FOREIGN COLONISTS IN ARGENTINA
It is now time to return to the city to get a little better acquainted
with its inhabitants. As a matter of fact, the features upon which I
have touched--the town, port, promenades, palaces, settlers' houses,
agricultural products, manufactures, or commerce--do more or less
reveal the native, and although I have said nothing of his person
beyond that he looks very like a European, my reader has certainly
gathered some light as to his way of living.
To the Argentine _extra muros_, the citizen of Buenos Ayres is the
_porteño_--that is, the man of the port, the townsman kept, by the
sea, in constant contact with Europe, and more readily undertaking a
trip to London or Paris than to Tucuman or Mendoza. On his side, while
professing great esteem for the provincials (for in the Argentine
patriotism amounts to mania), the _porteño_ is inclined to pity those
who pass their lives far from the capital; while the countryman mocks
good-humouredly at his strange compatriot who knows naught of the
_Campo_, whence are brought to his door the corn and cattle which
are the outcome of the highest and mightiest efforts of their common
national energy, and which by his means are to be exchanged for
European produce in an ever-widening and developing trade.
This is, however, but a superficial judgment that we may permit
ourselves to make; but if we look more closely into the national
character, we shall perceive that if the _porteño_ is the nearer to
Europe and hastens thither on the smallest pretext; if he is more
thoroughly steeped in European culture; if he takes more interest in
the doings of the Old World, attaching the greatest importance to its
opinion of his own country; if it is his dearest ambition that the
youthful Argentine Republic shall comport herself nobly among the old
peoples of a weary civilisation; if it is his constant care to obtain
from beyond sea the advantages gained by experience, to be turned to
account by his own nation--we should be greatly mistaken in assuming
that European contact or descent could lead either citizen or farmer,
_porteño_ or _estanciero_, to prefer to his own land that Old Continent
which his forefathers deserted, in the hope, already realised, of
finding on this virgin soil, fertilised by his own labour, a better
chance of success than the Old World could offer him.
While the physiognomy of the streets of Buenos Ayres is wholly European
in symmetry, style, and even in the expression of the faces to be
seen thereon, yet this people is Argentine to the very marrow of the
bones--exclusively and entirely Argentine. New York is nearer to
Europe, and New York is North American in essence as completely as
Buenos Ayres is Argentine. The difference is that in New York, and
even in Boston or Chicago, North Americanism is patent to all eyes
in type, in carriage, and in voice, as much as in feeling and manner
of thinking; whereas the piquancy of Buenos Ayres lies in the fact
that it offers the spectacle of rabid Argentinism under a European
veil. And, strangely enough, this inherent jingoism, which in some
nations that shall be nameless assumes so easily an offensive guise,
is here displayed with an amiable candour that is most disarming, and
instinctively you seek to justify it to yourself. Not satisfied with
being Argentine from top to toe, these people will, if you let them,
Argentinise you in a trice.
To tell the truth, there are some (I have met a few) who speak ill of
the country--and these critics are people who have not even had the
excuse of having been unsuccessful in their business affairs here.
There are systematic grumblers everywhere, who endeavour to give
themselves importance by finding fault with their surroundings. Those
who are not pleased with their stay in a foreign country should remind
themselves that nobody prevents them from returning to their own.
I have already mentioned that many Italians cross the sea for the
harvesting in the Argentine, and then, taking advantage of the
difference in the seasons, return home to cut their home corn. This
backward and forward movement has grown enormously. But in the long run
the attraction of a land that overflows with energy defeats atavistic
proclivities and weakens roots that are centuries old. And as soon as
the settler has become the owner of a few roods of the new soil, he is
irrevocably lost to Europe.
I have not sought to conceal the fact that the largest number of
immigrants make the mistake of stopping at Buenos Ayres, whose
population is thus increased out of all proportion with the development
of Argentine territory. This mass of working people, who necessarily
remain easily accessible to European influences, offers apparently an
excellent field for revolutionary propaganda. Anarchists and socialists
spare no pains to make proselytes here, in order to strengthen their
hands. A violence of speech and action has in this way given to certain
strikes a truly European aspect. Still, in a country in which there
is a constant supply of work, it is hardly possible that disturbances
arising rather from doctrine than from existing social evils can take
any hold on or materially affect any considerable extent of territory.
