Buenos Aires 163 



diet the future of this new citizen? Argentina is a 

 land of opportunity. This man had at least found what 

 the old Greek philosopher demanded, a ~ou CTTW, a place 

 on which to stand, if only for the time being. I have 

 no doubt he is saving his pennies. He may have an 

 account in bank, or in his stocking. His grandchildren 

 may come to live in a palace on the Avenida Alvear. 

 Stranger things than this have happened. The Vander- 

 bilt of Argentina is a young man who came to that 

 country a few years ago as a poor lad from Russia. 

 His first employment was as a boatman. He rowed 

 people to and fro from the water-front to the steamers, 

 and saved his earnings, as did his North American pro- 

 totype, the young Staten Island ferryman. To-day 

 he is the ow r ner of a great fleet of handsome passenger 

 and freight steamers. Miguel Mihanovitch is a power 

 to be reckoned with in Argentina, when the transporta- 

 tion question comes up for consideration. 



The life of Buenos Aires is pervaded by restless ac- 

 tivity. There appears to be as much hurry and bustle 

 in the streets as in any of the larger cities of the world, 

 more in fact than in some which are not accounted dull. 

 Along the main thoroughfares there pours a constant 

 stream of vehicles all through the day and deep into the 

 night. The rush in busy hours is as great as on Broad- 

 way or Regent Street. I made my home in Buenos 

 Aires at one of the quieter hotels on the Avenida de 

 Mayo. The room assigned me on my arrival was at 

 the front of the house, but the noise of the automobiles 

 and the carriages on the street was so great and so 

 continuous, only dying down from about two until 

 five o 'clock in the morning, that I was unable to sleep 

 with comfort, and was glad to have my landlord assign 

 me a room in the rear of the building, where the racket 



