THE WONDERFUL ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
The wonderful Argentine Republic is a little world in itself. Take all
the United States east of the Mississippi river, add the state of Texas,
place them in the Argentine Republic and there will be room for more.
Here you can find some of the highest and most rugged mountains and then
you can travel two thousand miles and hardly find a hill worthy of the
name.
From the torrid heat of the north you can go to the cold, bleak glacial
regions of the south, all in Argentine. The seasons are just the
opposite from ours. July is their coldest month and the hottest time in
the year is in January. The north side of the house is the sunny side.
In the Argentine there are some of the finest forest regions imaginable
and then you can travel a thousand miles across level plains and never
see a tree.
The southern part of Argentina used to be called Patagonia. This is the
Alaska of South America. The extreme southern point is the island of
Tierra del Fuego, which is divided between Argentina and Chile.
Argentina's part of the island is as large as the state of
Massachusetts.
Argentina has nearly five hundred million acres of ground that can be
cultivated and this great area is extended over well watered plains, all
of which are so accessible to the sea that the simplest railway
construction is all that is necessary. Of this vast area only about
one-fifth has as yet been cultivated or brought within the present
railway area.
At present the country has less than one-tenth as many miles of railway
as the United States and what they have is practically under English
control. Engines and cars are all of English pattern. American
locomotive works make engines for some of these lines, but everyone of
them must be made strictly according to the English pattern.
One-fifth of the eight million people in the Argentine live in Buenos
Aires, the capital city. This city is the Paris of South America and is
one of the great cities of the world. Here can be seen more extravagance
perhaps than in any other city in the world. The advertised rates in the
best hotels are from twelve to sixty dollars per day and these hotels
are nearly always crowded. The writer attended a luncheon given by the
United States Chamber of Commerce at the Hotel Plaza. The price was
three dollars and a half per plate; there was scarcely anything to eat
and the waiters expected a dollar tip from each man.
These people buy their clothes in Paris and are only satisfied with the
latest fashion. They drink French liquor in French style and demand the
best Parisian comedy and opera in their theaters. The Colon theater is
finer than anything in New York, and rivals any playhouse in Europe. It
seats thirty-seven hundred and fifty people and I am told that a man
cannot get in unless he is dressed in an evening suit.
Buenos Aires boasts of the greatest newspaper on the globe and surely no
other paper rivals it when it comes to service to its patrons. That
paper is the La Prensa and it is housed in a beautiful building. The
office of its editor in chief makes one think of a king's palace. This
paper provides a company of the best physicians and surgeons who
minister to all who apply free of charge. Its expert lawyers give
council and advice free, its skilled teachers of music instruct all who
enter one or more of the five series of classes. The prizes given
annually by this journal for altruistic acts and deeds of heroism are
worth a large sum. The chemical, industrial and agricultural bureaus are
a boon to those interested in such subjects.
This city also has the greatest race tracks in any land and the weekly
races are generally attended by from thirty to fifty thousand people.
The money bet on a single day's races often runs into hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and the Jockey Club that owns the race tracks is
so rich that it is embarrassing to get its money spent.
Of all the cemeteries the writer ever visited, the aristocratic burying
ground in Buenos Aires caps the climax. To be laid away in this ground
costs a fortune. The tombs, many of them, are above the ground and
nearly every family tomb is a little chapel. Here the living friends
gather on certain days, visit, drink tea, and smoke cigarettes with
coffins all around them. In many of these tombs chairs are always in
order with flowers arranged, kept so by the servants of the tomb.
There are thirty-six public markets in the city, some of which are very
large. The wool market alone covers thirty acres of ground and the iron
and steel building cost four million dollars. In it are seventy-two
cranes and elevators and fifty million pounds of wool can be stored at
one time. Not far from this building is another almost as large where
the sheep are killed. The arrangements are so complete and the men so
skilled that it is said a single man has killed as many as six thousand
sheep in a day.
Buenos Aires is a city of locked doors. People never think of leaving
their homes even for a few moments without locking the doors. If a
business house or hotel has a rug at the door on which to wipe the shoes
it will be chained fast. Stealing and pilfering is carried on
extensively all over the city. Shippers claim that there is an
international organization for stealing at the port cities all along the
coast and it is hard to get at. In one shipment of thirty automobiles
twenty-nine of the boxes had been opened and the set of tools taken. It
is the custom at that factory to pack the set of tools in a certain
corner of the case. A hole was cut exactly in the right place and the
set of tools neatly taken out. In two instances that I was told about a
drygoods firm had shipments opened and ten thousand dollars worth of
silks and velvets taken.
