. %^^^ jwfe^ m^tf ^7Sis.^lli^^ o a •^ -1^ cs ^ &^ ^ o -^ o ^ -^ 5^ S m u P3 f « \a«»'5 ;-»»i l.l»« "-^J ^1 pw^ ppws^-s •i ' .-1 Ki (n CS tn cs tn o c tn o o o «n o £3. Htoentine IRepublic General Description. The Argentine Republic is situated in the Southern extremity of South America, extending from 22° to 56° South Lat., its area being 1,125,086 sq. miles. Its population is 4,800,000. This country occupies therefore the same relative position in the Southern Hemisphere as does the United States in the Northern. Lofty mountains, low-lying valleys, undulating hills and verdant dales, broad prairies, rich pampas, and sterile deserts are all found in the same country and from the different spots come such a variety of resources that every appetite must be satiated and every longing appeased. Natural products. Almost every known style of vegetation and mineral product is to be found. In the Northern part of the country the vegetation comes within the range of the equatorial heat and southward the different phases of temperature are procured. Silver, gold, coal, iron, copper, soda, salt and many other metals exist in abund- ance in the provinces of Argentine and in almost inexhaustible supplies. Forests. Professor Gustavo Nederlein in his report to the Paris Exposition of 1899-1900, concerning the wealth of forests in the Argentine Republic, calculates that they cover an area of 1,353,500 square kilometres, as against 1,906,090 of Russia and 761,000 of the United States. To bring out their enormous value the author calls attention to the fact that the United States owes its wonderful economic develop- ment above all to the exploitation of its forests, whose annual production has reached 735 millions of dollars, while that of wheat and maize reached only 500 and 600 millions respectively. A very small part of this great wealth is in exploited. The hard-woods of the country have a European fame, Germany being the country that imports most Argentine wood. Such is the importance of this trade that when the German government, a few months ago, tried to raise the import duties on wood, there was a general protest from the tannin manufacturers, who said that such an act would mean the ruin of the tannin industry in that country. Industries. A brief review of the present industries of the Republic will show that the indus- trial and manufacturing development is not a fancy, but a solid fact. However, the extent of this summary will not allow us to give figures which would show the totals of the productions. Argentina is a great pastoral country devoted chiefly to raising cattle and sheep, and is destined to be the first cattle raising country in the world. 5 Frozen and preserved meats form an important industry, and in Argentina there are over fifty establishments engaged in the business of preserving and preparing meats and extracts for the foreign as well as the home trade. The product of those factories consist of prepared beef tea extract, tinned meats, frozen mutton and other meat that has been treated to a cold storage process. The combined capital of these concerns is about $40,000,000, so it will be seen that they form a very important factor in the Argentina business world. The dairy industry and dairy products should not go unmentioned in a state- ment of Argentina's commercial resources. There are several large dairy concerns in Buenos Ayres and throughout the country, one of which has a capital of $5 , - 000,000 in gold. The manufacture of matches also is rated as an important industry, and the rev- enue derived by the Government from the sale of matches last year amounted to JS2, 000,000. The tobacco industry nets the Argentine Government a big sum yearly, and the 1,187 factories in Buenos Ayres, with those of the provinces last year, paid the Gov- ernment about J!i5, 000,000. In the manufacture of textiles the Argentine Republic is rapidly coming to the front. Last year there were six textile mills in Buenos Ayres, with a combined capital of f 10,000,000, five canvas factories with a capital of $2,000,000, and three bag factories. Until recently all the raw material for those establishments was imported ; now all the wool that is used is taken from the Argentine wool crop, which amounts yearly to about 240,000 tons. It is important enough to state that all the furniture used in the republic is made there. The furniture industry is a very important one, and the workmanship is of of the highest class. The tanning, leather and shoe business in which something like $50,000,000 are invested is also very important. All classes of carriages, tramways and cars, railroad cars, agricultural implements, many iron and steel articles, especially for building purposes, are also made in the country, as well as many other manu- factured articles which would take columns to mention. The manufacture of agricultural implements is at present very remarkable yet it does not satisfy the needs of the country. This is proven by the fact that the importation of agricultural implements from the United States amounts to five times the value of the imports of the same kind in the rest of South America. Coming to the agricultural, live stock and flour industries, we find their progress still more noticeable, as is proved by the figures relating to the exportation of their products. Commerce. Some idea of her immense foreign trade, compared with her small population, may be had when it is noticed that in 1899 her exports aggregated $300,000,000, of which $116,000,000 was in imports and $184,000,000 was in exports, leaving a bal- ance of trade in her favor of $68,000,000. These figures are far ahead of those of all other I,atin-American countries. The Argentine Republic is the American nation whose commerce has increased most rapidly in the last half century, as it has multiplied its importation eleven times, and its exportation eighteen times, as the following table will show : 6 COMMERCE OF AMERICA DURING THE LAST HALF CENTURY. (In Millions of Dollars,) Countries. Importation. Exportation. Inhabitants 1850 1900 1850 1900 (1900) Argentine Brazil- 11 42 55 12 3 178 17 5 5 117 134 140 40 12 770 48 25 17 10 38 40 12 7 137 9 9 6 185 166 164 61 15 1268 70 30 22 4,800,000 Canada Chili Columbia United States Mexico Uruguay Venezuela 5,419.000 3,300,000 4,000,000 75,000,000 13,570,000 850,000 2,700,000 Wheat. In 1877 Argentine did not produce wheat enough for the needs of its own popu- lation, which was very small. In 1878, exportation began, with 2,547 tons. Twelve years later, in 1890 the exportation reached 327,000 tons, and in igoo it arrived at 2,000,000 tons, with a value of 50,000,000 dollars. WHEAT PRODUCTION PER INHABITANT. Countries. Production per Inhabitant. Countries. Production per Inhabitant. Argentine 452 245 227 ,226 156 Russia _ ._ _ . 