If I am to believe what I heard in all parts, the Russian anarchists
have a specially redoubtable organisation. To mention only the most
recent of events, it is known that the Chief of Police, who had
directed in person some ruthless repressive measures, was killed in the
street by a bomb thrown by a Russian, who was protected from the full
severity of the law by his tender age.[6]
Last June, a few days before I left Europe, a bomb was thrown by
some unknown person in the Colon Theatre, falling in the middle of
the orchestra and wounding more or less seriously a large number of
persons. The Colon Theatre, in which opera is given, is the largest and
perhaps the handsomest theatre in the world.[7] The open boxes of the
pit tier, like those of the first two tiers and orchestra, present,
when filled with young women in evening dress, the most brilliant
spectacle that I have ever seen in any theatre. In such a setting,
imagine the catastrophe that could be caused by a bomb![8] The injured
were carried out somehow or other, the house was emptied amid loud and
furious outcries, and, the damage having been repaired in the course of
the following day, not a woman in society was absent from her place at
the performance of the evening. This is a very fine trait of character
which does the highest honour to the women of Argentine society. I am
not sure that in Paris, under similar circumstances, there would have
been a full house on the night following such a disaster.
It is easy to understand, however, that the fury of the public found
expression in an Act of Parliament of terrible severity, directed
immediately against any suspicious groups. The criminal in the present
case has not yet been discovered, though during my stay in Buenos
Ayres there occurred a sensational arrest which led the authorities to
believe they had laid hands on the guilty man. A state of siege was in
some sense declared, lasting all the time I was in Buenos Ayres; and
the Government obtained extraordinary powers, to be used only against
organisations believed to be anarchical. The penalty generally imposed
was transportation to Terra del Fuego, under conditions that no one
would or, perhaps, could describe to me. I am without the necessary
returns for establishing the results obtained. Some complaints reached
me from the more populous quarters affirming that the innocent had been
punished; all I could do was to hand them over to the authorities. I
can testify that in my presence, in any of the circles of Buenos Ayres
society that I was able to observe, no anarchist outrages were on any
single occasion the subject of conversation. More than once I led up
to it. The reply invariably was that the question was one for public
authority, that the Government was armed and would take action, and if
further powers should prove necessary they would be granted. Then the
topic was changed.
There is no doubt that the Argentine Government, like that of Great
Britain, is resolved to finish, once for all, with crimes which arouse
only horror in all the civilised world. In the course of a hasty
visit I had occasion to pay to the Police Department, in the company
of the City Superintendent, Señor Guiraldès (at the very moment of
the arrest of the man who was believed to have thrown the bomb in the
Colon Theatre), I could see that not only is the force a very powerful
one, but that it has at its head men of energy and decision who are
determined to repress deeds of violence, of which all or nearly all are
committed by persons not of Argentine nationality.[9]
While on the subject, one may note that the Argentine police have
adopted and perfected the system of identification of criminals by the
marks of the thumb. First the imprint of all ten fingers is taken, so
as to make mistake impossible and arrive at absolute certainty; then,
acting on the principle that it may be as useful to identify an honest
man as a bandit, identification certificates are issued to the public,
for a small fee, containing an enlargement of the thumb imprint.
A crowd of people waiting at the door of the office that makes and
furnishes these documents showed that the public fully appreciated
their usefulness. Young men and old were submitting in silence to have
their ten fingers smeared with a sort of wax not easily removed by
soap and water. Each in turn departed well pleased that the stigma of
"Unknown" would never be attached to his grave. It appears that it has
become the fashion to register one's thumb at the police-station before
starting on any journey. Señor Guiraldès told us that his own son, now
in Europe, had taken this precaution before exposing his person to
the risks of the elements and the unceremonious manners of Parisian
_apaches_.
In the days of the stage-coach Parisians used to be laughed at for
making their wills and taking out passports before starting on a
journey to Étampes. Now behold! By other routes we have returned to the
good old days. And funny as it may appear to those of us who like to
believe that civilisation in South America is more or less rudimentary,
it is precisely this country which thus, in scientific fashion, guards
against the barbarous ways of the capitals and even the country
districts of Europe.