Near the city is said to be the largest dairy in the world. They milk
seven thousand cows and this is done with the latest and most up-to-date
machinery. At an annual stock show recently the crowds were so dense
that men paid five dollars each to get near enough to the judges to see
them do their work. The sale at the close was attended by five thousand
people. The champion shorthorn bull sold for more than forty thousand
dollars of American money. The champion Hereford sold for $32,737.00 and
a two-year-old bull sold for $23,643.00. One ram sold for more than four
thousand dollars.
The Argentine could be made a great sugar producing country, but for
some reason this industry is not being developed very rapidly. During
the war special inducements were offered but the 1919 crop was but
little more than that of 1913. There are only forty-three mills and
refineries in the whole country and the surplus for exportation for
1919 was only three hundred thousand tons and that is insignificant when
one thinks of the possibilities of this great industry.
But one can hardly think of Argentina without thinking of cattle ranches
and wheat fields. It is in these industries that she shines. She now has
thirty million head of cattle, but strange as it may seem she had as
many ten years ago. She has thirty million sheep which makes her the
greatest wool producing country on earth except Australia and if I am
correctly informed she is not far behind that country.
In Argentina the country is called "Elcampo" and the large farms
"Estancias." These great estancias often consist of thousands of acres.
A single one of them is said to be as large as the state of Rhode
Island. The owners generally have good houses but do not live in them
much of the time. They are in Buenos Aires, or traveling in Europe, and
their children are in the colleges and universities. A number of
overseers look after the farm but the work is largely done by
foreigners, mostly Italians. Their lives are far from easy.
The homes of these workers are generally made of mud. The floors are
often nothing but the bare ground. These people are generally called
colonists and work the soil on shares. They are in debt to start on; the
overseers generally manipulate things so that they often never do get
out of debt. The poor man's children do not have much in common with
those of the rich. They are generally kept entirely separate from each
other.
While the cities are filled with beautiful parks and clinging roses are
nearly everywhere, yet I never saw a country town with any thing
beautiful in sight. The streets of these towns are either mud holes or
dust piles, no work whatever being done upon them. The houses and stores
are one-story buildings and often look like hovels. The one exception is
the railroad station and often that is quite well kept.
There are no four-wheeled wagons like ours in this country. All the
hauling is done on large lumbersome carts often pulled by oxen. But they
sure load them heavy; how they get so much stuff on them is a mystery.
Much of the farming is slovenly done. While England produces thirty
bushels of wheat per acre the rich fields of Argentine only produce
eleven bushels per acre. This is but little more than half as much per
acre as is raised in Saskatchewan and Argentine soil is fully as rich as
Canadian grain fields.
I crossed the great Argentine plain in October. Wheat was just beginning
to head. Corn planting was in progress. Alfalfa fields were green while
both trees and flowers were in bloom. But in riding six hundred miles
without a hill, or tree except those planted by the hands of man, the
journey soon became monotonous. Thousands of acres were almost covered
with cattle and sheep.
On Sunday men and women were in the fields almost the same as any other
day. At the towns almost the entire population came down to see the
International train go through. This train only runs twice a week. The
young women were dressed in their best but they were never with the
young men. They would parade up and down the platform while the young
men would go in the other direction and the lads and lassies hardly
seemed to notice each other.
The train ran almost on the dot. A hotbox delayed it thirty minutes on
one occasion but it was carefully watched. At every stop for hours the
train would hardly come to a standstill before a couple of men were at
that box. The engines have no bells on them and the whistle is blown
just before the train starts rather than before it stops as in our
country. The train was largely made up of sleepers and a diner. The cars
were quite comfortable. The berths are crosswise rather than lengthwise
as in our sleepers. Everything on this train, however, from fare to eats
was very expensive.
On many of the larger farms the better breeds of stock are being raised,
agricultural schools are springing up and scientific farming is being
talked about. The government is taking a hand along many lines. Some of
the great estancias are being divided and subdivided. The Welch people
have a large settlement where better methods are being introduced. The
Jews have a large colony and even the Italians are looking forward to a
better day. Men from this country are entering in small numbers but with
ideas that will revolutionize things, and especially the school house.
An Englishman truly said: "Wherever the Germans go you find the arsenal;
wherever the French go you find the railroad; wherever the British go
you find the custom house, but wherever the Americans go you find the
school house."