123 119 76 Italy. __ France Germany. United. States Austria. _ . 57 Spain Chili __ 17 llaize. The first exportation of maize began in 1873, with 1,653 tons. In 1894 it was 54,876 tons and seven years afterwards, in 1901, it reached 1,175,000 tons. The linseed crop for 1901 is reported as having been 500,000 tons, or about twice as much as the usual crop, which places the Argentine Republic in the front rank of flax-growing countries. Cattle and sheep. Their exportation. The following is a comparative statement of the number of heads of cattle and sheep, in the five great cattle countries of the world. Countries. Argentina. _. United Sta1;es . Canada Russia Australia Population. 4,800,000 75,000,000 4,833.000 89,000,000 3,980,000 Cattle. 34,000,000 53,096,000 3,826,000 37,413,000 12,632,000 Sheep. 100,000,000 45,048,000 3,851,000 48,000,000 116,000,000 Prop. pr. inhabitant 5.33 0.63 0.79 0.42 3-17 22.22 0.72 0.79 0.53 29.18 We call attention to the figures which give the production per inhabitant. The exportation in this line during the last few years is as follows : Year. Live Stock Heads. Chilled Beef Tons. 1892 1899 . . _ _ _ _ 125,458 312,150 116,000 284 10,001 1900 50,000 The decrease in the exports in live stock during the year 1900 was due to the closure of European ports to the Argentine cattle on account of an epizootic foot and mouth disease. On the other hand, however, the exportation of chilled beef grew five times larger. The total value of the exports in live stock and chilled beef during the year 1900 was $65,482,493, that is to say, 49.9% of the total exports of the country. Railroads. The country is traversed by railroads from East to West and from North to South. The capitals of all fourteen states are reached by the lines, which have a greater 8 1 MO O eg o C c ^- c ^ ^ 2 "^ 5S 5 a: '^ be extent than in any other Latin-American country. The capital invested is' ^27,- 000,000. In i8go the length of railroads was only 9,432 kilometers (about 5,700 miles). At the end of 1902, by the completion of some of the roads which are now in con- struction, our lines will have a length of 27,207 kilometres. It is certainly worthy of notice, that in the short period of 12 years the extent of our railroads should have tripled. Education. The Federal and State Governments expend |i3,ooo,ooo to educate 400,000 children, who attend the public schools, which are modelled after those of the United States. During the year 1892, there were in the Argentine Republic 2,800 schools, be- tween public aud private, with a roll of 246,532 students, and 6,995 teachers. During the year 1900, the number of the schools ascended to 4,452, with an attendance of 451,559 students. The number of teachers reached 11,736. The university instruction is given in four schools of Engineering, four schools of Law and Social Sciences, three schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, one school of Sciences and Letters, one school of Mines and several schools of Agriculture and Veterinary Science. The superior education is given by sixteen National colleges and fifteen Normal schools. The government is striving now to found more Industrial, Technical and Agricultural schools. With this object, and in order to form a competent staff, it sends to the United States and Europe every year a certain number of young men, to study in their universities. Immigration. This topic would be worthy of an entire chapter, but the extent of this pamphlet forbids our doing more than glancing at it. It may be said that no country in the world has made more efforts to attract immigration and foreign capital than Argentina. Even in periods disastrous for our treasury, enormous sums have been expended in passages, agricultural implements, lots, seed, etc., all of which have been liberally given to the immigrant who arrived in search of work. In 1901 the immigrants numbered 150,000. Capital and cities. The capital of the Republic is the city of Buenos Ayres, of which the Buffalo Courier said, during the Pan-American Exposition : "Buenos Ayres is, in fact, the most important seaport after New York in this hemisphere, and is the largest manufacturing center of Latin-America. It is inter- esting to know that over )j200,ooo,ooo gold are invested in banking and other financial concerns alone. It is the only Latin-American city that has a hustling stock exchange second only in importance to Wall Street. The volume of business done by the Clearing House of Buenos Ayres during iSgg was J4, 400,000,000. Today it is safe to say that there can be found no more modern city in the whole world than is the capital of Argentina. Buenos Ayres is a type of an ideal city and to view the magnificent pictures of sections of the city shown at the Exposition is to be seized with a desire to visit this attractive place. Today she is twice the size of Buffalo, numbering 850,000 inhabitants within her limits, and the broad plazas, the parks, the white boulevards, the magnificent residences, the palatial business blocks, the superb churches and government buildings and splendid water front blend into a metropolis that closely approaches perfection. Buenos Ayres is, in fact, the second city of Latin origin in the world, both as regards population and beauty, ranking next after Paris. La Plata, founded in 1882, has now 70,000 inhabitants. It was planned for the capital of the Province of Buenos Ayres. For this reason it would be hard to find a city with its streets and public buildings better arranged, the numerous and beautiful schools, and its university being some of its notable features. Its port is one of the finest artificial ports in the world, having cost over $30,000,000. Rosario, with 125,000 inhabitants is an active port on the River Parand. In 1850 it was a little village of 2,500, but being on the thoroughfare of commerce from the interior it has grown to its present proportions. It is a beautiful cosmo- politan city and a great railroad centre. C6rdoba, Santa F^ and Tucuman, are capitals of their respective provinces and are centres of considerable importance. Andrus & Church, Printers. Date Due it->.4j"*^E f»#