THE PASTORAL INDUSTRIES OF ARGENTINA
This is, on the whole, the most striking of the many very remarkable
industrial features of Argentina. To begin with, some figures should
be given. No doubt they are dry bones, but a body cannot be made
without bones, and for the understanding of industrial phenomena it is
necessary to have a skeleton map in the form of figures to guide us.
If we keep a few round figures before us, we can form an idea of the
progress of a country in industrial matters and its position in regard
to other nations. It is impossible indeed to carry long tables of
statistics in the head, but a few essential figures can be remembered,
and along with them the increases and decreases (though of decreases
we seldom hear in Argentina) as compared with a period of ten years
ago and also the relative production or export of Argentine staples as
compared with the figures of other countries in those articles.
[Illustration: ABERDEEN ANGUS CATTLE, SANTA MARIA, ENTRE RIOS.]
Allusion has already been made to the benefit which the Spaniards
conferred upon South America by setting down horses and cattle, and
how abundantly they increased and multiplied in an astonishingly short
time. It has been seen also that in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries the exportation of hides was a most progressive industry.
Later, when the tyranny of Rosas was overpast, the production of
cattle made giant strides and has by no means approached its limit.
[Illustration: CATTLE DRINKING.]
The following figures represent the number of animals in the Argentine
Republic:--
Cattle 29,116,625
Sheep 67,211,754
Horses 7,531,376
Goats 3,245,086
Hogs 1,403,591
Mules 465,037
Donkeys 285,088
Their total value is 645,000,000 dollars gold.[96] The United States
has more cattle (71,267,000), but considerably fewer sheep and goats.
Australia has more sheep (87,780,819), but far fewer horses and
cattle. Chile, although looked upon as a wool-growing country, is
insignificant in comparison with Argentina, possessing probably hardly
more than two million sheep. Argentina has fewer hogs, mules, and
donkeys than Spain, but, on the whole, it may be said that she equals,
if she does not surpass, any other nation in the number and variety of
her live stock.
[Illustration: BULLOCK-BREAKING IN JUJUY.]
It is of course, to the Camp that the country owes all its wealth.
People in Buenos Aires use the term just as people in Calcutta speak of
the Mofussil. Without the Camp, or plain, the great Buenos Aires would
have no existence. The Camp is covered with estancias which are held
by estancieros, or squatters. Immense fortunes have been made by those
who have been skilled in the art of getting together the best stock and
managing their estates, and probably there are still excellent chances
of making a fortune for the competent. The life of the estanciero is
free and healthy; it approaches to that of the receding Gaucho, it is a
life of boot and saddle, of early rising and long days in the crisp,
sunny air. It is also much more comfortable than the ranching life in
most countries; good houses, billiard-tables, plenty of company, and a
number of the amenities of civilised life are not unusual, and the
splendid railways will swiftly transport the estanciero to Buenos Aires
when he desires a change.[97] Still, it is obvious that these luxuries
are the result and not the cause of success; and it must not be supposed
that an estanciero grows rich by living in fine houses and amusing
himself; as is the case everywhere else, the desirable things of wealth
are won by hard work and business ability.
[Illustration: CAMP TRAVEL.]
In 1864 cattle amounted to 10,215,000, in 1884 to 14,171,000, in 1895 to
21,701,526. It will be seen that the rate of advance has been tolerably
rapid. As the country became more settled after the middle of the last
century, the increase of pastoral industries was somewhat checked by the
realisation of the enormous possibilities of agriculture. In 1857 cattle
formed 25 per cent. of the wealth of the country, but in 1884 only 18
per cent.[98] But with the fall in the value of wheat and the increasing
demand for meat and wool, and the wonderful ingenuity of the methods of
freezing and preserving, the pastoral industry has held its own.
Cattle and sheep are raised all over the Pampas and far to the north
and south; but, generally speaking, cattle keep to the eastern side
and sheep to the west, while Patagonia is almost exclusively devoted
to sheep. The cattle industry is very different from what it was in
the memory of men still living. In the old days animals were killed
for their hides and the carcase was left to rot on the ground; their
flesh was eaten only by those who tended them. In 1873 the export of
meat was under 1,500,000 dollars, and little of this found its way to
Europe. In 1907 the exports of beef and mutton amounted to 222,273
tons. The prosperity of the meat industry, however, is due not only to
improved methods of transport, packing, and preserving, but also to
the wisdom of the estancieros in importing valuable bulls. It is said
that even the smallest among them are convinced of the value of good
blood and insist upon having it. Between 1899 and 1903 Argentina
imported 3,005 bulls, principally from England, and in 1907 the value
of live animals imported was over 2,000,000 dollars. We have seen the
huge prices that rich Argentines give for the best stallions, but,
relatively, breeders are quite as eager for the best bovine sires.