There was recently a story of an Argentine who was drowned on our
coast and whose body was subsequently washed up on shore, with the
head frightfully mutilated. As, however, the telltale thumb had been
preserved he was quickly identified. If this story had been told me
in time I should certainly have allowed as much of my person as was
necessary to be dipped in wax instead of venturing to start on my
homeward journey without the simple proofs of identity which would
suffice to place beyond doubt the status of any Jonah in the depths of
a whale. As it is, in spite of my imprudence, I reached home with my
head still on my shoulders. Pure luck! Never again will I trust myself
at sea without this elementary precaution, which would so radically
have changed the fortunes of Ulysses in rocky Ithaca.
After this digression, which is only excused by the importance of
the subject, I want to finish what I began to say about the rabid
Argentinism of our friends. I had a great surprise one day when
speaking respectfully of the fine qualities of the Spaniards. Some
highly cultured men present interrupted me, and criticised severely the
race from which they had sprung in terms one might have expected from
an Anglo-Saxon, but not from a Latin. Therefore I must ask my readers
not to imagine that the Argentinos are merely Spaniards transplanted to
American soil. No! The real Argentino, though he would never confess
it, seems to me convinced that there is a magic elixir of youth that
springs from his soil and makes of him a new man, descendant of none
but ancestor of endless generations to come.
That there is indeed a regenerating influence in this youthful land
is proved by the power it wields over newcomers of whatever origin.
The Italian in particular is Argentinised before he is _argenté_. In
the provinces, as in Buenos Ayres, I had a hundred thousand examples
of this before my eyes. You ask a child, the son of an immigrant,
whether he speaks Italian or Spanish. He answers haughtily, "At home
we all talk Argentine." Another, unable to deny that he was born in
Genoa, although he claimed Argentine nationality, murmured by way of
excuse, "I was so little." I may add that in the primary schools
where these replies were made to me the teaching was the epitome of
Argentine patriotic spirit, as might be guessed from the pictures and
inscriptions on the walls.[10] But Alsace-Lorraine and Poland are
witness to the fact that unless the heart be wholly won authority may
labour in vain.
As I want to be wholly sincere here, I must admit that the French take
this Argentine contagion with remarkable facility. I should grievously
wrong our own excellent colony, however, if I did less than justice to
its ardent patriotism. It is only when tried that love grows and grows
purer. In absence the fatherland seems the dearer in proportion as it
is connected with the recollection of sufferings that left us stripped
of all but honour.
The public work of the French colony speaks loudly for it. Its most
important achievement is the French Hospital, founded long ago, but,
thanks to its Governor, M. Basset, and its chief physician, Dr. G.
Lauré, it is invaluable. As I was leaving the building after a visit I
shall not soon forget, the Chairman of the Board of Directors showed me
a bust of Pasteur standing among the trees, and asked what I thought
of a suggestion to place near it a figure of Lorraine. Although the
symbolism in the two statues would be entirely different, I warmly
concurred in the plan. There is, after all, a delicate connection
between these two manifestations of the soul of France--the desire for
knowledge and the courage to hold.
These men, who have presented to the city of Buenos Ayres a monument
worthy of France in commemoration of the friendship of the sister
republics, and who, on the occasion of the floods in Paris of last
year, sent a cheque for 400,000 francs to assuage the worst of the
distress, never miss an opportunity of showing their loyalty to the
mother-country. Yet how many sons of France one meets at every step who
have gone over to the Argentine, head and heart, beyond all possibility
of return!
One large manufacturer of the port of Buenos Ayres is a nephew of a
member of our National Assembly of 1871. I noticed, when inspecting his
very remarkable establishment, that he speaks French less fluently than
Spanish, while his two brothers, who pay frequent visits to Paris, have
become thorough Argentinos.
Again, I might take the case of one of our most eminent compatriots
who left France in his twentieth year, but who has remained French to
the very marrow of his bones. His son is an official of high position
in the Argentine. Doubtless his marriage with a woman of the country
laid the foundation for this South American family. The atmosphere of
the home is naturally altered, and his material interests, indissolubly
riveted to the soil that feeds him and his family, attune the settler
insensibly to new ways, and gradually transform his whole habit of mind
to the new pattern.
