chiefly, I fear, because the Argentines cannot +trust each other to give unbiassed decisions. The show was finer housed +than any royal show in England, and the quality of the exhibits was +quite on a level with anything we can produce. The prize bull, Argentine +bred, was sold by auction for over £7,000. Admitted this was a fancy +price due to the rivalry of breeders to have the best and to boast about +it. A thousand pounds has been paid by a meat company for a Hereford +bull to kill; but this may be ascribed to advertisement. + +The _estancias_--ranches or stations--are frequently enormous in extent, +as wide as an English county, and are managed as well as any great +estates in Australia, Canada, or New Zealand. There are the usual show +places, maintained by Anglo-Argentines, where the immediate grounds are +laid out like an English park, the farm buildings all on the model plan, +and the animals of the best stock, whilst a successful endeavour is made +toward converting the house into something palatial. Though some +_estancias_ are far inland, and distant from a railway line, life is far +more enjoyable than might be thought. The rich _estanciero_, however, +spends little of his time on his land. He is too often an absentee +landlord. He has tasted the joys of Europe; besides, his wife and +daughters are inclined to prefer Buenos Aires to life in the camp, +however healthy. The place is usually run by a manager. Then there are +sub-managers, often young Englishmen who have heard of the fortunes to +be made; next there are the peons, Spaniards and Italians, who do the +meaner work. Life in the camp is arduous. Men are out at dawn, rounding +up cattle, giving an eye to the "colonists," attending to fencing, +driving beasts to the railway station to be transferred to the +"freezers," and it is sundown when the work is over and men go to their +quarters. It is a strenuous life, and the employees have little of the +pleasures of civilisation. + +Within the last ten years the export value of live stock products has +increased from £23,000,000 to £36,000,000, and agricultural products +from £21,000,000 to £53,000,000. Since 1896 the area under cultivation +has grown from 13 million acres to nearly 50 million acres. Of Argentine +cereals the United Kingdom imported 1,654,000 tons. There are 30 million +cattle in the Republic and 80 million sheep. The breeding of sheep is +not what it was, because the Argentine finds he can get a better return +from cattle and cereals. So, whilst the value of exported mutton remains +very much what it was ten years ago (about £1,250,000), the value of the +exported chilled and frozen beef has risen from £1,500,000 to over +£6,000,000 a year. + +At the ports are big slaughtering establishments, some belonging to +Argentine companies, and others to American companies. A bitter feud is +being waged to capture the chilled and frozen meat trade, especially in +the English market. As England is only three weeks' distance, meat that +is only chilled has an enormous advantage over meat from more distant +countries which must be frozen. The fact is denied, but it may be taken +as certain that there is a big combination of Chicago houses +endeavouring to squeeze their competitors out of business--and they seem +in a fair way to succeed. The Argentine public are showing fright, and +there have been frantic appeals to Congress that steps be taken to check +the creation of a trust. Also it is hoped that England may take action. +But the authorities in both countries decline to do anything. The +Chicago firms have a long purse and are damaging their rivals at both +ends, first by paying Argentine cattle breeders unprecedented prices for +beasts, and then by selling the meat below cost price in the Smithfield +market. Of course, in reply to what is happening, one hears the +statement, "Why grumble, when the Argentine cattle dealer gets a high +price for his beasts, the London consumer gets cheap meat, and the +Chicago firms pay the difference?" That is true. But it does not need +much business foresight to understand that when the Anglo-Argentine +companies are bankrupt the Chicago trust, having the game in their own +hands, will pay their own price for cattle and lift the price of meat in +London. Meanwhile, the Argentine _estanciero_ is quite happy, and is +willing to let the future take care of itself. One thing, however, may +safely be prophesied. The Argentine Government has a drastic way of +doing things. If the expected happens, and the Chicago houses secure the +meat industry and begin to force down prices for cattle, there will not +be the slightest hesitation in passing a law which will make things +uncomfortable for the trust. + +With the care taken in breeding, always striving after improving the +strain of the stock, Argentina, with its millions of acres of pasturage, +is determined not to slacken the stride of its improving meat trade. The +best lands are given to wheat, maize, oats; but the use of alfalfa has +meant an amazing expansion of productivity, for this nutritious plant, a +kind of sanfoil, will grow abundantly on land that is little good for +other purposes. Areas at which the agriculturist was inclined to shrug +his shoulders as barren prosper under alfalfa, the best of feeding +stuffs, and several crops can be got in a year. Two acres will carry a +beast. Alfalfa grown for fodder gives a hundred per cent. profit. +Alfalfa, whilst drawing nitrogen from the ground, attracts nitrogen from +the air. One ton of alfalfa contains 50 lb. of nitrogen. Three tons of +alfalfa has as much nitrogen as two tons of wheat. It is easy to grow, +and cattle fatten on it abundantly. The alfalfa of Argentina means more +to the prosperity of the country than rich gold mines. As there is no +winter, as we understand it, the cattle are left out all the year, and +there is no stalling or hand feeding. + +Cattle disease is more prevalent than with us. This is partly due to +carelessness, but chiefly to the herds being so large that the scourge +becomes virulent before it is noticed. Then, as I have indicated, there +is the danger of drought and the dread of locusts. Further, so much of +the cereal growing being in the hands of "colonists," too often anything +but expert farmers, the yield is by no means what it would be if the +farming were in more skilled hands. So, whilst the average yield of +wheat in Great Britain is thirty-one bushels to the acre; in Argentina +it is only eleven bushels. But manuring is unknown in the Republic. + +Yet, keeping one's eyes open to all the disadvantages, one cannot go +through the country and see its fecundity, go into the killing houses at +La Plata and Buenos Aires, watch the ocean liners, with the Union Jack +dangling over their stern, being loaded with many sides of beef, visit +the grain elevators at the ports of Bahia Blanca and Rosario pouring +streams of wheat destined for European consumption into the holds of +liners, without the imagination being stimulated when standing on the +threshold of this new land's possibilities. + +Already Argentina holds first place in the quantity of exported frozen +meat. It was in 1877 that the Republic led the way in exporting such +meat to Europe. It was not till 1885, however, that the business of +freezing was definitely established. To-day £11,000,000 is invested in +"freezing works." And millions of cattle and sheep are slaughtered for +foreign consumption. There seems to be something of a race at present +between live stock products and agricultural products which shall hold +first place in value of exports. The ports of Argentina, with a capacity +for 45 million tons, are ever busy. Yet they are only in infancy. + +Like all new lands, where enterprise and optimism frequently leap beyond +rigid economies, Argentina has its heaves and falls. We know of the +hundreds of millions of foreign capital invested. People do not go to +Argentina for the beauty of the scenery. They go for money-making. Often +when I came across some evidence of Latin sluggishness, saw what had not +been done, what might have been done, and then remembered what, +nevertheless, had been done, I found myself exclaiming: "Oh, that this +land were a British colony!" + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT + + +New countries, in planning their system of government, have advantages +over old lands steeped in tradition and hampered by precedent. They can +profit by the mistakes of the older countries, and can, more or less, +start with a clean slate. As men past middle age are disposed to think +the young fellows of the present day headstrong, lacking in ballast, it +is all in the nature of things that the older countries should look with +a somewhat critical eye upon the experiments in government made by +youngsters amongst the nations. So it is instructive to look at the +system of law and administration in the Republic. + +The head of authority, in which the executive power of the nation is +vested, is the President. He must be an Argentine, a Roman Catholic, and +being elected for six years can never be elected again. This is a +provision to prevent a Dictatorship. The President for the time being is +head of the Army and Navy; he nominates the judges, selects bishops, +appoints diplomatic representatives to other nations, and all the +secretaries of State are chosen by him. There are two Houses, the Senate +and the Chamber of Deputies; but a Minister can be neither a senator +nor a deputy. He can attend debates, speak and defend himself from +criticism, but he is beyond the power of either House. If he likes, he +need appear only once a year in Congress to make an annual report about +the working of his Department. So he is removed from the constant +cross-examination which is the fate of Ministers in the British Houses +of Parliament. + +The Senate consists of thirty members, two from the capital and two from +each province. Those sent from Buenos Aires are elected by certain high +franchised electors, and those from outside are nominated by the +provincial legislatures. A senator must be thirty years of age, must +have been a citizen of the Republic for at least six years, and have a +personal income of £160 a year. A senator is elected for nine years, and +can offer himself for re-election. But every three years ten senators of +the thirty, decided by ballot, must retire, though they can be +re-chosen. No "carpet-bagging" is allowed. A senator must either be a +native of his province or have lived in it for at least two years before +his election. The provinces vary considerably in population, but they +have equal voice in the Senate. Thus it is a body which may be said to +represent localities rather than individuals. + +The Chamber of Deputies, however, is chosen direct by the people. There +is one deputy for every thirty-three thousand inhabitants. No man can +become a candidate unless he is twenty-five years of age, has been a +citizen at least four years, born in the province, or lived in it for +two years. Thus there is never anything in the nature of a general +election, but there is a constant movement going on to secure the proper +representation of the people. + +Both senators and deputies receive a salary of £1,500 a year, so they +are the best-paid legislators in the world. Both Chambers meet on May +1st and adjourn on September 30th. Only the Chamber of Deputies can have +a voice in taxation. As I have shown in the preceding chapter, the +Argentine Government--which, like all Governments, is open to +criticism--has done a great deal in advancing legislation for the solid +benefit of the country. There cannot be said to be government on party +principles, but the Government is maintained by the followers of +particular men. Politicians in Argentina, as elsewhere, have their +enemies, and when a man has been elected to Congress he sometimes dare +not attend, for that would mean leaving the constituency, and there +would always be some rival busy sapping his influence. I was in Buenos +Aires toward the close of the session. Day after day the House met, but +nothing could be done, for no quorum could be obtained. Public business +was at a standstill. It was proposed the President should employ the +police to search Buenos Aires, arrest legislators, haul them along, and +thus "make a House" with locked doors, so that business could be +proceeded with. Everybody was crying out against the scandal of +Congressmen drawing such large salaries and doing nothing to earn them. +But nothing was done. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by H. G. Olds, Buenos Aires._ + THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. ] + +Besides the excellent remuneration for not attending to business, the +Argentine politician has the advantage of getting jobs for all his +relatives. The majority of Government employees are the relatives of +politicians. There are true and honourable men in political life, but, +so far as I could gather, most men take to politics in Argentina because +they can do their families a good turn. The only group that is cohesive +is that of the Socialists. Socialist deputies are on the increase. +Nearly all the freshly arrived immigrants, Spanish and Italian, when +they get their naturalisation papers after a residence of two years, +vote Socialist. + +Now, whilst everything which affects the Republic as a whole is decided +upon by the central Government, each province has its local government, +with governor, two Houses, and considerable power, quite independent of +the central executive. This is following the United States plan. The +principle of devolution is a good one, that districts should administer +their own affairs without interference by those who cannot know local +circumstances. But Argentina has frequently the same trouble that the +United States has, and similarly would like to get rid of. There are +differences in the provincial laws, so that what is allowed in one +province is prohibited in another, with the consequence that, though the +process of trade is not hampered, it is often irritated. + +Then the provincial Governments, sovereign in their own realm, sometimes +enact laws which the federal Government declares affect general +conditions in the Republic. They infringe the prerogative of the +central executive. Accordingly, the relationship between the central +Government and the local Governments is frequently strained. It is the +smaller provinces which cause the most trouble. Some of them have a +population that, all told, would not stock a fair-sized town. That, +however, does not diminish their sense of importance. They are +cock-a-hoop. They know what is for their good; they will pass what laws +they like; they are not going to be dictated to by those overpaid +fellows who go to Buenos Aires. The federal Government cannot use force, +and the provincial Governments snap their fingers. For instance, Mendoza +insists on printing her own paper money. It is quite clear, if serious +trouble is to be avoided, that the federal and provincial Governments +must meet in conference and draw up hard-and-fast rules dealing with +their respective powers and limitations. + +So far as the individual is concerned, the theory is liberty and +equality. The stranger has the same rights before the law as the +citizen. The State, however, interferes in the matter of property. A man +is not allowed, as in England, to leave his possessions to whom he +likes. A father must leave his wife and children four-fifths of his +property; a husband, if there are no children, must let half his +belongings go to his wife; an unmarried son is obliged to leave his +parents two-thirds of his property. Only the man without parents, wife, +or children can dispose of his property by testament. + +There is no obligation upon a foreigner resident in the country to +become a citizen before he can start a trade or own estate. Two years' +residence is the qualifying period to become a citizen of the Republic. +If you enter the public service you can become a citizen earlier. If you +marry an Argentine woman you can become a citizen right away. Every +child born in Argentina, even though its parents be British and on a +fortnight's visit, and have no desire to change their nationality, is +counted an Argentine. Thus there are lots of residents with a dual +nationality, Argentine in the Republic, but British in any other part of +the world. + +Though the Roman Catholic faith is that of the State, and other faiths +are not restricted, the average Argentine pays little attention to +religion. He likes his wife to go to church because it does her good. +Education comprises three divisions: primary, secondary, and higher. The +former is free, secular, and compulsory for children between six and +fourteen years. If religious instruction is to be given it is only for +those children who voluntarily remain after school hours on certain +days. Public schools are scattered all over the Republic--though there +are extensive districts where the population is thin where there is no +instruction, and thousands of children grow up illiterate--and are +subsidised by both the national and provincial Governments. Also there +are primary schools for grown-ups, men whose education has been +neglected, and who want to learn reading, writing, arithmetic, and +elementary history and geography. This teaching is given during the day +or evening, and is free. + +Secondary education for pupils over fourteen years is neither compulsory +nor free, though the fees only amount to 8s. 9d. a year. This secondary +instruction, quite as wide in range as elsewhere, is given in national +schools, of which there are five in Buenos Aires and one in each of the +capitals of the provinces, and normal schools, which are twenty-eight in +number, three in Buenos Aires and the remainder in the provinces. Five +years is about the length of tuition at these schools. Then the students +can enter one or other of the faculties which form the university. There +are three universities in Argentina; the oldest is in Cordoba, and the +others are in Buenos Aires and La Plata. To qualify in either of these +universities for the practice of medicine, law, or engineering, a +seven-years' course is required for the former and a six-years' course +for the two latter. Minor terms of special study are required for +qualification as a chemist, accoucheur, dental surgeon, surveyor, or +architect. In order to obtain the degree of doctor in physical sciences +further studies are required outside those of the faculties. The +university council cannot grant a qualification for a notary public, +which must be acquired before the Supreme Court of the particular +province in which the applicant seeks permission to practise. + +[Illustration: THE KINDERGARTEN AT MENDOZA.] + +Primary education in the capital and national territories is under the +National Ministry of Education. In the provinces it is under the control +of the Provincial Council of Education, who receive subventions from the +national exchequer as occasion may require. The intuitive method is +employed exclusively, and the whole system is modelled on that of the +United States. As a rule, Spanish children learn Italian from their +classmates, and vice versa. In the elementary higher standards, boys +learn manual labour and French, and girls learn French and domestic +duties. The schools are well built, well ventilated, the rooms are airy, +each child has a separate desk, there is a medical visit every day, and +where schools are within reach they are fairly well attended. But only +42 per cent. of the children in the Republic who ought to go to school +do so. The low attendance may be put down to the great distances which +separate the children's homes from the schools in the country districts. +Very general complaints are heard in the villages of the manner in which +the schools are conducted, and the small amount of knowledge acquired in +spite of the flattering picture presented by the education authorities. + +Considerable attention is paid to technical education, which is largely +encouraged throughout the country by means of schools and training +colleges maintained at the expense of the nation. Prominent among these +institutions stands the National School of Commerce, which trains and +prepares mercantile experts, public accountants, and sworn translators. +There are also commercial schools in Cordoba and Bahia Blanca. These +schools are attended by about a thousand pupils, who receive instruction +in commercial arithmetic, account and book-keeping, French, German, +etc. The schools are open to both sexes, and in them the pupils can +qualify for employment as book-keepers, accountants, clerks, etc. The +Industrial School has its own workshops for the teaching of trades. The +entrance conditions are similar to those for the national schools. +Thorough practical instruction is given to about four hundred pupils in +a number of subjects, including chemistry, mechanics, physics, optics, +electricity, architecture, practical carpentry, mechanical and +electrical engineering. The complete course lasts about six years, and +the school is said to have given very good results. There is a School of +Mines at San Juan, to which was added, by a decree dated April 20th, +1906, a section of chemical industry. There is an important agricultural +college known as the Agrarian and Veterinary School at Santa Catalina in +the immediate neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, and at Mendoza there is a +viticultural training school where the practical cultivation of the vine +is taught. Various other agricultural and horticultural schools are +being established by the Government, which also supports the National +School of Pilots, several conservatories of music, and a drawing school. + +There is a naval and military college, from which officers are chosen +for the navy and army, but they do not come under the Ministry of +Education. By order of the Ministry of War physical drill and rifle +shooting are taught in the two highest classes of all secondary schools, +these exercises being subject to the supervision of a military officer. +The Argentine Government has founded numerous scholarships, and sends +students to England, the United States, Italy, France, and Germany. It +will be seen that the plan of education is very complete; but it would +not appear to give such good results as might be anticipated, for it is +a very general complaint that there are no good schools in the country +districts. + +The attention of the public is frequently called in the newspapers to +the unsatisfactory condition of education, in spite of the large sums of +money spent upon it annually. It is shown how small is the attendance at +the primary schools compared with what it should be if the law was +properly obeyed, as would be the case were the results more +satisfactory. It is also asserted that the education in the secondary +schools is especially defective, and that certificates are issued to +university candidates without previous examination, and after merely +nominal questioning by inspectors. There are numerous foreign private +schools in the country, which all have to submit by law to Government +supervision.[A] + + [A] This information respecting education in Argentina is + extracted from a British Foreign Office memorandum. + +There is compulsory military service. The period of continuous training +does not exceed one year, and this only in the case of a proportion of +the annual contingent. The others are released after three months' +drill. With varying periods of training every Argentine from the age of +twenty to forty-five is liable to be called upon to defend his country. +Though years may pass without any call to attend military drill, every +man in the country must learn to shoot. + +Heavy duties are imposed on most manufactured articles imported, except +in the case of material directly beneficial to the development of the +country, such as machinery. Anything which helps in the progress of the +Republic has easy entry. So, though it means two years' residence to +become a naturalised citizen, anyone who establishes a new industry, or +introduces a useful invention, who has contracted to build railways or +establish a colony, or who is going to be a teacher in any branch of +education or industry, is admitted at once. All these regulations go to +show that, despite the perfectly legitimate criticisms which can be +made, there is sound common-sense and foresight in the minds of the +governing classes. + +Everyone in any business or profession must pay an annual licence, and +these vary from five to sixty thousand dollars. The latter sum is paid +by banks. Money-lenders have to pay from five to seven thousand dollars, +whilst in some provinces the _patente_ varies from three to six hundred +dollars a year. The postal and telegraph services are under the control +of the Ministry of the Interior. Most of the taxation is indirect. +Though the tariffs imposed on manufactured articles coming into the +country are high--except in the case of specified articles, which are +counted as beneficial for the development of the country--and +consequently one is disposed to gasp at the price of things compared +with Europe, it is not to be forgotten that the direct taxation is not +so high as in Europe. I heard it asserted that the reason there are high +tariffs is to stimulate manufacture in Argentina. If so, the result has +not been markedly apparent. The effect might have been so if the mass of +the immigrants into Argentina came from manufacturing countries, like +Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, or the United States. That is +not so, and one of the hindering checks has been the language. The crowd +has come from Italy and Spain, mostly unskilled labourers or men whose +knowledge is limited to the land. + +Argentina has no coal--and that will always handicap her if she enters +the field as a manufacturing nation. The climate being what it is, there +is no need of coal for heating purposes. A fire-place is a rare sight. +But the importation of coal is a heavy charge on the working of railways +and on shipping. Syndicates are now endeavouring to introduce oil as +fuel. Oil has been found in the country, but as yet not in sufficient +quantity to make it an important addition to the products of the +Republic. So I see small prospect of Argentina's ever becoming a +manufacturing country in the modern meaning of the phrase. Blest as she +is in innumerable respects, she could not be worse placed if she had any +such desire. She cannot produce cheaper, because most of her raw +material, including coal, must be imported, and heavy freights would +handicap economic production. Take the case of two raw materials +which she has in abundance, leather and wool. There are shoe factories, +but the quality can in no way compete with that of the importations. +Only the rougher kind of boots are made. There is some woollen +manufacturing, but the material produced is crude, except in a few +cases. Besides, the rush of immigrants is to the land, and not into +workshops. The men who are skilled artizans are few. Therefore, although +here and there you get local manufacturers who can hold their own in the +markets, it may be said that in general the articles imported are better +and cheaper, notwithstanding the tariff. However, as I will show in a +later chapter, there is room for industrial development within a defined +range. + +Then there are the constant labour disputes in the towns. Running along +with the prosperity of the country is the trouble of repeated strikes +amongst the workers. It is not my province to go into the merits of the +respective disputes. But they have been so recurrent, and have so much +hampered trade, that the Government has taken the most drastic measures +by laying hands on the chiefs of trade unions when grievances are +fomented and strikes threatened. + +Although the number of the strings of commerce which are in the hands of +Englishmen is gratifying, it would have been strange if I had not heard +the usual complaint that the Germans are edging in, and that, if care is +not taken, the British will be ousted from their pre-eminence. It was +the old story that British merchants are too conservative, and do not +pay sufficient heed to the personal likings of Argentine customers. It +is true I saw lots of German goods. They were cheaper and not of the +same quality as those of British make. Further, German houses give much +longer credit than do their British rivals. Another cause of complaint +is that in business disputes the long-drawn-out law's delay, and the +obstacles in the path of the foreigner seeking redress, mean that +justice is not always secured. + +It is not to be denied that, although the returns are excellent, Britain +does not retain the same proportion of the import trade which she had a +few years ago. There is no disputing the superiority of the British +article; but German and French merchants having a market to secure are +more accommodating to their customers, whilst in regard to agricultural +implements the United States makers are pushing their hardest. Their +machines are more showy than the English. It seems a small point, and +yet I have thought it would be well if our British manufacturers would +not only turn out a serviceable tool, but bear in mind the temperament +of the people who are to be the buyers. Put two threshing machines in a +Buenos Aires warehouse, that from Britain painted grey, and that from +the United States painted red; the Latin Argentine is naturally +attracted to the red, even though its merits be inferior. Hundreds of +millions sterling are to be expended in public works during the ensuing +few years, and British contractors should be awake to the +possibilities. Belgian contractors have already been in the field, but +their work has not always been "up to sample," so that the present +opportunity is considerable. + +Old residents directed my attention to a great change which is taking +place in the import houses of Buenos Aires. Until a few years back it +could be said that the British were first and the rest nowhere. British +capital has flowed abundantly into the country, but toward developing +its natural resources rather than in trade. Now German houses have a +strong footing in "B.A.," and, naturally enough, they are encouraging +the products of their own land. Go into a German house, and it is German +wares that are for sale. Go into a British house, and you find United +States and German wares as well as English being offered. I was +seriously convinced, whilst studying the trend of trade in Argentina, +that it is absolutely necessary that the managing heads of English firms +who have dealings with South America, and find they are not getting that +share of the increased trade which the growth of the country warrants, +should make periodic visits to Argentina to learn for themselves what is +the matter. + +If there is one complaint to be made against the Englishman trading with +a foreign land, it is his lack of adaptability. So long as he had the +manufacturing of the world in his own hands, he could do as he liked. +The thing he made was good, and it was the only thing. Now he has keen +competitors, and the customer has a varied choice. The Englishman +has to consider whether it is worth his while to give the exaggerated +credit which manufacturers elsewhere are prepared to give if they can +secure the orders. The Argentine likes long credit. Then, is he prepared +to make an inferior, showy article at a cheap price? These are two +considerations which count enormously with the Argentine. You can +purchase the best Sheffield cutlery in the best shops, for it is what +the better-to-do people insist on having. But there are millions of +people in the Republic who have never heard of Sheffield, and, +therefore, know nothing about its reputation. What they want is cheap +knives. Sheffield firms do not make these, and the consequence is the +majority of the people have rubbish from elsewhere. I am not advocating +that the British manufacturer should drop making the things which have +won for him and his country a worthy reputation. I am pointing out some +of the things which must be well thought about if Britain is going to +keep its pre-eminence in the financial value of the goods imported into +Argentine. + +Further, an Argentine when he orders anything wants it at once. Quick +delivery is an essential. Finally, all catalogues should be in Spanish, +and all prices in Argentine currency. No man who goes out to "chase up +business" in securing orders should be without a knowledge of Spanish. +Talking through an interpreter is no good. The personal touch is lost. +Spanish is a language much neglected in England. I can think of no more +profitable investment for a young fellow of parts, wanting to enter +commercial life, and without means to go into business as a principal, +than thoroughly to master Spanish. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COUNTRY + + +It is well to get a bold, broad idea of the country. It covers 2,000,000 +square miles. England is just about one-tenth that size. It is double +the size of Mexico. + +In the far north you are in the torrid tropics. In the far south you +need a heavy coat, even in high summer-time. Its conditions may, +therefore, be described as variable. No other country can give you such +change. + +The 20,000 miles of railway run through most of the flat fertile areas, +and the ordinary traveller comes away with the idea it is one of the +most level, featureless countries he has ever been in. The old settlers +had the same idea, for their description _pampa_ applied to a boundless +stretch. You can journey for hundreds of miles and never see a tree. But +up in the north, under the shadow of Brazil, are great forests which +will be made useful to the world one of these days. Then you get the +backbone of the continent in the west, the Andes with Aconcagua rising +to 23,000 feet above sea level. In the middle land is the fruitful +Argentine Mesapotamia. In the far south is the last word of desolation, +the Patagonian wilderness. + +Argentina has several navigable rivers, and two, the Plate and the +Parana, up which it is possible, for light draft steamers, at any rate, +to go hundreds of miles. If one pretends there is no Amazon in existence +the Plate discharges more water into the ocean than any river from +Hudson's Bay to the Magellan Straits. A learned book informs me that the +volume of water rolled into the ocean is 2,150,000 cubic feet per +second, which seems "prodigious." At Monte Video the width of the river +is sixty-two miles; so it is no trifling creek. The Plate is the +muddiest stream I have ever come across. This is not to be wondered at, +considering that it and its tributaries scour many thousands of miles. +As a matter of fact, the estuary is being filled up. Within knowledge, +the depth opposite Monte Video has lessened by fifteen feet, and though +dredgers are constantly at work, big liners moving up to Buenos Aires +have sometimes to force a way through two feet of mud. It is quite +likely that in the fullness of time Buenos Aires will not be a port, but +an inland town. + +Sometimes Argentina has floods which ruin the crops, drown thousands of +cattle, break the railway banks, and reduce strong men, who thought they +were rich, to tears at the prospect of poverty. Or there are droughts +which shrivel everything up. Away back in the 'thirties, Buenos Aires +Province had a drought which lasted for five years. Scientists, who know +all about these things, say that the rainless zones are extending, and +that in the far future the whole Republic will be a rainless zone, and +umbrella sellers will go into the bankruptcy court. The prospect is not +immediate, and if we are wise we shall not worry over a trouble which +may have to be faced five hundred years hence. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by J. W. Boote & Co., Buenos Aires._ + OX-CARTS IN THE ARGENTINE. + The long pole in the man's hand is an ox-goad.] + +Considering you can get a sweep of level country for 2,000 miles, with +scarcely a hill that would make a decent bunker, when a gale gets on the +rampage it runs away with itself. There is the _zonda_, which so +disturbs the elements that the thermometer jumps fifty degrees in about +as many minutes. Then, although there are those millions of cubic feet +of water emptying itself out of the Plate, there comes the _suestadas_, +which blows so hard that the water cannot get into the ocean, and, as a +result, the upper streams rise and tumble over their banks. Next there +are the _pamperos_ on the plains, which either grill you with their heat +or give you a chill from their rawness. I did not suffer myself; but +these hateful _pamperos_ are so charged with electricity that they give +you a shock which produces a sort of paralysis, "perhaps twisting up a +corner of the mouth, or half closing one eye, or causing a sudden +swelling of the neck," as one authority records. + +Parts of the Republic are yet to be explored. Persistent man is having a +rough time in the Chaco region. When our ancestors invented hell they +had no knowledge of the Chaco. It is all swamp and forest, and mammoth +mosquitoes and fever, and pestiferous Indians who do not like the white +man, and put a spear into his back whenever they get the chance. The +Chaco Indians are amongst the few of their race who have not been +subjugated. There are rivers which come trailing from goodness knows +where; but when they reach the Chaco they are evidently so disgusted +that they burrow underground. When it rains, fish several inches long +drop from the clouds. Under a torrent a dip in the ground will become a +pool, and in it will be found fish a foot long. They do not drop from +the clouds. There are no little streams by which they can have arrived. +Where do they come from? The easiest explanation offered is that they +were formerly much smaller, did arrive on a storm cloud, and have been +lying in the mud since the last storm. + +I heard yarns, vouched for, but which seem like travellers' tales. There +is a little bird which sits on a branch and twitters. Others come round, +and are apparently mesmerised. Then the little bird attacks one, maybe +much bigger than itself, and kills it without any resistance being +offered. There is another bird which lives on friendly terms with the +Indians, hops in and out of their mud huts, and is known as the "watch +bird," because it always raises a peculiar cry when a stranger +approaches. + +In its physical aspects the Chaco is strange, with swamps, arid plains, +and mighty clumps of forest. Here grows the quebracho, which means the +break-axe; so it is a very hard wood. It is to get this wood that +companies have men working in the Chaco, hundreds of miles from even a +vestige of civilisation. Bullocks are employed to drag the trunks, and +the poor beasts have a bad time of it. Then there are light railways to +carry the trunks to the mills. Originally the quebracho was sought +because it made serviceable and long lasting "sleepers" for railroads. +Now it is chiefly wanted for the tannin in it; it is said to contain 50 +per cent. of tannin. + +Mention has been made of singular birds in the Chaco. But there are +others to be found elsewhere in Argentina. W. H. Hudson, in his +instructive book "The Naturalist in La Plata," describes the ypecaha, +which holds public meetings and has dancing performances. "A number of +ypecahas," he says, "have their assembling places on a small area of +smooth, level ground, just above the water and hemmed in by dense rush +beds. First one bird among the rushes emits a powerful cry, thrice +repeated, and this is a note of invitation quickly responded to by other +birds from all sides as they hurriedly repair to the usual place. In a +few moments they appear to the number of a dozen or twenty, bursting +from the rushes and rushing into the open space and instantly beginning +the performance. There is a screaming concert. The screams they utter +have a certain resemblance to the human voice, exerted to its utmost +pitch and expressive of extreme terror, frenzy and despair. A long, +piercing shriek is succeeded by a lower note as if in the first the +creature had wellnigh exhausted itself. Whilst screaming, the birds rush +from side to side, as if possessed by madness, the wings spread and +vibrating, the long beak wide open and raised vertically. This +exhibition lasts three or four minutes, after which the assembly +peaceably breaks up." Quite like a political meeting at home. + +European domestic animals have thrived since their introduction, though +there is a tendency, checked by the constant introduction of breeding +stock, to develop local characteristics. This has been particularly +remarked in sheep which have strayed and have been left to themselves +for several generations. They grow bigger and bonier, and with their +leanness comes the power of rapid movement, so that their flesh is scant +and their wool has an inclination toward growing straight and stiff like +the hair of a goat. In the outlands of Argentina ostriches, jaguars, and +deer may be seen; but you can live for years on the prairies--and that +is where most of the colonisation is going on--and never catch a glimpse +of one of these. + +The thing which lays hold of the seeing man, after he has remembered the +ages during which the country, suitable for maintaining innumerable +millions of men and beasts, lay dormant, is the way the land has been +completely transformed in its inhabitants, human and animal, and how +alien vegetation has found a thriving home. The early Spanish +adventurers, as has already been told, had to start their settlement by +bringing animals from Spain, and it was chance, the extraordinary +reproductiveness of herds which strayed or were abandoned, which taught +them they had come into possession of something more valuable than gold +mines. Books of history chiefly deal with the lust and the cruelty of +the early Spaniards. I have nothing to do here with the story of the way +in which Spain conquered the land. We have not to lose sight of the +fact, however, they began settling in these parts nearly four hundred +years ago, when a voyage to the Americas was like a journey to another +planet, when the ships were small and incommodious and dangers were +great, and the world had no experience in the science of colonisation. +The authorities freely gave tracts of land, but in their wisdom they +always stipulated that European domestic animals should be introduced. A +settler got land for wheat and maize and an orchard, and then more land, +just in proportion to how many horses, cows, sheep, pigs, and goats he +would introduce. The land could be obtained for nothing, but always on +condition that it was put to its full use in the maintenance of stock. +That was a rough and ready, and yet very statesmanlike procedure. The +best incentive was given to the agriculturist and breeder. The more +cattle he introduced the more land he put to the plough, the bigger was +the grant given to him by the authorities. Thus possession and +prosperity advanced hand in hand. Here is a lesson which might be learnt +to-day and copied by such countries as Australia, where there are +millions of acres of undeveloped territory. + +Time came when the wild herds waxed so numerous that the local councils +proclaimed that all such cattle were the public property of their own +people. To prevent those who lived under another local council taking +possession, the system of branding these cattle, when they could be +caught, was introduced. When the cattle thief came on the scene, and he +was got hold of, he was first branded on the shoulder and for subsequent +offences branded in the hand, flogged and hanged. The straying cattle in +a district belonging to the public, the public soon began to appreciate +that here were cheap meat and cheap hides. They were hunted as the +buffalo were subsequently hunted in North America, and it really seemed +as though they were going to be exterminated. Regulations had to be made +limiting the number of animals to be killed every year. Though there was +still great slaughter, the herds continued to multiply amazingly, and, +of course, wandered hundreds of miles away from any settlements. So the +tide rolled on until two hundred years ago the number of cattle had +increased to many millions. Carlos Gervasini, a Jesuit missionary, +writing from Buenos Aires in 1729, says, "So numerous are the cattle in +the neighbouring _campo_ here that any landlord may take from ten to +twelve thousand to breed from, merely for the trouble of lassoing them +and driving them home. In order to take more than this number a special +licence is required from the governor. The ships returning to Spain are +filled with the hides, and none but good specimens of these are troubled +about. As to the flesh, each man takes what he requires and leaves the +rest to the jaguars and dogs." Some years later a visitor to Argentina +said there were so many cattle that the plains were covered; and had it +not been for the number of dogs which devoured the young the country +would have been devastated by them. There were so many cattle that when +the Spaniards were at war, and invading boats appeared, their custom was +to drive vast herds pell-mell down the river bank and so prevent a +landing. + +See the extraordinary whirligig. First no cattle. Then land granted to +settlers who would introduce cattle. Then so many cattle they could be +had by anyone for the asking, and this followed by wholesale slaughter, +the extermination so thorough that a halt had to be called. Then further +amazing multiplication, till the increasing wild dogs played havoc with +the young animals. Then the dogs got so numerous, and their ravages so +extensive, that soldiers were sent out to wage war on the canine pests. +They killed untold thousands, but the people, instead of being grateful, +chaffed the soldiers and dubbed them the "dog killers." The dogs started +to increase again, faster than the cattle, but men refused to go out and +kill the dogs when the only reward was to be nicknamed "dog killer." So +the dogs were left alone, and they kept down the number of cattle. It +was not till fifty years ago that a systematic massacre of the wild dogs +took place, because just then the Argentines were beginning to settle +down to scientific breeding. + +It is astonishing how few dogs there are in Argentina. The dog may be +the friend of man in other parts of the world, but not in Argentina. +The Argentine hates the dog. In Buenos Aires the police have order to +arrest every dog, whether it is with anyone or not. During the time I +was in "B.A." I saw only one dog, and that was the property of Sir +Reginald Tower at the British Legation. + +That is not all the story. Not only did the wild dogs develop a taste +for young calves, but the native Indians began to show a fondness for +horseflesh. For centuries, although he could have had any number of +cattle and nobody would have objected, the Indian maintained a +preference for horseflesh. Then, suddenly, his fancy extended to cattle. +When he started rounding up the cattle of the Spaniards there was +trouble. Sheep were prolific, but mutton was contemptible food. None was +so poor as to be obliged to eat mutton. The Spaniards regarded mutton +much as Englishmen now regard horseflesh. The only use of a sheep was +for its wool and fat. But the prejudice against mutton, after lasting +for nearly three hundred years, finally disappeared. + +Whilst there was an increasing carrying trade from Buenos Aires to Spain +of skins, wool, and tallow--very profitable merchandise--Spain +officially was not enthusiastic over this mean trading. What she wanted +was gold and silver. As these came from Peru and Chili those countries +were favoured whilst Argentina was the Cinderella of the family. What +good was a country that had no mines but only grass to feed horses and +cattle and sheep? + +We think differently in these days, but in those far-off times Spain +scarcely condescended to recognise Argentina. It was darling Peru that +was always favoured. All regulations in regard to trade were made +favourable to Peru. Spain accepted what she fancied from Argentina, and +hampered her in seeking other markets. + +Nothing, however, could stop the advance of Argentina. It was with +reluctance that Argentina was raised to the first rank as a province, +and was given liberty to export where she liked. Her trade jumped ahead. +Then Argentina not only killed to get hides and wool and fat, but she +had to begin breeding in order to supply the European demand. She began +to dream dreams. There was little immigration; the people were the +descendants of the old settlers. They knew nothing of Spain. They had no +recollection of ancestors who did know anything of Spain. Spain meant +nothing to them but a distant country which once lorded them and +presumed to dictate to them. It was resentment at the relationship, +combined with a desire to fulfil an independent destiny, that brought +about the revolution and the declaration of a republic in 1810. + +Since then Argentina has had many internal political troubles. She has +had her set-backs. But the ebb has always been succeeded by a tumbling +flow of fortune. The breed of cattle has been marvellously improved. The +number of animals now runs into hundreds of millions. Vast areas now +wave with wheat and maize. As you journey through Argentina, and see +the land smiling with success, you know that beyond your gaze are +thousands of square miles of soil as virgin as in the days when the +Indians roamed free. + +[Illustration: A TYPICAL ARGENTINE PUBLIC PARK.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"CABBAGES AND KINGS" + + +One of the failings of new countries, like that of youth generally, is +conceit. Yet, on second thought, it is a useful offence, for it carries +a people light-heartedly over rough ground which older nations dare not +face and so turn aside. + +In the new lands the settlers have the constant panorama of achievement +before their eyes. They remember things as they were ten years ago, see +them now, and are convinced that nowhere in the world has such progress +been made as they are making. Anybody who hints a doubt is scowled upon. +And the buoyancy of spirit, a sort of rampant optimism about themselves, +is fostered by a bent of mind to read about what goes on in "rotten old +Europe." A gracious Providence helps them to take notice only of the +good things in their own country, and to have a quick eye for the bad +things in other countries. Further, as all new lands need settlers, the +official flag-waving and trumpet-blowing to attract immigrants is +garish. You can, as a rule, reduce the value of the advertisements by +half, and still be quite sure that more than justice remains. + +I have been induced to write the preceding paragraph because, as I +am not a hired agent to proclaim the wonders of Argentina, but merely a +man who has studied some of its capabilities on the spot, I have no +desire, in my endeavour to give a true portrait, to ignore the warts and +occasional blemishes. Of course, the Argentine thinks his land the most +remarkable in the world. In many respects I am disposed to agree with +him. But it is not without spot. For instance, the first thing he is +enthusiastic about is the climate. The freedom from severe winters, with +the possibility for cattle to remain in the open all the year round, is +an advantage. But in the Argentine winter (our summer) there are cold, +wretched, rainy days which are depressing. In their summer (our winter) +the heat is sometimes intense, especially in the northern region. I know +of the fine, clear, bracing climate of the plains, filling one's veins +with energy and the joy of living. I have enjoyed the charm of Mendoza, +the healthiest of all the towns in the Republic. Where I am inclined to +part company with the Argentine is when he wants to argue that the +climate of the whole country is adorable. + +Take Buenos Aires. The new arrival is not only entranced with the +development and the encircling beauty of the city, but, with continuous +blue skies and glorious sunshine, he is prone to underline the usual +nice things about the climate. Then, one day, he feels uncomfortable, +limp, saggy in body and mind. The slight breeze is from the north, and +it seems to bring heavy inertia from the Brazilian forests. The old +inhabitants have probably got used to the "norther"--they show no +diminution in vigour--but the muscle-slackening and wearying effect on +the new-comer is undoubted. Most of Buenos Aires is built on low-lying +ground, much of it reclaimed from the shallow Plate, and the air is +relaxing. Though the sun is delightful, it is anything but invigorating. +So you reach the conclusion that, whilst Buenos Aires has usually most +delightful weather, it has an indifferent climate. + +There are striking changes in temperature in Argentina. Within half an +hour of being broiled you may feel as though you had passed into a +refrigerator. Hurricanes sometimes sweep vast areas, and +everything--trees, buildings, crops--are mown down by the blasts. In the +sandy stretches the sand is swept up like a thick cloud, and, though +_estancieros_ shut every door and fasten every window, it is not long +before every room has an inch depth of sand. I have travelled all night +in a sleeping car with double windows to resist the sand, but it +filtered through nevertheless, and in the morning I found the only white +spot in the compartment was where my cheek had rested on the pillow. + +Life on a ranch has the glamour of romance about it. The town-bred +Englishman, dissatisfied with his lot, lets his fancy roam to the +prairies of North America or the pampas of South America, and his +imagination glows with the conjured picture of cowboy life--quaintly +dressed, always well-mounted, and with nothing to do but ride over the +plains rounding up wandering cattle. As I have explained in an earlier +chapter, many of the large _estancias_ are not occupied by their owners; +a manager with a salary is put in charge, and he usually has several +young Englishmen as assistants. There are a number of peons. The +manager, usually married, has a decent house. The assistants have a +plain, bachelor establishment, and live in common. The peons rarely have +anything better than ramshackle quarters. Distances are enormous. +Frequently, outside the little clump of trees which is the +distinguishing feature of all _estancias_, there is nothing to be seen +as far as the eye can range but featureless prairie. The railways may be +many miles away. The country has comparatively few towns--really a good +point about an agricultural land--and though they are all attractive, +only Spanish is spoken. Months may elapse between the visits of an +Englishman to a town. He has to rise early; he has to work hard; the +glamour of cowboy life soon goes; he and his mates have told each other +all their stories; visitors are rare; there is practically no women's +society. At first the tendency is to be homesick. But in time the man +gets used to the life; possibly he may be happy. He, however, is far +removed from refining influences. He may have a fondness for reading, +but life in the saddle is so hard that at night, after supper and +receiving instructions from the "boss" for the next day, and having a +chat over work, there is little disposition to do anything except have a +game of cards, and then turn in. + +It is no unusual thing for an _estancia_ to be fifty miles square. If +so, it is divided into three or four sections, with a manager over each. +Even then the property to be looked after is extensive. Though for food +there is plenty of beef and mutton, there is little variety. The men are +out by four in the morning, and breakfast is often no more than +biscuits, washed down with maté (native tea). There is a solid meal +about eleven o'clock, generally boiled meat, by no means always +attractively served. After dark, between seven and eight o'clock, there +is supper: meat, coffee, and biscuits. The surroundings are coarse and +dirty, and sometimes disgusting. Of course, conditions are occasionally +much better than these; but I think I am fairly describing the average +quarters of the young Englishman who goes out to Argentina to be +assistant on an _estancia_. What gave me frequent surprise was not that +the life roughened them, but that so many retained the kindly courtesies +of their homes in England. + +The great thing is that the life is healthy. As years pass it gets a +grip of a man, so that even if he has the chance to return to +civilisation he generally prefers the camp. There is the driving of +cattle to the railway and loading them--often difficult work--into the +trucks to take them to the freezing factories. There is the cutting of +alfalfa and the shearing of sheep. There is breaking-in of colts and +looking after the stock. + +A neighbouring _estancia_ may be twenty miles away. But Sunday is a +holiday, except for absolutely necessary work, and men will start off at +two o'clock in the morning to have a jollification with friends, +generally to witness some horse-racing, about which all the _estancias_ +for fifty miles round are excited, and with a bottle of beer as first +prize. Maybe once or twice a year a wandering parson drops into an +_estancia_. Whatever be the religious views of the hands--supposing they +have any--the visitor is well received, and, be he Roman Catholic or +Protestant, he proceeds to "fill them up." He brings them something they +do not often think about. At the least he is a diversion. Undoubtedly +his praying and preaching have an effect, because for several days after +he has gone the men are serious, and language is not quite so ruddy as +formerly. Then arises the question of the rival merits of horses over a +level two miles, and the trend of thought changes. + +The rural roads, as I have said, are shocking, especially after wet +weather, for they are no more than tracks across mother earth. But man +is an adaptable creature, and the Englishman gets used to the bad roads. +The very discomforts facilitate companionship. No man out on the road +and needing a meal has the slightest hesitation about dropping into an +_estancia_ and making himself at home. Young fellows will spend their +money; and, as they cannot get rid of it after the way of the towns, it +goes in buying horses to race or ponies for polo; because if there are a +dozen youngsters within hail they invariably form a polo club. Folk +think nothing of travelling across country many miles to witness a polo +match on the Sunday. Usually the matches take place at different +_estancias_ on successive Sundays, and if there should be a homely +English girl about--well, she receives as much attention as a real +beauty would get in Mayfair. + +Where two or three men are gathered together in England the odds are +that conversation will turn to golf. Wherever men living in Argentina +meet, be they Spanish, Italian, or English, they talk about +horse-racing. I cannot recall that I ever met a man in the Republic who +was not interested in horse-racing. I have already described what goes +on at Palermo. But besides the swagger races at Palermo, and the races +amongst the natives, the English like to have their camp races every few +months. Not only is there the excitement of the contests, but there is +real warmth in the hearts of men meeting old friends. Everybody knows +what every horse has done; everybody is acquainted with the riders. +There is betting, but nothing like to the same extent as amongst the +born Argentines, who are gamblers, every mother's son, and will bet on +anything and everything. + +Sometimes one reads in English newspapers and telegrams how, on the +arrival of emigrant ships in Australia and New Zealand, there is +hustling amongst the ladies of those countries to get hold of the girls +who are arriving as domestic servants. Every new country has its +domestic servant problem, and Argentina is no exception. Unless +wealthy, most people in the towns live in small flats, which is partly +due to the excessive house rent, but also because servants are scarce +and dear. The foreigner who has to make shift with an Argentine servant +is either driven mad or deserves a medal for an angelic temper. I +confess that at Cordoba I did meet with an English family who had +nothing but praise for their native servants. But mostly I had to listen +to tragic stories of dirtiness, theft, and unblushing lying. The trouble +with so many of these Latins is that, even when willing, they seem quite +incapable of learning. Of course, this applies to the lowest classes. +When you get amongst the business folk you find they are quite as cute +as North Americans--as the Argentines always speak of the people of the +United States. After having a dozen incompetent servants in twelve +unhappy months, many an English housewife ceases her search for a decent +servant and does the work herself. + +There may be a Merchandise Marks Act in Argentina. What I am quite sure +about is, that it is the very paradise of the faked imitation article. +There are certain things in Europe, be they mineral waters, or +field-glasses, or razors, which are well known. It is possible to get +the real thing in Buenos Aires, but it is six to one you get a faked +article. The Argentines fake French wines of well known _châteaux_. You +pay a big price expecting to get a good cigar, and more likely than not +you get a brand with a well-imitated band. All the well-known Scotch +whiskies are imitated, and there are half a hundred "famous" whiskies +that are never heard of outside the Republic. I searched the whole of +Buenos Aires to get some briarwood pipes made by well-known +manufacturers. I was offered pipes bearing their names, but they were +all fakes. "Sheffield" cutlery is often the shoddiest product of +Germany. England has still a reputation for turning out a first-class +article, but my experience was corroborated by men I consulted in Buenos +Aires; it was impossible, or exceedingly difficult, to get the genuine +thing. I am not going to write that Argentina is responsible for the +shiploads of imitation muck which is dumped upon her shores. But there +are certainly some manufacturers in some parts of the world who make +cheap and nasty things, affix well-known English names, and do an +enormous business in exporting them to the Republic. + +The "fool" Englishman is to be encountered on the boats sailing to the +Argentine. He does not read the newspapers, except the sporting columns, +and "books are so dull"; but somebody has told him Argentina is a +wonderful place with no end of "stuff" to be picked up. So with a +first-class ticket to "B.A.," and enough cash in his pocket to keep him +at the Plaza Hotel for a fortnight, he hopes to make his fortune. + +"No end of Johnnies make lots of money," he explains as a preliminary to +proceeding to do the same himself. + +"What do you intend to do?" is quietly asked. + +"Oh, anything. I think I'd like to go on one of those _estancia_ things; +awfully jolly riding about all day rounding up beastly bullocks." + +"Got any letters of introduction?" + +"Yes; I've got two from a fellow at my club, awfully decent sort, who +met a couple of ripping Argentines in the Riviera summer before last, +but smelling with gold. They ought to put a chap in for something worth +having; what?" + +That is not a fancy picture. I have met two of that type in one voyage, +and the above is a fairly good example of their hopes and credentials. +Without any qualification they land in Buenos Aires and have the haziest +knowledge what they propose to do next. Possibly they have some vague +ideas that wealthy Argentines will be down at the wharf eager to help +good-looking young Englishmen. The young Englishman proceeds to use his +letters of introduction, and finds that one of the men is in Europe and +nobody ever heard of the other. What next? The Englishman does not know. +He cannot speak a word of Spanish. He hangs round the hotel lounge, and +spends a lot of time in the American bar downstairs. At the end of four +days he confides to you he is "fed up with the stinking hole," and has +wired to the "old man" to send him enough "stuff" to take him home. Then +at the end of a week he returns to England in the same boat as that by +which he arrived, quite convinced Argentina is a place which he was +jolly lucky to get out of. + +[Illustration: A REGATTA NEAR BUENOS AIRES.] + +There was another young fellow, somewhat more spry than the example I +have given. I met him in the street one morning, and he was furious. He +had been in the running for the secretaryship of an English company that +had some big contracts in Argentina, and he had been ruled out at last +because he did not speak Spanish. That was his grievance. He knew he +could mess along somehow, and could always get somebody to explain if he +had to talk business with an Argentine who did not speak English; so +what was the good of having to swat to learn the lingo? + +One of the biggest financiers in Argentina told me one day that whilst +plenty of young Englishmen made their way--indeed, if competent, they +were preferred to other foreigners--he was astonished at the way others +missed their opportunities. My friend, an Englishman himself, but who +has lived all his life in the country, and speaks Spanish more fluently +than he does English, has his finger in many concerns. Young men who +have come out to posts, and are not making the progress they hoped, go +to him to see if he can give them a helping hand. + +"Delighted," he says; "I want to help my own countrymen as much as +possible. How long have you been in 'B.A.'?" + +"Eight years." + +"Then you speak Spanish like an Argentine, eh?" + +"Well--er--no; but I've picked up enough to scrape along on." + +"Could you take charge of a hundred Argentines and talk business to them +as well as an Argentine?" + +"No; I wouldn't like to say that." + +"Could you write a technical business letter in Spanish?" + +"I'm afraid not." + +"Good day, my young friend. I should have been glad to have helped you, +but I want a man who would not be sure to make mistakes." + +There is a number of that pattern of Englishman in Buenos Aires. There +are excuses for them. They go out under a three- or a five-years' +contract to some post. A lad is a stranger in a strange land, and has +yet to pick up Spanish. He naturally consorts with his own countrymen. +They dine together; they meet in the same café; they belong to the same +club; they seek their pleasures together. It is very hard for a fellow +under such circumstances to become quick with the language, or extend +his knowledge to any great extent as to the Argentine way of doing +things. He can get all his requirements with a sort of pidgin-Spanish. +So at last he does not bother. That is the kind of man who sticks in the +same position all his life, and occasionally rails at his luck in not +getting a big post. + +That is one side of the picture. There is the other. I have in my mind a +man who holds a high position in Argentina. When he went out twenty +years ago he saw that the first essential was to know the language. At +the risk of being thought unsociable, he lived with Spanish Argentines +for two years, and made friends with young Argentines rather than with +Englishmen. He made it a habit to read the Buenos Aires Spanish morning +papers. He has gone ahead and done exceedingly well, although I would +not describe him as a brilliant business man. Then there was a youth +with whom I made acquaintance on the boat. I noticed he was spending a +good deal of his time with a Spanish grammar. He told me he was going +out under a five-years' contract to be a clerk in one of the banks. "But +I am not going to stop a bank clerk," he confided to me, "though that +will be all right for five years. By then I hope to have got a good grip +of the language and picked up something about Argentina, and if then I'm +not able to go to some boss and get one of the good jobs, well, it will +be my own fault." With that spirit he would be a success. All over the +country I was meeting Englishmen of that standard, and, because they can +be relied upon, they are esteemed and trusted. + +But I am not going to sing the praises of Argentina from a British +immigrant's point of view. First of all, take the case of the unskilled +labourer, the artisan, and the agriculturist. There is no man so +conservative in this world as the British working man. He has an +inherent contempt for all foreigners when he gets close to them, chiefly +because their ways are not his ways. So the working man who went out to +Argentina would be handicapped by not knowing the language; he would be +confused with the money; he would dislike the food; the way in which +the working class lives out there would disgust him. At the other end of +the string is the great capitalist. Capital knows no language, and owes +allegiance to no country. The capitalist with shrewdness, intelligent +anticipation, can make money quickly; in no country can a man get so +quick a turnover of his capital as in this Republic. + +Between these two classes is an army of men who go into the railway +service, into the offices of great English firms, into banks. They get +better paid in Argentina, but living is three times as heavy as at home. +Take the case of a young friend of mine. He had a situation in England +at £200, and, with his amusements, he had but little left over. He got a +situation in Argentina at £700 a year. Living, more or less in similar +style to the way he did at home, cost him £400 a year. But he had £300 a +year over, and that was not £300 a year in Argentine value, but £300 a +year in English value, because he was investing it for the time when he +would return to his native land. + +Of course there are promotions and superior posts to be obtained. +Occasionally a man will break away and get hold of something which will +lead to fortune. These cases, however, are the exceptions. The great +fortunes do not grow out of business, as they do in the United States, +for up to the present Argentina is not to be reckoned with as a +manufacturing country. They come to men who have colossal finance to +manipulate. To the great financier Argentina can give untold wealth. +There are, of course, cases of men who started with nothing, and can +now give their wives a £20,000 necklace. But to the man who lands in +Argentina with nothing but his muscle, or a salaried job, although his +position will be improved, and he can save more than ever he made in the +Old Country, the chances are against his ever joining the ranks of the +nabobs. + +[Illustration: A FINE ARGENTINE BRIDGE.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +LIVE STOCK IN THE REPUBLIC + + +The constant wonder to me, as I traversed the fruitful prairies, was why +Nature had not supplied the country with indigenous live stock. + +One would have thought that the forces of evolution would have provided +animals to benefit and multiply. Man, of course, has done much to +improve the land. By the laying down of alfalfa he has turned sandy +regions into rich pasturage. By irrigation he has converted wastes into +prosperous stretches. Still, there were thousands of square miles, +capable of maintaining great herds, for ages before the coming of the +Europeans. But Nature was niggardly in raising animals which the +adventures of man subsequently proved suitable to the soil. + +The principal original animals were the alpaca, which provided meat and +wool, and the llama, used as a beast of burden by the natives, though +the loads it could carry were slight. Spain, when she took possession of +the country, saw its disadvantages. Though the Spanish Court was +prodigal in giving tracts of the new land to grandees and others, it is +significant that in practically all the concessions was the provision +that the grant failed unless horses, cattle, sheep, and goats were +introduced. They were for purely domestic uses. + +A couple of centuries ago a bull and ten cows were abandoned. What +became of them troubled no one. Long afterwards their descendants were +found grazing, and they had increased to many thousand; now they have +increased to many millions. They were sturdy cattle, but too numerous +for the then exceedingly sparse population. Their hides, however, were +profitable for sending to Europe; and many thousands of beasts were +slain, and their carcases left to rot, in order that their skins might +be sent across the seas. In 1794 merino sheep were imported from Spain. +In 1824 Southdowns were imported from England. They made an excellent +cross, and that was the start Argentina got in the growing of wool. + +There was no discovery that this part of South America was peculiarly +suitable for European stock. There was just a slow but increasing +consciousness of the fact that European animals were easily +acclimatised, and had a greater breeding capacity than at home. The +first European cattle did not come direct, but dribbled in by way of +Brazil from Peru--a roundabout route. Indeed, for several centuries +Spain, which was mistress of that part of the world, rigorously excluded +all other countries from assisting in its development or having any +share in its trade. Further, Peru, which was the most important of the +Spanish settlements, had sufficient power at the Court of Spain to +secure an insistence that all goods entering South America should do so +by the door of Peru. You have only to glance at a map to see how absurd +it was that articles intended for Buenos Aires or the east coast had to +be shipped to the Isthmus of Panama, taken across to the Pacific side by +mule caravan, shipped again down the coast to Peru, and then sent +thousands of miles over mountains, through jungle and across uninhabited +plains, to their destination. This intolerable condition of things, +which Spain refused to change, had much to do with Argentina's casting +off the yoke, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and declaring +itself as a republic. + +Though one hears much about the way Argentina has gone ahead as a +cattle-raising country during the last decade, one must not lose sight +of the fact that the Spaniards have been rearing cattle there for over +three hundred years. Even when the possibilities began to be realised +there were no means of land transport except by driving the beasts, and, +except for the hides and tallow and subsequently the wool, there was +little that could be sent to Europe. + +In the first half of the nineteenth century, however, Argentina was +beginning to find herself. The Argentines were not content with the +quality of the animals which were bred haphazard. They took to importing +better strains from Europe, grasped what pedigree meant, began to demand +the best the world could produce, and were willing to pay for it, until +the call of Argentina for pedigree stock has almost become a mania, and +other countries have little chance when Argentina enters the market with +her bags of gold. + +Not only was there a wonderful increase in cattle and sheep, but horses +multiplied. The Spanish contempt for females extends to mares, and no +self-respecting Argentine, who was not seeking the sneers of his +countrymen, would think of riding a mare. A hundred years ago European +nations had not thought of purchasing South American mares; and it has +been computed that in the first quarter of the last century over 500,000 +mares were mercilessly slaughtered in Argentina. It has been said that +an enormous number of wild horses were at large, and their continued +incursions amongst the general stock caused great loss to the breeders. + +But that Argentina is one of the most productive lands in the world for +horses is undoubted. They seem to have something approaching the +fertility of the Australian rabbit. Historians disagree as to whether +the first importation of horses to Argentina in the sixteenth century +were seventy-two horses and mares, or forty-four horses and mares, or +seven horses and five mares. Anyway, whilst Ruy Diaz de Guzman, who +vouched for the latter figures, wrote they had "attained such a +multiplication in less than sixty years that they cannot be counted, +because the horses and mares are so many that they appear like great +woods and occupy (the country) from Cape Blanco to the fort of Gabato, +rather more than eighty leagues, and reach inland to the Cordillera," +the monk Fray Juan de Rivadancira, who declared for forty-four horses +and mares, states that "the coast is inhabited by a great many people, +and there is an immense number of horses that remained there from the +time of Don Pedro de Mendoza, that is forty-five years ago, forty-four +horses and mares that have multiplied themselves, but, strange to say, +in all this time they have not been seen by the Spaniards, who only know +of them from the reports of the Indians, who say that they cover the +plains to an astonishing extent." Allowing for these tales being +exaggerated, the very fact they should be recorded some fifty years or +so after the first importation of horses shows there must have been an +astonishing increase. + +Argentine breeders of cattle, knowing of the care taken in Europe to +improve quality, realised that quantity was not sufficient. There would +be little merit in having millions of animals on the rich grassed plains +if commercially they were unable to compete with other countries with +their produce. So between fifty and sixty years ago they began +methodically and scientifically to improve their herds. The result was +so satisfactory that owners of herds conceived it to be their patriotic +duty--and Argentina is noisily patriotic--to raise the standard of +quality. The Argentine Agricultural Society was established. It has +increased in size and importance. Its offices at Buenos Aires have the +marks of energetic distinction, whilst its permanent show grounds in the +suburbs of the city are the finest buildings for such a purpose in +the world. I will not say, as is often said, that the display is the +finest in the world. Now and then it tops any other show in a particular +class. But it is a great show, provided by a country with only seven +million inhabitants; and, speaking generally, it is not a bad second to +any other, no matter where it is held. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by Moody, Buenos Aires._ + BREAKING-IN HORSES IN THE ARGENTINE.] + +There is tremendous rivalry amongst breeders, and the ambition to secure +the blue ribbons is so great that the Argentines, as I have mentioned in +a previous chapter, will not trust people of their own race to act as +judges. The judges all come from Britain, and are men of recognised +competence and integrity. They are the guests of the Society. They are +provided with first class return tickets, are entertained at the best +hotel for three weeks, have many courtesies piled on them, and each +receives £30 as out-of-pocket expenses. So keen are some Argentine +breeders to gain the coveted ribbon that I have heard of their sending +special representatives to travel on the boat from Southampton to Buenos +Aires so that an amiable judge may be "nobbled." Fortunately, British +judges are not made that way; and although stories of attempts are +common, there is no recorded instance of success. + +I was present at the official opening of the show in 1913 by the +Minister of Agriculture. It was not an enthusiastic occasion. The +weather was bad and cold, and there was the reading of two interminable +speeches from manuscript--read to about a score of top-hatted and +frock-coated gentlemen standing round, looking insufferably bored and +never raising the equivalent of a single "hear, hear," whilst the crowds +in the stands heard not a word but waited patiently for the parade of +prize winners to begin. + +But it was a show of cattle of which Argentina had a right to be proud. +It was another post along the road of evolution. The time is yet far off +when Argentina can rightly claim first position amongst the live-stock +nations; but it is a goal which the Argentines steadily keep in sight. +Stud farms are to be found all over the country. Prices which formerly +would have been thought reckless are now willingly paid for stallions, +bulls, and rams. Yet, though the Argentine is pleased with himself, he +does not so much boast of what he has accomplished as rhapsodise about +the future. To-day (1914) there are 8,000,000 horses in the country, +30,000,000 cattle, and over 80,000,000 sheep. Yet only a portion of the +country suitable for stock is utilised. Everything indicates that within +the next ten years 200,000,000 animals of all classes will be grazing on +the pastures of Argentina. + +The love of horse-racing is bred in the bone of every man in the +country. All the big towns have their race-courses. Out on the prairies, +if there is no race-course, the men at the _estancias_ mark out a track +and race against each other's horses on Sunday afternoons. An eye is +kept on the famous European race-horses, and as much as £40,000 has been +paid for a great winner, so that he may be used for stud purposes. The +breeding of thoroughbreds has become part of the national life of the +Republic. The Jockey Club at Buenos Aires, possessed of an enormous +income, has by the offering of handsome prizes encouraged the breeding +of race-horses. The Argentine stud farms are, in excellence of stabling +and general surroundings, lavish in luxury. So successful has been the +breeding from expensive European sires that European breeders are now +looking to Argentina to purchase some of the sons. + +But always, one must remember, the prosperity of Argentina rests with +her commercial cattle. As England prohibits the landing of live cattle +for fear of foot-and-mouth disease, increasing attention has been given +to the business of exporting chilled and frozen meat. The closing of +British ports and consequent slump in Argentine cattle gave a colossal +impetus to the frozen meat industry, so that at the present time the +Republic is the greatest exporter of frozen meat in the world. That, +perhaps, is the reward for Argentina's being the first country to export +chilled and frozen meat to Europe. This was as far back as 1877, though +it was not until 1885 that the first freezing works were established. +To-day something like £11,000,000, mostly English and United States +capital, is sunk in Argentine freezing houses. England is the largest +consumer. But though the quantity imported is enormous, it is a mistake +to suppose that frozen meat is yet ahead of English home-killed meat. As +a nation we are increasing meat eaters. We are now consuming something +approaching two million quarters a year. Only about a third of this is +chilled and frozen meat, and the consumption of home meat is increasing, +not decreasing. + +That there is foot-and-mouth disease in Argentina is undoubted. Though +the Argentines protest we continue the cry as an excuse for keeping out +their stock from our meadows and from competing with our own fresh meat, +I was quite convinced that the disease does seriously exist in +Argentina, and that, whilst not so prevalent as occasionally alleged, it +is sufficiently bad to justify the British Board of Agriculture in +maintaining the prohibition. With care, however, I am sure the +Argentines could stamp out the evil. Its persistence is due to +carelessness. The natural conditions of the cattle, being out on the +pastures all the year round, count for healthiness. I have visited the +great canned meat establishments in Chicago, and when in Buenos Aires +and La Plata I inspected some of the biggest of the Argentine freezing +places. Though the latter lacked the magnitude of the Chicago houses, I +admit my complete satisfaction with the sanitary conditions surrounding +what, to me, is always a sickening business. + +When a mob of cattle has been purchased the seller gives a guarantee of +the soundness of the animals. When they reach the stock-yard the +veterinary surgeon of the company makes inspection of each beast before +it goes to the slaughter-house. The operation is the usual one: the +animal is pole-axed, then the carcase is conveyed on a truck to a shed, +where it is hung up, bled, disembowelled, and skinned. The veterinary +surgeon makes an examination to see if he can detect disease. But this +is not enough; a piece of the meat, a few ounces, is cut off, labelled, +and sent to a laboratory, where further experiments are made. There is +much greater care taken in these slaughter-houses of Argentina in the +case of chilled and frozen meat than is usually taken at home in +providing the "roast beef of old England." The carcases are placed in a +chilling chamber, 34° Fahr., for twenty-four hours. Then they are cut in +two, each side wrapped in a cloth, and taken into the refrigerator +compartments on board a steamer. Should the investigation in the +laboratory reveal disease the carcase is burnt. + +To the layman inclined to be confused between the terms "chilled" and +"frozen," it is well to explain the difference. Frozen meat is that +which has been kept well below freezing point, and can be kept for an +indefinite time. Chilled meat is not frozen, but it can be kept +wholesome for some weeks when in a low temperature. Chilled meat is of +better quality than frozen meat, and, as the Argentine ports are within +three weeks of Smithfield, her produce has a distinct advantage over +that of countries farther away, where the journey takes six weeks, and +the meat cannot be kept chilled, but must be frozen. + +I am aware of the prejudice against chilled meat. Yet I suspect that +occasionally some of us, when paying for the home article, are really +receiving the foreign meat, but we do not know the difference. The +chilled meat trade--a later development than the frozen trade--has +sprung into existence in Argentina mainly during the last dozen years. +That which we get in London, whether from La Plata, Buenos Aires, or +Chicago, is of better quality than the meat the Argentine or the +American gets. The explanation is that the best meat is exported because +it has to come into competition with British beef, which admittedly is +the best in the world. The question, however, arises, what real +detriment is there to meat as the result of freezing? Professor Rideal, +of London University, who has made various experiments, has gone so far +as to declare that the nutritive and digestive qualities of Argentine +frozen meat are superior to those of the best freshly killed English +meats, and that Argentine chilled meats possess the same qualities as +English meat. + +It was in 1880 that we began to receive frozen meat in any quantity from +the Argentine, and year by year the quantity has increased. Other +European countries are in need of cheap meat, and yet it is a singular +fact that nine-tenths of the cold storage meat of the world comes to +England. Just upon two hundred and fifty steamers are now engaged in +bringing chilled or frozen meat to England from Argentina, Australia, +and New Zealand. London alone has thirty cold stores with a capacity +for storing 3,000,000 carcases of mutton. South America, Australia, and +New Zealand have seventy freezing establishments, chiefly for the +purpose of supplying the British market. Satisfactory though that market +is, Argentina is not content. She is beginning to import her chilled +meat into the United States. She is making a bid for the French market. +Professor Armand Gautier, of the Academy of Science, of Paris, has +stated that the French people ought to eat a third more meat than they +do. As the French production is insufficient, he has urged the +importation of meat preserved by cold, because it can be kept almost +indefinitely, and because in times of epidemic disease in live stock, or +lack of forage, and above all in time of war, it would lend most +important service. + +For a long time, however, Continental countries have been shy about +foreign meat, chiefly, I believe, because they were thinking of the +interests of the breeders at home. Frozen meat has, however, been +received in limited quantities in Italy, Switzerland, and Portugal. The +Austrian Government at first restricted the importation to 10,000 tons, +but as the meat was popular the restriction was removed. So, gradually, +frozen meat of good quality, and cheaper than native meat, is finding a +way into other European markets besides our own. The German-Argentine +Society, recently formed, has been petitioning the German Parliament for +the admission of Argentine frozen meat. The considerable +consumption of frozen meat in England is encouraging Argentina in her +ambition to contribute to the feeding of the immense artisan populations +in the industrial centres of the continent. + +Now anyone who has been much at sea knows about jerked beef. The +preparation of salt beef in the old sailing days was a great business, +and Argentina's first endeavour in the meat business was the preparation +of jerked beef, as it is called. It is not going too far to say that it +was this business which opened the eyes of South Americans to the +potentialities of their country. But gradually the trade got shifted to +the neighbouring little Republic of Uruguay, with Monte Video as the +chief place of export. A great many of the cattle killed in Uruguay are +bred in Argentina. The trade has extended to Brazil. Brazil, however, +still calls for Argentine cattle. So although this dry-salting was first +practised in Argentina in South America, and the trade has to a great +extent been removed, Argentina is getting benefit because she sells +hundreds of thousands of steers to the neighbouring republics. During +the last year or two there has been a distinct movement in Argentina to +recapture the trade. There is a huge demand for jerked meat in Cuba--and +Argentina is after the business. Argentina has both eyes on the whole of +the West Indies, where there are great negro populations who, it is +supposed, would welcome this cheap kind of meat. It can be used in +tropical regions where expensive cold storage would be an impossibility. +Besides, an inferior standard of animal, scarcely suitable for +freezing, can be jerked. + +The gigantic business in meat extracts carried on by such firms as +Bovril and Liebig has given a cue to the wide-awake Argentine for +another outlet to his enterprise. Indeed, the preparation of meat +extract in Argentina to-day needs the killing of 200,000 head of cattle +a year, whilst those killed for jerked beef are about three-quarters of +that number. Anyway, Argentines, whilst glad enough to have foreign +capital brought to develop their resources, are now constantly asking +themselves, "Why do not we do all this?" + +The fact is not to be overlooked that Argentina has a population of +7,000,000 to feed as well as to contribute to the feeding of the outer +world. The population of the city of Buenos Aires is a million and a +half. So, whilst it needs the killing of 4,000 head of cattle every day +to keep the Republic supplied with meat, 1,800 of these are needed in +the capital. + +England clings to old and sometimes unsatisfactory ways. When I visited +the abattoirs at Liniers I thought it would be no bad thing if a number +of British municipalities sent a shipload of representatives to +Argentina to study up-to-date slaughter-houses. One of the most important +features of Liniers is the veterinary pavilion, with rooms for +bacteriological and microscopical observations. There are twenty +veterinary surgeons who make it their business to examine every carcase +and stamp it before it is permitted to be sold as food. The annual +entry at the abattoir is, in round numbers, 750,000 sheep, 100,000 pigs, +and 1,250,000 cattle. Yet the animals slaughtered for local consumption +represent only three-fifths of the beasts sold in Buenos Aires, the rest +going to the slaughter-yards attached to the freezing houses. These +animals are not reared only in the province of Buenos Aires. Other +provinces supply cattle, Cordoba, Santa Fé, Entre Rios, Corrientes, and +further afield. + +One of the most instructive places is the sheep market, covering 500 +acres. Not only are there pens innumerable, but there are two galleries +set apart for sales so that buyers may obtain a quick bird's-eye view of +the stock offered. A police representative is constantly on duty, +keeping a lookout that the marks are all right and preventing sheep +stealing. Ten sanitary inspectors make inspection of sheep as they go +along the gangway or race. Any sheep showing signs of disease is sent to +the necropolis--supervised by the cattle division of the Ministry of +Agriculture--is killed and examined. Over 4,000,000 sheep are inspected +every year. Of these nearly 3,000,000 go to the freezing establishments +and the others are either for local consumption or are bought to be +fattened. On an average 4,000 railway wagons a month come in to Buenos +Aires filled with sheep. + +More than once I was made conscious of the deep disappointment amongst +Argentine breeders that there is an embargo in Britain against the +importation of live stock. They insisted that if there were disease it +would show itself during the three weeks' sea journey, so that British +herd owners should have no fear of their own cattle being contaminated. +The Argentines cannot get it out of their minds that it is not fear of +disease, but protection for the British farmer which really actuates the +British Board of Agriculture. Notwithstanding the increase in the sale +of chilled and frozen meat, the Argentines, of course, recognise that +the Englishman would prefer fresh killed meat if he could get it at a +sufficiently cheap price. The steady increase in the price of home-grown +meat in English shops is noted, and all the strings possible are being +tugged in order to induce the British Government to relax. Besides, +there is a considerable body of opinion in Great Britain itself, +occasionally voiced in Parliament by the representatives of industrial +constituencies, favourable to the importation of foreign animals, of +course under proper inspection. Were admission granted, there would +undoubtedly be a fall in the price of meat. But, even eliminating the +natural antagonism of the British farmer, there is the consumer to be +considered. Without joining in the combat whether Argentine meat is as +good as British meat, there can be no doubt that the home buyer prefers +the home article, and in innumerable cases he is prepared to pay more +for it. There is the possibility, the danger if you like, if live stock +from Argentina were admitted, for certain graziers to buy them, give +them a week or two on English meadows, and for the retail butchers, +either in ignorance or with the intention to mislead the purchaser, to +ticket the sides as "English fed." + +Though Argentines grumble at the British ports being closed to them, +causing a slump in their export of live stock, they acknowledge that the +effect has been counterbalanced by the increase in the export of frozen +meat. "Therefore why should they make such a fuss?" may be asked. Simply +because the Argentines are eager to find an outlet for the productive +capacity of their country. They do not rest on their oars. They are +looking to the future. There is no question in their minds what +Argentina can do. They do not want to be baulked by restrictions. It may +be argued that, whilst they are zealous to secure freedom for their +goods in oversea markets, they do not show any inclination to give an +equally wide freedom to the goods of other countries in their own +markets. That, however, just shows that considerations which often +influence individual traders do not disappear when the nation acts +collectively. + +The point to be marked--and it is the significance of much in this +chapter--is, that although other new nations provide increasing amounts +of meat, Argentina is as alive as any of them to the growing necessity +for the industrial communities of Europe--constantly increasing whilst +agriculture stands still or slides back--to look across the oceans for +their meat supply. The meat will be wanted. Competition to supply it +will be keen. In some European countries the live stock is diminishing. +Countries which formerly did much business in supplying neighbours have +now enough to do to supply themselves. Even Switzerland, unable to +provide for her own needs, and no longer able to get what she requires +from France and Italy, has turned to Argentina. The doors are closed by +some European Powers, including Spain. But Argentina is keeping a watch +on the artisan classes in commercial Europe. She expects the day will +soon come when they will clamour for cheaper meat, and break down the +doors. When that time does come, Argentina is determined to be ready +with a full basket. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE STORY OF THE RAILWAYS + + +I think I have made it clear that, accepting Argentina as an amazingly +fertile country, it is the railways that have chiefly been instrumental +in making it one of the most prosperous lands, with a big part to play +in providing food for the world. To-day 95 per cent. of its stock and +produce is carried over some part of the 20,000 miles of line +representing nearly £200,000,000 of British capital. + +I remember riding in a coach attached to a freight train across some +hundreds of miles of sand and sage bush, an impossible region from an +agriculturist's point of view. + +"This is an unprofitable stretch," I remarked to the railway official +who was my companion. + +"Not at all," was the reply; "you see, we have a full load, and we get +paid mileage, whether we run through good or bad land." + +That is one of the causes of railway profits in Argentina: the enormous +distances freight often has to be carried. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF DINING CAR, CENTRAL ARGENTINE RAILWAY.] + +It was not my lot to travel over all the railway systems in the +Argentine, but I travelled over the most important of them, and from +first to last I was enthusiastic. The rolling stock is excellent; the +permanent way is better than over similar country elsewhere, and as for +the comfort of the passengers it is certainly unsurpassed. Frankly, I +often felt like rubbing my eyes in order to make sure I was "roughing +it" in Southern America. + +Nowhere, out of Russia, have I seen the coaches so admirably adapted for +small or large parties. You can have a section of a coach +self-contained, dining-room, bedrooms and bathroom, suitable for +families; and meals can be supplied from the buffet. If you travel over +a certain distance you cannot miss having a buffet car; the law insists. +Also the law insists on dormitory coaches on the all-night journeys. +They are more commodious, because on most of the lines the gauge is +wider than in England. There is none of the uncomfortable sleeping +behind curtains, with, maybe, a stranger in the bunk overhead, and then +having to wash in the smoking-room, which the long-suffering men of the +United States put up with under the notion they possess the most +luxurious travelling in the world. When you come to "special cars," a +thing we know nothing about in England except for royalty, the United +States comes first, but I would say Argentina is a close second. + +Nothing could be jollier--when a sand storm is not on the wing--than +travelling with pleasant friends in a reserved coach. It is like a flat. +There is a sitting-room, and on a chill evening the fire burns brightly +in an open grate. On a hot afternoon you have your easy chairs out on +the platform at the rear and, with legs cocked up on the rail, you can +smoke your cigar. You press a button, and when the attendant has brought +you an iced cocktail you agree that "roughing it" in Argentina is a +delightful experience. If your car is properly equipped with a good +kitchen and a good cook, and there is a decent "cellar"--hospitality is +one of the legitimate boasts of the people--you fare as well as you +would do in a first-class hotel. Were it not that I might be thought a +sybarite, I could write like a chef about the menus I experienced and +enjoyed in my long excursions throughout the land. + +"This is a nice chicken," I said to my host one night. "Yes, we have a +chicken run under the car," he answered. I laughed, for I imagined the +innocent stranger was having his leg pulled; but the next morning +personal inspection assured me there was a "run," in the shape of a long +galvanised screened box beneath the car. + +It was pleasant to have a bedroom four times the size of a crib on an +English "sleeper," to have a writing-table with electric light, and a +bathroom adjoining. But the chief joy of a special car was that there +was no changing to catch trains. Instructions were given that we would +stop at a certain place at nine o'clock in the morning. The car was +detached and shunted into a siding. We lived on the car and slept on it. +Orders were given that we were to be picked up by the 3.15 local train +in the morning, taken down a branch line forty miles, attached to the +express which would be coming along at seven o'clock, and were to be +released somewhere else at 10.15 and put into a siding. I lived this +sort of life for nearly a month. It was the best possible way of seeing +the country. + +Sometimes we travelled from point to point during the night; sometimes +we camped, as it were, at a little wayside station, with the silence of +the plains around us except when a great goods train went roaring by. We +kept up the joke about "roughing it." After a dinner party, when the +coffee and liqueurs were on the table, and the sitting-room was pouring +billows of cigar smoke from the wide-open windows, we leaned back in our +big chairs and hoped that other poor devils who were "roughing it" in +the wilds were having no worse a time than we were. + +Of course, the passenger traffic--except around Buenos Aires--is a +secondary consideration compared with agricultural produce. It is +estimated that the area of land suitable for agriculture but not yet +cultivated is 290,000,000 acres, really all beyond the zone of railway +influence. At a greater distance than fifteen miles from a railway +station the cartage of the produce becomes so expensive and difficult +that the profit disappears. Information supplied me by the Argentine +Agricultural Society shows that the average cost of cartage is 0.70d. +per mile per cwt. Therefore, whoever has his farm farther than fifteen +miles from a station has to pay 10d. per cwt. for cartage. Lands lying +within the agricultural zone, but distant more than fifteen miles from a +railway station, lose enormously in value, as they cannot be utilised +except for live stock. To find a means of facilitating and cheapening +the transport of cereals would be to double the production and value of +the lands. The Agricultural Society thinks the solution may lie in the +construction of cheap auxiliary lines of the simplest kind, which, laid +down parallel to the principal lines at a distance of nineteen to +twenty-two miles, or at right angles to them, would hand over to +cultivation considerable zones of valuable fertile lands, and +concentrate the produce in the loading stations at a fair cost to the +farmers. + +The question is well asked, if the 20,000 miles of rails are only +sufficient to permit the cultivation of 70,000,000 acres, how many will +be necessary when nearly 300,000,000 more acres are being worked? At +present about 1,000 miles of fresh railroad are being laid down each +year. £20,000,000 a year is being put into new railroad construction. +Yet thirty years ago (1884) the total amount invested in Argentine +railways--now running into hundreds of millions--was only £18,600,000. +In 1885 all the railways in the Republic transported cargo amounting to +a little over 3,000,000 tons. In 1905 it was over 12,500,000 tons. In +1913 it was moving toward 40,000,000 tons. + +One harks back to the time of William Wheelwright, who may be called the +father of railways in Argentina. It is three-quarters of a century since +he was shipwrecked at the mouth of the River Plate. It was as a +starveling that he got his first knowledge of Argentina. He had come +from the United States, knew what railways were beginning to do for the +North, and dreamed what they ought to do for the South. When he got back +to the United States he tried to interest his countrymen. But the North +Americans turned a deaf ear. There they missed one of the greatest +chances in their commercial history. Had they seized their +opportunities, and come to South America with their adaptive enterprise, +the story of the relationship between the United States and the Latin +republics below them would have been very different from what it is +to-day. Finding he could raise no capital in his own country for railway +enterprise in Argentina, William Wheelwright came to England and +interested Thomas Brassey, one of our railway pioneers. Brassey, +Wheelwright, and others got capital, and a little line out of "B.A." was +built. Other little lines were built. Bigger lines were built. There +were set-backs; occasionally the investing public was shy. But, all +told, for forty years a mile a day of railroad was laid down in +Argentina, and during the last few years the rate has been three miles a +day. And it is all done by British capital. + +Before I went out to this country I was conscious of a certain +apprehension in England that we had rather too much money in Argentina, +and that it was about time we called a halt. The general average of +dividend during recent years has been a fraction over 5 per cent., not +much return for adventure in a new country; but the fact is not to be +lost sight of that enormous extensions have been provided out of +revenue, as well as out of fresh capital. That there is jealousy +amongst considerable sections of the young Argentines at the financial +interests which a foreign country like England has in the Republic is +undoubted. But it may be said that the mass of the people recognise what +they owe to foreign capital, and although the Government is inclined to +increase the tightness of its grip on railway administration, making +bargains for lines through uneconomic country in return for a concession +through fertile land--so that occasionally a company will throw up a +scheme rather than pay the price by building in a region the Government +wants to be developed--I do not think it can fairly be said that the +Government is antagonistic to foreign capital. The danger of foreign +capital getting a hold on Argentina in the way of extensive concessions +is sometimes preached; but the pouring of foreign gold into the country +brings too precious a return to the Argentines themselves for any check +to be put upon it. + +Besides, in strict fact, very little money is taken out of the country +in the way of dividend; the profits are mostly thrown back to provide +new works. I have lying before me the returns of the four principal +railways for the year ending June 13th, 1913 (the Central Argentine, the +Great Southern, the Buenos Aires and Pacific, and the Western of Buenos +Aires). During the year the four companies expended in additional +capital £8,870,639, and the earnings were £9,017,944, so that the +investing public extracted only £147,305, which is not a large draft in +return for the hundreds of millions invested. The manner in which the +earnings are thrown back into the country for further development shows +that, despite the vague apprehensions in certain quarters, the public +confidence is still firm. + +The Central Argentine Railway may first be described, because not only +does it date its origin from the earliest times of railway enterprise in +the Republic, but it is one of the most up-to-date lines in the world. +At the head of it as general manager is Mr. C. H. Pearson, young, +shrewd, and, like most strong men, a quiet man. When in England I hear +of lack of capability in railway management I think of such a man as Mr. +Pearson, who has won his spurs at home, and by clear vision and steady, +determined action is successfully directing a company which has 3,000 +miles of railroad, most of it through rich country. The line to-day is +the offspring of amalgamations. In the early 'seventies the Central +Argentine opened a line from the river port of Rosario to Cordoba, two +hundred and forty-six miles. Later on Buenos Aires and Rosario were +joined by another railway company. Subsequently the two lines were +linked. Always, without halt, the line has pushed its head into fresh +country, until now its arms stretch like a fan with Buenos Aires as the +base. + +I have heard Buenos Aires and Rosario described as the London and +Liverpool of Argentina--and the illustration is apt. Rosario, to be +pictured in a later chapter, is a business and shipping centre, and +between the two towns there is a constant rush by commercial men. It is +inspiriting to see the rush at the Retiro station in the early morning, +when men are busy getting their newspapers at the stalls and hastening +to the breakfast car and the roomy coaches. To the eye of the newly +arrived stranger there are innumerable little differences from things he +is accustomed to at home. But they are matters of detail to which you +speedily get used, so that after a week or two, or even a few days, you +have a little start in the realisation that you are not travelling in a +London and North-Western express, but amongst a similar crowd of +business men, in a far part of the world, who are intent on their own +affairs. + +Twelve passenger trains journey daily between Buenos Aires and Rosario. +Until Mr. Pearson came along with fresh ideas most of the passenger +traffic was by night. Trains left both places at ten o'clock; the +passengers went to bed, and early next morning the destination was +reached. Now there are two day express trains completing the journey in +just under five hours. Only first-class passengers travel by these +trains, as excellent as the expresses between New York and Philadelphia. +There is nothing in the way of scenery to move one to rapture; but there +is good agricultural progress on either side. The line is being double +tracked and stone ballasted, and the running is comfortable. And sitting +in this train, thronged with business men, whilst the great engine tears +along to keep to scheduled time, you understand something of the spirit +of modern Argentina. + +Amongst the cities of the world Buenos Aires takes thirteenth place in +size. With its population of a million and a half, long-distance +electric tramcars and the institution of an "underground" system are +not enough. High rents are driving many thousands to the suburbs, and +when, in the morning, the rush of trains begins to deliver throngs of +men and women into the heart of "B.A.," the scene is animated. All the +big companies running out of "B.A." are nursing their valuable suburban +traffic. The Central Argentine is electrifying over forty-four miles of +double track in the neighbourhood of the city. This company, in the +suburban section of its system, now carries 15,000,000 passengers a +year. All the trains of the company run 889,000 miles a month. A +handsome new station is being erected on the site of the old Retiro. I +was able to inspect the latest pneumatic system of signalling. When at +Rosario I went over the extensive workshops, and although it would be +idle even to suggest they compared with Crewe, Swindon, or Doncaster, +considering most of the parts are imported, they are comprehensive +works, and the machinery of the best. + +Since Mr. Pearson has been in charge the Central Argentine has taken to +running excursions, and encouraging the holiday makers in the flat lands +to go and seek bracing air in the Cordoba mountains. Alta Gracia--of +which more anon--an old Spanish town which has been drowsing in the sun +for several centuries, is now one of the most popular of holiday +haunts. + +But, though naturally enough the average passenger considers a railway +line from the way it ministers to his needs, it is the goods traffic +which is of first importance to railways in a country like Argentina. I +went on the Central Argentine line as far north as Tucuman, and as far +west as Cordoba and Rio Cuarto, and beheld the richness of the plains. +There were endless miles of wheat and maize and linseed; there were the +great herds of cattle and sheep. I witnessed the sugar cane harvest in +the north in full swing. + +All the goods are not brought into "B.A." The line runs to three +up-river ports, Rosario, Villa Constitucion and Campana, where there are +wide wharves and grain elevators. A goods tonnage of nearly 7,000,000 a +year and receipts of nearly £3,500,000 a year spell big business. Yet +one found this was only the beginning of things. Already there are +gigantic schemes in project for irrigation works in those stretches +which are incapable of use because of the insufficient rainfall. The +Argentine Government is giving serious attention to this matter. But the +railway companies in the Republic are not content to twiddle their +thumbs and keep asking, "Why does not the Government do something?" All +of them are attending to irrigation themselves, or are doing the work +for the Government. The Central Argentine, on behalf of the Government, +have an irrigation scheme on hand which will cost close upon £600,000. +New lines and extensions up to a further 1,600 miles are projected to +cost £8,000,000. Over 35,000 employees are on this line. The length of +rolling stock is 143 miles, including 600 passenger coaches and 2,200 +beds. Twenty million passengers are carried a year, and the total +receipts work out at £40 a week per mile. + +The second big railway which attracted my admiration was the Buenos +Aires and Pacific, which strikes westward across the continent. The +company was formed as recently as 1882, but it has a present capital of +over £50,500,000. It owns 1,406 miles, it leases 2,011 miles, and so +operates 3,417 miles. Some 150 miles are under construction. It has over +16,000,000 passengers annually, and over 6,000,000 tons of freight; and +its gross earnings in the last financial year (July 1912 to June 1913) +were £5,590,613. During the last ten years it has absorbed a number of +lesser lines--the Villa Maria Rufino, the Bahia Blanca and +North-Western, the Great Western, and, lastly, the Argentine +Transandine. It has also bought a length of over 200 miles of Government +line out in the west. The "B.A. and Pacific" has several subsidiary +undertakings. In conjunction with the Great Southern Railway it has a +well-equipped light and power company. In my chapter on Bahia Blanca I +shall deal with the port accommodation provided by the Pacific Company +to dispatch the grain produced within its area to Europe. Perhaps the +most important improvement made by the company has been the high level +independent access to the city of Buenos Aires. This line, which is five +miles in length, consists of two viaducts of brickwork, containing 116 +arches of 42.3 feet span each, and 19 steel bridges, the largest being +178.8 feet. From the River Plate an area of 366 acres is being reclaimed +to be used for goods sidings and access to the docks. For the conveyance +of coal, and materials for use on the line, the company owns its own +fleet of steamers. It would be easy enough to give a bunch of figures to +show how the passenger traffic has grown; anyway, its suburban service +bears comparison with that of any other line entering the capital. + +The Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway is becoming increasingly popular, +for people desiring to see the world now travel from "B.A." across the +pampas, over the Andes, and so down to Valparaiso in Chili, where +steamers can be obtained to take them up to Peru, Panama, and San +Francisco. Leaving "B.A.," the train runs for some twelve hours across +an extensive plain which is far from indicating to the traveller the +great mountain ranges which will surprise him later on. Across this +plain the lines of the railway extend in an absolutely straight line +from Vedia to Makenna, a distance of 175 miles, which is the world's +record. Near the first-mentioned station the railway curves in the form +of an S; without this, the stretch on the straight would have been 206 +miles long. + +Although the pampas are occasionally marked by undulations and small +green-covered slopes, the first notable elevations are not encountered +until Mercedes is reached. These are the San Luis hills, the outposts +of the Cordillera. Passing on the western side of this chain the +picturesque city of San Luis is reached. As the traveller approaches the +Cordillera of the Andes he finds himself in a district topographically +distinct but always fertile, and watered by canals fed by the Tunuyan +and Mendoza rivers. The view of the Cordillera in the early morning is a +spectacle worthy of admiration. At a distance of one hundred miles +before arrival at Mendoza the interminable chain of the Andes, with its +snow-capped peaks mingling with the clouds, is distinguishable. As the +train approaches their imposing grandeur becomes more and more evident. +Another of the views which delights the tourist, and makes the business +man think, is that of the smiling vineyards extending on both sides of +the line in a delightful prospect until lost on the horizon.[B] + + [B] Subsequent chapters describe Mendoza and the author's + personal experience during a trip into the Andes. + +From Mendoza the line runs across the Andes by the Uspallata Valley +route, the only transcontinental line in South America. What the Suez +Canal and the Trans-Siberian Railway have done for the Far Eastern +trade, the Transandine Railway is achieving for transcontinental traffic +in South America by giving rapid communication between the two South +American Republics--reducing the journey between Buenos Aires and +Valparaiso from thirteen and a half days to thirty-eight hours--and +thereby cementing closer commercial relations and developing trade with +the Far East. + +This has only been made possible by the summit tunnel of the Transandine +Railway, which was opened for public traffic in May, 1910, so that the +distance between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso has been reduced to 888 +miles. It is probably of interest to state that this tunnel is one of +the longest of its kind in the world, being 10,384 feet long, including +two artificial ends 442 feet in length altogether, and it lies at an +elevation of 10,778 feet above the sea-level. It is nearly 1,500 feet +higher than the highest carriage road in Europe, that over the Stelvio +Pass, and more than 3,500 feet higher than the Mont Cenis, St. Gothard, +and Simplon tunnels. So well were the levels and lines kept that the +difference at the junction was only 3/4 inch, and of the line 2-3/4 +inches, while the chainage was only 2.14 inches less than calculated. At +one period 1,700 men were engaged on the works. + +Unfortunately, the beautiful and impressive bronze statue of the Christ +is not visible to passengers in the train, but it can easily be reached +by coach or mule from Inca. It stands some 3,000 feet higher than Las +Cuevas, and is situated on the dividing line between Argentina and +Chili. It was the gift of a pious Buenos Aires lady, Señora César de +Costa, and was erected as a monument to the signing of the peace treaty +between the two countries. + +The Pacific Railway has expended over £80,000 in snow protection for +their line during the past two years, with the result that through +traffic can be maintained throughout the severest winter +with perfect safety. + +[Illustration: THE STATUE OF CHRIST ON THE ARGENTINA-CHILI FRONTIER.] + +The line brings Chili at least a fortnight nearer London, a great +consideration in these days of commercial enterprise. British +manufacturers are taking advantage of the fact, and that there is a +growing demand in Chili for British goods is shown by the increasing +number of representatives who favour this route. Previous to the opening +of the railway passengers and goods had to travel by boat through the +treacherous Straits of Magellan, a long and tedious journey. Now a +well-appointed and comfortable train is entered at Buenos Aires, and +thirty-eight hours later the traveller finds himself in Valparaiso or +Santiago. + +But the fortune of the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway really lies in +the V-shaped territory from Mendoza to Bahia Blanca and Buenos Aires. +There is a great country still to be awakened in the foothills of the +Andes. There are millions of acres on the pampas awaiting the plough and +the coming of the cattle breeder. The Pacific Company cannot but go on +and prosper. It is a matter of regret, however, that it has lost as +general manager Mr. Guy Calthrop. In the handling of a complex railway +system he has no superior. A strong man, physically and mentally, he has +had rough hours during labour trouble. But he kept a steady nerve. He +went out to Argentina with high reputation of his work on the Caledonian +line; he has shown the capacity of a general in the development of +traffic during the few years he has been in Argentina. But England +called him to take the most responsible post in the railway world, the +general managership of the London and North Western Company. + +Now I come to the Great Southern Company, one of the oldest and one of +the most famous lines on the South American continent. From "B.A." it +extends southwards for 500 miles to Bahia Blanca. From there it shoots +westwards for 348 miles to Neuquén, and an extension to the Chilian +frontier is on its way. On behalf of the Government the company is +carrying forward extensive irrigation works in the Neuquén territory +which, when completed, will convert the valleys of the upper Rio Negro +and Rio Neuquén, hitherto one of the least productive, into one of the +most fertile regions of the country. The growth of the company, since it +started in 1865 with a length of 71 miles, is worth noting. After 1865 +the mileage grew progressively as follows: 1873, 145 miles; 1883, 472 +miles; 1893, 1,406 miles; 1903, 2,404 miles; 1913, 3,641 miles. The +lines actually in course of construction, or about to be commenced, +represent some 670 miles. Thus it can be safely calculated that the +mileage of the Great Southern Railway will, before long, exceed 4,300 +miles. You get an appreciation of the zone served by the Southern by the +comparative figures of the increase in its passenger traffic during the +last five years: 1909, 16,865,200; 1910, 18,906,505; 1911, 22,231,112; +1912, 24,069,974; 1913, 27,454,719. Of these last figures, for +1913, it is significant that the suburban traffic is represented by +19,841,156, which shows the population that lives within reach of Buenos +Aires. + +[Illustration: PLAZA CONSTITUCION STATION AT BUENOS AIRES.] + +Passenger traffic is, in fact, a main feature of the Buenos Aires Great +Southern Railway. On the Monday following the Easter holidays in 1913 +trains with no fewer than 102 sleeping coaches arrived at the company's +termini in Buenos Aires. Of these, fifty were from the fashionable +bathing resort at Mar del Plata. The special feature of this Mar del +Plata service is, that during the season as many as three heavy trains, +composed of sleeping cars, are run nightly, in addition to afternoon +expresses, formed of luxurious parlour cars, which run three days a +week. In 1913 35,964 return tickets were sold to this watering place 250 +miles from Buenos Aires. In the same year parcels and excess baggage +represented 291,608 tons, though it should be stated more than half this +amount was for milk, butter, and cream. The number of tons of goods +carried in 1909 was 4,852,379; in 1913 the tonnage was 7,977,663. Live +stock carried in 1909 were 5,576,983, whilst in 1913 the number was +6,562,951. Fully 50 per cent. of the live stock received at the +slaughter-houses for consumption in Buenos Aires, and by the freezing +establishments for export to England in the form of frozen or chilled +meat, is dispatched from southern stations. The bull that obtained the +championship in 1913 at Palermo, and fetched the world-record price of +£7,000, was born on Señor Pereyra Iraola's estate at Pereyra station on +the Great Southern Railway. + +Practically the whole of the zone served by the Great Southern Railway +in the Province of Buenos Aires is adaptable to the growing of cereals +generally, with the exception of maize, which is limited to the +districts nearest Buenos Aires. The authorised capital of the Southern +is £53,525,530, and that issued amounts to £48,981,530. The net receipts +for 1913 (June 30th) amounted to £2,870,349, and the dividend for the +year was 7 per cent., which has been maintained for the last fifteen +years, being, indeed, as high as the law will permit. The company's +rolling stock, comprising some 15,000 vehicles, was recently valued at +£7,437,654. The general manager of the company is Mr. Percy Clarke, the +doyen amongst English railway officials in Argentina, and a man of +charming personality. + +It is unnecessary for me to go through a catalogue of all that is being +done by the various railroads in the Republic. But I must refer to the +work being done by what is known as the "Farquhar group," an +amalgamation of railways under the spirited enterprise of Mr. Percival +Farquhar, a go-ahead North American who is chiefly responsible for the +creation of the Argentine Railway Company, which is incorporated under +the laws of the State of Maine, U.S.A. This company was formed a couple +of years ago (July 12th, 1912) to group together various railways in +order to obtain benefits of unified management, and provide increased +railroad facilities in the northern districts of the Republic. Two of +the principal railways which this company now control are the Central +Cordoba and the Entre Rios lines. Also it has a controlling interest in +a number of smaller companies. The biggest amalgamation effected by this +company has been the purchase by the Cordoba Central Railway of the +undertakings of the Cordoba and Rosario and Cordoba Central Buenos Aires +Extension Lines; and the proposal at the time of writing is to create +£23,000,000 worth of new stock, whilst £18,000,000 worth is to be issued +to the holders of existing stock in the three companies. A good deal of +reorganisation is in progress. + +Although competition between the big lines is as severe as anywhere in +the world, except within the United States, this movement in Argentina +for amalgamation and agreement in regard to spheres of interest shows a +disposition to put an end to fierce rivalry. Indeed, it is more than +likely that within the next few years there will be more amalgamation +and working agreements between the big companies. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ROSARIO + + +It was not my fortune to see Rosario, one of the leading commercial +cities in the Republic, under the most favourable circumstances. During +the few days I was there the weather was all it ought not to have +been--dull and rainy and cold--and the streets, except in a few central +thoroughfares, morasses of mire. + +It is a purely commercial town. It puts forward no claim to be artistic +or cultured, and it has no pretensions to be a leader of fashion. All +the men in Rosario are engaged in money-making. There are big offices, +and the business men are at their desks early in the morning and remain +late in the afternoon. Great railway lines converge upon Rosario, and +along the front of the River Parana there are miles of goods sheds and +wharves, with ships lying alongside into which the elevators pour their +streams of wheat. There is the constant shunting of trains, the +shrieking of cranes, and the swinging of derricks. + +The workers are the best type of Latins, Italians from North Italy, or +North Catalonian Spaniards or Basques. Other Latins do not get much of a +chance in Rosario. There are a number of Englishmen, but they are +swamped in the total. I made inquiries about the relative merits of +English and Italian working men, and was told that the Englishmen are +superior, two of them doing the work which it generally takes three +Italians to accomplish. But it did not strike me, considering the high +cost of living, that the workers in Rosario are highly paid from an +English point of view. Commerce is frequently held up by strikes. +Indeed, there is probably no place where strikes are so recurrent as in +Rosario. + +This is a town which came into existence a century ago as a sort of +military outpost to fight the Indians. Half a century back it was little +more than a village, and in 1870 it had a population of 21,000. To-day +the inhabitants number 200,000. It is a great port for sending abroad +wheat, maize, and linseed; indeed, its exports annually are about +5,000,000 tons. As the country north of Rosario is rapidly being +colonised, and as the town is the up-river port capable of receiving +ocean-going steamers, its continued growth is assured. Though, of +course, I do not forget the gradual silting of the River Plate into +which the Parana flows, and the restraint this is sure to put upon +shipping in the future, Rosario is certain to go ahead. The day is not +far distant when there will be extended railway communication between +Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia; and, as all the lines will pass through +Rosario, it will get the benefit. It is reported that Brazil has coal +mines yet to be exploited, and if this takes place Argentina, which is +much in need of coal, will be one of the principal markets. + +I spent an interesting morning in the workshops of the Central Argentine +Railway, which are situated here. They are extensive works, though most +of the engines on the line are brought from England. The majority of the +workmen, naturally enough, are Italians, though the men at the heads of +departments are Englishmen. The goods yard of the Central Argentine +Company is as large as that at Crewe, and is ever busy with the great +freight cars coming in from the west and north. When I was there the +railway station was being transferred to another part of the city so +that passenger and goods traffic could be more expeditiously handled. + +Though Rosario prides itself that it keeps its nose to the grindstone in +the matter of money-making, it is not quite neglectful of other sides of +life. There is a fine system of electric tramways. There are huge blocks +of municipal buildings, and imposing banks and theatres; but the law +courts, whilst having a fine exterior, suggested a certain shabbiness to +me because of the weeds that were growing in the courtyards. There is +the usual race-course, and close by there is the Parque Independencia. +And, of course, there is a Plaza San Martin, whilst in other parts of +the town is the Plaza San Lopez, and the Plaza Jewell, presented by an +Englishman who made his fortune in the city. Some distance outside +Rosario is the English suburb of Fisherton, and I noticed that the +Englishmen had fallen into the Argentine practice of calling their +houses after their wives--the Villa Elsie, the Villa Florence, the +Villa Ethel, and so on. As might be expected, there is a golf +course. In the city itself there is a Strangers' Club, of which most of +the members are Englishmen. + +[Illustration: THE ROSARIO EXPRESS, CENTRAL ARGENTINE RAILWAY.] + +An evidence of the prosperity of Rosario is the way in which land has +increased in value. Plots which in 1885 could have been bought for 2s. +6d. a yard now fetch £200 a yard. On the outskirts of the town, where a +few years back a bit of land on which to build a residence--say twenty +yards by sixty yards--could have been obtained for £5, it cannot be +obtained to-day for less than £150. I saw one stretch on the river front +which was bought twenty years ago for £2,000 and sold last year for +£40,000. Twenty miles from Rosario camp land which a dozen years ago +could have been obtained for £10,000 the square league is not allowed to +change hands to-day for less than £100,000 the square league. + +With nightfall the Rosario people give themselves up to pleasure. +Attached to the big hotel there is a huge saloon, and whilst men play +dominoes and cards, music is provided by a band composed of Austrian +girls. There is a great _café chantant_, and every night hundreds of +people, men and their wives, sit at the little tables having meals, or +partaking of beverages, whilst a band plays and comic singers perform, +or a kinematograph entertainment is provided. I saw nothing at all in +Rosario to suggest it was a place of culture. But it is a town throbbing +with commercial activity, and when business is over the people seek +nothing more than the lightest of entertainment. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CORDOBA AND ITS ATTRACTIONS + + +An old-time languorous atmosphere seems to hang round Cordoba. It is a +city with eighty churches, and as it has a population of 80,000, I pride +myself on my arithmetic that works it out to one church for every +thousand inhabitants. It is named after Cordova, in Spain, was founded +in 1504, and is the Oxford of the Argentine. Its university dates from +1666, and has a high reputation for learning in law and medicine. + +Those old Spaniards who came pioneering down this way from Peru in their +early days of conquest had a neat eye for the picturesque. Speaking +generally, I would not place Argentina high as a land of beauty. But in +the middle land there is a fine rib of mountains, the Sierra de Cordoba; +and on a rise, so that it may be seen from afar, when the heat dances +hazily there is something immaterial about Cordoba as though it were the +city of a waking dream. See it, however, in the early morning, when the +air is fresh and the gleam of the sun catches it sideways and the +buildings are silhouetted against shadows, and you witness a picture +which would enthral an artist. + +By northern European standard it is not an ancient city. But as living +beneath the sun brings early old age to men and women, so cities which +have had a few centuries of constant sun glare get a drowsy mediævalism +which sister cities in more temperate climes must have long ages to +acquire. The aroma of the Church and of scholasticism permeates Cordoba. +In many respects it is quite modern, with its big new hotel, where the +band plays in the restaurant whilst you are dining, and its streets lit +with electricity and electric tramcars jangling their way through the +squares and plenty of taxi-cabs on the ranks. + +But the tendency is to forget these, and in recollection of the place +you think chiefly of the quiet in the quadrangle of the university, the +calm of the great library, the weatherworn walls of the old churches and +the dim lights of their interiors doing much to soften the tawdriness of +the decorations. There is a good deal in the assertion occasionally made +that the towns of recently developed countries lack individuality, +distinction; that, with all their progress, they are more or less +duplicates of each other. It is easy enough in Argentina to find +evidence of this modern spirit in town planning. Yet I know of none of +the newer countries where the towns have such a separate character as in +Argentina. + +Of course, there are raw townships of yesterday which have nothing to +show but two wretched rows of badly built houses on each side of the +railway track, just as you will find in the western parts of the United +States and Canada. As Argentine towns grow they do not grow uniformly, +as though they were designed by the same architect or were imitating one +another. They show individuality. If you like, it may be just a desire +to show off. Many municipalities are loaded with debt. But they will +have their cities beautiful. When they have made a broad grass-plotted, +tree-girt avenue right through the town to the railway station, and the +station buildings are low and ugly and out of keeping with the rest of +the town, and the railway authorities at Buenos Aires turn a deaf ear to +the deputations which may wait upon them, you can safely bet that one of +these nights the railway buildings will be consumed by fire, so that the +company is compelled to erect a new station. + +Because it is the oldest city in Argentina and has inhabitants with +pedigrees, and because of the society attracted to it, Cordoba regards +itself as the aristocratic centre of the Republic. In the neighbouring +hills are sanatoria, like Jesu Maria, much favoured by the people of the +plains who need a change. + +Cordoba, like other places, is quite certain it has the best-dressed +ladies. In a sedate sort of way there is a good deal of gaiety. On hot +summer evenings a band plays in the square, where there is a statue of +San Martin. There may be a town in Argentina which has not an equestrian +statue of the Liberator from Spain. If so, I must have missed it. The +statues are all facsimiles of the original, and there must be dozens of +them. It is the one point on which all the towns agree; they must have +a statue of San Martin on a prancing steed, and eternally pointing in +the direction of the Andes. Once I unfortunately made an Argentine +angry, for, being anxious to show me the beauties of his town, he sought +my wishes as to what I desired to see, and I replied, "Anything you +like, so long as you do not take me to see the statue of San +Martin--I've seen him so often during the last month." The feathers were +up at once. I smoothed them down by assuring him that we have very few +statues of Wellington in England. + +The Cordobians are fond of music and racing and gambling, and sitting in +the cafés throwing the dice-box. There is a delightful theatre, the +Rivera Indarte, built by the provincial Government. Opera companies +which go to Buenos Aires are invited to come to Cordoba, and the +authorities give a guarantee against loss. The proper thing is to buy a +box, holding six persons, for the little season of ten performances. The +cost of such a box is £150. The charge is a dollar for the _entrada_ +(entrance), which provides nothing except permission to enter the +building. This _entrada_ charge is like the charge for "attendance" in +old-fashioned hotels in England, which is an excuse for sticking another +eighteenpence a day on your bill so that you may be deceived into +thinking you are paying six shillings for your room when you are really +paying seven and sixpence. So at the opera in Cordoba, usually Italian, +the lowest ticket is two dollars to be permitted to stand up, but you +have already parted with one dollar to go in. Cordoba province, like the +other provinces, thinks no small beer of itself. It rather resents +receiving orders from the Federal Government sitting in Buenos Aires. +Perhaps that is the reason the Argentine National Anthem is so seldom +heard. + +Students are attracted to Cordoba University from all over the country. +Most of the professors have had experience of European universities, +generally French. The library is extensive and varied. I handled some +fine old Bibles, bound in sheepskin, relics of the early Spaniards. Also +there is a remarkable collection of old maps, showing that the priests +as they travelled this way were first-class geographers. Whatever +literary sentiment there is in Argentina finds expression in Cordoba. +Indeed, it is the natural meeting-place for men inclined to culture for +its own sake. But it is by no means a sleepy hollow. It has several +really good newspapers. There is a great export of lime. Being the +centre of a big wheat area, much milling is done by modern electric +appliance. Light and power are provided by an enterprising English +company. There is a shoe factory, which turns out 2,500 pairs of +footwear a day. + +Yet, as I have said, though there is plenty to prove that Cordoba is +awake, the impression left on the memory is that it is an old-fashioned +Spanish university town that has strayed to the central part of South +America. This may be because I spent most of my time in the university +buildings, or roaming through the churches. In the cathedral a +shrivelled but kindly old priest showed me a gallery of bishops of +Cordoba; but I suspect they are much like the Scottish kings which adorn +the walls of Holyrood Palace, many painted by one hand, and from +imagination of what the bishops looked like rather than from any +knowledge of their actual appearance. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by A. W. Boote & Co., Buenos Aires._ + ON THE WAY TO MARKET IN CORDOBA.] + +I went to the Jesuit church, where a tonsured, jolly monk showed me the +relics. People who had had rheumatism, and who had been cured by prayer, +gave acknowledgment by sending golden arms or silver legs. There was a +little golden motor car, and this came from a lady who in a terrible +smash prayed her life might be saved; and it was saved, and here was her +gift. Here was the statue of the Virgin, which performs miracles. Those +who are inclined to doubt are shown a stack of crutches of those who +hobbled into the church to seek the aid of the Virgin and walked out +quite cured. The little figure of the Virgin is as fresh as though it +had been carved and painted only last year. Yet the story goes it has +never been touched for nigh four hundred years. In those far-off days it +was sent from Spain. But the ship was wrecked in mid-Atlantic. Those who +had expected the statue were in distress, and prayers were offered on +the coast that the good Mother would send another statue. And whilst +they prayed the case in which was the statue was floated on the shore, +and the statue was quite unharmed. At once miracles were performed, and +miracles have been performed over since. I saw the crutches and I saw +the golden motor-car. + +From the rafters hung many flags of foreign countries captured by +Argentina in war. There is a Union Jack, with colours dimmed with years, +which was seized from the British nearly a hundred years ago, when a +British force landed and it was a toss-up whether Argentina would not +become a British Colony. Many British visitors cast a regretful eye upon +that drooping flag in the Jesuit church at Cordoba. They are not +told--but it is a fact all the same--it is not the real flag. I was +shown the real flag folded in a glass case in a room behind the altar. +Some years ago a number of young Englishmen travelling in the country +recovered the real flag, which then hung in the chancel. There was such +a how-d'ye-do that it had to be returned. To avoid a similar mishap it +was put under lock and key in a glass case, and kept in a chamber not +accessible to the public. But the public would still want to see the +British flag. So not to disappoint them an exact copy was made, and it +is the imitation flag upon which most visiting Englishmen cast a +patriotic but regretful eye. + +There is an agricultural college, a wonderful drive up a hill to a park +which provides long distance views, an English school and a German +school. I could easily give a dozen places where these developments can +be found, and better. The point is that you find these things at all in +the very heart of South America. Being the heart of the southern +continent, Cordoba has been selected by the Government as its chief +observatory. It is the Argentine Greenwich. The Republic keeps the same +time from east to west, and it keeps Cordoba time. The observatory is +under the control of a staff from the United States. + +The Cordobians are great lovers of pleasure. Sometimes on the grim +hoardings of London you see how a railway company will take you, first +class, to a popular seaside resort, house and feed you in a well-known +hotel, and bring you back at a fixed inclusive sum for the week-end. The +Central Argentine Railway does the same thing in regard to Alta Gracia, +a pleasant village in the hills, and where there is the best mountain +hotel in the world. Alta Gracia is about an hour's run from Cordoba, and +on Sundays there is a rush of holiday-makers, reminiscent of the Pullman +express out of London down to Brighton on a Sunday morning. The "fixed +charge" is popular. Everybody knows exactly how much the outing is going +to cost. At ten o'clock a train thronged with holiday-makers sets out +for Alta Gracia. By eleven o'clock the place is reached. At noon there +is _déjeuner_. The afternoon can be spent lounging about, listening to +the band, playing golf, playing tennis, gambling in the casino, taking +walks in the wooded hills. At seven o'clock is dinner. The train returns +at nine o'clock, and by ten Cordoba and home is reached. + +One of the pleasantest week-ends in my life I spent at Alta Gracia. +There is a little group of Englishmen, associated with the Central +Argentine Railway, living at Cordoba, and, as officials have special +cars, we had a couple of cars attached to the train on Saturday night. +At Alta Gracia these were detached and side tracked. Then we "roughed +it" for twenty-four hours. After the cocktails, and whilst dinner was +being prepared, we sat out on the plain. On one side rose the village, +revealed by points of light in the blackness, and on the summit of the +hill was a glow of light just like a great and well-illumined liner +appears as she ploughs the sea. That was the mountain hotel. On the +other side was the prairie, just a streak of dark below the deep blue of +the sky. The stars seemed bigger and nearer and more numerous than they +do in northern climes. There was the usual searching for the Southern +Cross, and when found we all agreed it was the most overrated +constellation in the heavens. A caressing warmth was in the air. It was +good to sit there, smoking our pipes and "listening to the silence." + +[Illustration: THE NINTH GREEN AT ALTA GRACIA.] + +[Illustration: IN THE COURTYARD OF THE MONASTERY AT ALTA GRACIA.] + +Away on the plains of central South America--that sounds like "roughing +it." But you have got to go much farther afield to rough it. The car +which my friend and I had would have attracted much notice in England. +There was a pleasant sitting-room, with big easy chairs and a real +English open fireplace. There were three bedrooms, not the "cribb'd, +cabin'd, confin'd" cabins we have in our "sleepers" at home, and there +was the luxury of a bathroom. There was a kitchen, a chef, and a +sprightly waiter. The whole car was lit by electricity. So we sat down +to dinner--half a dozen courses as excellent as can be served at a +London restaurant which looks after its reputation. We filled the coach +with our tobacco smoke; we told our best stories; we exchanged yarns +about things which had befallen us in distant parts of the world--in +Siberia and Australia, Peru and Havana, the Soudan and California--for +here the corners of the earth were met in a side-tracked private car in +the lee of a pretty holiday village in the middle of Argentina. The +Spaniards have done much to this land; but bands of young Englishmen +have played and are playing their part. + +In the delicious freshness of the dawn we sauntered about in our +pyjamas, drank tea and smoked cigarettes. The day came with a rush of +glory. It was Sunday morning, and the bell in the monastic church on the +hill was clanging for the faithful to go and pray. The mystery which +hung over Alta Gracia had gone, and in the truthful light of the morning +it was just a straggling Spanish village, with many trees about, and the +red hills in the distance making a jagged background. It was a torrid +Sunday morning, and when we had had our tubs, and had shaven and put on +our flannels, we set out to "make a day of it." + +The bell of the old church was clang-clanging. Peasants in their Sunday +clothes--the women squat and short-skirted and with highly coloured +kerchiefs over their heads, the men in baggy velvet trousers and slouch +hats, their faces polished with soap and their hair reeking with scented +oil--were slowly climbing to worship. The walls of the church, and the +buildings where the monks formerly lived, suggested a fortress prepared +to resist attack rather than a haven of peace. There were long slits in +the stonework through which the nose of a musket could be stuck. For in +the old days the monks had to fight as well as pray. Alta Gracia was +very lonely centuries ago, and always liable to attack. But now all that +is far in the background. The church was crowded. The priest at the +candled altar was chanting. The air was pungent with incense. There was +not room for all the worshippers to sit so many stood, and when they +knelt they spread their handkerchiefs on the floor. There was nothing +which could be described as distinctively Argentine. Better-to-do folk +were dressed just like better-to-do folk are dressed in Europe. It was +just the usual Sunday morning scene you can witness in Spain and +Italy--countries six thousand miles away. + +One blinked on coming from the shadows of the church into the sunshine. +The holiday-makers from Cordoba had arrived, and were scattering to find +suitable haunts for picnicking. We tramped up the heavy, dusty road, +panting and perspiring, but encouraged by the sight of the spreading, +low-roofed hotel. Ah! at last we were on the broad balcony, twice as +wide as the promenade deck of our greatest liner. A touch of the bell, +and we were having our favourite beverages, much iced. Through the +shimmering heat the eye could wander over the endless brown plains. +Solemn Argentines, inclined to portliness, sat in big basket-chairs, +surrounded by their sedate families, doing nothing at all. There were +invalids who had come here for the high, dry air. There were noisy +English youths, in gorgeous blazers, arranging a tennis match. A party +of heavy-shoed golfers were setting out. + +Alta Gracia is renowned throughout Argentina as a health resort. In the +hot months--and it can be very hot around January--many families come +here, for there is always a refreshing breeze. There are hundreds of +rooms in the hotel. Bathrooms are innumerable. There are suites and +single chambers. The furniture is tasteful but not luxurious. The +dining-room is in white. There is a ball-room. There is a resident +orchestra. I know most of the big hotels in the mountains of +Switzerland, but no one is comparable in conveniences to this. + +Across the gardens, a hundred yards away, is the casino, quite apart +from the hotel, but provided for those who want to gamble--and where is +the Argentine who does not like to gamble? There are large public rooms; +there are small rooms, decorated in a variety of styles, for private +gaming parties; there is a refreshment and reading-room, German in +appearance; there is a beautiful little theatre. No, I am receiving no +fee to advertise Alta Gracia. With the exception of my companion, I am +quite sure there was not a soul in the place who knew what my name was, +or bothered their heads what was the business of a tourist-looking +fellow like myself. + +We lunched, we had our coffee, and then we hired one of the hotel +motor-cars and went for a forty or fifty mile spin. Roads--there were no +roads. There were passable tracks and a considerable amount of bouncing +which tested the springs of the car. Like all Latin chauffeurs the +driver had a mania for speed. The way serpentined amongst the rocks and +through scraggy woods, so we had often to make a sudden duck to avoid +getting whipped in the face by a branch. We banged and swerved, but even +the awful threat of not giving the driver a tip did not hold him in for +more than a hundred yards at a stretch from letting that car tear along +at its maddest. He took us to see a gurgling little river, the Bolsa, +tripping through a sylvan glade which caused me to exclaim, "Why, it is +just like a bit of Dovedale!" + +[Illustration: THE HOTEL AT ALTA GRACIA.] + +Off again at a furious pace, heaving, diving, skirting hills. "If there +is a smash you will be the first killed." But the chauffeur only laughed +over his shoulder. We struck up a defile, and the hills rose high on +either side. Mountain ponies scampered about; goats hailed us from rocky +heights. Gauchos, swarthy and handsome, with their women perched behind, +were overtaken on stallions which were restive and inclined to bolt at +the approach of the automobile. A bend in the narrow way, and we nearly +ran into a funeral procession; the coffin on a cart and covered with a +dingy pall, and the friends of the dead man in many and varied +vehicles following, in no garb of mourning, but non-chalantly smoking +cigarettes. There was backing of the car till it could be run on a piece +of grass. The horses hauling the dead man laid their ears well forward +and then well back, but were led past the thing they were afraid of +without accident. We exchanged the greetings of the day with the friends +of the dead man. He was going to be buried twelve miles away, and it +would be well into the night before they got back. The motor-car snorted +and jumped on its way. It was a beautiful afternoon. + +The chauffeur brought us to a chalet which we reached by crossing a +brook and passing through a garden. It was a house of refreshment. And +what kind of refreshment in an out-of-the-way part of the world? A +sad-faced girl gave us a curtsy and waited our orders whilst we +stretched our legs beneath an orange tree. Now what had she to offer in +the way of refreshment? The señors could have what they wished. I +inquired about champagne. Certainly! But who on earth could want +champagne on the edge of the world out there? We did not have champagne. +We had a bottle of native white wine and aerated water. The chauffeur! +Oh, his fancy ran to a bottle of beer; indeed, he had two bottles of +beer. And who was the dead man we had passed? we asked the maid. Her +brother. Last night he took ill and ere morning he was dead, and now +they had taken him away. An old man came to the door and looked up the +sunlit valley. The little two-year-old son of the dead man had a +stick, and was chasing some ducks toward the brook; he was radiantly +happy. We commiserated with the old man. He thanked the señors and hoped +the wine was as we wished. He did not know why his son died; the sweet +Mother in Heaven knew; anyway, he had gone; could he get the señor +another chair, for that he was sitting on could not be comfortable? + +Back to Alta Gracia. Some of our friends had been playing golf, and we +must go to the club-house. A well-laid-out nine-hole course, but the +"greens" are of caked mud; they cannot grow grass out here as we can at +home. There is the usual golfers' talk; there was "rotten luck being +bunkered just in front of the fourth hole"; "That was a lovely drive +from the eighth"; "Hang it all, he was quite off colour with his +brassie, and he generally fancied himself with his brassie work"; "Well, +of all the fortunate foozlers, a chap like that doing the fifth in +three"--and so on. It was just like dear old England. + +Somebody remarked there were gaucho races over on the other side of the +town. Gaucho races--races amongst the men of the soil, the native +cowboys of the Argentine prairies! Tune up that motor-car. I can see +lots of golf in other parts of the world, but here was one of the things +I had dreamed about coming out to see--a gaucho race-meeting. + +No, I have no need to think out admiring adjectives to describe +that course. It was only a bit of a course. The posts were ramshackle, +and the wire which had connected them was broken and trailed on the +ground, or had gone altogether. There was what I took to be intended for +a grand stand, a wheezy erection of unpainted wood, but there was nobody +on it. + +There were hundreds of gauchos, the real article, with skins like +leather, eyes as black as night, and most of them were on ponies and +astride Spanish saddles, and they were picturesquely garbed, but not so +picturesquely as you see them in coloured illustrations. They were +noisy, and prancing their horses about and challenging each other. They +had ridden in fifteen and twenty miles, some of them, and their women +had driven in the carts with provisions for the day. The women had +little encampments in the bushes, and fires burning, and they made +coffee and served their lords with chunks of food. + +The men are all laughing and arguing the merits of their ponies. Nearly +everybody is mounted. One gaucho is jumping from group to group, waving +two paper pesos (about 3s. 4d.) and demanding who will lay two pesos +against his pony. The jabber is interminable. He gets taken. Excitement +runs through the crowd. The competitors each hand the money to an old +fellow who stands on a rickety platform which serves as judges' box. +Then they amble off toward a tree where they are their own starters. A +native policeman frantically yells for the course to be cleared. Some +sort of passage-way is made, and then there is the customary confounded +dog which will not get out of the way. + +Here they come, and in a pelt of dust. They ride well and with a loose +rein. The riders swing their arms and yell as though they would frighten +their steeds to greater efforts. You can feel the quiver in the crowd. +By go the horses, running neck to neck. But one has won by a nose. The +winner trots up smiling, and he gets the four pesos held by the judge. + +But the clamour has begun again. One man, rather a gaudy buck and with a +fine horse, challenges the world. He will race any man for five pesos, +and he has the money in his hand to show he means business. Well, he +will lay his five pesos to anybody else's four. Everybody is talking +about his own horse, or somebody else's horse, or egging two enthusiasts +to cease their talking and have the thing settled by a race. + +These gauchos belong to a long line of men who have lived on their +prairies and had to do with horses ever since the Spaniards first +landed. They go to horse-races not for a pleasant holiday, but because +the fever of horse-racing is in their veins. + +And that night after dinner we sat in the great light of the veranda, +and the mighty purple night was beyond, and the air was heavy with the +musk which rises from the plains after a hot day and the great locusts +which swerved toward us! Some women gave little screams in fear they +might get amongst their hair. Men who knew their harmlessness--except +when there was a crop of young wheat to be devoured--caught them in +their hands. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by A. W. Boote & Co., Buenos Aires._ + A TYPICAL HOUSE IN CORDOBA PROVINCE.] + +We tramped through the dimly lit village and heard the songs of Spain +and Italy streaming from the cafés. We saw the crowd of merry-makers +packing into the train to return to Cordoba. And when the train, a +streak of light, had snorted into the blackness till in the distance it +appeared like a crawling glowworm, we got chairs from out of the private +car and sat beneath the stars and smoked our pipes, and wondered what +was happening in England. At first there was warmth in the air. But the +chill of midnight had come, and the grasshoppers had ceased their song, +before we climbed to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BAHIA BLANCA AND THE COUNTRY BEYOND + + +If I were suddenly asked to name the town which has most rapidly sprung +ahead during the last few years, Bahia Blanca would at once jump to my +lips. + +It is 350 miles south of the River Plate, and if you searched the coast +line for six hundred miles below Buenos Aires it is only here you would +find a natural harbour capable of receiving the largest of steamers. +With the gradual silting of the River Plate, which, notwithstanding +constant dredging, will be a constant handicap to the shipping of the +capital and Rosario, Bahia Blanca, with advantages which neither of the +other two towns possesses, will undoubtedly become the real Liverpool of +Argentina. + +In 1880 the place had a population of less than 2,000. To-day its +population is 70,000, and it is increasing rapidly. Already it has third +place in commercial importance amongst the cities of the country, and +its ambition is to rival Buenos Aires itself. + +Old timers--men who have been in the place a dozen years--waxed +enthusiastic to me about the way in which an unpaved village, built on a +flat, dusty, treeless waste, has become a city of broad paved streets +and plazas, with imposing public buildings, public gardens, electric +tramways, electric light, and an excellent water supply. + +[Illustration: A STREET IN BAHIA BLANCA] + +There was something exhilarating in driving in a motor-car along a busy +thoroughfare, with big shops on either side, and with clanging tramcars +picking up and dropping passengers, and to be reminded that seven years +before the place was quite a wilderness. The way in which some men had +made money quickly made the mouth water when one was shown a plot of +land which had originally been purchased for a few dollars, sold a few +years later for 10,000 dollars, and which had changed hands only a month +or two later for 30,000 dollars. + +Though open to the scourge of disagreeable sand-storms--I experienced +one during my visit--the town is well placed, with fine open spaces; and +though the public park is a little "raw," the fact that there is a park +at all, with excellent drives and many trees, is the wonderful thing. I +dined one night at an excellent hotel, and afterwards accompanied some +friends to a wine hall, where men brought their wives and children and +witnessed a pleasant kinematograph entertainment. Of course there is an +Argentine Club, and, though without the sedate restfulness which English +folk like to feel is the characteristic of their clubs, its dimensions +and luxuriance provide a building which would be a credit to any town +three times its size. Bahia Blanca has a model municipality, and, with +all respect to the Spanish-Italian Argentines, I believe the secret is +that the development of the town has been chiefly in the hands of +Englishmen. + +With the opening of the country, fresh areas of land placed under +cultivation and with thousands of miles lying at the back capable of +wheat growing and cattle raising, Bahia Blanca is swiftly coming into +its own. The land was practically useless so long as there was no +transport, but now, with the Great Southern Railway, the Buenos Aires +and Pacific Railway and other lines converging upon the town, every year +marks an increase in trade. For instance, in 1901 seventy vessels were +cleared from the port; in 1912 there were four hundred and twenty-two. +In the same two years the shipments in wool jumped from 26,123 tons to +55,552; the number of hides from 394 to 77,401; the tons of hair from 3 +to 248; and the tons of cereals from 188,875 to 1,747,702. + +Let honour go where honour is due. It was the coming of the railways +which gave Bahia Blanca its leap forward. In 1884 the Great Southern +Railway first pushed its rails so far south. They ran through a country +which, loosely, might be described as desert. The bringing of the +railway was like putting new life into the desert. _Estancias_ dotted +the landscape. In 1885 an insignificant mole was built by the Great +Southern to receive its own materials, but this mole has developed into +the present Port of Engineer White--called after the man who built +it--which deals with over a million tons of public traffic yearly. This +port is a little over four miles from Bahia Blanca, and has berths for +ten vessels of less draught. I climbed through the two grain elevators, +stacked with 26,000 tons of wheat in sacks. By means of electric bands +grain can be conveyed to eight vessels at a time, and in the busy season +ships have been known to take over five thousand tons in a little over +six hours. Being a place of yesterday's growth all the newest appliances +are to be found, including thirty electric cranes, powerful tugs, +floating grain elevators. Indeed, the Southern company admit to an +expenditure on the port of £2,000,000. + +But the port made by the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Company, +Puerto Galvan, occupying a position of fine natural advantage on the +estuary of the bay and lying a mile or two across the flat from Engineer +White, has also to be seen. At high tide there is a mean depth of +twenty-eight feet, and plenty of good anchorage is in the mainway. +Puerto Galvan is five miles from Bahia Blanca, and to a great extent has +been built on reclaimed swampy ground. I see the day when warehouses and +further elevators will cover this piece of reclaimed mudbank, and it +should never be forgotten that Mr. Stevens, the engineer, a man of great +ability and much modesty, has performed a fine piece of work. The port +has accommodation for twelve ocean-going steamers, and the berths, which +have a total length of over 4,000 feet, have been constructed with a +view to the rapid handling of cargo. Here again the appliances, +elevators to handle 8,000 tons a day, thirty-six cranes, traversers, +capstans, are all electrically driven. The total effective power amounts +to 4,265 horse-power. The port and the shunting yards are all lit at +night with electricity, and ships can be illuminated. There are special +facilities for the embarkation of cattle. Large bonded warehouses are in +course of construction. There is a flour mill with a capacity of 100 +tons a day. Large storage tanks have been erected for the accumulation +of crude oil, an important provision in a country so deficient in coal. +I looked across the sweep lying between Puerto Galvan and Engineer +White, and visioned the day when it will be occupied with warehouses and +industrial enterprises, for oil fuel and electric power can be quickly +and cheaply supplied. + +One morning I visited the Victoria Wool Market, long rows of well-built +sheds, where not only wool but cereals and general camp produce are +sold. I doubt if anywhere there is a similar market quite so large, for +it has a floor area of 484,000 square feet and a storage capacity of +50,000 tons. Close by are the deposits to receive the Mendoza wines, +which will have a profitable European sale when once the supply grows +beyond the Argentine demand. Then there are deposits for the storage of +alfalfa. The spread of development was revealed by the remarks which +came in reply to my inquiries. "Oh, that was built last year"; "This was +erected a couple of years ago, but we are going to make extensions"; +"Five years ago we thought this place big enough, but we are going to +pull it down and put up something ten times the size." Here was +commercial progress expanding monthly. Here was a town which had been +little more to me than a name on the South American coast before I +visited it--and I consider myself a travelled man--and when I saw its +energy and its growth I wondered how much the great industrial +populations of crowded Europe knew of what was taking place so many +thousands of miles across the sea. + +[Illustration: THE ELEVATORS AT INGENIERO WHITE.] + +The success of Bahia Blanca lies in the back country known as the pampa. +I journeyed across it in a trip from Mendoza to Bahia Blanca, and, as +the name denotes, it is a vast featureless plain. Most of it is +naturally fertile, but even regions that are sandy will be productive in +the growing of alfalfa, which seems specially suitable, and which will +not only maintain herds of cattle, but is profitable as a feeding stuff +to be exported. As yet the pampa has been little more than scratched. +From the railway cars the idea is obtained that the whole of the country +is converted to the use of man. Ten or twenty miles beyond the line you +reach desert--desert so far as use is concerned, though the illimitable +expanse of waving grass tells the tale of future possibilities. Wherever +the railways stretch their arms there is cultivation, for the ever +spreading population follows quickly on the laying down of the rails. + +I have heard people talk about the monotony of the pampa. But this +territory has a special fascination of its own. There is a bigness, an +immensity, an unendingness which lays hold of the imagination. The great +silence, save for the play of the wind amongst the long grass, seizes +the fancy. Sunrise and sunset come and go in a wonderful glory. At the +birth of day all the grass sparkles with dew; the softest colours seem +to brush the world. When the sun is up, and blazes from a sky with all +the blue burnt out of it, a sort of oppressive hot hush rests upon the +world. The long grass seems to drowse beneath the pitiless glare. You +can travel for hundreds of miles and never see a hillock or a tree or a +beast, or hear a bird. But into this land man is slowly but persistently +penetrating. To folk who live at home the life seems deadening. Yet men +come to love it, not passionately but clingingly, so that many a man who +has "made his pile" and returned home to spend it in ease begins to +crave for the pampa, and he is not content until he visits it again. + +[Illustration: PLAZA RIVERDAVIA, BAHIA BLANCA.] + +Gradually this area is being transformed. _Estancias_, with their +eternal clump of trees and inevitable windmill pump, break the line of +the horizon. Cattle stray over the prairie. The mud hovels of the +colonists are black specks, and when you reach them you find that a big +slice of the land has been given to the plough and is fenced with wire. +Here also are the sheep farms, and, as I have indicated, Bahia Blanca is +the chief market for wool. Yet sheep rearing in the Argentine, extensive +though it is, may be said to be stationary. This is not because the +limits of expansion have been reached, but simply because cattle and +wheat have been found more profitable. The quality of wool, inferior to +that of Australia, may have something to do with the restriction. The +constant tendency is toward hair, and the natural condition of wool is +only maintained by the importation of English sheep. Then the animals +are disposed to be gaunt rather than good meat producers. These are +drawbacks which have had their influence on breeding as a money-making +business. But the Argentines are a practical people, and everything +connected with agriculture they tackle in a scientific manner. That the +consequence of their experiments in cross breeding will be the +production of an acclimatised sheep, valuable for wool or mutton or +both, I have no doubt. Farther south toward Patagonia, where the climate +is more temperate and where there is fodder, I look upon as one of the +great sheep tracks of the world. The European market for chilled mutton +will be a spur to sheep-breeding. + +Indeed, there are indications that the country at the back of Bahia +Blanca is being appreciated as the sheep lands. It has been found that +English sheep do better here than elsewhere. The Lincoln, Leicester, +Romney Marsh, and Merino sheep do well. There is a good opening in this +area for the British immigrant with money. Though there are something +approaching one hundred million sheep in the Republic, there is room for +hundreds of millions more. But the indifferent strain, consequent on a +long-woolled Spanish breed having run wild for over two hundred years, +must be eradicated if Argentina is going to secure and hold a foremost +place in the wool markets of the world. I have been told this has been +done during the last half century, but I am by no means convinced. For a +long time the West Riding of Yorkshire had a prejudice against Argentine +wool. This no longer exists. The preference is given to Australian wool +not for any patriotic reasons, but simply because it is better. + +Argentina has for some time been attracting breeders from New Zealand, +and they have done much, by the importation of stock from England, to +improve the quality. At present three out of every four sheep stations +are in the hands of men of British name. You can strike a line from a +little north of Bahia Blanca, and then reckon that most of the country +lying south, right down to Patagonia, is suitable for sheep. But it is +not all of equal value. Sheep that are turned out on the alfalfa lands +provide good mutton, but the wool is inferior. The fine grasses of the +near south seem inclined to make coarse wool; yet careful crossing is +doing much to prevent this. Still, I am strongly disposed to agree with +M. Bernandez, that there is no reason why either the coarse or fine +wools now produced should be abandoned. The coarse, long wool will +always have its use not only in rough goods, but also in the warp of +fine cloths, which in the great mechanical looms has to be extremely +strong. He looks to the establishment of woollen manufactories in the +Argentine, and, as a consequence, the development on a colossal scale of +all the breeds. + +[Illustration: A BAHIA BLANCA BANK.] + +[Illustration: THE TOWN HALL AT BAHIA BLANCA.