ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



The total length of railway lines in opera- 

 tion in 1878 was 1,448 miles; and concessions 

 had been, up to the end of that year, granted 

 for new lines to the extent of 1,989 miles, in- 

 cluding the great interoceanic railway from 

 Buenos Ay res to Santiago (Chili), 888 miles. 

 Still further concessions were granted in 1879 

 and 1880, and works on the new lines and 

 continuation of those already built were car- 

 ried on with activity. 



The telegraph lines in operation in 1877 

 comprised 9,887 miles of wires, of which 3,365 

 belonged to the state. The total number of 

 dispatches in 1878 was 214,714. 



The tide of immigration continues to in- 

 crease, the number of immigrants for 1879 

 having reached 50,000, a figure hitherto un- 

 precedented outside of the United States, and 

 showing an increase of 14,329 as compared with 

 that of the year immediately preceding. The 

 lack of immigration from Northern Europe to 

 the Argentine shores is very generally deplored, 

 and active measures are on foot for encourag- 

 ing its augmentation. Of the 286,000 immi- 

 grants from the United Kingdom and Ger- 

 many in 1879, hardly 1,000 went to the River 

 Plate regions. 



The political situation of the country in 1880 

 contrasted widely with that of 1879, the events 

 of which latter year comprised only measures 

 of peaceful industry at home, while the single 

 question of a menacing character in the foreign 

 relations of the republic was the still existing 

 vexed question with Chili as to the possession 

 of territory in Patagonia. In the year just 

 past, as the final issue of the elections for a 

 new President approached, the smoldering fire 

 of party strife broke out and raged for several 

 months with unmitigated violence, paralyzing 

 all branches of trade and industry, and being 

 attended with considerable bloodshed, the city 

 of Buenos Ayres itself having suffered the hard- 

 ships and inconveniences inseparable from a 

 state of siege. An incident which seriously 

 complicated the main question at issue was 

 that of the discussion concerning the definitive 

 establishment of the capital of the republic, 

 Buenos Ayres, which had been tlie provisional 

 capital ever since the days of the independence, 

 with the trammels and expense of a double 

 gubernatorial machine, and the object of envy 

 and jealousy of all the provinces save that in 

 which it is situated. The first days of October 

 brought the reestablishment of peace, with the 

 termination of the electoral campaign, and the 

 inauguration of the new Chief Magistrate of 

 the Republic, Brigadier-General Don Julio A. 

 Roca, whose administration is regarded as one 

 full of patriotic and fruitful promise. General 

 Roca gained considerable distinction as Min- 

 ister of War and in other important capacities 

 under the Avellaneda government. The fact 

 of his being a soldier, together with his reso- 

 lution to initiate a military policy, and the 

 continued arrival, for some time past, of war 

 material for the Argentine Government, gave 



place in some quarters to apprehensions of 

 belligerent designs toward Chili, with which 

 country, as already hinted, the Patagonian 

 boundary question is still pending. But a 

 more reasonable explanation of the armament 

 would be the prudent desire on the part of 

 the Argentine Republic to be prepared in case 

 Chili, after making peace with Peru, should 

 feel tempted to make use of her liberated forces 

 in support of her claim to sovereign jurisdic- 

 tion over the disputed Patagonian peninsula. 



The following extracts we translate from 

 President Roca's inaugural speech to the Ar- 

 gentine Congress on October 12, 1880, than 

 which no other description could present a 

 clearer view of the present political condition 

 of the country : 



MESSRS. SENATORS AND DEPUTIES : I have just taken 

 the oath prescribed by the Constitution for the office 

 to which the most important duties and the gravest 

 responsibilities attach ; and I consider that I should, 

 on this solemn occasion, express to the representatives 

 of the Argentine people what my intentions are on ac- 

 cepting that high post. 



I do not come unconsciously to power. I well know 

 that the path now before me is beset with snares for 

 him who feels the responsibility of this elevated charge 

 among a free people ; nor am I unaware of the bitter 

 trials ever awaiting him who is resolved upon the rigid 

 discharge of his duty. But, as you know, it was be- 

 yond my power to control the current of opinions which 

 has terminated in this (by me unsought for) result of 

 the electoral contest a contest which has served as a 



Eretext for staining once more our country's soil with 

 lood. When the liberties of mankind and the growth 

 of a nation are concerned, all that is great or enduring 

 is to be attained only at the expense of vast efforts and 

 painful sacrifices. Nor are the severe trials passed 

 through by the Argentine Kepublic to be wondered 

 at, when we survey her rapid progress and the tri- 

 umphs achieved in" half a century of national exist- 

 ence, as compared with the tardy development to 

 which history bears testimony in the governments of 

 the most advanced societies. 



We live very rapidly, and in our feverish impatience 

 to reach in a day the level arrived at by other nations 

 through centuries of labor and sanguinary attempts, 

 most of the problems of our organization, political and 

 social, take us by surprise. 



The Congress of 1880 has completed the federal rep- 

 resentative system of government ; and we may be 

 said to have this day fairly entered the period of con- 

 stitutional rule. The law just sanctioned by your 

 body for the final settlement of the capital of the re- 

 public, is at once the starting-point of a new era in 

 which the Government will have entire freedom of ac- 

 tion, and the realization of the people's dearest wish, 

 as implying the consolidation of the union and the 

 reign of peace for long years to come. The existence 

 of that law had come to be an inevitable necessity, 

 and your "highest claim to the nation's esteem will be 

 your having" so faithfully interpreted its desire. 



Henceforth, free of preoccupation and undisturbed 

 by the internal commotions which hourly imperiled 

 the very integrity of the republic, the Government 

 will be enabled to devote its attention to the concerns 

 of administration and the fruitful works of peace ; and 

 the revolutionary period being closed for ever, which 

 constantly retarded our onward march, we shall soon 

 reap the fruits of your firmness and tact. 



On assuming the general administration of the coun- 

 try, I would mention the subjects which occupy my 

 mind more particularly than all the others the army, 

 and means of internal communication. 



The army and navy, implying, as they do, the in- 

 tegrity and safeguard of our country from without, 