Uruguay is better known to the world than Argentina as a seat of the
meat industry, but, as a matter of fact, the latter has infinitely
more stock of every description. However, in 1908, the Uruguayan
beef-salting factories slaughtered three times as many cattle as the
Argentine.
[Illustration: BULL CALF.]
A great many estancias are in English hands; all over the Pampas are
great numbers of young Englishmen managing the estates. A warning note
has lately been sounded to the effect that Beef Trusts and other United
States Trusts are attempting to acquire land and meat factories and to
control the supply of meat. It is needless to say that if these
organisations make headway, neither the estancieros, nor our traders,
nor the meat consumer, will have any reason to congratulate themselves,
and it is to be hoped that the Argentine Government will take energetic
measures to keep the country out of the grip of the octopus.
The sheep industry has not maintained its old relative importance. In
1830 Argentina had 2,500,000 sheep and exported 6,000,000 lbs. of
wool; in 1883 the figures were 69,000,000 sheep (somewhat more than
now) and 261,000,000 lbs. of wool. In 1908 the shipments were 175,538
tons, and Argentina is of great importance in the world's markets, but
the conditions of the industry have changed considerably within recent
years. In the old days Spain prohibited the export of her valuable
merino sheep to foreign countries, but the colonies were fortunate
enough not to be included in the prohibition, and in 1550 the first
merinos appeared in Tucuman from Peru.[99] Professor Clapham, in his
valuable work, "The Woollen and Worsted Industries," says: "There,
together with an inferior, long-wooled breed, also of Spanish
extraction, they ran wild and deteriorated for over two hundred years;
so that eventually the Argentine flocks were as sorely in need of new
blood as were those of France, Germany, or Russia, which, until the
middle of the eighteenth century, had never had the benefit of a cross
with the old Spanish strain. Between 1760 and 1840, thanks to a change
in the commercial policy of Spain, such crossing took place in almost
every country of Europe and in many European colonies." About the
beginning of the nineteenth century pure-bred Spanish rams were
brought to Argentina, and others from France and Saxony. By 1846 the
wool had so greatly improved that it was exported to England. Forty
years ago the exports consisted almost entirely of merino wool, but
now seven-eighths is cross-bred. For this change there are two
reasons--firstly, the rich, loamy soil does not suit merinos, which
are apt to deteriorate in rank pastures, and, secondly, the trade in
frozen meat has made such enormous strides that estancieros are
anxious to obtain mutton breeds, especially Lincolns. The Lincolnshire
breeders drive a flourishing trade with Buenos Aires, and as much as
1,000 guineas is often given for a ram. There used to be a prejudice
in Bradford against Argentine wool,[100] but it is disappearing,
although the Australian product still fetches a somewhat higher price.
[Illustration: LINCOLN CHAMPION. EXHIBITED BY MR. M. J. COBO.]
The improvements which of late years have been introduced into
sheep-breeding and sheep-farming are very remarkable, and they are
partly due to the efforts of immigrants from New Zealand who have
introduced effective cures for foot-rot and other diseases. During the
last ten years of the nineteenth century breeders pinned their faith
almost entirely to Lincolns, and the importations were very large. Up
to 1890 the majority of Argentine sheep were weak cross-breds, and
such good blood as remained had been weakened by over-crossing. The
hardy Lincoln brought health and energy to the enfeebled mass, and
breeders made it their business to rear hardy sheep and obtain a good
average without going to extremes in their preference for any
particular stock. The breeding of sheep has been greatly benefited by
the fact that the estancias have been largely in English hands[101]
and the proprietors have thus introduced hardy English breeds and good
methods.
