ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



37 



loans assumed by the Central Government, and 

 9,945,143 cedulas. All the provincial debts have 

 been exchanged for 4i-per-cent. national bonds. 



The provincial and municipal budgets added to 

 the national budget make a total expenditure esti- 

 mated in 1897 at $193,846,534. 



The Army and Navy. The regular army is 

 recruited by voluntary enlistment. If the recruits 

 are not sufficient the law of Nov. 23, 1895, gives 

 power to the Government to draw men by lot, who 

 are obliged to serve four years unless they furnish 

 substitutes. Another class is composed of con- 

 scripts who are drawn for one year and trained 

 for sixty days or longer, according to the needs 

 of the -service. Besides these all male citizens be- 

 tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five belong 

 to the National Guard, divided into the active, re- 

 serve, and territorial sections, and numbering 

 about 472,000 men altogether. The active army in 

 time of peace consists of 12 regiments of infantry, 

 1 battalion of mountain troops, 11 regiments of 

 cavalry, 4 regiments of field artillery, 2 regiments 

 of mountain artillery, 1 regiment of engineers, 1 

 brigade of pontonniers, 1 brigade of sappers and 

 miners, 1 brigade of railroad troops, and 1 brigade 

 of telegraphists. The infantry is armed with 

 Mauser rifles of 7.65 caliber, with 5 cartridges in 

 the magazine; the cavalry, with carbines of the 

 same system; the artillery, with 7.5 Krupp rapid- 

 firing guns. 'The peace strength in 1900 was 1,340 

 officers and 7,279 men. 



The fleet in 1900 consisted of an armored coast- 

 guard, Almirante Brown, of 4,200 tons ; 4 armored 

 cruisers, built between 1896 and 1899 General San 

 Martin, Pueyrredon, Belgrano, and Garibaldi, of 

 6,000 to 7,000 tons; 4 armored gunboats of vari- 

 ous dates; 4 small protected cruisers; 7 unar- 

 mored first-class gunboats; 2 avisos; 2 school- 

 ships; 6 destroyers constructed in 1896; and 12 

 first-class and 15 second-class torpedo-boats. 



Commerce and Production. The value of 

 imports in 1899 was $116,851,000. The principal 

 articles imported were cotton cloths of the value 

 of $18,319,000; iron manufactures, $18,077,000; 

 woolens, $8,252,000; bagging and sail-cloth, $6,- 

 682,000; coal, $6,536,000; wood, $6,008,000; wine, 

 $5,732,000; yerba-mate", $3,863,000; chemicals and 

 drugs, $3,343,000; paper, $1,919,000. The total 

 value of exports was $184,918,000. The principal 

 articles were wool of the value of $72,284,000; 

 cereals, $59,919,000; hides, $25,629,000; animals, 

 $9,028,000; meat and meat products, $5,904,000; 

 tallow, $2,206,000. The commerce was distributed 

 among different countries as follows: 



The exports of live cattle in 1899 were 312,150 

 head ; of live sheep, 543,458 ; of frozen beef, 9,079 

 tons; of frozen mutton, 56.827 tons; of jerked 

 beef, 19,164 tons; of wool, 237,111 tons; of butter, 

 2,594,891 pounds; of wheat, 1,713.429 tons; of 

 corn, 1,116,276 tons; of linseed, 217,713 tons; of 



hay, 105,598 tons. In 1900 the exports of cattle 

 declined to 150,550, sheep to 198,102; exports of 

 frozen beef were 24,590 tons, of jerked beef 16,449 

 tons, and of frozen mutton 5(5,412 tons. The wool 

 exports fell off to 101,113 tons. The exports of 

 butter were 2,322,662 pounds. The shipments of 

 wheat were 1,929,676 tons; of corn, 223,357 tons; 

 of linseed, 223,257 tons ; of hay, 102,836 tons. The 

 decline in the exports of live cattle was due to the 

 fact that the ports of the United Kingdom were 

 closed to animals from the Argentine Republic 

 during the last eight months of the year on ac- 

 count of the foot-and-mouth disease. In the sum- 

 mer of 1901 the Argentine Government announced 

 that the disease no longer existed in any part of 

 the republic. Imports of sheep into Great Britain 

 were interdicted for the same cause, but the sheep- 

 growing industry was already declining rapidly, 

 as is indicated by the decrease in the wool exports. 

 The exportation of jerked beef to Spanish-Ameri- 

 can countries has dwindled with the rise of the 

 trade in frozen beef. The butter trade with Great 

 Britain, in spite of the slight decrease in the ex- 

 ports, is likely to expand, because the Australian 

 butter with which the Argentine product com- 

 petes must travel twice the distance. The ex- 

 ports of wheat and corn from the Argentine Re- 

 public are so uncertain and variable that they 

 exercise a disturbing influence on the world's 

 markets. The exports of wheat in 1898 were 645,- 

 161 tons, and in 1897 only 101,845 tons. The corn 

 exports in 1898 were 717,105 tons. The total 

 value of imports in 1900 was $113,485,069, and of 

 exports $154,600,412. Of the imports in this year 

 34 per cent, came from Great Britain, 15 per cent, 

 from Germany, 13 per cent, from Italy, 12 per 

 cent, from the United States, 9.5 per cent, from 

 France, and 16.5 per cent, from other countries. 

 Of the exports 15.5 per cent, went to Great Britain, 

 13 per cent, to Germany, 12 per cent, to France, 

 11.5 per cent, to Belgium, and 48 per cent, to 

 other countries. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered at 

 Argentine ports during 1899 was 10,148, of 6,939,- 

 567 tons, of which 3,319, of 646,518 tons, were 

 sailing vessels, and 6,829, of 6,293,049 tons, were 

 steamers. 



Railroads, Posts, Telegraphs. The length 

 of railroads in operation in 1900 was 10,595 miles. 

 The capital expenditure was $526,616,661 in gold. 

 The cost of the national lines was $56,331,063; of 

 guaranteed lines, $113,311,995; of provincial lines, 

 $83,859,062; of private lines, $257,141,178. The 

 gross receipts in 1898 were $41,394,169 in gold; ex- 

 penses, $19,117,118. The number of passengers 

 carried in 1900 was 17,813,712; tons of freight, 12,- 

 725,657. 



The post-office in 1898 carried 181,821,945 pieces 

 of mail-matter in the internal and 34,630,224 in 

 the international service; receipts were 7,318,989 

 francs; expenses, including telegraphs, 12,141,810 

 francs. 



The telegraphs in 1900 had a length of 27,584 

 miles, with 58,656 miles of wire. The Government 

 lines were 12,174 miles in length; provincial lines, 

 3,530 miles; railroad telegraphs, 10,190 miles; 

 private lines, 1,690 miles; messages in 1897, 5,296,- 

 184. 



Political Affairs. The political situation in 

 1901 was dominated by the financial difficulties 

 that have disturbed and partially checked the 

 prosperous development of this productive coun- 

 try for many years. The commercial conditions 

 were easier than they had been for three or four 

 years, and the export trade was increasing when 

 the Government brought forward a plan for the 

 unification of the foreign debt that excited intense 