Can anybody explain why this is not the case with the French who try
their fortune in North America, and why in Canada the two races live
side by side in all harmony but never mix? It must be that "blood is
thicker than water," as says the English proverb, and that the Latin
element blends more readily with a Latin agglomeration than with an
Anglo-Saxon community. Here I have seen, over and over again, that
after two or three generations nothing remains of the original stock
but the name.
I know of but one instance where the Latin organism has been completely
assimilated by a northern race, and that is the French emigration to
Germany in consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. But in
that case a community of religious fervour, strengthened by an odious
persecution, was the active agent in the blending of the Latin mind and
character with that of Germany. We all remember that the first German
Governor of Alsace-Lorraine was the descendant of a French emigrant.
Some of us may recall the furious address of the learned Dubois-Reymond
to the youth of Prussia in 1870, urging them over the frontier of
the land from which their ancestors were driven by the sabres of the
dragoons of Louis XIV.
To return once more to our Franco-Argentinos, I ought to say that the
severe application of French military law but too often embitters them
against the mother-country. In its haste to increase its population,
the Argentine awards nationalisation to the children of foreigners born
on Argentine soil, and nationalisation carries in its train military
service. It is the same system adopted by ourselves in Algiers toward
Spanish colonists. The consequence is that the son of French parents
duly registered at the French Consulate, in order to preserve for him
his father's nationality, finds himself later called simultaneously to
serve under two flags on opposite sides of the ocean.
What is he to do? In the Argentine, where military service is very
short, are all his future prospects, while in France no place has been
kept open for him. If France were in danger and called to him for help
he would not hesitate, but, failing that, his actual surroundings make
it hard for him to decide. The majority respond to the call to the
Argentine flag, and by so doing fall into the class of _insoumis_ on
French soil, except in cases where the father, with a forethought that
cannot be approved, has omitted to register the birth at the Consulate.
If I remember rightly, ten only out of forty youths called up leave
Buenos Ayres annually to answer to their names at the French
roll-call. One wonders whether the result be sufficient to justify
steps that might easily trouble our relations with the French colony
in this country. For the young _insoumis_ can never set foot on French
soil without finding the _gendarmerie_ after him. Yet his business
will call him inevitably to Europe. Where will he take his orders when
France has shut her doors to him? England, Belgium, Switzerland, and
Germany are open to him. I heard recently a story about a Frenchman
of Buenos Ayres who ventured to Lille, and had only just time, at a
warning from a friend, to escape over the border.
I need not dwell on the matter, but it is easy to see how detrimental
the present state of the law is to French families living in the
Argentine, Brazil, and other American countries, as well as to France
herself. We manage in this way to drive from the national fold a number
of young men who would in time of danger respond heartily to a call
from the motherland.
Wherever I went I heard the same cry. The Consuls and the French
Minister could only reply, "It is the law." But the Frenchman who
follows the Flag in some foreign land demands an alteration in a law
which ought not to be applied with the same rigour to youths living in
Basle, Brussels, Geneva, and to those who have found a field for their
activities across the sea.
To me it seems only justice to establish a distinction in our
legislation between these two categories of French subjects. For
example, I heard of the case of an eminent politician--M. Pellegrini,
the son of an inhabitant of Nice, and therefore French--who, in his
youth, got into difficulties in the way described with the French
recruiting service, and who later, having risen to the position of
President of the Argentine Republic, received the Grand Cordon of the
Legion of Honour. The red ribbon or the Council of War--which seems the
more appropriate reward to citizens of this kind? Of course, we must
all regret that valuable citizens should thus be taken from France at
the moment when she needs every one of her children. At the same time
we must consider that a Frenchman who has become Argentine is by no
means lost to France, as might be the case in the United States, for
instance, where the Latin is rapidly submerged by the irresistible
flood of Anglo-Saxonism.
In the Argentine, on the contrary, the Northern races prove merely
a useful element of methodical intelligence and tenacity, which is
in time engulfed by the great Latin wave. There are important German
colonies in Brazil, and even in the Argentine. Both English and North
Americans have prosperous manufactories there. Yet in a race that
has preserved integrally its Latinity, all this is of but secondary
interest, and the tendency remains to travel steadily in the track of
peoples of Latin stock, among whom it may without presumption be said
that the French exert the most powerful influence.