All over Argentina the intelligent selection of breeds is receiving
great attention. It is now recognised that in an alfafa district a
stock-master should keep cattle rather than flocks, and that such
sheep as he has should be producers of mutton rather than wool. Again,
in the southern districts where the grass is rich and tender, the
Lincoln breed is unsuitable and crossings are favoured with the Romney
Marsh, which counteracts the tendency towards coarseness, and gives
silkiness, closeness, and, to some extent, fineness to the wool. Thus
in Tierra del Fuego the hardy Romney Marsh, imported from the Falkland
Islands, is being bred, and in this inhospitable climate the sheep
keep fat all the year round, even when the snow lies a foot deep on
the ground, for the sheep have learned to scrape the snow away with
their hoofs and find the grass.
[Illustration: AN ESTANCIERO'S HOUSE.]
M. Bernandez, to whose valuable work this chapter is indebted,
concludes this subject with the following words: "Thus the moral to be
learned from all this would be, that there is no reason why either
the coarse or fine wools now produced should be abandoned to any great
extent. The coarse can afford to give over a large proportion of its
flock to the evolution, because they are in an immense majority; but
it would not be prudent to go to the other extreme in this reaction,
as 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--a reason that has prevented the
decadence of French wools. The merino, on its side, has its strongest
defence in the singular fact that our woollen factories _import_ their
fine wools in the form of yarn. As soon as spinning-mills are
established in the country, and the customs tariff combines the
interests of the wool-grower with that of the manufacturer, there will
be, in this country alone, more than half a million sterling at hand for
the purchase of the wool produced by our Rambouillet flocks. It can thus
be seen that there is a field for stock-breeding and industrial art that
will cause the development on a colossal scale of all the breeds
comprised in our flocks, and that the times are singularly propitious
for it, as we have at hand in enormous quantity all the elements tending
to good results that can be offered to capital and to the vigorous
enterprise of mankind, with greater certainty and more favourable
auspices than can be obtained in any other class of business, or in any
other part of the world."[102]
[Illustration: ESTANCIA.]
The life of the estancia has been described by many pens, and the
free, open conditions have always had an attraction for Englishmen.
The management is everywhere upon the same principles. The property is
divided by wire fences into paddocks varying from 200 to 3,000 acres.
Some paddocks are used for breeding, some for fattening, and the
head station is situated as nearly in the middle of the Camp as
possible. It consists of the houses of the owners and managers,
the labourers' quarters, tool- and store-houses, shearing-sheds,
dipping-troughs, and the like. The owner's house is often very large
and handsome, and the grounds beautifully laid out. There is generally
considerable variety of stock, but where the fattening of steers is
the main object few or no sheep are kept. Some estancias have dairies
attached. Land was taken up very rapidly by ranchers in the early days
of Argentina's prosperity. Now, with the increase of the area of
cultivation, the land in the Pampas which is available for grazing is
greatly curtailed. It is estimated that nearly a hundred million
hectares are still to be disposed of by the State, but this is all far
to the north or south, and Chubut and Santa Cruz make up nearly half
the total.
[Illustration: ESTANCIA SANTA MARIA.]
The dairy industry is now on a gigantic scale. All arrangements were
till very lately most primitive and the traveller, did he not
know to the contrary, would still believe them to be so; but it is a
peculiarity about Argentina that the people hurry to institute a great
export trade long before they think of supplying themselves adequately
with an article. As late as 1891 the first butter--a few hundred
pounds--was exported. Now the exports amount to 8,000 tons. The
dairies are provided with the most up-to-date machinery, and the
export trade of butter will, no doubt, rapidly increase. The industry
is, however, looked upon with some distrust by estancieros, for it is
important not to allow the winning of milk to diminish the young
animals, either in quantity or quality, upon which the prosperity of
Argentina depends.
[Illustration: LEMCO AND OXO PREMISES.]
Inseparably connected with the pastoral industry are two great
English businesses concerned in the extract of meat. It was in 1884
that the Kemmerich Company purchased some estancias and built a
factory at Santa Elena in Entre Rios. The Bovril Company had for some
years been obtaining material for its meat extract from Santa Elena,
and eventually bought the factory and that of San Javier, together
with a block of 438,000 acres, and additional land was leased. These
were formed into the Argentine Estates of Bovril, Limited, and hence
is obtained a large proportion of the raw material of that well-known
beverage. The final stages of manufacture take place in the London
factory. The estancias support from 130,000 to 160,000 head of cattle,
but even this large number does not supply the whole demand, and every
year many cattle continue to be sent by the Kemmerich Company to the
Bovril factories. The favourite breed is the hardy Durham. Several
thousand head of this fine breed are kept by the Company to level up
the remainder of the stock. The Durham, or Shorthorn, has been a
brilliant success in the Pampa, both as a pure breed and as a means of
raising, by crossing the standard of the criollo, or native animal,
and no breed equals it for beef-production in districts where the
pasture is rich and the climate temperate. The Bovril Company also
keeps Polled Angus, but finds the Durhams unequalled for its purpose.