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE + + +It is, as I have abundantly shown, a simple truism to say that Argentina +is one of the principal agricultural countries in the world. But how far +is the country going to advance? + +In the great industrial lands of the earth the tendency of population is +away from the land. But the increase of population means a bigger demand +for food. The time is swiftly coming when the United States will have +difficulty in growing sufficient to feed her own people, and must look +elsewhere. The wheat area in Canada is immense, but its extent is now +well known. The wheat lands in the Dominion are travelling farther +north, and though a short summer with long hours of sunshine are +sufficient speedily to raise crops, there is the danger--and it is +foolish to close one's eyes to it--that a summer frost may produce a +sudden shortage in the world's wheat supply. Russia is capable of +further development in wheat growing, and there are huge possibilities +in Siberia, which, physically, is a twin country to Canada. But the +Russians are the poorest of farmers, and the agricultural progress of +the land of the Tsar is doubtful. + +Then there are plains of Australia which ought to be doing much more in +food production. But it cannot be said that the native-born Australian +is really fond of life in the back blocks. Anyway, the disproportionate +size of the urban to the rural populations would indicate he is not. +Though of late years something has been done to stimulate immigration, +the result is not sufficient to meet the needs of a country like the +Commonwealth. + +One reason is that Australia is so much farther off than Canada, and +there is a belief amongst the country people of Great Britain that the +prospects of success are not so immediate. Further, there is the +unfortunate but undoubted and growing idea amongst Englishmen that +Australians, as a whole, are not kindly disposed to new-comers, and that +the fresh arrival has a rough time of it before he shakes himself down +to the fresh life. I do not discuss these points. I mention their +existence as some reason why Australia is not able to play the part it +is entitled to play as a great wheat country. + +Now the best wheat lands of Argentina lie within the semi-tropical or +temperate zone. I have already explained why it does not have the +attractions which British colonies can offer to the man with grit and +muscle who desires to secure independence. But it does draw to its +shores a big army of workers from Italy and Spain, without the ambition +of Britons and content to be the servants of other men. Labour is +comparatively cheap. The country is easy to reach. The drift is not to +the towns but to the agricultural districts. The range for wheat +growing is boundless. But the possibility of drought is not to be +overlooked. + +The money invested in agriculture falls short of that invested in live +stock. But there are more persons directly interested in the growing of +cereals, and I am one of those who believe it counts more for the +genuine, happy prosperity of a nation that a large proportion of the +population should be attached to the soil than when greater wealth is +secured by a smaller number. In my opinion it would be better if there +were easier means for the comparatively small holder, the man with +anything from three hundred to a thousand acres, to settle. I was not +unconscious of a movement, such as there is in Australia, to break up +the big estates, but at the present it is nebulous, merely something in +the air; and though the Latins, when they act, will act swiftly, the +type of colonist and labourer who lands, though he votes Socialist when +he gets the chance, is not of the brand to take vigorous political +action to secure land. His conditions are improved in comparison within +his native country, and he is inclined for the present to be content. + +There is, however, a rustling amongst the leaves. There is a feeling +amongst Argentine politicians that the peon and the colonist have little +chance of becoming owners of small farms unless they are assisted by +credit banks. Various proposals have been made; but the one now before +the Chamber of Deputies, fathered by the Minister of Agriculture, +provides for the establishment of agricultural banks and the erection +of warehouses to receive produce as a pledge against cash advances. + +It is reckoned that between £8,000,000 and £9,000,000 is necessary to +set the scheme on its legs, and the idea is that the State should find +half the money and private capital provide the other half. + +Further, as most of the best land is in large estates and private +ownership, there is a growing public opinion that the Government would +do well if it bought up some of these enormous _estancias_ at their +present value, cut them into small holdings, and let them on the +deferred payment system to colonists. This would require enormous +capital, State provided. But, human nature being what it is, men in one +part of the country are opposed to finding money for the benefit of +another part. They do not look upon it as a national investment which +will bring good return to the State as a whole so much as increasing the +productivity and population in particular parts. However, some progress +has been made when you get a general consensus that, unbounded though +Argentina's capabilities are, closer settlement is necessary to provide +ballast in the economic progress of the nation. + +"Give us of the best; let us be up-to-date and scientific; let us have +the latest twentieth-century equipment so that Argentina may have first +place"--that is the temper of the people toward agriculture. Much has +been done, an amazing amount, to place Argentina in the front line of +agrarian education. In giving praise there is, I know, always the +danger of overdoing it. And whilst the Argentine has a good conceit of +himself, he has the quality, not always readily discernible in a new +country, of being able to see his weak points and being willing to +learn. Here is a frank statement which I cull from the _Anales de la +Sociedad Rural Argentine_: "Up to the present agriculture has hardly +been carried on in a scientific, regular, methodic, reasonable and +economic manner with the endeavour to get from the soil all the benefit +and yield it can give. The empiric methods of cultivation often employed +up to now have given profits on account of the fertility of the land, +its exuberance, which, without great expense, yields a return far larger +than the general average known in other agricultural countries." + +Less than forty years ago it took Argentina all its time to grow enough +wheat to supply its own needs, though its population was only a third +what it is at present. Within the memory of many Argentina had to import +wheat. Indeed, as near as 1876 thousands of tons of flour had to be +brought into the country. It is the recollection of this, in comparison +with the conditions to-day, which proclaims better than any attempts at +fine writing the strides which have been made. Look at the jumps. In +1888 the crops covered some 6,076,500 acres, representing an increase of +4,626,500 acres in sixteen years, an addition that seven years later had +reached 6,012,000 acres. By 1895 the total was 12,088,000. Then came the +wave. By 1908 the total was 43,692,228 acres, an increase of 31,603,728 +acres in thirteen years, or 261 per cent. In 1911 the area cultivated +was 54,258,772 acres, and at the time of writing it must be approaching +70,000,000 acres. That tells its own story. Yet only one-sixth of the +country suitable for cultivation has been broken by the plough. The +value of the principal products of Argentine agriculture, wheat, maize, +oats and linseed, for 1913 is estimated at something over £80,000,000. + +One strong advantage Argentina has is that the crops are spread over an +extensive area. They are grown in regions so far distant from one +another that no fear is felt at any time of a total loss of the harvest. +The Republic now sends her products to countries that were her purveyors +up to a few years ago. In the production of linseed she has first place +amongst the nations. In maize she figures in the third place, coming +after North America and Austria-Hungary; but in export of maize she +comes first. In the production of wheat Argentina holds the sixth +position, coming after the United States, Russia, France, India, and +Austria-Hungary; but in export of wheat and flour she has first rank. We +in Britain have Canada so much before our eyes that we assume her +progress is unequalled. The _Anales de la Sociedad Rural Argentine_ is +responsible for some interesting comparisons directed to show that the +Argentine farmer can produce for 43s. 5d. an acre what it costs the +Canadian farmer 88s. 4d. to produce. Whilst the occupancy of land has +increased 75 per cent. in thirty years in Canada, it has increased by +284 per cent. in Argentina. Whilst Canada has 20,000,000 more acres +occupied than Argentina, the Republic is far ahead of the Dominion in +the value of her live stock. + +Though the capabilities of Argentina in wheat growing have been known +for centuries, and have not recently come in the nature of a revelation +as may be said in regard to Canada, the reason the boom has been so long +delayed has been because the country was in the throes of revolution, +thereby frightening off foreign capital, and because of the lack of +transport. But revolutions can now be described as things of the past, +and for its population Argentina has the longest mileage of railways in +the world. The day is not far distant when Argentina will produce +10,000,000 tons of wheat a year. Remarkable and gratifying, from a +trader's point of view, though her increase of exports are, the figures +are not so satisfying from a national standpoint. Her increase of +population, big though it is, is by no means keeping pace with her +increase in productivity. + +Notwithstanding the spread of agricultural education, I must say that +full value is not got out of the land. Much of the farming is slovenly. +This is partly due to race, but chiefly because the farmers are not +owners, but only occupiers in return for giving a proportion of the crop +to the owner. Further, if there is an unsatisfactory season the +colonists neglect the land, take their departure, and try their luck +elsewhere. The Argentines are conscious of the difficulties, and, as I +have indicated, the remedy will probably be found by the State +purchasing great estates, cutting them into small farms, and letting the +colonists become the owners on easy terms. In alluding to the +immigration in a former chapter I mentioned that a number of Italians +and Spaniards return to their own countries. The migrated Latin always +finds the old country pulling at his heart-strings--a feeling, however, +which completely disappears in succeeding generations. But the +immigrants who go to Argentina to make money rather than to settle are +inclined to be reckless concerning care for the soil. The +rough-and-ready, haphazard, careless farming is, of course, +understandable in a new and fertile country. Only the passage of years +and closer settlement, and therefore more careful culture, will tend to +put things right. + +The average production of wheat in Argentina is only 11.3 bushels per +acre, which is about the same as Australia. Canada does better than +that, for Manitoba can give 13-1/2 bushels to the acre and Saskatchewan +17 bushels. In England the yield to-day is 30 bushels. Germany has the +same return, whilst Roumania has 23 bushels and France 20 bushels to the +acre. There is not the slightest doubt that with improved conditions of +cultivation Argentina can do much better than she is doing. The United +Kingdom is now purchasing over £30,000,000 worth of foodstuffs a year +from the Argentine. Indeed, the Republic supplies us with a quarter of +the food we purchase from abroad. In cereals alone we purchased in 1912 +from Argentina 619,000 tons of wheat, 592,000 tons of maize, 60,000 tons +of linseed and 383,000 tons of oats. + +Mr. C. P. Ogilvie, one of the most astute authorities on the development +of Argentina, and whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Buenos Aires, +has demonstrated how the growing of alfalfa is useful for resting the +land after crops of wheat, maize, etc. I have already told of the way +this sanfoin plant has the property of attaching to itself +micro-organisms which draw the nitrogen in the air and make it available +for plant food. Every colonist knows the value of alfalfa for feeding +his cattle, says Mr. Ogilvie, but it is not every colonist who knows why +this plant occupies such a high place amongst feeding stuffs. Alfalfa is +easily grown, very strong when established, and, provided its roots can +get to water, will go on growing for years. The _raison d'être_ for +growing alfalfa is the feeding of cattle and preparing them for market, +and for this purpose a league of alfalfa (6,177 acres metric +measurement) will carry on an average 3,500 head. When grown for dry +fodder it produces three or four crops per annum, and a fair yield is +from six to eight tons per acre of dry alfalfa for each year. A ton of +such hay is worth about twenty to thirty dollars, and, after deducting +expenses, there is a clear return of about fourteen dollars per acre. +The figures supplied by one large company show that on an average +cattle, when placed upon alfalfa lands, improve in value at the rate of +two dollars per head per month, so it is easy to place a value upon its +feeding properties. + +[Illustration: CONVEYING ALFALFA TO A RAILWAY STATION.] + +Thus, Mr. Ogilvie proceeds, we will take a camp under alfalfa capable of +carrying 10,000 head of cattle all the year round, where, as the +fattened animals are sold off, an equal number is bought to replace +them. Such a camp would bring in a clear profit of 200,000 dollars +sterling. An animal that has been kept all its life on a rough camp, and +when too old for breeding is placed for the first time on alfalfa lands, +fattens extremely quickly, and the meat is tender and in quality +compares favourably with any other beef. No business in Argentina of the +same importance has shown such good returns as cattle breeding, and +these results have been chiefly brought about by the introduction of +alfalfa, and a knowledge of the life history of alfalfa is of the +greatest importance to the cattle farmer. All cereal crops take from the +soil mineral matter and nitrogen. Therefore, after continuous cropping, +the land becomes exhausted, and generally poorer. Experience has taught +us that rotation of crops is a necessity to alleviate the strain on the +soil.... If soils were composed of nothing but pure silica sand, nothing +would ever grow; but in Nature we find that soils contain all sorts of +mineral matter, and chief among these is lime. Alfalfa thrives on land +which contains lime, and gives but poor results where this ingredient is +deficient. The explanation is simple. There is a community of interest +between the very low microscopic animal life known as bacteria and +plant life generally. In every ounce of soil there are millions of these +living germs, which have their allotted work to do, and they thrive best +in soils containing lime. If one takes up with great care a root of +alfalfa, and care is taken in exposing the root, some small nodules +attached to the fine hair-like roots are easily distinguished by the +naked eye, and these nodules are the home of a teeming microscopic +industrious population, who perform their allotted work with the silent +persistent energy so often displayed in Nature. Men of science have been +able to identify at least three classes of these bacteria, and to +ascertain the work accomplished by each. The reason for their existence +would seem to be that one class is able to convert the nitrogen in the +air into ammonia, whilst others work it into nitrate, and the third +class so manipulate it as to form a nitrate which is capable of being +used for plant food. Now, although one ton of alfalfa removes from the +soil 50 lb. of nitrogen, yet that crop leaves the soil richer in +nitrogen, because the alfalfa has encouraged the multiplication of those +factories which convert some of the thousands of tons of nitrogen +floating above the earth into substance suitable for food for plant +life. As a dry fodder for cattle, three tons of alfalfa has as much +nutrition as two tons of wheat. + +The cost of growing alfalfa depends largely on the situation of the +land, and whether labour is plentiful. But, says Mr. Ogilvie, we will +imagine the intrinsic value of the undeveloped land to be £4,000, upon +which, under existing conditions, it would be possible to keep 1,000 +head of animals, whereas if this same land were under alfalfa 3,000 to +3,500 animals could be fattened thereon, and the land would have +increased in value to £20,000 or £30,000. To improve the undeveloped +land it must be worked, and the plan usually adopted is to let the land +to colonists who have had experience in the class of work. Colonists +usually undertake to cultivate 500 to 600 acres. They pay to the +landlord anything from 10 per cent. to 30 per cent. of the crops, +according to distance of the land from the railway. The first crop grown +on fresh broken soil is generally maize. The second year's crop linseed, +and probably a third year's crop of wheat is grown before handing back +the land to the owner, ready to be put down in alfalfa. Sometimes the +alfalfa is sown with the colonist's last crop, the landlord finding the +alfalfa seed. After the completion of the contract the colonist moves to +another part. The owner, who has annually received a percentage of the +crops, takes back his land. Fences now will necessitate a considerable +outlay, also wells and buildings. The more of these the better, as the +land will carry a larger head of cattle, and the camp being properly +divided makes the control of the cattle easy.[C] + + [C] Extracted from "Argentina from a British Point of View," by + C. P. Ogilvie (1910). + +Allowing for the disadvantages--stretches of drought, pests of +locusts--I know of no new country balancing one thing with another, +where the future is so bright. Given a good year, an Argentine farmer +makes 30 per cent. on his invested capital. He thinks he is doing fairly +well if he gets 20 per cent. He grumbles if his return is only 10 per +cent. He can afford to have one bad year in three--I believe the average +works out one in five--and yet be doing very well compared with farmers +in some other parts of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MENDOZA + + +If I were called upon to make my personal choice in which part of the +Republic I would like to live, I would choose Mendoza--or at any rate +some part of Mendoza province. It lies far west, within the shadow of +the snow-crowned Andes. The glacier-fed rivers from the mountains are +making it one of the biggest vineyards in the world. The city is several +thousand feet above sea level, and the air is clear and invigorating. +Like most Spanish-Argentine towns, it has a long history, but its tale +of abounding progress does not stretch beyond the last seven or eight +years. There are over a quarter of a million people in the province, and +the capital numbers nearly 70,000 of them. + +It is the old story of "Go west, my son." Whenever I fell into praise +about places in the east, or in the middle parts of the country, there +was generally somebody at my elbow to whisper, "Ah, but wait till you +get to Mendoza." + +Hardened traveller though I am, I admit a little thrill of anticipation +when, after a hot and rather dusty day in the railway cars, I first +caught a glimpse of the gleaming Cordillera, and then ran long miles +through flourishing vineyards. So right into the heart of the town of +luxuriant avenues, through the main street it seemed, with tall poplar +trees on either side, and beyond the cool road rows of picturesque but +modest houses, white washed, blue washed, pink washed, and even with a +touch of quaintness about the houses that seemed to be neglected. Thus I +made acquaintance with a city of broad boulevards and fine squares, an +extensive park, and announcing its prosperity to all who pass that way +and have eyes to see. + +But whilst there is much to be enthusiastic about, it is well not to let +enthusiasm run away with one. There was nothing of the raw west about +the people. The ladies were as well dressed as those you will see in the +Rue de la Paix. Then I was reminded that every woman out here dresses as +well as she knows how, even though she and her family live sparsely at +home. People judge their fellows by appearance, by show, and everyone +feels it a duty to be ostentatious. Next I was impressed with the +extraordinary number of motor-cars. "Yes," remarked my Mendoza-English +friend, "but I think there is only half the number now that there were a +couple of years ago. You had to own a motor-car, or you were not +considered worth knowing. We had nearly three hundred motor-cars, the +best the United States or France could supply, and their value ran into +millions of dollars. People had them with little prospect of paying for +them. But then, everybody is optimistic, expecting a pot of money to be +coming along soon. There is lots of money, but some folks did not get +what they expected, and so a great many of the cars have been seized for +debt." + +[Illustration: THE ENTRANCE TO THE PARK AT MENDOZA.] + +We were making a little tour in a car. Most of the houses are +single-storied as a provision against earthquakes, which are not +infrequent in these parts. Indeed, one morning during my stay, whilst I +was shaving, there was a quiver and a jolt which I thought was due to +some heavily laden train passing. At breakfast I learnt there had been a +respectable earthquake. Everybody tells you about the great earthquake +of 1861, which completely destroyed old Mendoza. The only remaining +evidences are the ruins of the cathedral. The population of the city at +that time was 20,000, and I was told that half the population was +killed. Then there was the agony of fire, and--with horror piled on +horror, as those were lawless days--bands of miscreants began plundering +and murdering the affrighted inhabitants who remained. Tremors are now +frequent, and the prospect of another earthquake is like an abiding +nightmare. That is why the streets are so wide, the houses nearly all of +a single story, and made of a particularly light brick with a +considerable admixture of cane amongst the clay, so that the structure +has a springiness and does not crack when the shake comes. Really the +only big and substantial buildings are the Legislature and the Palace of +Justice, and they are imposing. + +Mendoza continually reminded me of Salt Lake City. Like the capital of +the Mormon faith, it is in the lee of a mighty mountain range; there +are trees bordering most of the streets, and along the main ways are +innumerable rivulets. Boys are constantly employed to souse the road +with water and so keep it cool. The entrance to Western Park has +exquisite bronze gates. It is rather surprising, however, to see they +are mounted with imperial crowns. The explanation is that they were +originally made for Abdul Hamid, the deposed Sultan of Turkey. Owing to +political upheaval in Turkey they were never delivered, because there +was no one prepared to pay for them. Mendoza made a bid and bought them +for £5,000. Broad roads through this lovely domain, leading through +avenues of trees and past radiant flower gardens, make the Western Park +beloved of Mendozians. There is a band-stand; and on Thursday evenings, +the whole place flashing with electric light, the road is blocked with +automobiles and carriages, and thousands of people listening to the +music. There is a rustic chalet where people can sit and have +refreshment. There is a lake nearly a mile long. Here take place boating +races, and for the accommodation of the spectators there is a grand +stand which can hold 3,000 persons. There is a zoological garden. There +is what is called "The Lilliputian Railway," so that a tiny little train +starting from a miniature station can take passengers all over the +extensive park, through tropical vegetation, up tiny valleys, diving +through small tunnels, giving anybody who cannot provide a private +carriage an easy and cheap means of seeing the park. + +[Illustration: THE PROMENADE IN MENDOZA PARK.] + +Mendoza occupies a prominent place amongst the cities of Argentina. It +is a magnet of attraction, especially to Italians who have experience in +wine making; and now every year the province receives something over +fifteen thousand immigrants. Some freshly developed countries have a law +that no immigrant shall enter under "contract," that no man shall +(without special permission) be allowed to land if he has a job and a +definite wage awaiting him. There is no such regulation in Argentina. +There is an Immigration Law under which fresh arrivals are housed and +fed by the Government, and work found for them. But less than half come +within the operation of the law. About 150,000 fresh arrivals every year +come out to situations, or have sufficient money to look after their own +interests, and naturally many of these strike far west to Mendoza. + +As I have intimated in an earlier chapter, the Federal Government has +occasionally a little difficulty owing to the independent spirit of +provinces like Mendoza. Mendoza, for instance, has its own paper money, +so that whilst the Federal dollars are acceptable in the province, the +Mendozian dollars are not currency beyond its own borders. It has all +the modern equipment of government: a House of Senators and a House of +Deputies. Each eight thousand inhabitants are entitled to a deputy, and +each department or county returns one senator. The trouble of some +democratic lands, strikes, are prohibited, and if attempted the soldiers +are called out. The Governor is elected for four years. Voting is +obligatory, and if a man will not vote he is put in prison. The State +has full legal equipment in one supreme court, two courts of appeal, and +two criminal courts. Whilst there is a public prosecutor there is a +State lawyer, whose business it is to defend the poor, and another to +defend minors when they come within reach of the arm of the law. Taxes +are not high. There is a considerable amount of Government land, and +this is sold in order to raise money for public works. Of course, there +is the usual boom in land values. In 1909 the estimated value of +property in the province (vineyards, orchards, cultivated and +uncultivated land, and buildings) was a little over £50,000,000. Up to +July 31st, 1913, property had increased in value to well over +£70,000,000. This is creditable for a population of 260,000. + +[Illustration: THE GRAPE HARVEST IN THE SUBURBS OF MENDOZA.] + +In no other province in the Republic has there been so much land sold as +in Mendoza. From 1909 to 1912 inclusive transactions in land represented +a turnover of £37,000,000. In the neighbourhood of Mendoza City land is +as dear as close to Buenos Aires, rising to £2 a metre (3.28 feet). In +1909 193,061 hectares (hectare = 2.47 acres) was under cultivation. Now +there are 330,000 hectares. Development is not restricted to the +neighbourhood of the provincial capital. Take San Juan, in the north, an +old town which jogged along with viticulture till ten years ago, when it +made a bound, and progress in growing grapes has been considerable. Some +six hours by rail south-east of Mendoza is San Rafael. Twenty-five years +ago the only flourishing product was the Indian; and you could have +bought quantities of land at twopence a hectare. To-day ordinary +uncultivated land with water rights is worth from £140 to £160 per +hectare. Cultivated vineyards are worth from £600 to £650 per hectare, +according to class. Till 1903 San Rafael had no railway connection with +anywhere. The journey to Mendoza, which is now done in half a dozen +hours by train, then took eight days by cart. Railway building has +facilitated the development of the San Rafael district, which is just at +the doorway of its prosperity. The San Rafael grape has a richer colour +and more sugar than the Mendoza grape. If I had a large sum to invest I +think I would take my chances at San Rafael. + +Now, whilst there is all this material progress, it was refreshing to +note that care is given to other things than just money making. I have +described the constant movement to beautify Mendoza. Education is +carefully nurtured. In the province are (1913) two national high-grade +colleges, two normal schools, twenty-five private schools, and one +kindergarten. This kindergarten is, so far as my knowledge goes, +unmatched in the world. It was not the size that impressed me, but the +thought-out plans to provide everything to attract and stimulate the +young intelligence. Beauty is the basis, not only in the schoolrooms but +in the theatre and playgrounds. Whether it be a school, or a +fire-station, or a penitentiary, expenditure is lavish in providing a +handsome building. Of course ambition, rivalry, town conceit--the desire +to show something better than another town can show--is behind much of +the enterprise. But the result is there, and it is the fact that counts. + +Primarily, this abounding fortune of Mendoza is due to its vineyards. I +read in an official publication that the province has the finest soil in +the Republic. That is incorrect; but it has a soil that is peculiarly +adapted for vines, together with a climate and a situation which for +viticulture could not be improved--though there is a fly in the +ointment, of which more anon. Besides, the inhabitants have not had to +grope their way in the growing of grapes and the making of wine, as has +been the case in many instances in California and South Australia, good +though some of the wines are, through the cultivators coming from lands +where the grape industry is not natural. It may be fairly said that all +the folk in the province engaged in viticulture are from the +wine-growing regions of Italy and Spain. Further, wine has been made in +this region for several hundreds of years, though in the absence of +transport its consumption was purely local. Now it is drunk throughout +the Republic. + +Neither the Californians nor the Australians are a wine-drinking people. +Wine producers have to look to markets beyond the seas. Not so the +Mendozians. The Argentines, being Latin, are a wine-drinking people. +Everybody drinks wine. The labourer on the railway has wine with his +frugal lunch. It is not at all unusual for children to have watered wine +with their meals. On the big emigrant ships wine is included in the +charge for fare and food. + +Well, here is a wine-drinking population of 7,000,000 living next door +to the vineyards. Therefore the market for wine is enormous. Great +though the output is, it does not meet the demand. As a consequence +scant justice, from a connoisseur's point of view, is done to the +Argentine wine, for it never has an opportunity to mature. Again, the +wine is cheap; and it would never suit the wealthy Argentines if they +were seen drinking anything but expensive foreign wine. I did taste some +wine with delightful bouquet, such as that of the Château Norton; but, +as it is the crowd which drinks the wine, it cannot be said that the +average quality of native produce is high. With such piled-up orders for +quantity, growers have not bothered very much about quality. They told +me that sometimes they have felt rather ashamed to send out wine sour +with youth; yet the dealers must have it. More than once the railway +companies have been congested with barrels ready to be taken east. There +are millions of acres, as yet untouched, suitable for vines. + +When one thinks of the people in South America, and of the prospective +expansion of population, all wine-drinkers, one must conclude that the +future of this land, amongst the foothills of the Andes, is very bright. +In the turn of time some rich Argentines will set the fashion of +drinking the wine of their own country. That will call for the +production of a better vintage, and then, very likely, Argentine wines +will be introduced to the other markets of the world. As it is, fortunes +are being rapidly made. Many of the vineyards are quite small. Two and a +half acres (one hectare) will grow between three and four hundredweight +of grapes, which can be looked after by one man, and ought, in an +ordinary season, to yield an income of about £100. A family with a small +holding of four or five hectares can live most comfortably. In 1913 the +province produced 592,969,670 kilos (kilo = 2.20 lb.). Of this +399,517,099 litres of wine were elaborated (litre = 0.22 gallon). + +[Illustration: IN A MENDOZA BODEGA.] + +Now I have mentioned there is a fly in the ointment, and I should not be +doing my duty if I failed to call attention to it. The soil is there, +the climate is there, grapes are carefully acclimatised. But there must +be water, and whether there will always be a sufficiency of this is a +doubt which sometimes comes into the minds of men who glance ahead. The +rainfall is not heavy. Various scientific experiments have been made to +attract rain, but without much success. The principal supply is from the +River Mendoza, fed by the melting of the snows in the mountains. At +first the wine growers helped themselves to what water they desired. But +as the industry developed, and as there was suitable land without water, +irrigation canals were introduced. Sometimes a man tapped water to which +he was not entitled, and then there was trouble. As a consequence, the +Government has boldly grappled with the problem of irrigation. I drove +out about a dozen miles to inspect a weir which had been constructed +across the Mendoza River. This holds back an immense quantity of water, +and the supply is regulated by the weir gates. Irrigation channels +zigzag across the country, and the cultivator pays a small sum for his +supply. These works fertilise over a million acres of land. Irrigated +land has bounced in value. Waterless land which could have been obtained +for £1 a hectare now fetches twenty, or even thirty times as much. This +has emboldened the Government into making contracts for several million +dollars for the damming of smaller rivers, and providing further +irrigation works. Still, there is much water which goes down the River +Mendoza that is not used at all. I asked a man who has the right to +speak as an authority how much country could be placed under viticulture +if all the available water supply was nursed and utilised. He told me +three times as much as at present. So, although there is a big +difficulty ahead, it is so far distant that the average man of the +present generation does not bother his head much about it. + +There are just 873 bodegas in Mendoza, though 800 of them are +comparatively small. I went over two of the biggest and found them +equipped as well as the bodegas of Europe. Some of the vats hold tens of +thousands of litres of wine. Modern vats are built of cement lined with +glass, and one of them will hold over 100,000 litres. But what was +annoying--it is exercised elsewhere--was the practice of giving a +well-known name to a wine which it does not properly represent. There is +nothing so delicate as the grape in being affected by soil. Similar +vines, but grown on slightly dissimilar soil, produce a different +quality of grape, and give quite a different flavour to the wine. So, +generally speaking, the wine of Argentina has a different tone from that +of France, Italy, or Spain. The vintners endeavour by blending to +produce a European type, a hock, a moselle, a burgundy, a medoc, a +bordeaux, even a champagne--which, though good wines, are not always +good imitations of something else. It would be much better if they +classified and titled their own wines. The European plan of one type of +wine being produced in one particular district is ignored. Therefore you +will find the big bodega producing from grapes grown in one vineyard a +dozen brands which originated in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and +Portugal. + +It might be thought that in Mendoza, where wine is the cheapest beverage +procurable except water, there would be drunkenness. Not at all. Perhaps +the case of the people is like that of the girls in confectionery shops; +there are so many sweets about they never think of making themselves +ill. Now and then, however, there is a relapse. But a Mendozian "drunk" +is not fined and sent to prison. Armed with a pail, he has to give two +or three days to getting water out of the rivulets which run down the +sides of the main streets, and sprinkling the dusty road with it. This +is work usually given to boys. So when you see a disgruntled man engaged +at it you will be quite right in coming to the conclusion he has been +imbibing, and the authorities have put him to this job to disgrace him. + +I have dealt rather fully with the wine-making business because it is +the chief source of the Province of Mendoza's prosperity. But it is a +happy country for other kinds of fruit, particularly the peach. Also +there are oranges, figs, quinces, nectarines, and cherries. Several +fruit canning concerns, turning out many thousand tins of fruit a day, +have sprung into existence and are doing well. Abundance of fruit has +been rather a cause of neglect in rearing, so that I do not place the +quality too high. For instance, the oranges are not within measurable +distance of the splendid oranges which New South Wales grows. +Improvement will assuredly come in time. As it is, the fruit season in +Argentina is when it is raw winter in Europe; and, as transport is +quickening, possibilities of an extended market are great. Sometimes I +hear young Englishmen, discontented with home, say they would like to go +to America and start fruit farming. They might inquire into the +prospects of Mendoza. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A TRIP INTO THE ANDES + + +It was intended to be a jolly party. We were going to Puerta del Inca +and to make a picnic of it. There was the Englishman, born in Australia, +trained in the United States and now an engineering expert in Argentina. +He was the biggest man I met in the Republic, and his friends called him +"Chico," which means the little one. There was the Scot, grizzled and +cautious, who disappeared for months and was away exploring the unknown +mountains up in the snows, carrying his camp with him, never seeing +anybody with whom he could converse, coming back with maps of possible +new routes over the frozen shoulders of the Andes, and who loved long +hours in the English Club in Mendoza, expressing Carlylean views about +the world, quoting poetry and enjoying long games at cards. There was +the man who came out here from England many years ago to help in the +building of the Transandine railway, married a Spanish wife, has taken +to vine growing, and knows he now speaks his native tongue with a +foreign accent. There were others, men who had knocked about the world +and had done things; men with none of the light talk of stay-at-home +Englishmen, but showing strong character kneaded by rough +circumstances. + +[Illustration: "CHICO" IN CHARGE.] + +[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE ENGLISH CLUB AT MENDOZA.] + +The trip was arranged amongst the orange trees which grow in the little +courtyard of the English Club. It was when the night was warm and we +stretched in easy chairs, puffing smoke rings at the moon. "Chico" was +master of ceremonies. What he arranged was to be right. And we were to +be ready early the next morning, for a special coach was to be fastened +to the express coming through from Buenos Aires on its way to +Valparaiso. + +The early morning air was crisp and invigorating. The transcontinental +train had just come in, and whilst the early birds were out on the +platform, half-drawn blinds revealed the drowsy countenances of other +travellers who had no disposition for a peep at Mendoza, or who had seen +it before and lacked ambition to see it again. There was the usual +jostling on the platform of folk who had just arrived and those who were +taking their departure, joyous greetings, and sad farewells. The +stranger had to stand on one side and smile at the way Argentine men +held one another by one arm half round the neck, and with the other hand +gave continuous slaps in the small of the back. Yesterday morning's +papers from Buenos Aires had arrived, and there was a scramble round the +bookstall whilst the slow-moving newsboy undid the strings and we could +buy our newspapers, and were able to read what the Prime Minister of +England had been saying the day before yesterday. + +"Chico," with hat stuck on the back of his head, hastened up to our +group with the intimation that we had better get on board if it was not +our intention to be left behind. "Have you got plenty of food," was the +inquiry, "for we are as hungry as hunters?" "Yes, plenty," was the +answer. "And drink?" "And the drink." "You have not forgotten the +cigars?" "No, the cigars are all right." + +Our car was attached to the express. It was a long, narrow car, with a +table down the centre. We were met with the refreshing odour of ham and +eggs being prepared in the adjoining kitchen. + +The long train panted toward the hills, leaving leafy Mendoza behind and +winding away through aisles of great grey boulders by the side of the +muddy Mendoza River. There was a dreary forlornness about the country as +the train, with the river as its guide, seemed to be making for a huge +black cutting in the mountains. We did not mind, for the Spanish cook +and his assistant were busy serving us with ham and eggs, and coffee, +and freshly baked rolls. + +Maybe it was the breakfast, or the exhilarating air of the hills, or the +genial company, or the pleasure of the post-breakfast cigar; but we were +the merriest party imaginable. The engineer who had turned vine grower +became reminiscent of the days when he helped to build this line, and of +how, when work was over in the evening, he frequently mounted his horse, +rode twenty miles to attend a Spanish dance, mounted his horse again at +four in the morning, and was back at work in the hills by sunrise. Of +course, he was quite sure that those were romantic and adventurous days +compared with the present. + +We were not travelling fast. The line was gradually rising, and the +engine was giving off sounds as though it were suffering from asthma. We +got into country--wild, moorlike, and broken with many streams--which +reminded some of us of parts of Scotland. We struck into what had looked +like a black defile, through which the river came racing, and on either +side of us rose gaunt rocks, black and brown, which suggested that a +terrific fire had once raged. + +No snow was in sight--nothing but fierce, repellent crags. Suddenly we +came upon an upland valley with a wide stretch of grass, a straggling +village, and a big hotel--just the sort of hotel you are constantly +bumping into in the Swiss mountains. The passing of the train for Chili +is probably the one excitement. The Italian folk gathered about the +little station and gazed with curious eyes at the passengers. + +Years ago I went down Kicking Horse Pass, in the Canadian Rockies, with +a seat on the "cow-catcher." It was now my good fortune to ride on the +"cow-catcher" of this train bound for Valparaiso. As luck would have it, +I met an American and his wife whose acquaintance I had made on the +Atlantic, and to whom I had bidden "good-bye" at Rio de Janeiro. They +were now returning to the United States by way of Chili, and, being of +an adventurous turn of mind, they, too, were eager to enjoy a ride on +the front of the engine. Over the "cow-catcher" a seat was fixed, with a +brass rail in front so that there was little danger of falling off. We +knew how cold it would be later, and so we put on our heaviest coats +and wrapped ourselves in our thickest rugs. We were "in the front row" +to obtain a view. + +The way was now increasingly steep. It was necessary to have two +engines, one in front to pull and one behind to push. Slowly we grunted +on our way. There was a chill ping in the air which made our cheeks +smart. We kept close to the river, as though it were a guide that we did +not intend to allow to forsake us. Sometimes we ran not far above the +level of the scouring waters. At other times we seemed to be running +along a high-perched ledge on the rock side, so that when the engine +gave a sudden swerve round the elbow of a hill there was one traveller +who shut his eyes when he thought what might happen if the engine had +suddenly taken it into its head to make a leap into the abyss. + +The hills closed in. They towered above us so that there was the sense +of going through a long gully. At every turn the engine shrieked, and +the echoes reverberated amongst the mountains. Now and then we came upon +gangmen engaged in the repair of the line. They jumped aside whilst the +train trundled by. + +Then came a dip, with a great open, verdurous cañon in front of us. The +steam of the engine was shut off, and the train seemed to free-wheel +into the valley. We jumped and rocked and curved in the most exciting +way. There was no protecting fence. We gave a start when, swinging round +the bend, we came across a couple of scampering horses. We held our +breath, for it seemed certain we should crush into them. One animal gave +a violent jump amongst the adjoining boulders, and then, when we were +within a dozen yards of the other horse, it swerved, and we just missed +hitting it. + +Again we started climbing. We ran past tiny stations, and on the +hillsides, where there was vegetation, we could see little chalets and +horses and cattle about. Once we had to cross a bridge very slowly, for +it was under extensive repair. The chief engineer was a young +Englishman, and he ran up and exchanged a few words with friends. We +went through long black tunnels, and the experience was eerie, for the +engine shrieked like a maniac that was being chased. + +Still we kept fairly close to the Mendoza River. At one spot the hills +widened out where a tributary, the Rio Blanco, ran into the main stream. +At the joining place there was a chasm which it would have required an +enormous bridge to span. We avoided that difficulty by the line running +a little distance on one side by the Rio Blanco to where the valley +narrowed so we could cross by a small bridge; and then the train started +going the other way on the other side of the fall, and proceeded with +the Mendoza River on the right, having dodged the chasm by a sort of +V-shaped loop. + +By the side of the chasm was a melancholy little cemetery. There was no +grass, or trees, or flowers; just a group of uneven headstones telling +of the last resting-place of the men who had died years before whilst +engaged in constructing the line. + +We now seemed to be running along a scooped-out way over a great height +of shingle. We knew it was here that some of the hardest work was done +in building the line. For after the melting of the snows and the +torrential rains, great masses of shingle rolled, breaking the line, and +on one occasion throwing a whole train and the engine right into the +bottom of the river. One felt that the engine itself was trembling with +fear as it made a path across this dread hillside. It was bitterly cold. +The wind cut with icy blast upon us from the precipices. Higher still we +climbed to where there was no vegetation, nothing but scarped rocks and +strange shaped and strangely coloured mounds, reminding us of the +volcanic origin of the Andes. + +Reaching another flat level we ran into the mountain station of Zanjou +Amarillo. Here were engine sheds, for it is necessary to change the +engine at this place. We dismounted from the "cow-catcher," and, +shivering with the cold, watched a heavy black engine attached. From +this point until the other side of the Andes is reached part of the way +is covered by the use of a rack rail. The railway is too steep for an +ordinary engine to climb. Accordingly, in the centre is a third line +with cogs. The engine has an extra wheel with cogs, so that it does not +run but grips its way to further heights. + +[Illustration: THE HOTEL AT INCA.] + +The day was bright. Through clefts in our shut-in way we could see snow +on the mountains. We travelled up a valley of desolation. We knew that +in the old days this was the main road from Chili into Argentina, and in +places we saw tumbled-down shelter houses, now deserted, but of use in +former times when travellers crossed the mountains by mule, for always +they were provided with food and fuel. There was something wonderfully +fascinating, crawling as it were to the roof of the world. It was easy +to understand how superstitious Indians believed that evil spirits had +their homes in the inaccessible fastnesses. There was no living thing to +be seen anywhere except a couple of eagles. + +Gradually the panorama opened. We got a glimpse of the snow-covered +heights in front of us. Then the brightness of the day disappeared; the +sun was shrouded; there was a weird wail in the wind. A snowstorm came +upon us. Still the engine, with something almost human in its +determination, gripped the cogs and pulled us higher and higher yet. It +was so cold we closed all windows and put on our coats, and called for +the attendant to bring us beverages which we expected would produce +warmth. + +Midday arrived before we reached Puerta del Inca, which was as far as we +intended going. We had our car detached, and waved our hands to those on +the express train, which soon disappeared amid the rushing snow. + +You may take it that the Incas never came to this part of the world. +That they did is a piece of imagination. The so-called "Bridge of the +Incas" is a natural formation. A little river has eaten its way through +the hillside, and the tear and drip of water during untold centuries has +formed a great natural arch. The water is volcanic and steamy, and has +mineral qualities which stain the rocks with strange colourings. + +Of course, the benefits of the waters for rheumatism, and a score of +other ailments, have been exploited. Galleries have been built under the +arch, bath chambers cut above the rock, and water taken in pipes into +each, so that visitors may have a "cure." In the summer time there are +many visitors to Puerta del Inca to gain benefit not only from the +waters, but from the mountain air, and to have a pleasant time by +excursions into the hills. There is a commodious hotel. + +In the winter time, when the snows are heavy, two trains a week are run +over to Chile. Sometimes the snowfall is so severe that the traffic is +completely blocked, though with the construction of snow-sheds, and +fences to resist the drifting snow, there is less danger than formerly. +However, there have been times when trains have been held up, and +passengers have had to stay for a week at Inca. First-class passengers +fend for themselves at the big hotel; but down near the railway station +there is a great caravanserai of a place where poorer passengers are +provided with rough accommodation, and where they can obtain food at +cheap prices. + +[Illustration: THE INCA BRIDGE IN THE ANDES.] + +The snow had ceased, but there was a knife-like wind whilst we battled +up the hillside, making for the hotel standing gaunt and solitary +amongst the barren mountains. We did not object to the little +discomfort. It was delightful to get into the warm rooms, to sit down +and have a meal, to smoke, to chat, to play billiards, and some of us to +have a doze. Then, in the grey of the afternoon, with occasional gleams +of sunlight through the heavy clouds which swathed the mountain tops, we +sauntered about this straggling, high perched village. + +There was no passenger train to Mendoza that day. But we had arranged +for an engine to take charge of our car and run us back in the dark. So +at nightfall we climbed once more into the coach. The stove was ablaze +because the air was increasingly cold. Trains only run along this +mountain route in the daylight, and so perhaps there was a little +nervousness in making the journey down through the valleys in the +blackness. In the front of the engine was a great searchlight. So we +went groaning and rocking, with the whistle of the engine shrieking in +the cañons, on our way back to Mendoza. Once there was a violent jerk +when the engine was brought almost to a standstill, for some cattle had +strayed upon the line and it was with difficulty they were frightened +off the track. + +We were snug enough in our well-lit coach, where before and after dinner +the hours were wiled away with games of cards. Occasionally we halted at +the tiny hamlets, and the residents ran out to have a look at the +unusual sight of an engine, with a huge gleaming eye in front, picking +its way, as it were, through the ravines, whilst behind was an +illuminated car with a party of merry Britishers. + +Once I went on the little platform at the rear of the coach. The whole +world was wrapped in blackness. After a time I got used to it. It was +possible to discern the ragged silhouettes of the hilltops, and to peer +into the cimmerian gloom of the valley where the Mendoza River was +hastening noisily toward the plain. No wonder the natives had a horror +of these hills. + +There was a kind of crunching clatter as the engine ran over the stretch +of the line with the cogged third rail. When we reached less precipitous +ground the worst danger had passed, and the engine rattled and bounced +on her way. Down and down we sank till at last, with a long-drawn scream +from the engine, we passed through the gates of the hills. We piled more +coal on the stove, and sat round smoking and telling yarns, and wondered +when we should all have a similar trip again. It was one o'clock in the +morning when we got back to Mendoza. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE CAMP + + +"To govern is to populate" is the maxim which has guided the policy of +the Argentine Government ever since the first days of political +emancipation. The immense wealth of the fertile plains must remain +unappropriated just as long as there is insufficient labour to sow and +reap, to tend, to feed, and shear. + +As a result of this policy the immigration organisation of Argentina may +now be regarded as the finest in the world. Everything that could +possibly be done to bring a large number of useful emigrants to the +country has been done, with the result that while in 1858 the number of +immigrants was only 4,658 it increased until in 1913 it reached 300,000. +The increase has been steady except in 1888 and the two following years, +when the figures were 130,271, 218,744, and 77,815 respectively. These +were years in which an experiment was made with assisted passages, and +the result was that the supply of immigrants jumped up and soon exceeded +the demand. The misery and poverty which followed the arrival of the too +numerous thousands caused a reaction. Assisted passages were abandoned, +and in 1891 the number fell to 28,266. But since that date it has risen +steadily to its present height. + +The reason for the great preponderance of Italians is that the climate +is more suitable to them than to those of any more northern nationality. +Labour is what is needed, and for hard manual work in an almost tropical +climate, quite unsuited to Englishmen, Italians are not only fitted but +expect considerably less wages and a lower standard of comfort. The best +chances come to those who can speak Spanish, and this the Italians learn +somewhat more quickly than the other immigrants. + +Argentina is not a country for the casual Englishman whose motives for +leaving home are poverty or a longing for adventure. He cannot work as a +labourer. Other positions where money can be earned are few and +difficult to obtain except by personal influence. The Italians, too, are +quiet and frugal in their living--qualities which are not typical of the +English immigrant, and it is often remarked that an Italian will thrive +where an Englishman would starve. + +Clerks and shop assistants, and those who can only do office work, are +not wanted at all. Farm labourers, dairymen, and stockmen of practical +experience are welcomed, and there is a fair demand for mechanics. +Engine-drivers can get work if they can speak Spanish, and Englishmen +have been found useful as butchers at the freezing works--but that is +not an occupation which will absorb an unlimited number. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by A. W. Boote, Buenos Aires._ + GENERAL VIEW OF AN ESTANCIA.] + +A considerable number of overseers are required on _estancias_, but for +these posts personal introduction and previous practical experience are +necessary. Disappointment and chagrin await the young man who arrives in +the country with nothing except a large amount of physical energy and +high spirits, and wishes at once to obtain a big salary on a ranch. If +these ignorant adventurers feel they must go to that part of "abroad" +their best way is to go on a ranch as apprentice for some years at a +nominal salary. They will find the work hard, but the life is not +without its pleasures, and at the end of the time they will probably be +better qualified to take up good positions. If such a one, in disgust at +the hardness and the monotony of the work, should give up and should +succeed in obtaining a place in a bank or railway office, he will find +himself better off in money, but somewhat poorer in prospects than he +would be at home. + +There is little chance of the immigrant securing a small holding and +forming a home. Even on established farms good openings are not +abundant. The colonists are often short of capital, and not long ago +farming operations throughout an entire district were almost stopped +because the colonists were unable to buy seed. The position was only +saved by the railway company providing the seed on easy terms and +without any security. + +Among the more prosperous farmers are the small Welsh colony founded at +Chubut in 1865. There are 400 of them, who are mostly doing very well, +and maintain in habits, language, and religion the customs of their own +country. In the Andes, about 400 miles from Port Madryn, there is +another colony of about 500 Welsh people. One hears there on a Sunday +the sound of Welsh hymns from the chapel. + +When the immigrant, after his long train journey, arrives at some +station on the plains he finds that the centre of life is the camp town. +Whether he comes from Italy or Spain, Syria or Bulgaria, he will +probably consider the camp towns are the ugliest he has ever seen, +unless he arrives at sunset, when the glow and colour turn everything to +beauty. The roads are about as bad as roads can be. There is no stone +anywhere, and if holes are filled up it is with earth which brings mud +to mud and dust to dust. When it is wet they are almost impassable +through depth of mud, and when it is dry the dust is even worse--one can +see the cloud of dust above a town sometimes a dozen miles away. + +The inhabitants of the camp town--as distinct from those in the +cities--seem never to have developed the idea of making it beautiful or +even pleasant. Extra buildings are run up just where and how the owner +likes. The prospect is marred everywhere by the crude lines of +galvanised iron roofs. The houses are built along the uneven street in +an irregularity which has no charm. Refuse and dead dogs are left lying +about until someone specially affected, or possibly the policeman, +removes them a little farther off. The houses are all one-storied, and +have the street frontage built up to look twice as high as the house +really is. In these small towns the inns--generally at the corner of the +street--are one-storied also. The bar is a restaurant for the peons, +who in the evenings gather there to drink and gamble. Inside is a more +private eating-room, and beyond this the yard round which are the +bedrooms. The sanitary arrangements leave much to be desired, and there +is everywhere the strong odour of garlic. + +[Illustration: + _Photograph by A. W. Boote & Co., Buenos Aires._ + A GAUCHO AND HIS FAMILY.] + +The most characteristic figure of the camp town is the gaucho. He is the +native of the plains, and is usually of mixed blood. The idle, +independent, nomad gauchos are almost an extinct class. In the early +days they refused to settle anywhere, or do any regular work. They were +horsemen and hunters, and roamed over the plains, staying here and there +in ramshackle huts till restlessness, or the owner of the land, moved +them on. They were the gipsies of the Argentine. Whenever there was a +war or a revolution the gaucho would be found in the vanguard, and in +times of peace he would enliven the dullness with private feuds which +did not end with words. + +But civilisation has been too strong for him, and the modern gaucho is a +more law-abiding and useful person. He still wears his old, picturesque +costume, the broad sombrero, the shirt, and wide Turkish trousers, which +may be of any colour in the spectrum, tucked into his boots. In cold +weather he wears over his shoulders the poncho, a blanket which has as +many varieties of hue as his trousers. His saddle is ornamented with +silver, and he has fancy stirrups and jingling spurs. But the chief part +of his equipment is the big knife--often a foot long, and usually of +fancy pattern--stuck in his belt. This is used freely for defensive +purposes, or to avenge some real or imaginary insult; it also serves +when eating his lunch. + +In spite of his rough appearance and manner, the gaucho is often +kind-hearted. He is, however, quarrelsome in his cups, and has all the +native capacity for fancying an insult and much tenacity in revenge. +Much of his spare time is spent in gambling, and any money he does not +lose in this way he spends in drink or extravagant and useless +purchases. + +At the heart of the camp town stands the camp store, and the gauchos +will always be found near it. It is the post office, the exchange, the +rendezvous. Under its roof are formed and discussed the ideas that +count in local self-government. Business is transacted with a delightful +absence of hustle. All the slowness of Spanish courtesy is added to the +deliberation of the dweller in wide solitudes. The result is an +unhurrying way of buying and selling which would make a Smithfield +salesman white with despair. + +The gauchos are responsible for the chief amusement of the camp +town--other than drinking and gambling--for it is they who organise the +horse-races. These primitive meetings are not quite so frequent as they +used to be, but they still take place on many Sundays and holidays, and +for them the gaucho makes preparations such as he cannot be stirred to +at any other time. He gets a new suit of clothes, cleans and polishes +the saddle and bridle of his horse, puts round his neck a silk scarf of +gorgeous design, and has an unwonted show of silver both on his horse +and himself. Only on horseback is the gaucho thoroughly at home, and on +these days he looks his best. There is no finesse about the racing; it +is a test of sheer endurance of man and animal, and when the race is +over both are exhausted. The handicapping has none of the careful +science of Newmarket. When the best horse is in full course, running as +fast as it can be urged, the handicapper catches one of his hind feet in +a lasso and gives a quick jerk so that horse and rider are flung heavily +to the ground. This, as may be imagined, gives the second horse a very +fair chance of equalising a disadvantage in pace or staying power. +Although the riders are perfect horsemen, there is little attraction for +the European spectator in such a wild ordeal to man and animal. The +prizes are usually a saddle, a bridle, a suit of clothes, or even a +piece of beef of ample size and unusual quality. The gaucho, it may be +mentioned, is very fond of beef, which he roasts with the hide on. + +The duties of the gaucho are to look after the stock on the ranch, +chiefly in connection with the "rodeo," or mustering of the cattle. +Mounted on horseback, the gaucho drives the animals to the +meeting-place. The herds are never allowed to stand still, but even at +the end of their journey are kept moving in a sort of rough circle so +that the chance of panic and stampede is minimised. The cattle are +counted by driving them in ones or twos through a narrow line, a task +requiring considerable activity--especially when the herd, after being +counted, has to be divided into two or three lots--if a stampede is to +be prevented. + +Perhaps the only fear in the gaucho's life is that he may take anthrax +from the cattle, for should he do so, and the wound be not cut or burnt +out by the third day, his chance of recovery is slight. + +With the changes that have come over the _estancias_ during the last +twenty-five years--fenced fields of alfalfa appearing where formerly +there was nothing but the open plain--the days of unrestricted gallop +over the prairie are over. The rider now passes through an endless +series of enclosures, through gate after gate. The law of trespass, +formerly unknown, may even prevent him from approaching the lagunas. +Barbed wire, too, has been introduced; but though injuries sometimes +occur, the cattle seem to have learned to keep clear of it. + +In the house itself the change is as remarkable. The old cramped +quarters and ugly furniture have given place to more rooms, better +furnished, and pictures, pianos, and books are not at all uncommon. +Fruit and flower gardens have been laid out. Sometimes on a large ranch +a dairy is found; there is a blacksmith's and carpenter's shop, and +gardeners and book-keepers are kept. Better accommodation is also +provided for the peons. Still, generally speaking, these are the +exceptions. + +Around the ranches of Britishers there are many signs of national +individuality--a tennis court, cricket grounds, even a golf course. +Pheasants and rabbits are sometimes reared so that the exile may not be +without a chance of shooting such as he would enjoy at home. + +The houses themselves are not costly structures. Some are of the soft, +dark red Argentine brick, which mellows rapidly, and in a few years +looks as picturesque and soft-toned as English brick does after a +century or so. + +The houses of the colonists are mostly built of mud. The new colonist, +when given his unprepared land, does not trouble to build anything but +the simplest of dwellings. Boards are built up so as to leave a narrow +oblong space of the same shape as the outer walls of the house are to +be, and in this is placed mud mixed with straw. When this has dried the +boards are removed, and the four walls of the required height are left +standing. Spaces for windows and doors are then cut out, a thatched roof +is put on, and, without much further elaboration, the tenants put in the +furniture and begin life in their new home. Sometimes the walls are made +of mud bricks. + +A curious feature of the camp are the large carts, with wheels 8 feet +high, on which the wheat is taken from the camp to the railway station. +They are drawn by oxen, ten or twelve being required for each cart, +which will carry several tons. As the axles are never greased the noise +made by these carts is frightful. + +Labour, especially at harvest time, is scarce, for owing to the lack of +granaries and elevators the grain must be gathered and threshed quickly, +and though the latest reaping machines are, of course, used, the best of +them require much auxiliary labour. Even in the busy harvest time, +however, the midday siesta for everyone in the camp is not omitted, as +the sun is extremely hot for two or three hours about noon. + +The huge flocks of sheep, varying in size from 12,000 to 80,000, are +mostly owned by New Zealand ranchers who have settled in Argentina in +recent years. They are shepherded on the open pampas by gauchos on +horseback, whose chief duty is to keep the flocks apart, and so prevent +confusion of ownership or the spread of contagious diseases. Formerly +the mutton was burnt as fuel, only the wool, tallow, and skins being +sold; but since the advent of cold storage it has been exported. The +wool is not washed before sale, and therefore fetches a low price. The +shearing, which used to be done by hand, is now nearly all done by +machinery. Travelling from ranch to ranch each shearer deals, on the +average, with about a hundred sheep a day. + +There is one farm where a flock of about 13,000 Lincoln ewes are milked +in dairies, and a considerable profit made. The milk is made into +cheese, which finds a ready sale. It is only in exceptionally rich +pastures that this is done, and the utmost care is taken that the lamb +does not suffer from the deprivation. + +One of the most important changes of recent years has been the +introduction of windmills for pumping water. In the absence of rivers +and lakes a well worked by hand was used in the old days to draw water +for the house, while the cattle would drink at the shallow lagunas in +the hollows of the plain. But as the best land is higher up wells and +troughs had to be made. First there was the "jaguel," worked by a horse +and rider. Next came an arrangement of buckets on an endless chain, +which brought up water and emptied it into the troughs or reservoirs. +This was the "noria," and was worked by a horse or mule. But when the +water level began to fall--some say through the introduction of +alfalfa--and the lagunas to dry up, it was found necessary to dig deeper +wells, and to adopt the use of semi-artesian wells. The water, which +often is saline, is specially so when drawn from these semi-artesian +wells. + +The great scourge which the camp has to fight, as already shown, is the +swarms of locusts which have come down annually from the north since +1905. Previous to that there had been freedom from this pest for five +years. The invasion usually begins in October, when a few flying locusts +may be seen. In a day or two they are arriving in millions, and at the +worst are so numerous that they form a cloud over the face of the sun, +and make a shadow beneath them. The principal damage is done by what is +left behind by the locusts--for millions upon millions of eggs are +deposited in the ground. In about six weeks the young are hatched. They +cannot fly, but jump like grasshoppers, which, indeed, they very much +resemble, except for their bright colouring--red and yellow, black and +green. They move in swarms from stem to stem, and every fragment of +green leaf disappears before their devouring energy. After they have +visited a cornfield nothing is left but naked stalks. Six weeks later +they develop wings, and swarms of them begin to fly across the sky like +clouds or smoke from some great conflagration. They will alight in such +heaps on a railway track that they sometimes stop a train. + +Reference has already been made to the way in which the Government +assists the landowners to fight this plague. Under penalty of a fine +every landowner must maintain men to fight the locusts. But even if it +were possible to exterminate all those on one estate, they might arrive +in equal numbers from adjoining land, and a million are not missed from +a thousand million. Unanimous action alone would be effective, and this +the Government are trying to bring about. Meanwhile, a commission has +been appointed to deal with the subject. It is probable that if the +northern source from which they come could be found the country could +rid itself of the trouble within a few years. + +[Illustration: LA RAMBLA, MAR DEL PLATA.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A MIXED GRILL + + +In the hot months, December, January, and February, it is the proper +thing to move to Mar del Plata. There the rich Argentines disport +themselves with the gorgeousness of the Russians at Yalta in September. +If the ladies do not bathe in pearl necklaces they wear exquisite +"creations"; and propriety insists that the men must wear a costume +which is a cross between a frock coat and a suit of pyjamas. The +Parisian houses have their representatives in the Republic, and an +Argentine lady who does not change expensive dresses five times a day is +out of the fun. There is gold and gambling and dancing at the most +elaborate, though not the gayest--for the Argentine is not gay--seaside +resort in the world. As for the "tango" dance, no respectable Argentine +ever dances it. I have seen it performed in tempestuous manner amongst +those who do not mind whether they are considered respectable or not--a +very different thing from the milk-and-water efforts in London +ballrooms. + +It is not quite decided whether the phrase "filthy lucre" comes from the +United States or from Argentina. There is only one dirtier thing in the +world than the American dollar note, and that is the Argentine peso; +but in extenuation of its filth one has to remember it is less than half +the dollar's value. I am convinced that one of the reasons money is held +in small regard in the Argentine is that nobody can have any respect for +a worn, tattered, and evil-smelling piece of paper, even though its +equivalent be a shilling and eightpence. I never appreciated the genuine +value of money till I changed a bilious and decrepit ten peso note for +half-crowns, shillings, and threepenny bits. Of course, the Argentines +have no money but paper and nickel, though you are assured there are +untold millions of gold in the cellars of the national casa. But you +never strike anything but paper. When I drew English gold from the bank +for use on my voyage home, and swaggeringly emptied an envelope of +sovereigns on the table at a luncheon party given by the British +Minister, my lady neighbour gave a little shriek of delight at the +blessed spectacle of a real English sovereign. The only coin which holds +good the world round is the British sovereign. + +Now of the cosmopolitan throng exploiting the resources of Argentina it +has been left to the Jews to work on distinctive racial lines. The +Hebrew population numbers 40,000, a community founded and fostered +according to well-defined plans which not only ensure the comfort and +well-being of the thrifty, but mark a revival of agriculture as one of +the industrial arts of the Jews. + +Centuries of wandering, of persecution and oppression, of lethargic +waiting for the "return to the promised land," divorced the Hebrew from +his original position as an agriculturist. In the Argentine he is +beginning to rehabilitate himself. Backed by the Jewish Colonisation +Association, and aided by that commercial talent which has become +characteristic of the Jew wherever he may be, the Jewish farmer in South +America represents a new type in the great Israelitish family. + +What more natural than that the Argentine should be regarded as one of +the likely homes for the wandering tribes by those who for years have +promoted the Jewish settlement movements? Jewish patriarchs and +philanthropists looked longingly at the map of South America in search +of a goal for racial and religious aspirations. The oppression and +persecution of co-religionists in Russia and Roumania in the early +'nineties called for action as well as ideals. Shelter had to be found +where thrift and enterprise were offered their due reward. Argentina was +fixed upon, and the foundation of to-day's well organised scheme was +inaugurated through the munificence of the late Baron Hirsch. Under his +last will and testament the financial stability of the colonisation +scheme was secured. + +A society representative of Israelites in Berlin, London, Frankfort, +Paris, and Brussels, as well as the Anglo-Jewish and other Hebrew +associations, was formed under English jurisdiction. Only the interest +of the fund left by the baron may be spent in assisting Jewish colonists +to the ownership of their farms, and the tiding over of the inevitable +depressions in agriculture. Every two months the executive of this +society meets in Paris and considers the destinies of Jewish colonists +not only in the Argentine, but in the United States, Canada, Asia Minor, +Palestine, Brazil, and Russia. + +The memory of Baron Hirsch is perpetuated in Argentina by the prosperous +colony bearing his name in the province of Buenos Aires. Altogether the +Jewish Colonisation Society owns some 250 leagues of land in the +country. The property in the Baron Hirsch Colony alone covers 44 square +leagues, and is served by three important stations. + +In many respects the colonisation of the Jews in the Republic sets an +example in thoroughness that might well be copied. The main purpose of +the scheme--to succour the oppressed--is carried out without prejudicing +the financial security of the society. Houses are provided in each of +the Jewish colonies for the new immigrant, and here the family is cared +for till work on one of the farms has been found for the father. Only +those who have fled from oppression are granted the financial assistance +of the Colonisation Society in establishing their own independence. Jews +from Germany and Great Britain are not granted holdings by the society. +The probable explanation of this rule is that the English or German +emigrant arrives forearmed, and is financially equipped for colonial +enterprise before leaving these free countries. + +[Illustration: THE ESPLANADE, MAR DEL PLATA.] + +The applicant for a holding, roughly 350 acres, must first of all have +had two years' residence in the country, and show that he has had +practical experience in farm work. His application is sent to Buenos +Aires, where the interests of the Jewish Colonisation Society in the +Argentine are watched by a permanent administration. From there a report +is forwarded to the international executive in Paris before the land is +finally allotted to the applicant. The rest follows the ideals of those +who are working at the rural and agricultural problems in Great Britain. +At practically cost price the land is sold to the new tenant farmer. The +rate of interest charged by the society is 4 per cent. Twenty years for +repayment of the capital is fixed as a minimum as well as a maximum +period. However successful the farmer may be, he is not allowed to +receive the title deeds of his allotment until twenty years have +elapsed. The value of this precaution has often been proved. For one +thing, it hinders any tendency to traffic in the land and to raise +mortgages on the slightest provocation. The successful tenant can always +find use for his year's surplus in developing and improving the estate +which is one day to be his own. On the other hand, the rapid increase in +land values leaves the society on the safe side should the tenant +purchaser be unfortunate or lacking in enterprise. Apart from the land, +the society advances the tenant 3,000 dollars in the form of horses, +machinery, and equipment. In the event of the farmer failing to make his +way, the society only stands to lose a year or two's interest on the +capital outlay. And the natural increase in the value of the land, as I +have before shown, is sufficient to cover any such deficit. A variation +of these conditions operates in the Baron Hirsch Colony. Here, instead +of being advanced the value of 3,000 dollars, the applicant for a farm +has to prove possession of such a sum before he is qualified to take +over an allotment. + +With wise foresight the Jewish colonies have been set up in various +parts of the Republic. This prevents the scheme from being dedicated to +one class of agriculture, and enables the colonist to try his hand, say, +at cattle rearing if crop-raising does not prove to his liking. In the +northern colonies the industry is chiefly in cattle, corn, and olive +growing, while in the south the cultivation is chiefly in wheat, rye, +and oats. + +A good year sees the industrious farmer with a surplus of anything from +10,000 to 20,000 dollars (Argentine). Should bad weather or working +misfortunes turn the account the other way he has only to apply to the +administration in Buenos Aires, and the money advanced is simply added +to the purchase price of his holding. + +On the whole the Jewish colonists are thrifty and prosperous. They have +their own co-operative societies for the purchase of necessities and the +distribution of their products; they have their sick funds and local +hospitals; religious freedom has enabled them to establish their own +tabernacles and to observe the Jewish feasts. They have set a splendid +example in citizenship to their neighbouring colonists. In the +Argentine, perhaps more than elsewhere, the Jews are on the high road to +a restoration of their ancient virility, and are best fulfilling +their destiny as a great race. + +With the exception of the Welsh settlements already alluded to, the Jews +stand alone as colonists on purely racial lines. The effectiveness of +their organisation is the measure of their contentment and prosperity. +We have the contrast in the case of other immigrants. Many of them are +captured by the political agitator. They are taught to see in revolt and +industrial uprising the short cut to affluence and ease. Strikes are +frequent, discontent is sown, and time is devoted to attacks upon +authority which might be better employed in individual effort. Politics +are so inseparable from the daily affairs of the country that discontent +in the main becomes wholly political. Its manifestations have no bearing +upon the social and commercial possibilities of the Argentine. With wise +and tolerant government on the one hand, and patience and perseverance +on the other, much of the friction that now arises would disappear. + +For it has to be admitted that some of the attacks upon the bureaucracy +are not altogether inexcusable. With the influence of officialdom +forcing itself upon every interest of the working classes, the +inevitable increase in the cost of living, and the instances of +bureaucratic tyranny frequently brought to light, it is not to be +wondered that the unorganised labourer adopts the exaggerated point of +view of the agitator, and sees in revolution alone the pathway to +reform. + +In Buenos Aires, for example, the cost of living is greater than +elsewhere, though the scale of wages is also higher. Imported goods are +dear, rent high, efficient labour scarce, and municipal rates heavy. The +result is that even the highly paid worker finds himself with only a +moderate balance when all charges are met. + +With the agriculturist things are not so bad. He can produce for himself +most of the necessaries of life, and can avoid many of the burdens of +the townsman in the way of expensive clothing and other imported +luxuries. Strange as it may appear in a country supplying most of the +world's markets, meat in Buenos Aires is nearly as dear as in England. +The same applies to many other commodities produced or producible in the +country. A comparative list shows few things cheaper in the Argentine +than in the Old World. + +The cost of the breakfast table might be reduced considerably if more +trouble were taken with what one might describe as the by-products of +agriculture. The people are invariably out for the big deal in cattle or +corn. Insufficient attention is paid to dairy-farming, poultry rearing, +gardening, fruit-growing, and the production of those little comforts +that are now part and parcel of agriculture in England and France. The +cultivator's first and, in the majority of cases, only thought is the +land and its direct yield. With the same opportunities many an English +small-holder would make a quick fortune in Argentina. In this oversight +the Argentine has gone the way of most new countries. The question of +"agricultural smalls," however, as I have shown, is now being considered +in conjunction with the increased cost of living. + +Labour is so scarce in some parts that the introduction of Chinese or +Japanese colonists has been suggested. Such a step, however, would +arouse as fierce a criticism as did the introduction of Chinese coolies +on the South African Rand mines. They were tried in Chili, and are by no +means liked. The lumber trade of Posados still requires thousands of +workers. The natives cannot be kept at work to any extent, and to meet +the demand Russians, Poles, and Finns have been brought over in +thousands. Timber for railway sleepers is the principal product. Each +year some two million logs are sent down the Parana River to be used in +railway construction at home and abroad. + +The lessons of the great coal strike in England during 1912 were quickly +grasped by the Government of Argentina. Like other countries depending +upon Great Britain for coal supplies, Argentina had to consider the +disastrous consequences of any disorganisation of her transport service. +Substitutes for coal fuel had to be counted. The crisis of this period +proved a blessing in disguise. Government attention was directed towards +the discovery of oil in widely separated districts of the Republic. A +law has now been passed reserving to the Government 12,500 acres of the +petroleum zone of Comodora Rivadavia, and prohibiting the issue of any +mining or proprietary rights. To displace coal, Argentina would require +2,000,000 tons of oil fuel and about 150 wells. A start has been made in +the south, where fresh wells are being sunk at Comodora Rivadavia. Five +wells produced 18,000 tons of petroleum in a year of experiment. In 1913 +it rose to 28,000 tons. When the Argentine can turn its attention from +the sources of wealth now being tapped, who knows what will follow the +enterprise in oil? But nothing has been found which would warrant a +"boom" in Argentine oil. + +Meanwhile, an annual increase of 1,000,000 tons in the shipping trade of +Buenos Aires has left Argentina, like Oliver Twist, asking for more. The +cattle-breeding industry responds to each stimulus given by the +provision of more refrigerating vessels. The supply of meat is always +greater than the means of distribution. Already America is looking to +the Argentine for meat to augment her own supplies. It is the only +country to which she can turn with confidence. Other parts of the world +have for years been fed from here. The dependence of the outer world +upon the meat and cereals of Argentina almost suggests that the country +was pre-ordained to be the larder of the human family. + +For the hunter and traveller, Argentina and its bordering lands have +their full share of attractions. The plains and mountains of the Andean +land are the haunts of the jaguar, puma, wild cat, and various breeds of +wild deer. Its birds include the vulture, hawk, albatross, penguin, +snipe, bustard, partridges of several kinds, as well as singing birds in +great variety. In fact, many of the birds of the mountain and forest +are still unclassified, and are the study of ornithologists and +naturalists from all parts of the world. The martinetta, a big grouse, +brings into sport something of a novelty. It is slow to fly, and is +often caught by snares into which it is driven. For variation, however, +it is forced to take wing by means of a rope dragged by riders across +the path. The rope pulls the martinetta off its feet. As soon as it +flies the third huntsman behind the rope fires. Three are necessary to +form a party, and the turn with the gun is arranged. + +A peculiar type of llama is found in these parts. In shape the long neck +and head resemble those of the giraffe and camel respectively. The body +is like that of a donkey and the legs are as graceful as those of a +deer. Their voracity makes them unpopular with sheep breeders, except +for the value of their skins, for it has been estimated that one +guanaco--as they are called--will eat as much grass as nine sheep. The +beautiful humming bird is found in parts of the Argentine as well as in +the Andes. Many of the vultures are also to be seen. The condor is a +bird of such immense size as to be worthy of special mention. From wing +to wing it measures 9 feet. To hatch its eggs it seeks the remote crags +of the Andes, and has been found at an altitude of 20,000 feet. + +In Patagonia we are able to revive memories of the schoolroom, and to +see how far juvenile fancy has exaggerated the stature of what the +teacher said were the biggest men in the world. Their actual height is +from 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet 4 inches, but their stature is rendered +more impressive on account of their huge arms and massive chests. As the +name implies, and as the school-reader reminded us, the Patagonians have +huge flat feet. Their adoption of such civilised habiliments as boots +would mean a revolution in the standards of the boot-making industry. +Among travellers the Patagonian has a good reputation for honesty, +amiability, and kindness to his womenfolk. The people have no idols, but +believe in witchcraft. + +Patagonia is almost virgin land, and Santa Cruz is, perhaps, the most +dreary region of the country. It is considered, however, to have a +future, and some promising settlements have already been established. +The Patagonian pastures have not as yet been bothered about by +Argentines, because they are still wanting more workers to develop the +enormous northern areas. + +The force of the alliance between good government and good health is +ever present to the traveller in South America. The continent has +witnessed the greatest ravages of leprosy. It is significant that the +greater number of lepers are found where governments are unstable and +administration uncertain. In Chili and Argentina, where government is +something more than a symbol, lepers are relatively few, and are +practically disappearing. Farther north the position is worse, and again +there comes the analogy between bad government and disease. Venezuela, +Colombo, and Ecuador, where the life of no government is certain for +above twenty-four hours, are among the worst areas of leprosy. Complete +segregation is the only effective method of coping with the disease. +This can only be accomplished with firm and effective administration. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TUCUMAN AND THE SUGAR INDUSTRY + + +It was my good fortune to visit Tucuman in the northern area of +Argentina during the height of the sugar-cane harvest. Here one was +about as near the centre of South America as could be desired. The +vegetation was wildly luxuriant, and seemed to have lapped over into +Argentina from the jungles of Brazil. Here, also, the Latin colonists +seemed to have been left behind, and one ran into a strangely mixed +people, mostly native Indian in origin, but with a tincture in their +veins from the Spanish settlers of centuries ago, together with a +subsequent negro admixture. + +I had looked forward to visiting a tropical town, of long streets of mud +shanties heavily thatched, and with innumerable palm trees waving their +plumes overhead. This kind of thing was to be found in the suburbs, +where the Spanish-negro-Indians wore big, rough-made, straw-plaited +hats, and their dusky mates, in bright garments, gossipped in the +shadows, whilst their prolific offspring--often stark naked--gambolled +in the sand. But Tucuman itself is much like other Argentine towns, for +it has its plaza and statues and public gardens, its imposing houses and +hotels and restaurants, its tramcars and electric light. + +Tucuman has played its part in the history of the Republic. It was here +that Independence was proclaimed in 1810, when the overlordship of Spain +was repudiated; and it was here that, after much fighting, the treaty of +peace was signed on July 9th, 1816. The house in which this took place +was a modest building, not much bigger than a cottage. Sentiment +prevented it being swept away before the rush for improvement, and so it +has been left standing. But about it has been erected an imposing +structure. Here is a house within a house; and a stout dame conducts the +visitor into a gaunt room where Argentina's first parliament assembled; +where there are paintings of fierce-eyed national heroes, frescoes +depicting the proclamation of Independence, the chair where the first +president of the Republic sat, and in which the visitor is invited to +sit; and there is the customary visitors' book to be signed. + +Tucuman vies with Cordoba in having amongst its residents some of the +real old Spanish aristocracy of Argentina. Indeed, Tucuman puts forth +the claim that it has the most beautiful women in South America. +Certainly at the hour of promenade, when the sun begins to dip and +before nightfall comes swiftly, and the people take to walking amongst +the orange trees in the Plaza, or sauntering along the main +thoroughfares inspecting the attractions in the shop windows, there is +no difficulty in imagining that this is a bit of Madrid instead of being +a little-visited town tucked away in the north of Argentina. Several +enthusiastic residents assured me that their ladies were as close to the +fashions as Paris itself. I am no authority on these matters; but I can +say that the womenfolk appeared as well garbed as they are in the +capitals of Europe. Along the clean streets whizzed expensive +motor-cars. Before the restaurants were the little round marble-topped +tables with which most of us are acquainted in European cities; and here +men sat and drank their amer piquant and puffed their cigarettes, whilst +the band played music, ragtime and other, with which we are so familiar +at home. + +The main avenue, still in the making, promises to be a gorgeous +thoroughfare one of these days. There is a casino, a theatre (the +Odeon), a palace for the bishop, barracks, a hospital, a brewery which +cost £250,000 to build, and a "Savoy Hotel," where there was on sale +whisky "as drunk in the House of Lords," and where one's admiration was +only checked by finding the telephone system defective. + +Tucuman is the centre of the sugar-growing industry. For many miles +around the country is covered with sugar plantations, and the railway +companies have little belt lines running through the cultivated area to +facilitate the gathering of the crop. When I was there in 1913 the +harvest had been the most prolific within knowledge. In places the line +was blocked with wagons piled high with the cane, whilst in several +quarters I heard grumbling that there was not a sufficiency of trucks to +cope with the trade. + +[Illustration: A HISTORIC BUILDING: "CASA INDEPENDENCIA" AT TUCUMAN.] + +One day, accompanied by several friends, I made an extensive motor-car +trip to the sugar plantations. As soon as we got beyond the town, and +upon the broad road which stretched as far as eye could reach until it +was lost in the shimmer of sunshine, we experienced the inconvenience of +a bad way. With all its excellences, Argentina, as I have before +remarked, has as bad roads as you will find in the world. There had been +no rain for months, and our route was across miles of powdery earth. We +sank into it almost to the axle. We churned up dust so that soon we were +smothered in it. Our faces were almost as grimy as though we had been in +a coalpit. Gaucho horsemen pranced past us in clouds of dust. When we +overtook an ox-drawn wagon it was like pushing through a fog of dust. On +either side the vegetation was profuse and rank, and the terrific heat +of the tropics filled the air with a strong, nauseating aroma. + +When we were in the sugar-cane district we saw hundreds of tawny-skinned +men cutting the cane. Armed with an instrument which seemed to be half +knife and half butcher's chopper, the peon seized the top of a cane, cut +it off near the root, gave it a swing in the air, and with rapid slashes +removed the protruding leaves, and then pitched the stalk on one side, +where a heap was lying to be gathered by women and children and carried +to the waiting wagons. + +Twice we halted to watch the dexterity of the cutters and to visit the +mud huts. These were picturesque but not pretty. They looked like +disreputable brick-kilns, and although possessed of a door, were +deficient in windows. The interior was dark, but most of the family +spend their time out of doors under the trees, where they have their +fires and prepare maté, the native tea, which is served in a shell and +sucked through a tube. Whenever the natives have nothing else to do you +are sure to find them drinking maté. + +Around Tucuman are twenty-five sugar mills, and it is reckoned they +produce 200,000 tons of sugar, of which between 60,000 and 70,000 tons +are exported. We went to the fine mills at San Pablo belonging to Nouges +Brothers, and the senior partner was good enough to show me over the +place, so that I could inspect the whole process, from the arrival of +the cane until the sugar is loaded in sacks ready to be sent to Buenos +Aires. + +The stalks, as high as a man, are thrown into a machine which literally +chews them up. As they pass through heavy rollers they crunch and crack, +and yield their juice which runs in a nasty brown fluid into a trough. +Again the mashed-up cane is subjected to further squeezings between +rollers, until practically the last drop of the syrup is squeezed out. +The treacle-like stuff is run into big basins beneath which furnaces are +blazing, and is kept at a simmer until the sugar reaches the consistency +of dough. After that it is sluiced into highly heated steel cups, which +are constantly whirling. + +It is interesting to stand by in the sickly-sweet atmosphere and watch +how, in the constant spinning and evaporation from the heat, the stuff +loses much of its brown appearance and becomes, when thoroughly dried, +like the cheap brown sugar as we know it at home. It is further refined +in other hot chambers until it is quite white. Then men with sacks catch +the stream of sugar as it rushes from the mouth of the refinery. Much of +it is spilt, and the men are up to their boots in sugar. But the bags +are quickly filled, pushed on one side, sewn up, hastened on lorries to +waiting carts, which, when loaded, convey the freight to the railway +wagons close by. Señor Nouges told me that at that time his firm was +turning out 175 tons of sugar a day. + +The sugar-cane must have plenty of sun and water. The rivers I saw +during harvest time were miserable, shallow streams, meandering their +way through what looked like a broad boulder-strewn bed of what once had +been a wide stream. I was there, however, in the dry season, but was +told that in the rainy season these streams are increased a thousandfold +in volume, are frequently a quarter of a mile wide, and, when the +torrents are heavy, overflow their banks and inundate the land. +Irrigation is carried to a high point, so that in times of flood the +waters of the rivers can be conveyed many miles and utilised in +providing moisture to the cane. + +It has only been in comparatively recent years that the possibilities of +the extensive region of North Argentina, of which Tucuman is the centre, +in regard to sugar have been realised. There is the initial expense of +clearing the ground of jungle, and providing irrigation. Once, however, +this has been done, and the cane planted, a paying crop is obtained the +first year. The same roots grow useful stalks for three or four years, +and then comes the process of gradually planting new roots and removing +the old ones so that the same soil can be made productive. Weeds are +numerous, and in the early months of growth these have to be constantly +removed, first of all to prevent their smothering the young shoots, and +secondly to give the cane all the nutriment there is in the soil. There +is also the danger of invasion by locusts, and the occasional +possibility in the cold months--say about May and June--of frost doing +injury to the saplings. Allowing, however, for these disadvantages, the +advance in the sugar industry in Argentina during the last dozen years +has been nothing short of amazing. Still, I could not help feeling that +the industry is only in its infancy. As soon as the foreigner +appreciates what northern Argentina can do--at present most of the sugar +growing is in the hands of Spanish-Argentines--there will certainly be +enormous development. One of the things which will appeal to the foreign +capitalist who takes up sugar growing on an extensive scale is that +there is a quick return on the money invested in development. + +Though Tucuman is the capital of the sugar growing interest, it may be +said there are plenty of areas equally favourable for raising the cane. +Sugar growing at Tucuman began about thirty years ago, long before the +railway ever reached the place, and to meet purely local demands; +because in those days the transport of imported sugar, as of other +goods, by cart was expensive. When the railway put Tucuman into near +communication with other parts of the Republic, the possibilities of a +great trade were at once recognised. Tucuman sugar, however, could not +in those days compete, either in quality or price, with that which came +from other countries. It was, therefore, decided to give encouragement +to Argentine sugar growing by a tariff on sugar which came from across +sea. As one who favours the saving of a struggling industry in a home +country from being strangled by vigorous foreign competition, I believe +this was the right thing to do. Sugar growing bounded ahead. Not many +years elapsed before the sugar growers became a powerful combination, +with much influence on the Government. The result was that, whilst at +the start the duty on imported sugar was small, it was gradually +increased until it became prohibitive. Therefore at the present time +very little foreign sugar comes into the country, and the Argentine +industry has gone ahead in a remarkable manner. + +Mr. N. L. Watson, in his publication "The Argentine as a Market," +describes how Tucuman became a veritable El Dorado. Two years sufficed +to give a net return four times as great as the capital invested. As a +natural consequence, labour and capital flowed into the sugar districts. +Lawyers deserted their professions, workmen their tools, to throw +themselves with a regular fever into an occupation so full of promise. +Works sprang up as if by magic, palaces were constructed to house the +staffs, capital was lavished on the industry by individuals and banking +houses alike. While fortunes were being created in the cultivation of +the sugar-cane, orchards, orange crops, pasturage, and arable land were +being either transformed or neglected. + +Something like a trust has been formed amongst the sugar growers, with +the object of maintaining prices. But public opinion is becoming so +pronounced that, whilst there is no disposition to let the foreigner +come in and undersell the native production, the tariff should be +reduced in order that there may be more competition between the native +and outside growers, with a slight advantage always given to the +Argentine grower. The Republic is quite capable of growing all the sugar +its inhabitants may require; but fair competition from the sugar of +other countries will do much to regulate prices. + +[Illustration: THE STATUE OF SAN MARTIN AT TUCUMAN.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE INDUSTRIAL SIDE OF THE REPUBLIC + + +The main energies of Argentina must for some time be devoted to her most +obvious source of wealth. Yet it would be unwise to neglect a +consideration of her industrial possibilities. Naturally she is anxious +to supply herself with the commodities essential to daily life and +comfort. But up to the present the Argentine has relied chiefly upon the +exchange of its products, even for commodities which might be produced +at home. This is due to the tendency common to new countries of going in +for the "big deal." In this sense the agricultural industry has still a +long journey to go. Intensive culture has so far not become a necessity. +Extensive culture has yielded such good profits that no impulse has been +given to the full exploitation of Argentina's hidden resources. This +partly explains why the casual observer is confronted with the apparent +anomaly of vegetables, fruit, eggs, and other foodstuffs being dear in +an agricultural country. + +It is on the lines of finishing her existing industries, attending to +by-products as well as main products, that the foundations of +Argentina's industrial future will best be laid. The immediate obstacle +is the scarcity of labour. The essential requirements already exist, a +good climate, excellent means of communication, a growing population, an +open Custom House for most of the machinery and implements required for +national industries, and a stable credit. + +Few countries have been able to inaugurate home industries under more +favourable auspices. Nothing can deprive Argentina of her agricultural +eminence. But how she will fare when embarking upon the more uncertain +career of a home manufacturer depends upon many things. Necessity is +already driving Argentina seriously to face the problem of producing for +herself her more obvious needs. The comparatively high cost of living is +a growing trouble. Infant though she may be industrially, Argentina has +already experienced the evils of industrial unrest. The principal +manifestations have been in Buenos Aires, which, in addition to being +the port and the centre of national activities, has been the storm +centre of the rush to exploit her resources. It is the pulse of the +Republic. Like other great cities, it is crying out against the +diminishing value of the dollar. + +Argentina's readiness for home manufactures is an urgent problem +confronting the Government. The Government wants a more all-round +development of the country's resources. Interwoven with this problem are +important considerations: a more equable distribution of the population; +the provision of more centres for the exchange of commodities; the +relation between taxes for revenue and protective tariffs; the +selection of what industries are to be established at an economic +profit; the extent to which foreign manufacturers can be induced to +start their industries within the Republic. + +So far, the only industries that have continued with success are those +producing articles difficult of transport, or of an expensive character. +With a greater mobility of trade in the country, and a more scientific +manipulation of the tariff, there is no reason why Argentina should not +provide herself with many of the things which to-day furnish the labour +agitator with opportunities for tirades against "costly living." Backed +by agricultural wealth, and supported by splendid railway facilities, +Argentina should be able to make advance on particular lines. Take wool +as an illustration. Argentina produces more than sufficient for her own +requirements, and yet she obtains woollen goods from other countries. Is +it to be taken as final that the absence of coal in the country makes +the development of woollen industries at home an economic impossibility? +It is not, perhaps, so much a question of labour and initiative as the +absence of natural advantages. + +It is necessary to look farther afield than Buenos Aires in considering +the chances of a new industry. The concentration of trade in the capital +has probably been a hindrance. The congestion of all interests, +commercial, political, and social, in "B.A." has caused land to increase +enormously in value, an important consideration in setting up factories. +In turn, other charges are correspondingly increased. Trade rises and +falls according to the season. There is less stability for the worker, +more fluctuations for the trader. + +But, with railways linking up the interior with the coast, there is now +no necessity for the drama of Argentina's commerce to be confined to a +single theatre. There must be more centres of exchange, fresh districts +for production and manufacture. If the auxiliary industries to corn +growing and cattle raising were better fostered there would be no +necessity for inland towns to go to Buenos Aires for vegetables, eggs, +cheese, butter, and poultry. The market garden, the dairy, the poultry +farm, the orchard, and the auxiliary factories would pour their products +into the provincial centres. Local needs would be met locally. The +surplus would be sent on with the grain and the cattle to the markets at +Buenos Aires. + +These, after all, are probably the safest lines upon which a new country +can travel in her march to greater economic independence. First the +purely agricultural; then the by-products of agriculture as a +supplement; then gradually the establishment of whatever manufactures +are practicable and profitable. For the present Argentina has greater +need for cheaper eatables than for cheaper motor-cars. + +Countries doing a big trade with the Argentine are beginning to see the +force of providing goods on the spot. The crowding of agents in the +principal towns has increased competition to a point at which the next +move by certain competitors must be in the direction of producing in +the country or losing the trade entirely. This will be all the better +for Argentina. She has long had justifiable cause for complaint against +those who are sent to Buenos Aires and other parts to barter for her +trade. A well-worn lament in the reports of the British Consul concerns +the English trader's lack of adaptability to the peculiar conditions of +Argentina. Mention is made of quotations in English, the sending of +representatives unacquainted with the language and business terms of the +country, the adherence to methods applicable only to England. + +On the other hand, the British exporter has grumbled at economic +conditions calling for long and sometimes exaggerated credit; the taxes +levied on commercial travellers; the difficulty of dealing direct with +customers. Between the two points of view is the fact that commercial +enterprise has stopped with the arrival of trade representatives in +Buenos Aires. + +The Argentine has already made shots at industry building. Tangible +signs of an industrial future were visible on many occasions during my +tour. Tall and smoking chimneys and busy factories for tinned meats, +clothing, and boots were evidences of the start already made. Before, +however, an advance can go towards full development there must be a more +definite scheme of working, and a clearer apprehension of the end in +view. There are, for example, greater possibilities for brewing and +distilling. A recent census showed that these two activities engaged +about 160 factories. Sugar, too, has proved for itself that when worked +on proper lines it is a most profitable industry. Sugar-canes, formerly +exported for others to refine, are now refined in the country, where the +product finds a ready market. + +It would be well-nigh hopeless for Argentina to attempt the introduction +of industries to compete in her own market with well-established foreign +industries of the same kind without the aid of tariff protection. This +might mean a temporary loss in revenue by checking imports; but +compensation would come through the success of the home industry. At the +present time Argentina exports in raw wool over £10,000,000 worth +annually. She imports woollen goods worth nearly £3,000,000. Her imports +are increasing and her export of raw material decreasing. In ten years +the latter fell considerably in actual bulk, through the rush to make +quicker money from meat. Meanwhile, the question arises as to why +Argentina should not prepare and manufacture woollen goods for home +needs? The existing market is a large one. Textile industries already +exist. They are few, but the fact that the number of establishments has +increased is a clear proof that textile industries can be profitable. +The opportunities here presented for the investment of capital are +invaluable. There is room for new and increasing enterprises in a +growing country with many years of growth before it. + +It is essential to all industrial expansion that a country's credit +should be good and its currency stable. Argentina is well off in this +respect. Contrasted with some other American republics, in which +revolution, revolt, and financial distress are painfully frequent, +Argentina is a political and financial paradise. This stability, if not +in itself an inducement to the investment of capital, is at any rate a +guarantee that capital may be invested with safety. And in these days +safety itself is a big inducement. Paper dollars form the everyday +currency of the country. Careful provision has been made to establish +the paper in circulation on a definite gold basis. Since the Caja de +Conversion, the Government institution for the issue, exchange, and +conversion of the paper currency, was established in 1899, the paper +dollar has always been worth $.44 gold (between 1s. 8d. and 1s. 9d.). +Certain specified resources are appropriated for the formation of a +conversion fund, which guarantees the paper currency. + +During the latter part of 1913 there was a considerable shipment of +English sovereigns to the Republic. Under the Pellegrini Law passed in +1902 the Caja de Conversion must hold in gold an equivalent to the paper +money in circulation. Indeed, the National Conversion Office, the +National Bank of Argentina, the London and River Plate Bank and other +banks had in June, 1913, an accumulation of gold amounting to +£67,188,039. The gold in the Caja de Conversion began with the +insignificant sum of £568 on December 31st, 1902; in 1904 it was just +over £10,000,000; the next year it was up to over £18,000,000, and on +June 30th, 1913, it was £53,306,866. + +Argentina has a number of well-established banks, affording many +facilities for the development of trade and industrial enterprise. One +of the principal, the Banco Hipotecario Nacional, makes a feature of +special loans for building and land improvements. Its loans are made on +the mortgages of property by the issue of bearer bonds in lieu of cash +to persons mortgaging properties to the bank. It need not be feared, +therefore, that industrial enterprises of reasonable prospects will +starve for the want of financial credit during the difficult years of +inauguration. On the contrary, there is a good supply of money waiting +fresh outlets. Bankers realise that it is to their own as well as to the +country's advantage to have a wide field of financial operations. They +have the money if others have the enterprise and the initiative. + +The point has now been reached at which manufactories might well be +harnessed to agriculture not only for the fuller working of Argentina's +resources, but for remedying some of the social difficulties that have +arisen through her relying too much upon one source of wealth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE NORTH-EAST COUNTRY + + +Although travellers in the Republic usually visit Rosario, it is seldom +they devote much time to studying the full capabilities of the province +of Santa Fé, of which Rosario is the chief town. Yet Santa Fé and +Corrientes to the north, and Entre Rios to the east, deserve much more +than passing recognition. + +Though in the north of Santa Fé, towards the region of the Chaco, there +are thick forests, the southern part is treeless, except for the ombu, +and is a plain with rich pasturage and soil. Along the side of the +province runs the Parana River, which can be ascended by flat-bottomed +stern wheel vessels for many hundreds of miles; and from ports like +those of Santa Fé and Villa Constitucion much agricultural produce in +maize, wheat, linseed, and barley are dispatched. The sugar industry is +gradually creeping into Santa Fé province. Nearly fifty flour mills have +been erected, and there are also sawmills, meat preserving factories, +and works for quebracho extracts. Though railways are penetrating in all +directions through the province, having at the present time 3,000 miles +of lines, the River Parana is, and long will be, the chief highway, +because circumstances in the old times led to the principal towns being +constructed on its banks, and because some of its tributaries are also +navigable for a considerable distance. + +The Parana River stretches away north into Corrientes. There are places +with tremendous areas of well-watered pastures; but the farther north +one journeys the more the country becomes swampy and covered with heavy +forest. The vegetation is tropical, and parrots with gay plumage disturb +the silence of the woods with their shrieks. + +It is here that the forest Indians are to be found, particularly the +Tobas and the Matacos. Formerly the tribes kept to their own territory; +but with the coming of the white man, and particularly the importation +of Russians, Poles, and Scandinavians to work in the lumber camps, this +custom has gradually been broken down. The Indians resent the presence +of the intruders, and there is many a black story of massacre. The +forest Indians cannot be induced to work in the hewing of timber, but +missionaries are doing a great deal in persuading them to take to +farming and raising crops of maize or bananas. + +The Indians near the towns on the Parana River are taking to wearing +European clothes. In the time of the sugar harvest in the west they will +work for a month or so, but on their tramp back of several hundred miles +they frequently fall out with one another, and there is fierce fighting +and murdering of which the outer world never hears. Far in the forests, +up to the present but little penetrated, the Indians are found in their +original state, naked save for a loin cloth, producing fire by the +rubbing of sticks, still utilising bows and arrows in warfare, and +following the practice when an enemy has been slain of cutting off his +head and using the skull as a drinking bowl. + +[Illustration: THE LONGEST GIRDER BRIDGE IN +THE REPUBLIC, NEAR SANTA FÉ.] + +All this may seem to suggest that Corrientes is a somewhat forbidding +province, especially as much of its territory is marshy. For instance, +Lake Ibera and its marshes covers an area of something like 15,000 +square miles. The vegetation is dense, the climate is bad, and there is +little to attract man unless he be a sportsman. But so vast is the +province that there are wide areas which are very productive, because +the province is well provided with rivers and streams. + +There are in the province about 5,000,000 head of cattle, over 3,000,000 +sheep, and about 600,000 horses. Besides cattle, there are the timber +trade and the sugar industry, also tobacco growing, to be counted +amongst its sources of revenue. + +It was only in 1908 that the province of Entre Rios entered the +Republic. As will be gathered from its name, the province lies "between +rivers," the Parana and Uruguay, both of which are navigable for many +hundreds of miles. There are many smaller rivers which, although not +much good for traffic, are most useful in watering the country. Entre +Rios has as fertile a soil as will be found in any part of the Republic. +The country is more picturesque than can be said of Argentina as a +whole, and with its many farms it is often reminiscent of England. In +the north there are extensive forests; indeed, one-fifth of the province +is covered with valuable timber. Agricultural products and live stock +are, as elsewhere, the chief source of prosperity. + +In the more pleasant undulating parts of the province there are many +prosperous _estancias_, often in the possession of Englishmen. Here, +more than in any other place in the Republic, are to be found small +freeholds owned by Austrian, Poles, Russians, and Scandinavians. The +Spanish and Italian Argentines seem to have left most of this area to +north Europeans, who in many cases retain the costumes of the countries +from which they emigrated. Formerly Entre Rios had a bad name because of +the stories of the way in which the old settlers shot every Indian on +sight. That, however, is a page now far back in the history of the land. + +Until comparatively recent times the only communication with the outer +world was by means of the rivers. Now, as mentioned, Entre Rios has a +fine railway system. The capital of the province, Parana, is a +happy-looking, clean town, with exquisite gardens and, of course, the +usual theatre and band. + +Most of the meat extract supplied to the world by the Liebig and Bovril +companies comes from Entre Rios. Both these companies own great +_estancias_ to breed cattle for the purposes of their business. Liebigs, +which afterwards changed its name to Lemco, practically built the town +of Fray Bentos, where there were schools, public halls, and, altogether, +a model settlement. Subsequently, however, the works were removed +to Colon. The Lemco company own eighteen great estates, covering +1,750,000 acres with nearly 400,000 head of cattle. The area of their +estates is nearly equal to that of Kent and Surrey. + +It was as far back as 1850, long before the frozen and chilled meat +trade came into existence, that Baron Liebig saw the possibilities, +instead of killing cattle merely for hides and tallow, of boiling down +the meat for extract. The first exportation of 80 lbs. was in 1865, and +it was sent to Germany. + +The Bovril company, in Entre Rios and the adjoining province of Santa +Fé, have nearly half a million acres of freehold and a quarter of a +million acres of leasehold land. On their estates they have about +150,000 cattle. Most of the cattle are of the Durham breed. Between +80,000 and 100,000 animals are slaughtered annually, principally at +Santa Elena; and whilst the meat is sent to England to be converted into +meat extract, the hides and tallow are dispatched to Buenos Aires, where +they are sold. + +Altogether there are about a quarter of a million beasts slaughtered in +Entre Rios each year. As in other parts of Argentina, all the +slaughter-houses are under Government inspection; indeed, every carcase +is subjected to examination before it is passed. Entre Rios is still a +long way from the end of its journey as a meat producing country. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS + + +Argentina is a land without ideals. Religion is at a discount, and as +yet nothing worthy of the world's note has been produced in art or +literature. There is no national conscience. It is a country for +money-making, and, although I may have been unfortunate in the men I +met, I encountered few Argentines who had thought beyond money. + +The Argentines are a people numbering seven millions--drawn from the +sturdier sections of the Latin race, reinforced by adventurous spirits +from other races, and backed by the finance of London--and their +ambitions are large. Argentina is a country to count in the new regions +devoted to providing the food of the world; and the end of its +possibilities is many generations away. + +The travelled Argentine is conscious of the shortcomings of his +countrymen when engaged in the battle of commerce with men of other +nations. So he sees the need of a helping and guiding hand from other +folk, particularly British. Gradually, however, other countries are +getting their fingers into the pie: Germany and France. The United +States is making a big endeavour, but, though the North Americans lack +nothing in energy, they have completely failed to win the confidence of +the Argentines. + +Yet the educated Argentine feels, as foreigners are quick to notice, +that the amalgam of races, with the Italian leavening the whole, is +creating a new people. The Argentine lad is quick-witted and adaptable, +and he is alert to learn the ways of the foreigner. So, though it is +true enough that you find Englishmen at the head of many of the great +concerns, the Argentine is pushing his way in and sometimes beating the +foreigner at his own game. + +The new spirit is revealed in the way the young Argentine is taking to +sport besides horse-racing: rowing, tennis, and particularly football. +As every child born in the Republic is by law an Argentine, it is +subject for notice that many young English fellows native born are more +Argentine than those of Spanish and Italian parentage. It is inevitable +that, proportionately, the strictly Spanish population will decrease. +But the Spanish language remains. It has a hold in the Western continent +from Mexico to Patagonia. + +Notwithstanding all that has been accomplished, one has only to look at +a map to realise this region is to be the home for the overflow of Latin +Europe, and that the scope of commerce at present is slight compared +with its probable dimensions within a few years. Having some +acquaintance with the great business countries of the world, I say +unreservedly that if I had a son, and intended to put him into commerce +in the hope of his making a fortune quickly, I would have him taught +Spanish and send him to South America. + +However, there is a slowly accumulating public opinion that Argentina +can do without the foreigner, that the hour is coming when she should no +longer be exploited in order that large dividends be paid to investors +who live on the other side of the Atlantic. There is a sort of +sub-conscious feeling that it is the genius of the Argentines themselves +which accounts for the sunshine, the rich soils, the general +productivity. Evidence of that state of mind can be found in other +countries besides Argentina. Yet, though it is apparent to the most +casual observer of the world's conditions that Argentina must wax in +strength and become increasingly independent, it is clear that were she +to attempt to stand, far less run, alone she would come a tremendous +cropper. + +The pride of the Argentine has to be reckoned upon. The nation recalls +its decrepit past; it sees the abundant blossom of the present; it eyes +are large when viewing the future. It declines to confound its destiny +with any other South American Republic. For its northern neighbour +Brazil, Portuguese and negro in population, it has a scorn which raises +a smile on the lips of the outsider. + +It resents the patronage of the United States. When the States preaches +the Monroe Doctrine, and announces it will not allow any European Power +to acquire fresh territory on the American continent, Argentina says: +"It is very kind of you, but we do not require your help; we are quite +capable of looking after ourselves." + +Behind this is the belief that the Monroe Doctrine is but a design to +permit the United States to become the ruling factor in American higher +politics, if not to extend her sphere of authority the entire length of +the continent. The manner in which the United States got possession of +territory in Central America in order to construct the Panama Canal +rankles in the minds of Argentines, as it does in the minds of most +other South Americans. Bitter though the feeling is between rival South +American States, they are at one in their resentment of United States +patronage. + +Occasionally, United States Ministers of high position travel south, and +beat the pan-American drum. They are received politely, but there is +chilliness in the courtesy. In blunt truth these Republics--be they +right or be they wrong in surmise--do not trust the United States. I +think I am well within the facts when I state that there is an agreement +between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile--known as the A.B.C. +combination--to take common action if there is any step south of the +Panama isthmus savouring of aggression on the part of the United States. + +Both in Argentina and Brazil, when I conversed with public men, I was +given clearly to understand how deep-seated is this dislike of the +United States. There is annoyance at the manner in which President +Woodrow Wilson has lectured the Latin Republics of America for granting +concessions to European syndicates for the development of their +countries. President Wilson laid it down that the growth of foreign +interests in these Republics was unwholesome, because they were sure to +influence the political life; therefore, he said, it was the duty of the +United States to assist in emancipating them from such subordination. +This was a considerable extension of the Monroe Doctrine. The +much-preached creed that the United States will not tolerate any other +Power acquiring territory in the Western hemisphere had been expanded to +mean that the United States is going to use its influence to free the +Latin Republics from being under obligation to European countries which +have given their millions of gold towards making those Republics +commercially prosperous which, so far as financial assistance from the +United States counts, would have remained practically undeveloped. At +the latter end of 1913 Mr. Page, United States Ambassador to Great +Britain, stated at a public dinner that President Wilson was determined +to assert the principle that no sort of European financial or industrial +control could, with the consent of the United States, be got over the +weak nations of America so far as this control affected political +influence. + +What European countries think about this attitude of the United States +in practically warning off European financiers if the investments or +concessions have an influence over politics--which, of course, they must +have in all trading countries--it is not for me to discuss here. But +this over-lordship, this placing of the Latin Republics in a position +of tutelage to the great Republic of the north, is denounced and +repudiated by every Latin American public man. + +I quite agree that it would be better for countries like Argentina and +Brazil if they were not so dependent on the foreign capitalist. That is +a view held by probably the majority of South Americans themselves. But +they are not going to accept dictation from the United States, +especially as they know that United States financiers and syndicates are +not only endeavouring to control the meat trade of Argentina, but within +the last year or so have been engaged in gigantic negotiations to secure +ultimately a controlling voice in many of the most important railway +concerns. + +In the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies in December of 1913, Señor Pedro +Moacyr questioned whether, even should the United States spare Brazil +the fate meted out to Colombia, in regard to setting up the baby +Republic of Panama so that the North Americans could construct the +Panama Canal, Brazil would accept the tutelage over Latin America which +President Wilson, improving on the imperialism of Mr. Roosevelt himself, +and yet further accentuating the disquieting deviations of the Monroe +Doctrine, had proclaimed? What it came to was, said Señor Moacyr, "that +the Latin Republics are no longer to have the right to grant to +foreigners such concessions and privileges as it may suit them to grant, +and, under pretext of preserving them from a problematical European +imperialism, the United States will subject them to its own domination +and control. What, in this case, becomes of the integrity and +sovereignty of Latin America for which the great Republic displays so +much solicitude? More and more the Monroe Doctrine, new style, displays +this manifest tendency: America for the United States.... Will the great +Latin Republics be willing to submit to this American control, and +subordinate their foreign policy and their economic orientation to the +views and interests of Washington? We do not believe it." + +It is only right that United States financiers should receive privileges +the same as are accorded to the financiers of other countries; but such +a pronouncement as that of President Wilson only intensifies the +distrust of South Americans, so that when looking beyond their own +frontiers for money they are more disposed to direct their gaze across +the Atlantic than to the people of the United States. What may be taken +as quite certain is that the big Latin Republics have sufficient +confidence in themselves to refuse to accept any lectures from North +Americans. + +Coming late into the field the United States is now making strenuous +endeavours to increase its trade with Argentina. Operations in regard to +railways, and creating a meat monopoly in the hands of Chicago firms, +provide the most striking proof. In regard to the creation of a meat +trust, there is now a Bill before the Argentine Parliament providing +that any contract relating to commerce or transport affecting the price +to the consumer of articles of prime necessity is illegal. Those who +form the trust can, under this measure, be punished for misdemeanour, +and directors of companies or associations will be held personally +responsible, and on repetition of the offence their companies or +associations dissolved and effects confiscated. + +At the present time there is a great American railway scheme to link up +the railway lines in Argentina and Brazil with a line running through +the Republics right up to New York, making a track over 10,000 miles in +length and involving the building of nearly 3,700 more miles of line. +The British Consul-General at Buenos Aires, Mr. Mackie, one of the most +distinguished men in the British Consular service, says, in regard to +this pan-American railway enterprise: "It would seem that out of the +3,648 miles of railway over which it was sought to acquire control, only +1,906 miles needed for carrying out the scheme in Argentina have been +acquired up to the present. This untoward circumstance must of necessity +substantially increase the original estimates of the mileage needed for +linking up the railway systems of the Republics lying between Buenos +Aires and New York. The dominion of the American controlled enterprise +is not apparently to be confined to the narrow limits of railway +undertakings, but it would seem that a lengthy list of subsidiary +companies has been grouped with the syndicate, in whose London offices +appear to be centred a South American lumber company, three development +and colonisation companies, a Para rubber company, a port company, two +navigation companies, a tramway company, light and power company, and an +hotel company." + +With such endeavours on the part of the United States to extend its +power in the south, it is the obvious commercial duty of Great Britain +not only to take stock of what is happening, but to take steps to meet +it. When I was in Buenos Aires I was glad to hear of the formation of a +British Chamber of Commerce. Hitherto English people with interests in +Argentina have worked independently and sometimes in rivalry. Of course, +wholesome rivalry should continue; but there are occasions when the +British commercial community should act in concert, and the creation of +the British Chamber of Commerce, with Sir Reginald Tower, the British +Minister, giving it his active patronage, should be of immense +advantage. + +But all foreigners, be they British, German, French, or belonging to the +United States, must recognise the ambition of the Argentines ultimately +to do without them and to "run the show" for themselves. + +The nationality of Argentina is not founded on tradition; it comes from +the fervour of self-appreciation. Despite the growth of Socialism in the +ports the country gives unprecedented scope for individual +daring--gambling on the future if you like. The doors are open to all +the races of Europe to become Argentines. The terror of Asiatic labour, +which troubles some other new countries, will be slain by the readiness +with which all Europeans are received, be they Russians or Turks. By +marriage the race is a jumble of Spanish, natives, Italians, and +northern Europeans. In North America a man or a woman with a drop of +black blood is called "a nigger." Unlike Brazil, there are few negroes +in Argentina; but many of the best families have native Indian blood in +their veins. In South America a half-caste, a _mestizo_, is always +counted as a white. Thus there are no race prejudices such as are to be +found in so democratic a country as the United States. + +Yet there is no new country where there is such a gap between one +section of the population and the other. I ascribe the scanty +intellectual life of the Argentine to the big break between the +plutocracy and the labouring classes. The poor immigrant has an enormous +struggle to raise himself above the condition of a serf. There are +plenty of exceptions, but notwithstanding this the statement holds good. +To those who have wealth, money to play with, increase in possession +comes rapidly. There is little scope for the salary-earning middle +class--a most valuable class in all communities--and, though wages are +high according to European standards, the advance is not so great when +the heavy cost of living is borne in mind. + +So far I have endeavoured fairly to picture Argentina as it is. It would +be idle not to count the disadvantages along with the merits of the +land. I did not go to South America with any preconceived ideas, but to +see what I could and write about what I saw and learnt. It has not +benefits for poor agriculturists such as Canada offers, though the life +is more pleasant. Out on the plains the climate is splendid. It is not a +country for the clerk whose knowledge of Spanish is nil. + +But it is an amazing country nevertheless. For ages it has been lying in +the womb of Time. It has just been born, and its growth is one of the +wonders of the world. Its inhabitants are quickly adapting themselves to +modern needs. The revolutionary days are of the past. It has millions of +acres under the power of man; it has many millions more awaiting +population. It is crying out for population. And great steamers from +Spain and from Italy are driving southwards over the line of the Equator +carrying what Argentina needs. She receives nearly three hundred +thousand new arrivals annually. And within a couple of years most of +them become Argentine citizens. + + + + +INDEX + + "A.B.C." combination, 273 + + ABATTOIRS, model, at Liniers, 129 + + ACONCAGUA, 89 + + AGRARIAN and veterinary school, Santa Catalina, 80 + + AGRICULTURAL banks, proposed establishment of, 188 + + AGRICULTURAL defence, department of, 61 + + AGRICULTURAL land, extent of uncultivated, 77 + + AGRICULTURAL produce, and the railways, 137 + + "AGRICULTURAL smalls," 243 + + AGRICULTURE, education for "colonists" in, 56-60; + conditions of, 190; + prospects of, 198; + possibilities of development of, 257 + + ALFALFA, development and cultivation of,69; + importance of, 69, 116; + value of, 194-7; + reputed influence on water level of, 233 + + ALPACA, the, 116 + + ALTA Gracia, excursions to, 143, 165; + golf at, 172; + races at, 172-5 + + ANDES, the, 89; + the railway, and, 147, 215, _et seq._ + + ANTHRAX, the gaucho and, 230 + + ARBORICULTURE, school for, at Tucuman, 59 + + ARGENTINA, possibilities of, 4; + railway development in, 43-51; + land question in, 52-62; + call for population, 53; + value of exportations of, 60; + and world's food supplies, 63, _et seq._; + production of food supplies in, 61-71, 244; + constitution of government, methods of taxation, etc., 72-88; + characteristics of, 89, _et seq._; + from the British immigrant's point of view, 43; + wheat production of, 186, _et seq._; + immigration laws and regulations, 203, 223, _et seq._; + the Jews and, 237-41; + indigenous fauna of, 244; + and industries, 257, _et seq._; + credit of, 263; + as overflow of Latin Europe, 271; + and foreign capital, 275; possibilities of, 278-9 + + "ARGENTINA from a British Point of View," by C. P. Ogilvie, 197 + + ARGENTINE Agricultural Society, 120; cattle-breeding and, 121; + and railway tariffs, 137 + + ARGENTINE Club at Bahia Blanca, 177 + + ARGENTINE Railway Company, 153 + + ARGENTINE Transandine Railway absorbed by the Buenos Aires + and Pacific, 145 + + ARGENTINES, the, wealth and pride of, 5, 6, 7, 20, 22-23; + source of wealth of, 24; + social life of, 29; + extravagance of, 32; + moods of, 32-3; + characteristics of, 38-40, 270-2; + ambition of, 58 + + AUSTRALIA and wheat supply, 186-7 + + AUSTRIA and frozen meat, 127 + + AVENIDA Alvear, "B.A.," 30 + + _Avon_, the, 19, 54 + + + "B.A." _See_ Buenos Aires + + BAHIA, 11 + + BAHIA Blanca, 43; + commercial school at, 79; + grain elevators at, 70; + Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway at, 145; + natural harbour, at, 176; + growth of, 176-7; + land values at, 177; + life in, 177; railways at, 178; + shipments from, 178; + Victoria wool market at, 180; + and the pampas, 181 + + BAHIA Blanca and North-Western Railway, absorbed by the Buenos + Aires and Pacific, 145 + + BANCO Hipotecario Nacional, and loans for building, etc., 264 + + BANKS, licences for, 82; and gold reserve, 263 + + BELGRANO, "B.A." British colony at, 27 + + BELLE Ville, dairy school at, 60 + + BETTING regulations, 28 + + BENITZ Colony, forestry school, in the, 61 + + BIRDS, curious, 92 + + BOVRIL, 15; + and meat extract trade, 159; + cattle-breeding station of, 268-9 + + BRASSEY, Thomas, and first Argentine railway, 139 + + BRAZIL, agricultural riches of, 4; + gambling in, 12; + and Argentine cattle, 128; + reported coal mines in, 155; + dislike of United States in, 273, 275 + + BREWING, possible development of, 261 + + "BRIDGE of the Incas," 219 + + BRITISH capital in Argentina, 7, 21, 24, 43, 46, 123; + in railways, 134 + + BRITISH Chamber of Commerce at Buenos Aires, 278 + + BRITISH immigrants, possibilities of sheep rearing for, 183 + + BRITISH trade and Argentina, 260-1 + + BRITISH trade methods, futility of, 85 + + BUENOS Aires, arrival at, 20; + business of, 22-3; + the streets of, 25; + hotels of, 26; + expensiveness of, 26; + railways in, 27; + Jockey Club of, 28; + Colon Theatre at, 28; + immorality of, 29; + irreligion of, 29; + showiness of, 30, 32; + "Las Damas da Beneficencia," 34; + foundling hospital at, 35; + the Recoleta, 36; + as capital, 37; + population and characteristics of, 41; + fascination of, 42; + immigrants' accommodation at, 53; + land values in, 65; + slaughter-houses at, 70; + senators from, 73; + national and normal schools in, 78; + university at, 78; + shallowness of river at, 90; + regulations against dogs in, 98; + variations of climate in, 102-3; + offices of Argentine Agricultural Society at, 120; + Jockey Club at, 123; + frozen meat works at, 124; + population and meat demands of, 129; + sheep market at, 130; + railways from, 141; + the Retiro station at, 142-3; + suburban traffic of, 143, 151; + B.A. and P. high level line at, 145; + railway connection with Valparaiso from, 146-7; + Mar del Plata and, 151; + cost of living in, 241-2; + increase of shipping trade of, 244; + labour unrest in, 258; + British Chamber of Commerce at, 278 + + BUENOS Aires and Pacific Railway, returns of, 140; + growth and revenue of, 145; + Light and Power Co. in connection with, 145; + port accommodation at Bahia Blanca, 145; + high level line to Buenos Aires, 145; + reclamation of land from River Plate by, 146; + transcontinental traffic, 146-7; + Transandine line, 148; + snow protection on, 148; + prospects of, 149; + Mr. Guy Calthrop and, 149; + at Bahia Blanca 178; + at Puerta Galvan, 179 + + BUENOS Aires-Rosario Railway, 141-2 + + BUENOS Aires Province, population of, 63; + five years drought in, 90; + cattle raising in, 130; + cereal growing district of, 152; + Hirsch Jewish colony in, 238 + + + CAJA de Conversion, effect on credit of, 263; + gold reserve of, 263 + + CALTHROP, Mr. Guy, and Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway, 149-50 + + "CAMP" life in, 67, 223, _et seq._ + + CAMP towns, ugliness of, 226 + + CANADA and wheat supply, 186 + + CATTLE, introduction of, by Spaniards, 95, 117; + wild herds of, 95, 117; + wild dogs and, 97; + improvement and increase of, 99; + numbers of, 122; + and importation embargo in England, 130-1 + + CATTLE-BREEDING, 66-7; + importation of bloodstock for, 118; + improvements in, 120; + Argentine Agricultural Society and, 120-2 + + CATTLE disease, prevalence of, 69 + + CENTRAL Argentine Railway, returns of, 140; + growth of 141-2; + electrification of, 145; + suburban traffic, 143; + excursions on, 143; + goods and agricultural traffic of, 144; + irrigation scheme of, 144; + extension of, 144-5; + weekly receipts of, 145; + works of at Rosario, 156; + excursions to Alta Gracia, 165 + + CENTRAL Cordoba Railway, 153 + + CEREALS, value of exportation of, 67; + low yield of, 70 + + CHACO, the, swamps of, 91; + Indians of, 91 + + CHAMBER of Deputies, constitution of, 73; + qualifications of candidates and members of, 73; + salary of members of, 74; + Socialism in, 75 + + CHICAGO and Argentine chilled meat trade, 68 + + "CHICO," 212, 213 + + CHILI, nitrates of, 4; + railway communication with, 146-7, 149; + leprosy in, 246 + + "CHILLED" meat compared with "frozen," 125 + + CHILLED meat trade, American attempts to capture, 68; + extension of, 126 + + CHRIST, statue of, on Chilian boundary, 148 + + CHUBUT, Welsh colony at, 225 + + CITIZENSHIP, qualifications for, 77 + + CLARKE, Mr. Percy, and Great Southern Railway, 152 + + CLIMATE, variations of, 89, 102-3 + + COAL, lack of, and importation of, 83; + possible supply from Brazil, 155 + + COAL Strike, effect in Argentine of, 243 + + COLON Theatre, the, gala performance at, 29 + + "COLONISTS," system of, 54; + and storekeeper, 55; + position of, 55; + agricultural education for, 56-8; + difficulties of, 225 + + COLUMBUS and his discovery, 1, 5 + + COMMERCE, German and British competition for, 84-5 + + COMODORA Rivadavia, government reservation on petroleum zone of, 243 + + CONDOR, the, 245 + + CORDILLERA of the Andes, railway and, 147 + + CORDOBA, live-stock school at, 58, 59; + university at, 78; + commercial school at, 79 + + CORDOBA, and Central Argentine Railway, 144; + position and population of, 158; + university of, 159, 162; + social life of, 160-1; + opera performances at, 161; + cathedral of, 163; + relics at Jesuit church in, 163; + British flag in church at, 164; + schools at, 164; + observatory at, 165; + excursions to Alta Gracia from, 165 + + CORDOBA and Rosario Railway, 153 + + CORDOBA Central Buenos Aires Extension Railway, 153 + + CORDOBA Central Railway, extension of, 153 + + CORDOBA Province, locusts in, 61; + cattle raising in, 130 + + CORRIENTES Province, Indians of, 266; + resources of, 267 + + + DAIRYING, Regional Schools in, 60 + + DE COSTA, Señora César, and statue of Christ, 148 + + DE GUZMAN, Ruy Diaz, and introduction of horses, 49 + + DE MENDOZA, Don Pedro, and introduction of horses, 120 + + DEPUTY, salary of, 74 + + DEVOLUTION in Government, 75 + + DIRECCION-GENERAL de Ferrocarriles, 49 + + DISTILLING, possible development of, 261 + + DOGS, wild, and cattle, 97; + extermination of, 97; + stringent regulations against, 98 + + "DOOR of Hell, The," 2 + + DROUGHT, evils of, 60, 70; severity of, 90 + + DUTIES on manufactured articles, 82 + + + EARTHQUAKES in Mendoza, 201 + + EDUCATION, in agricultural subjects, 57-60; + "regional schools," 60; + divisions of system of, 77; + religious instruction and, 77; + secondary, 78; + university, 78; + authorities of, 78-9; + intuitive method of, 79; + national scholarships, 81; + complaints upon methods of, 81 + + ENGINEER White, Port of, 178-9 + + ENGLAND and chilled meat trade, 68 + + ENGLISH immigrant, prospects of, 43, 224 + + ENGLISHMEN and Argentine prospects, 100-2 + + ENTRE Rios Province, cattle raising in, 130; + resources of, 267; + foreign small freeholders in, 268; + railways in, 268; + Liebig and Bovril ranches in, 268-9 + + ENTRE Rios Railway, 153 + + "ESTANCIEROS," profits of, 60 + + "ESTANCIAS," extent and equipment of, 66 + + + "FAKES" in trade, 108-9 + + FARMING, profits and possibilities of, 60-2; + equipment for, 66; + slovenly methods of, 192 + + "FARQUHAR Group" of Railways, 152 + + FARQUHAR, Mr. Percival, and railway extension, 152 + + FAUNA, 92-4, 116-7, 244 + + FISHERTON, Rosario, 156 + + FLOODS, dangers and extent of, 90 + + FLORIDA, the, "B.A." 25 + + FOOT-AND-MOUTH disease, and exportation of cattle, 124 + + FORESTRY, school for instruction in, 61 + + FRANCE and frozen meat, 127, 133 + + FRAUDULENT trade descriptions, 108-9 + + "FROZEN Meat" compared with "chilled," 125; + methods of freezing, 124-5 + + FROZEN meat industry, 22-3; + influence of railways on, 43, 51; + value of exportation of, 67; + growth of, 70-1, 123, 126-7; + establishment, 123; + and England, 123-4 + + FRUIT culture, school for, 60 + + + GAMBLING, on steamer, 12; + at Alta Gracia, 169 + + GAUCHO, and horse-racing, 172-4, 228; + effect of civilisation on, 227; + duties of, 229; + and anthrax, 230; + as shepherd, 232 + + GAUTIER, Prof. Armand, on frozen meat, 127 + + GERMAN-ARGENTINE Society and frozen meat, 127 + + GERMAN influence in commerce, 84 + + GOLD reserve of banks, 263 + + GOLF at Buenos Aires, 27; + at Alta Gracia, 172 + + GOVERNMENT, Constitution of, 72 _et seq._ + + GOVERNMENT House, "B.A.," 37 + + GRAIN elevators, at Engineer White, 179; + at Puerta Galvan, 180 + + GREAT Britain, and importation embargo on Argentine cattle, 130-1; + and Argentine railways, 139; + and Argentine foodstuffs, 193 + + GREAT Southern Railway, returns of, 140; + Light and Power Co. of, 145; + extent of, 150; + increase of passenger traffic on, 150; + Mar de Plata service of, 151; + goods and live stock traffic, 151; + capital and receipts of, 152; + Mr. Percy Clarke and, 152; + at Bahia Blanca, 178; + Port of Engineer White, 178 + + GUANACO, The, 245 + + + HIRSCH, Baron, colonisation scheme of, 237 + + HORSE breeding, excellence of, 65-6; + development of, 123 + + HORSE, first introduction of, 119; + increase of, 119, 122 + + HORSE-RACING, at Palermo, 28; + universality of, 107, 122; + at Alta Gracia, 172-4; + the Gaucho and, 228-9 + + HUDSON, W. H., "The Naturalist in La Plata," 93 + + HURLINGHAM, "B.A.," 27 + + + IBERA, Lake, 267 + + IMMIGRANTS, Italians as, 10, 25, 53, 224; + nationalities of, 63; + typical English, 109-10; + and political agitation, 241 + + IMMIGRATION, inducements for, 53; + organisation of, 203, 223 + + INCA, 43 + + INDIANS, of Chaco district, 91; + and horse and cattle stealing, 98; + of Corrientes, 266 + + INDUSTRIAL school, methods at, 80 + + IRRIGATION, Government work in, 60; + results of, 116; + State and railway works for, 144, 150; + in Mendoza, 208-9; + in sugar district, 253 + + ITALIANS, as immigrants, 10, 25, 53; + preponderance of, 224 + + ITALY and frozen meat, 127, 133 + + IRAOLA, Señor Pereyra, and champion bull, 152 + + + JERKED beef, trade in, 128 + + JESU Maria, sanatorium of, 160 + + JEWISH Colonisation Society, the, 237, 238 + + JEWS, and wheat market, 23, 55; + population of, 236; + agricultural colonies of, 237-40 + + JOCKEY Club of Buenos Aires, 28, 123 + + JUAN de Rivadaneira, Fray, and introduction of horses, 120 + + + KINDERGARTEN at Mendoza, 205 + + + LABOUR, conditions of, 54; + scarcity of, on _estancias_, 243, 252; + influence of scarcity of, on industrial development, 257 + + LABOUR question at Rosario, 154-5 + + LABOUR troubles, frequency of, 84; + in Buenos Aires, 258 + + LAND, profits on sale of, 47, 53, 64-5; + ownership and labour on, 52 _et seq._; + conditions of ownership in, 188-9 + + LAND values, 65; + at Rosario, 157; + at Bahia Blanca, 177; + in Mendoza, 204 + + LA PLATA, 19; + description of, 36-8; + slaughter-houses at 70; + university at, 78; + and frozen meat trade, 124 + + "LA PRENSA," offices of, 41 + + LAS DAMAS da Beneficencia, 34 + + LATIN American, Spanish immigrants to, 2; + range of, 3; + possibilities of, 4; + riches of, 5 + + LATIN immigrants at Rosario, 154; as farmers, 193 + + LATIN races, as emigrants, 3, 9, 25, 53; + as seen in South America, 24, 59 + + LEPROSY in South America, 246 + + LICENCES for business, 82 + + LIEBIG Co., and meat extract trade, 129, 269; + cattle-breeding station of, 268 + + LINIERS, slaughter-houses at, 129 + + LINSEED, Argentina's production of, 191 + + LIVE stock, value of exportations of, 60, 67; + and importation embargo in Britain, 131 + + LLAMA, the, 116 + + LLOYD GEORGE, Mr., and Argentina, 24 + + LOCUSTS, depredations of, 61, 70, 233; + and sugar districts, 254 + + LONDON and River Plate Bank, gold reserve of, 263 + + LONDON, chilled and frozen meat and, 126 + + LUMBER tracks of Posados, 243 + + + MACKIE, Mr., on Pan-American railway scheme, 277 + + MAIZE, Argentina's production of, 191 + + MANUFACTURES, inability to develop, 83 + + MANUFACTURING resources, possible development of, 257 _et seq._ + + MAR DEL PLATA, 53; + life at, 235; + Great Southern Railway and, 151 + + MARES, distaste for, and slaughter of, 119 + + MARTINETTA, the, 245 + + MATACOS Indians, 266 + + MEAT extracts, trade in, 129 + + MEAT trade and U.S.A., 23, 68 + + MENDOZA, Viticulture College at, 57, 58, 80; + the railway and, 147; + situation and population of, 199; + life in, 200-1; + earthquakes in, 201; + Western Park at, 202; + schools in, 205; + English club in, 212 + + MENDOZA Province, paper money of, 76; + Government of, 203; + how strikes are dealt with in, 203; + taxation and land in, 204; + vineyards of, 206; + irrigation in, 208; + fruit growing in, 211 + + MENDOZA River, 147, 208, 214, 217, 222 + + MERCEDES, 146 + + MEXICO and cattle, 4 + + MILITARY service, compulsory system of, 81 + + MILLIONAIRES, proportion to population of, 64 + + MOCAYR, Señor Pedro, and U.S.A. influence, 275 + + MONEY-LENDERS, licences for, 82 + + MONROE Doctrine and Argentina, 272, 273, 274, 275 + + MONTE Video, 19; + the River Plate at, 90; + and jerked beef trade, 128 + + MUTTON, value of exportations of, 67; + prejudice against, 98 + + + NATIONAL Bank of Argentina, gold reserve of, 266 + + NATIONAL flag, 64 + + NATIONAL Ministry of Education, 78 + + NATIONAL Railway Board, influence of, 49, 50 + + NATIONAL School of Commerce, 79 + + NATIONAL School of Pilots, 80 + + NATIONALISATION, Law of, 24, 63, 77 + + NEUQUÉN territory, irrigation works in, 150 + + "NORTHER," The, 103 + + NOUGES Bros., sugar mills of, 252 + + + OBSERVATORY at Cordoba, 165 + + OGILVIE, Mr. C. P., on alfalfa, 194-7 + + OIL for fuel, 83, 243 + + + PAGE, Mr., and financial control of South American Republics, 274 + + "PALACE of Gold, The," 37 + + PALERMO, fashionable life in, 27; + races at, 28 + + PAMPA, dreariness of the, 89; + extent and possibilities of, 181-2 + + _Pamperos_, the, 91 + + PARANA River, 90; + wharves on, at Rosario, 154; + lumber on, 243; + highway of Santa Fé, 265-6 + + PARANA, town of, 268 + + PARQUE Independencia, at Rosario, 156 + + PATAGONIA, wilderness of, 89; + as sheep-rearing country, 183; + stature of natives of, 245-6; + pastures of, 246 + + PEARSON, Mr. C. H., and Central Argentine Railway, 141, 142, 143 + + PELLEGRINI Law, the, and gold reserve, 263 + + PERNAMBUCO, 2, 10 + + PERU, rubber in, 4 + + PESO, the, 236 + + PETROLEUM zone, Government reservation on, 243 + + PILOTS, National School of, 80 + + PLATE, River, 19; + volume of, 90; + reclamation of land from, 146; + silting of, 155, 176 + + PLAZA Jewell, Rosario, 156 + + PLAZA Mayo, "B.A.," 26, 27 + + PLAZA San Lopez, Rosario, 156 + + PLAZA San Martin, Rosario, 156 + + POPULATION, call for, 53; + growth of, 63 + + POSADOS, lumber trade of, 243 + + PORT Madryn, Welsh colony at, 225 + + PORTUGAL and frozen meat, 127 + + POVERTY, non-existence of, 35 + + PRESIDENT, qualifications and powers of, 72-3 + + PROPERTY, State regulations on disposal of, 76 + + PROVINCIAL Council of Education, 79 + + PROVINCIAL Governments, powers of, 75; + relations of, with Central Government, 76 + + PUERTA del Inca, 219 + + PUERTA Galvan, 179 + + + QUEBRACHO, the, 92 + + + RAILWAYS, luxuriance of trains on, 36, 44, 134-5; + influence on prosperity of, 43; + British capital in, 43, 134; + mileage of, 45; + State lines, 45; + limitations of dividends of, 45; + landowners and, 47; + government and direction of, 48; + profits of, for roadmaking, 49; + and mail carrying, 49; + equipment of, 49; + causes of profits of, 134; + "special cars" on, 135, 166-7, 213; + carriage of agricultural produce, 137; + growth of, 138; + William Wheelwright as founder of, 138; + United States and, 139; + Thomas Brassey and, 139; + dividends and prospects of, 139; + growth of the Central Argentine, 141-5; + growth and prospects of the Buenos Aires and Pacific, 140, 145-150; + growth and prospects of Great Southern Line, 150-2; + "Farquhar Group," 152; + amalgamation of, 153; + at Bahia Blanca, 178; + Transandine, 213; + influence on possible manufacturing developments, 260; + and development of Santa Fé, 265; + American scheme in connection with, 277 + + RANCH, life on the, 103-8, 230-1 + + RECOLETA, 36 + + "REGIONAL Schools," 6 + + RELIGION, indifference to, 29-30, 77 + + RETIRO Station, Buenos Aires, 142, 143 + + REVOLUTION of 1810, 64, 99; + memorials of, at Tucuman, 249 + + RIDEAL, Prof., on frozen meat, 126 + + RIO Blanco, 217 + + RIO Cuarto, and Central Argentine Railway, 144 + + RIO de Janeiro, Harbour of, 13; + the city, 16 + + RIO Negro Valley, irrigation work in, 150 + + RIO Neuquén Valley, irrigation works in, 150 + + ROADMAKING, railway profits taxed for, 49 + + ROADS, bad condition of, 48, 106, 170, 226 + + ROSARIO, land values in, 64, 157; + grain elevators at, 70; + "The Liverpool of Argentina," 141; + railway works at, 143, 156; + as business centre, 154; + labour question at, 154-5; + growth of, 155; + life at, 156-7 + + ROSARIO-CORDOBA Railway, 141; + concession of land for, 46 + + ROYAL Mail Company, 53 + + RUSSIA and wheat supply, 186 + + + SANDSTORMS, 103; + at Bahia Blanca, 177 + + SAN Juan, fruit culture school at, 60; + School of Mines at, 80; + progress of, 204 + + SAN Luis, 147 + + SAN Martin, statues of, 37, 160-1 + + SAN Pablo, sugar mills at, 252 + + SAN Rafael, progress of, 205 + + SAN Salvador, 1 + + SANTA Catalina, agrarian and veterinary school at, 80 + + SANTA Cruz, dreariness of, 246 + + SANTA Fé Province, cattle raising in, 130; + development of, 265 + + SANTOS, 17, 18 + + SAVOY Hotel, Tucuman, 250 + + SCHOLARSHIPS, at Agricultural Schools, 58; + for European study, 81 + + SCHOOL of Mines, San Juan, 80 + + SCHOOLS, religious instruction in, 77; + primary, for adults, 77; + secondary, 78; + equipment of, 79; attendance at, 79, 81; + technical and commercial, 79; + physical drill in, 80; + in Mendoza, 205 + + SENATE, the, constitution of, 73 + + SENATOR, qualifications of, 73; + salary of, 74 + + SERVANT problem, 108 + + SHEEP, development of local characteristics in, 94; + introduction of, 117; + increase of, 123; precautions against disease in, 130; + for freezing works, 130; + on the _pampas_, 232 + + SHEEP-BREEDING, decline of, 67 + + SHEEP market in Buenos Aires, 130 + + SHEEP-REARING, drawbacks and possibilities of, 182-3 + + SHOE factories, 84 + + SIERRA de Cordoba, 158 + + SIESTA, abandonment of, 40 + + SMALL-HOLDING, difficult of securing, 225 + + SOCIALISTS, cohesion of, 75 + + SOUTH America, possibilities of, 4 + + SPAIN, and Argentina, 98-9, 116; + and frozen meat, 133 + + SPANIARDS, and early colonisation of Argentina, 94, 116 + + SPANISH, necessity for use of in commerce, 87, 110-12; + firm hold of, 271 + + "SPECIAL Cars" on railways, 135, 166-7, 213 + + SPORTS, Argentine's adoption of, 271 + + STEVENS, Mr., and Puerta Galvan, 179 + + STOREKEEPER, as "middleman," 55 + + STRANGERS' Club, Rosario, 157 + + STUCCO, use of, in "B.A.," 30, 36 + + "SUESTADAS," the, 91 + + SUGAR industry, school for instruction in, 58-9 + + SUGAR growing, at Tucuman, 250; + possibilities of development of, 253-5, 262 + + SWITZERLAND and frozen meat, 127, 133 + + SYDNEY Harbour compared with Rio, 14 + + + TANGO, the, 235 + + TARIFF on sugar, 255 + + TARIFFS on manufactured articles, 82-3 + + TAXATION, methods of, 82-3 + + TECHNICAL education, attention to, 79 + + TEXTILE industries, possibilities of, 262 + + "THE Argentine as a Market," by N. L. Watson, 255 + + "THE Naturalist in La Plata," by W. H. Hudson, 93 + + TIGRE, the, boating on, 27 + + TOBAS Indians, 266 + + TOTALISATOR, use of, at Palermo, 28 + + TOWER, Sir Reginald, 98, 278 + + TRADE, British and German methods of, compared, 85-6 + + TRADE Unions and Government, 84 + + TRANSANDINE Railway, 147; + Summit tunnel of, 148 + + TUCUMAN, 43, 49; + arboricultural school at, 58, 59; + and Central Argentine Railway, 144; + aspect of, 248; + historic house at, 249; + life in, 249-50; + sugar harvest at, 250; + development of sugar industry at, 251-6 + + TUNUYAN River, 147 + + + UNDERGROUND Railway of Buenos Aires, 27 + + United Kingdom and Argentine cereals, 67 + + UNITED States and Argentine development, 7, 22, 64; + and Argentine Railways, 139; + influence in Argentina of, 271, 272, 275; + wheat supply of, 186 + + UNIVERSITIES, qualifications for and localities of, 78 + + UNIVERSITY lectures in agriculture, 57 + + URUGUAY and Argentine cattle, 128 + + USPALLATA Valley route, 147 + + + VALPARAISO, railway connection between Buenos Aires and, 146-7 + + VICTORIA Wool Market, Bahia Blanca, 180 + + VILLA Maria Rufino Railway absorbed by the Buenos Aires and Pacific, 145 + + VINEYARDS of Mendoza, 199, 206 + + VITICULTURE, college at Mendoza for, 57-8, 80 + + + "WATCH Bird, The," 92 + + WATER supply on the pampa, 233 + + WATER-WHEELS, American, 44 + + WATSON, Mr. N. L., "The Argentine as a Market," 255 + + WHEAT, the Jews and, 23, 55; + influence of railways on exportation of, 43, 51; + average yield of, 70; world's supply of, 186; + Argentina and, 190-2; + the world's production compared with Argentina's, 193 + + WHEELWRIGHT, William, and foundation of Argentine Railways, 138 + + WELSH Colony at Chubut, 225; at Port Madryn, 225, 241 + + WESTERN Railway of Buenos Aires, returns of, 140 + + WILSON, President Woodrow, and South American Republics, 273-6 + + WINDMILLS for pumping purposes, 233 + + WINE, production of, in Mendoza, 206-11 + + WOMAN, position of, in Argentina, 28, 29, 33-51 + + WOOL, low quality of Argentine, 183-5; + prospects of improvement of, 184-5; + values of exportation and importation of, 262 + + WOOLLEN industry, possibilities of, 259 + + WOOLLEN manufactures, crudeness of, 84 + + + YPECAHA, the, 93 + + + ZANJOU Amarillo, 218 + + "ZONDA," the, 91 + + + + + PRINTED BY + CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, + LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Amazing Argentine, by John Foster Fraser + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41104 *** |