INDUSTRIES AND THE LABOUR QUESTION.
The labour question in the Argentine Republic is one of great
difficulty. There is really no native labour, certainly none for
industrial purposes. The Gaucho,[1] now degenerated into the peon,[2]
is only available for stock-raising. Agriculture is carried on almost
entirely by colonists of various nationalities, and industries by
Italian immigrants only. There is one exception, the sugar industry
of the north. There conditions are so very different from those in the
centre and the south, that it must be treated as almost a separate
country. While the north-east--the Chaco district--is still in so
uncivilised a state that its possibilities are very hazy. The Quebracho
trade yields very large returns with Indian labour, but Indian labour
is an unknown quantity. Uncivilized Indians still cause considerable
trouble there, and opinions differ considerably as to the possibility
of employing them successfully for cotton growing and other new
enterprises.
[1] The descendents of the original Spanish settlers, often showing
marked traces of Indian blood.
[2] Peon is the name applied to all labourers.
The more important question is that relating to labour for factories,
workshops, and railways in the central part of the Republic, and in the
towns themselves. That a country situated so far from the great centres
of production should continue to import nearly all its necessities as
well as luxuries seems incredible. Yet the tendency is certainly more in
the direction of increased importation than of home manufacture. There
is a tariff of exceptional severity on every conceivable article, but
even this fails to develop industries in the country. Breweries, flour
mills and repairing shops seem to be the only successful growths, with a
few isolated instances, such as canvas shoe factories and similar works.
Even the production of such essentially native goods as "ponchos"[3] has
lapsed in favour of German and Italian wares. While the manufacture of
matches--in the hands of a powerful monopoly, bolstered up by privileges
and an exorbitant duty--was so seriously jeopardised by a strike last
year, that the threat was made--whether seriously or not, cannot be
said--of closing down the works and importing immediately from England
and Sweden. (It is satisfactory to note in this connection that
an English firm promptly stepped forward and made an offer to the
Government that if a reduction was made in the duty, it would undertake
to place on the market, within little more than a month, some millions
of boxes of matches).
[3] "Ponchos" are the peculiar rugs with a central slit to admit
the head when the "poncho" is used as a cloak. They are used
universally in the country.
Even those industries, however, that flourish, do so in spite of their
labour. They are all, it will be observed, concerned with the production
of goods that are either expensive or difficult to transport, and only
the direst necessity could prevent their home manufacture. In the
course of last year there were two general strikes (in Buenos Aires
and Rosario) besides numerous small ones. Dock labourers seem to be
continually in partial ferment, and even the most generous treatment
does not prevent railway employees from stopping work occasionally. The
causes of this instability are fairly apparent, though the same cannot
be said of the remedy.
For various reasons industrial labour is entirely supplied by Italian
immigrants, mostly Neapolitans. The other nationalities who come into
the country engage for the most part in agricultural work, either as
colonists, buying their land, or as tenant farmers on short leases.
Skilled English and other European labour is also employed in factories,
but only for the higher grades of work, and in positions of some
responsibility. Thus the available labour is recruited from the lower
class of immigrants, and from a race not remarkable for stability.
In the second place, living in the capital is extremely dear, not least
being the price of house accommodation. Although an Italian can satisfy
his requirements at a much lower rate than an Englishman could his,
yet even he can scarcely make both ends meet, while the excess of
expenditure over receipts is particularly galling in the land of
promise. Recently, too, additional grievances have been introduced by
the wholesale eviction of tenants owing to the purchase by syndicates
of whole blocks of buildings, and the subsequent re-letting of them at
immensely increased prices. In the first six months of last year there
were more than eleven thousand petitions for evictions before the
justices. With a discontented and excitable working population,
therefore, as a field for their activities it is not surprising that
the agitators, of whom there is no lack, should be so successful.
Attempts are being made by various large concerns to supply reasonable
accommodation for their employees, and more than one railway has been
particularly liberal in this respect. But it was only a short time ago
that a strike of very serious dimensions was declared in the workshops
of one of the most generous, on the most ridiculous pretext.
The great danger in all labour troubles in the Argentine lies in the
fact that they are apt to become general and paralyse trade. It is
usually impossible to secure "blacklegs," a circumstance which the
workmen fully realise. Moreover, owing to the peculiar economic
conditions of the country, a strike on the part of the workmen in one
industry means that all the workmen in that industry stop work; and, as
trade is usually in a state of congestion, the difficulties created are
enormous. A dock strike in Buenos Aires is doubly serious, because the
port is already overcrowded, and there is no alternative port suitable.
A match strike, with the present tariff, causes a match famine. A
railway strike is sure to break out only when the year's harvest must
be negotiated. And should any single strike show signs of missing fire,
in all probability the result is a sympathetic strike on the part of
all workmen, including cab-drivers and bakers.
The problem before the Government is very serious, if, indeed, it is not
a question which it would be wise for the parties concerned to work out
for themselves. Considerable success is reported to have attended the
efforts of the Western Railway, who have instituted a conciliation board
for the mutual consideration of difficulties with their employees. But
unless by some means the cost of living is reduced, it is difficult to
see how satisfactory conclusions can be attained. If prices continue
to rise as, in all probability they will, a rise in wages will be
imperative. This, in the case of railways would mean an increase in
rates, as there are few who are earning more than a reasonable dividend,
while an increase in rates would cause great dissatisfaction to the
whole agrarian population; after all by far the most important in the
country. It is even doubtful whether cereals could stand any heavier
rates than they bear at present.
The root of the labourer's dissatisfaction lies, as has been said, in
the high cost of living. Unless this can be lowered, there can be no
hope of a final settlement. And the only means of lowering it is a
reduction in the tariff and a greater mobility of trade in the
interior.