All the best parts of the beef are used to make Bovril, and the
preliminary process takes place in the Argentine factories, where
80,000 to 100,000 cattle are slaughtered annually. The hides and
tallow are also prepared at Santa Elena, sold at Buenos Aires, and
shipped to Europe and the United States. The rapid growth of this
business and the skill and enterprise of the Company in importing good
stock are very characteristic of English methods in Argentina.
The other Company is considerably older. The Lemco and Oxo
Company[103] illustrates the history of an idea which occurred in
1850 to Baron Justus von Liebig, who suggested that, instead of
killing cattle for their hides and tallow and leaving the carcases to
rot on the ground, ranchers might do well to devise an economical
process of obtaining an extract of meat from the neglected beef. In
1865 the idea was at last put into practice. Baron Liebig says: "In
1862 I received a visit from Herr Giebert, an engineer of Hamburg, who
had spent many years in South America and Uruguay, where hundreds of
thousands of sheep and oxen are killed solely for the hides and fat.
He told me that directly he saw my account of the preparation of this
extract he came to Munich with the intention of learning the process
and then returning to South America in order to undertake its
manufacture on a large scale. I therefore recommended Herr Giebert to
Professor Pettenkofer, who willingly made him familiar with every
detail of the process. He then returned to Uruguay in the summer of
1863, but, owing to many difficulties which generally hinder the
introduction and management of a new business, it was almost a year
before he could actually commence the manufacture." It was arranged
that the extract should be called Liebig, and in due course the first
sample of about 80 lbs. of beef extract arrived at Munich, and was
pronounced highly satisfactory, considering that it was "a product
from the flesh of half-wild animals."
These pioneer attempts were quickly absorbed by Lemco and Oxo. The
beginning was made in Uruguay, but now the Company owns ten estancias
in Argentina, nine in Paraguay, and seven in Uruguay.[104] The chief
Argentine estancia is at Colon in Entre Rios, about 180 miles north
of Buenos Aires, but there are many others, both in that Province and
Corrientes, including La Luisa, Jubileo, Chacra, and Curuzu Laurel, as
well as numerous hired farms. The total area of the estates very
nearly equals that of Kent and Surrey put together. Some of the
estancias are larger than the Isle of Wight. The soil is fertile, the
climate genial, there is an inexhaustible water supply, and an ample
rainfall. All products can be shipped direct from Colon. The great
feature of Camp conditions and the main element of success in the meat
industry is the splendid open-air and free life which, with abundance
of sweet grass, is the deadly enemy of the tubercle bacillus. In the
whole of Argentina the cattle that come to the freezing and preserving
establishments show usually an average of under 1 per cent. afflicted
with tuberculosis. These results are not surprising, seeing that the
one known remedy for consumption is the open-air life.
[Illustration: PURE BRED HEREFORD BULL (OXO).]
As was seen, the Bovril cattle are Durhams, and this may be
attributed to the fact that they are largely fed on lucerne. The stock
on the Lemco and Oxo estancias is grass-fed, and therefore a different
breed finds favour. In place of the "half-wild animals" of forty-five
years ago, the estates are grazed by beautiful herds of almost
pure-bred Herefords.[105] Many well-known breeders of that county, and
also H.M. King Edward, have contributed to the Company's stock. The
noble, white-faced beasts, standing deep in the rich grass, are a
glorious spectacle.
[Illustration: GROUP OF HEREFORDS.]
The Hereford is the second favourite in Argentina, but breeders only
pay about half as much for them as for good Durham bulls. Where the
surroundings do not conduce to early maturity and where lucerne cannot
be had, the Hereford is excellent. It is slow in maturing, and at
three years of age is said to be 15 per cent. lighter than its rival,
but the popularity of the Hereford is steadily increasing.
