PROGRESS OF ARGENTARIA. 301 



proportion from the Neapolitan provinces, it is ad- 

 mitted that, whether as agricultural settlers or as 

 artisans in the cities, the Italians are an orderly, 

 industrious, and temperate class. The Germans and 

 Swiss are not nearly so numerous, but form a useful 

 addition to the orderly element in their adopted 

 country. It may be hoped that experience and 

 education have not been thrown away on the native 

 Argentine, and that the memory of the forty years of 

 intestine disorder which followed the final establish- 

 ment of independence may serve as a warning against 

 renewed attempts at revolution ; but assuredly the 

 foreign element, which rapidly tends to become pre- 

 dominant, wuU be found an additional security against 

 the renewal of disorder. 



Although a majority of the large commercial houses 

 at Buenos Ayres are English, and the trade with this 

 country takes the first place in the statistical returns, 

 the predominance is not so marked as it is on the 

 western side of South America. Next to England, 

 and not far behind, France has a large share in the 

 trade, and although Germany has only lately entered 

 the field, it appears that the business operations with 

 that country are rapidly extending. Here, and at 

 several other places in South America, I heard com- 

 plaints that German traders palm off" cheap inferior 

 goods, having forged labels and trade-marks to imitate 

 those of well-known English manufacturers. It is true 

 that charges of a similar nature have been recently 

 brought against some English houses. One asks if 

 the progress of civilization is to lead us back to caveat 

 emptor as the only rule of commercial ethics. If so, 



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