For this reason any Frenchman of average intellectual and moral
value who becomes incorporated in the Argentine nation must almost
infallibly at the same time--for I doubt if any Frenchman is ever
really un-Frenched--materially aid in permanently strengthening French
prestige.
What are we to think of men like M. Paul Groussac, who holds an eminent
place in Buenos Ayres, but who would equally in his own land have
reached the very front rank? M. Groussac, having gone through our naval
training school, set out to see the world. One day, his pockets empty,
he arrived at Buenos Ayres, where courageously he hired himself as
_gaucho_--that is, keeper of the immense flocks of the Pampas, whose
members run into their thousands--and he undertook to drive a train of
mules to Peru. He accomplished the journey successfully, covering the
same route four times in all, each journey taking four months. Later we
find him acting as schoolmaster. In Tucuman he carried on the work of
the French outlaw, Jacques, who, having escaped to the Argentine after
the _coup d'état_ of December 2d, devoted himself entirely to public
education on lines taken up later and developed by President Sarmiento.
We had the pleasure of seeing in the place of honour at the Training
College of Tucuman the portraits of the two French founders, Jacques
and Paul Groussac. From time to time the latter brother has published
various literary works, notably some short stories in which Argentine
life and character are brilliantly set forth, and the name of their
author has achieved a wide celebrity. Then M. Hilleret, the great
French sugar manufacturer of Santa Ana, placed a large capital at the
disposal of Paul Groussac with which to start a daily paper destined to
reveal, in the person of its editor-in-chief, a writer of remarkable
force.
To-day you may hear that Paul Groussac is the leading Spanish writer
of our times, which by no means prevents him from contributing some
brilliant articles to our own _Journal des Débats_, amply proving his
mastery of his mother-tongue, not to mention a curious study by him of
that literary enigma the _Don Quichotte_ of Avellaneda.
In 1810 a Public Library was founded by decree of the first
Revolutionary Junto, on the initiative of Secretary Moreno. It was
opened March 16, 1812, its nucleus being drawn from the convent
libraries. In 1880, after the proclamation of Buenos Ayres as capital
of the Federation, the Public Library became the National Library, and
in 1885 Paul Groussac was appointed Governor. In an interview with
President Roca, who cannot be accused of any partiality for him,
Groussac obtained a grant of the building intended, alas! for public
lotteries, in which the library might be installed. He set to work
immediately. The National Library of the Argentine, under the control
of M. Groussac, is now without a rival in South America, and can bear
comparison with many similar institutions on the Old Continent.[11]
One of the pet hobbies of M. Groussac is now to open a French _lycée_
in Buenos Ayres, with the support of both Governments. His eldest son,
an Argentino, has just been appointed to the post of Under-Secretary of
State in the Office of Public Instruction by M. Saënz Peña.
Strangely enough all the fine qualities of this illustrious compatriot
of ours have been lost sight of for the reason that through some
defect--I had almost said vice--in his character he has won the
reputation of being the surliest of bears. Having myself also, to some
extent, a reputation for being less than amiable I wondered whether the
two of us might not come to blows if we met. Considering in some sort
my bald head a protection, I ventured into the bear's den, and found
only the most affable and genial of men, whose claws were of velvet
and his tusks of sugar. Thus we made friends at once, and I found that
the much-dreaded beast had nothing terrible about him, unless it was a
strong accent of the Gers.
Since that day I have done my best to dispel so injurious a prejudice
against the man. I can only explain its prevalence by the words of
Tacitus, who remarked of his father-in-law, Agricola, "He chose rather
to offend than to hate." It is a rare enough trait among men this,
which leads them, like Alceste, to declare their real opinion rather
than stoop to the indignity of falsehood. It may very easily happen
that in this way such men may offend the talker who asks only cheap
flattery, though actuated themselves by the kindliest feelings towards
their fellow-men.
If we consider for a moment the sentiment aroused in us by the general
practice of using words to conceal our thoughts, we must recognise
that we are the first to suffer by this universal weakness--not to say
cowardice--in that we only expect from others what we ourselves give,
namely, hypocritical phrases, leading to crooked actions, and causing
that silent but lasting dislike which forms the principal obsession
in the life of many among us. If it is a less offence to inspire than
to harbour dislike, let us absolve the men who fail to win universal
regard, but who are nevertheless wholly incapable of harming a creature.