The factory at Colon is only seven years old and is splendidly
equipped. Every process follows the other in geographical order, and
each departmental factory duly delivers its produce into the vast
shipping wharf. Behind stand the houses of the Company's servants,
stores, schools for the children, and a club. Standing by a mighty
river, in a green country, the industry presents none of the
dingy conditions and ugliness which are associated with European
wealth-production. It is rather a palace of health.
[Illustration: PEDIGREE COW AND CALF.]
The killing season opens in January and ends in June, and usually
about a quarter of a million beasts are slain--hecatombs as much
exceeding the etymological sense of the word as the Homeric phrase
doubtless fell below it. They are a stupendous yearly sacrifice to
Æsculapius. It should be added that the factory at Colon is constantly
inspected by a representative of the Cattle Inspection Department of
the Ministry of the Argentine Republic, and he is required to certify
each month that he has not allowed any animal to be killed that was
not sound and free from disease. Nothing that the bounty of Nature or
the skill of man can achieve is left undone to secure the perfect
condition of all the products.
That statesman is proverbially the wisest who can make two blades of
corn grow where one grew before. In like manner, the men who can
transmute scrubby sheep and big-boned, lean cattle into well-proportioned
animals with heavy fleeces and fat stock is a benefactor to the human
race. In Argentina, at least, to say nothing of other lands, this work
has been most effectually accomplished by private effort, and in
reviewing the pastoral industries of Argentina we must admire the
enterprise which has scattered plenty over the land. The old poets
associated wealth and peace with great herds of cattle and flocks of
sheep.
"One way a band select from forage drives
A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine,
From a fat meadow ground; or fleecy flock,
Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain."
It is these, created by skill and enterprise and drawing the vigour
and virtue from our English counties, that have made Argentina a great
country.
FOOTNOTES:
[96] When the term _dollar_ is used, it invariably means the gold
dollar at five to the English £1.
[97] "Stables and stalls are replacing the old-fashioned 'corral.' The
wealthy proprietor arrives at his estancia from the railway station in
a carriage; the old rustic homestead is converted into a veritable
country-house, sometimes into a mansion, with park and garden. There
are estancias a hundred leagues from Buenos Aires which we once knew
as plains deserted and in the hands of the Indians, and where now
carriages, equipped in English fashion, pass over the plain and people
dine in the evening in sumptuous establishments. The European
stock-raisers have made the gaucho retreat to the vast tracts situated
on the confines of the desert" (Martinez et Lewandowski,
"L'Argentine," p. 132).
[98] The statement of the "Encyclopedia Britannica," that Argentina
had a hundred million sheep in 1866 is quite incredible. Mulhall
estimates, no doubt accurately, the number in 1870 at forty-one
millions.
[99] In 1569 Don Juan Ortiz de Zarate arranged for the importation of
four thousand merinos to the River Plate. In 1660 Buenos Aires shipped
its first cargo of wool--about a ton. When we condemn Spanish
restrictiveness we must remember the enlightened efforts of various
Viceroys to improve the industry of wool and hides.
[100] "In some respects we are so backward that our wool cannot
compete in the great markets of the world, so far as regards the
quality, with any other country which is a great producer. The
bad habit of our breeders to separate their sheep into large
flocks--sometimes above five thousand heads--is the principal obstacle
to the improvement of our wool, because large flocks do not admit of
the necessary attentions" (Napp, "The Argentine Republic," p. 303).
[101] "Of every twenty estancias in the South fifteen belong to
Englishmen" (Bernandez, "The Argentine Estancia," p. 45).
[102] "The Argentine Estancia," p. 52.
[103] For some of my information I am indebted to an article in the
_Lancet_ of October 24, 1908.
[104] The following table shows the progress of the Company:--
Acreage of Farms. Stock of Cattle.
1868 28,494 12,000
1878 37,961 19,036
1888 126,984 36,685
1898 254,133 66,435
1908 1,302,386 224,406
1910 1,527,720 274,500
[105] There are also some fine specimens of Aberdeen Angus. This is a
useful breed, for it "nicks" well with Herefords and Durhams, and is a
better milker than the Hereford. Its colour, usually black, is
unpopular, and Argentines are fastidious in that respect. But they
stand the cold well and their beef is of high quality, and some
breeders pin their faith to them.