ARGENTINE 





r; for Ian '<> in paper: for the 



The external debt amount? to l'52.555.7n" 

 liiiL r . The internal national debts in tlie beginning 



- .i.-,'.V.i.(i:!i of gold ol 



-. nf which slOs.174.^ :i of 



nment. and $83,421,350 in paper. There 



The prov 

 whi.<.- lm.i_'.'!-; of expenditure in 1894 amounted 



:.519. had debts amounting, with a: 

 of in - 366 in gold, most of it owed 



ad. The municipal debts made a sum of | 



. In 1*95 tlie Secretary of Finance 



1 a plan for the unification of the national 



and provincial debts and railroad guarantees, pro- 



oiiu.uiK.i of gold bonds bearing 



4 per cent, interest, with 1 per cent, annual sinking 

 fund, of which .$-230.000.000 would redeem the exist- 

 ing i: '.000 the provincial debts, 

 and .*:!.").( ino.iMK) the railroad guarantees. Although 

 the General Government was not responsible for the 

 provincial debts, the project was approved by the 



The new national bank established in December, 

 1*01. after the failure of the old bank, li 

 branches, with an aggregated capital ol 

 000. The notes of the old bank, now in liquidation, 

 that were in circulation in 1S94 amounted to 

 <>. while the new bank had emitte< 



.nteed by the Government, the Banco 

 Hipotecario had | ">0 out, the Bar 



-"U.nuO. and there were 77.7: ~ 

 of Government notes and s:j.627.340 issued by the 

 municipality of Bin : making a paper cir- 



culation of 1300,743,023, besides over s41.000.000 of 

 provincial 'Id fell from a premium of 220 



per cent, to 180 in the first half of 1 - 



The Army and Navy. According to the mili- 

 tary budget for 1805, the standing army is to be 

 increased from 6.498 men to 14.104. The National 

 Guard numbers 480,000, but not more than 1 in 8 

 is trained in military tactics. 



The Argentine navy con>ists of 2 coast-guard 

 armorclads. 3 armored crui- 

 cruisers, 5 smaller cruisers, and 14 torpedo 

 while 6 torpedo destroyers of English build are to 

 Med. Toward ; 1 V 95 the Argentine 



.oOO.OoO for new war ships and 

 war materials, orders for which were placed in 

 England. 



Commerce and Production. Of a total cul- 

 tivable area of 240.00(1.1100 acres, not over 15. 

 000 acres are tilled, but the cultivated ai 

 rapidly extending:. The wheat crop in 1*94 was 

 2,044,957 tons, or over 70.000.000 bushels: the 

 maize crop, 608.000 tons: the flax crop. 260.000 

 tons. The production of wine is 1.000.000 I: 

 litres a year: of alcohol. 18.000 hectolitres. The 

 sugar crop of Tucuman in 1895 was about 100.000 

 tons. Enormous herds and flocks thrive on the 

 rich herbage of the pampas. Besides hides, jerked 

 beef, and the extract of meat, there is a large and 

 increasing export of fresh meat to England. In 



here were 22.000.000 head of cattle, 80.0"" 

 sheep, and 5.200.000 horses. There we- 

 cattle slaughtered in 1804. and 733.600 in 1*95. 

 Argentine batter was first shipped to England, to 

 compete with the Danish. Swedish. French, Cana- 

 dian, and Australasian supplies, in 1895, and as the 

 result of the first year's operations the export has 

 become a commercial success. The native gauchos, 

 herdsmen by nature, move their camps from place 

 to place, as the state of the pasturage requires, 

 simply corralling the cattle at night, and at no time 

 driving them far from the railroads. The milking 

 and dairy work is performed by Italian and Basque 

 laborers. The milk is sent bv train to one of a 



or more butter factories, which have 

 fitted up witli machinery and modern dairy appli- 

 -. imported mainly irom England and admitted 

 duty free. The milk is poorer in fat than that 

 given by the cows of Denmark, for instance, but 

 the butter ; a- the colonial product, and 



can be sold with a profit at lower r.v 



The rold value of the merchandise imports in 

 ism was s92.7-J4.dOO. and of exports slOl.24'.' 

 The imports of gold coin and bullion w 

 u:!i;. and exports sl4n.i>77: imports of silver coin 

 and bullion w '<'.), and exports .<lv~ 



The principal classes of imports were textil' - 

 s-jK.514.25S; iron and iron manufactures. $14.251.- 

 I:::.!: articles of food. $9,812,078; drink, s<>.95::.- 

 504 : timber and wood manufactures, s" 

 coal, coke, and petroleum, 8.784.051 : chemicals. 

 1.414 : paper. x3.194.5ui; : potter; and g 

 .'.710: railroad materials, $1,913,730 ; various 

 metal manufactures. sl.i;5:!.721. 



The exports of 1*94 were classified as follows : 

 Animals and animal products, s60.519.801 : agri- 

 cultural produce. s:!2.52n.256 : manufac' 



K-94: forest products, si.511.145: mineral 

 products, $311,653; various prodi. .575. 



The exports of wool were 161. 90s -heep 



skins. 36.756 tons: of wheat. 1.608.000 tons: of 

 maize. 54>76 tons: of meat. 80.000 tons. The 

 value in gold of the trade with each of the prin- 

 cipal foreign countries in 1*94 is given in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



Communications. There were 8.156 miles of 

 railroads in operation in 1894. The gross receipts 

 in 1894 were s75.<r23.000. and the expenses of opera- 

 tion S42.411.ui HI. Of the total capital, amounting 

 to S4::o.u7v2:;f. in _' Id, s42.lit7.5ul wa? invested in 

 the state railro '.o21 in lines guaranteed 



by the National Government. x49.:>73.300 in lines 

 subsidized by the provincial governments, and 

 s22 1.717. 7 V 3 in private companies' lines. There is 

 about 02. oOO.iiOO of European capital invested in 

 Argentine railroads. 



There were in 1804 in the republic 20.415 miles 

 of telegraph lines, of which 11.250 miles belonged 

 to the General Government, 1.115 miles to cable 

 companies, and S.050 miles to railroad companies. 

 The number of dispatches in 1893 was 2.500.0i 0. 



The postal traffic in 1893 w, iter- 



nal and 18.500.000 foreign letters and packets. The 

 fnce earned a net revenue of $2,085,860. and 

 the telegraph department sl.uo: 



Bomuliiry Dispute. A treaty was made with 

 Chili in 1881 whereby Chili recognized the right of 

 the Argentine Republic to all the territory east of 

 the crest of the Andes throughout Patagonia, and 

 to the eastern part of the island of Tierra del 

 Fiiego. Disputes having arisen later, this arrange- 

 ment was confirmed by a protocol signed on May 

 '', and commissioners were appointed to sur- 

 vey and delimit the boundary. The boundary com- 

 missioners could not asrree as to the interpretation 

 of the treaty. Dr. Barras Arano, the Chilian com- 

 mNsioner, claimed that a curved line carried over 

 Andean ridges and following the water-parting 

 should constitute the boundary, while the Argen- 

 tine representative insisted upon drawing the line 

 straight, taking the highest peaks as guiding points. 



The conflict over Patagonian territory dates from 