Unless I am misinformed, we shall soon have the pleasure of seeing Paul
Groussac in Paris. A Chair of History of the Argentine Republic has
been founded at the Sorbonne, and there is talk of offering it to him.
Certainly no one could better perform its duties. Yet it would surprise
me if he could in this way break off his multitudinous engagements in
the Argentine. They say he will in person open the course of lectures.
I can promise an intellectual treat to his hearers.
I did not hear of any Germans or Englishmen who had, to the same
extent as the Italians and the French, undergone transformation into
Argentinos. The German, whose fundamental roughness--to call it by no
stronger name--is frequently masked by good humour, works his way into
all classes of society, but without losing any of his original traits.
M. Mihanowitch, who is at the head of a colossal business of river
and sea transportation, must, notwithstanding his Austrian origin, be
considered as an Argentino, though he is surely of Slav blood.
The English invariably retain their individuality. I am told that in
Patagonia, where they are carrying on sheep breeding on a scale that
leaves Australia in the rear, they have built up cosy dwellings, where
every night they change into their smoking-jackets for the family
repast, and never miss taking a holiday of two or three months in
their native land. They never become Argentinos. This, however, does
not prevent their being at the head of the business world of La Plata,
where they exert a powerful influence on the industrial and commercial
life of the people.
It would have greatly interested me to study the foreign colonies more
closely, but time was lacking. Of the Spanish, the only man I was able
to see anything of was M. Coelho, the distinguished Governor of the
Spanish Bank of La Plata, whose untiring energy reaches out daily in
new directions; he gave me many proofs of kindness, for which I am
sincerely grateful.
It is certain that the recent visit of Field-Marshal von der Goltz to
the Argentine must prove useful to German influence. As we know, it
is the Germans who are responsible for the present organisation of
the Argentine Army. Their Government, wiser than some others, did not
hesitate to send to La Plata some of their most skilled officers, who
were naturally received by Argentine society with the deference that
was their due.
The eminent legal scholar, Professor Enrico Ferri, lately re-elected
Deputy of the group that we should call "Independent Socialists,"
is and has long been the official mouthpiece of the Italian colony.
Gifted with a perfect urbanity, an impartial mind, lofty ideals, and
generous eloquence, he quickly attracted the notice of the public,
and soon vanquished the suspicions of the Extreme Right, who feared
his Socialist views, and the opposition of the Extreme Left, who bore
him malice for having broken away from them. M. Saënz Peña's Cabinet
has been well advised in calling on M. Enrico Ferri to take over the
management of the penitentiary system.
I have mentioned the principal features of the French colony, and
shall hope to be forgiven if lack of space has prevented me from doing
full justice to its members. I have spoken of M. Py, the distinguished
Governor of the Banque Française de la Plata, who is admirably assisted
in his work by the manager, M. Puisoye. It would be unpardonable to
omit the name of Mme. Moreno (of the Comédie Française), who has so
thoroughly mastered the Spanish tongue that she has opened and carried
to success a _conservatoire_, in which she trains pupils for the stage.
It would be the less excusable to forget this lady in that she is
frequently to be met at receptions, where her elocution, both in prose
and in poetry, delights her Parisian-Argentine public. Whilst waiting
for the Académies to confer on women the right to be learned, let us
venture to proclaim their cleverness even when it is but an adjunct to
feminine charm.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] The death penalty, abolished in Uruguay, does still exist in the
Argentine Republic, but executions are rare. The last dates several
years back. The condemned man is shot by the troops.
[7] The Colon Theatre seats no less than 3570 persons. The third tier
is reserved for ladies only; the acoustics are excellent; the most
renowned artists appear on its stage. There is also another opera-house.
[8] Impossible to exaggerate the horror of the scene. A high official
personage told me that he had never beheld such pools of blood.
[9] The Fire Brigade, admirably organised as I had an opportunity of
observing, is armed like the Paris Corps, and can thus be employed to
reinforce the city police if necessary.
[10] It appears that on the day of the National Fête the pupils of the
primary schools have to take an oath of fidelity to the Flag, which is
called the _juro de la Bandera_, and is accompanied by speeches and
patriotic songs that cannot help making an impression on the children.
[11] In 1893 the Library numbered 69,000 volumes; in 1903, 130,000; and
in 1910, 190,000.