ARGENTINE CONFEDERATION. 



27 



On the 1st of July, 1871, according to the 

 President's message, there were 531 millas 

 of railroads (1 rnilla=1.8o kilometre) in oper- 

 ation, 244 millas in process of building, and 

 1,954 millas were under contract. 



According to the same message there are at 

 present 1,288 millas of telegraphs in opera- 

 tion, while 2,630 millas were to be laid next 

 year. 



At the beginning of the year, the rebel 

 leader, Lopez Jordan, was at the head of an 

 army numbering from 14,000 to 15,000 men, 

 of all arms. General Arredonda, who had 

 been placed in command of the national forces, 

 had achieved a few partial successes. Lopez 

 not only held the province of Entre Rios under 

 his control, but was making incursions into 

 the bordering provinces of Santa F6" and Cor- 

 rientes. In April his forces were thoroughly 

 routed by those of the national Government, 

 and the province of Entre Rios pacified. The 

 only province then remaining under the rule 

 of rebel chiefs was Santiago. 



In March and April, the city of Buenos 

 Ayres and the vicinity suffered terribly from 

 the ravages of the yellow fever. For several 

 weeks business was entirely suspended. Of 

 foreign nationalities, the Italian suffered the 

 most fatally ; the Germans and English were 

 less afflicted. The Germans and the Swiss 

 established aid societies, in order to assist their 

 suffering countrymen. The city authorities 

 made the most praiseworthy exertions to sup- 

 ply the most needy with necessaries. Only 

 a number of native physicians cowardly fled 

 from the city. Immediately on the out- 

 break of the epidemic, a committee of promi- 

 nent men, representing all nationalities, was 

 formed to assist the Government and the faith- 

 ful physicians. They appointed and paid phy- 

 sicians to visit the poor in their houses, and 

 directed all druggists gratuitously to supply 

 those bearing a certificate from the committee 

 with the needed medicine. They furnished a 

 number of beds, paid out large amounts of 

 money for the sick, appointed more than two 

 thousand nurses, and established eating-houses, 

 from which the sick and the convalescent, 

 with their families, could receive wholesome 

 food. At the head of the committee was Dr. 

 Jos6 Perez, grand-master of the Argentine 

 Freemasons ; he soon fell a victim to his phil- 

 anthropic zeal. The committee of immigra- 

 tion and the national Government immediately 

 after the outbreak of the epidemic caused the 

 immigrants, at public expense, to be sent to 

 the ports of the interior, which were not in- 

 fected. President Sarmiento, in his message 

 to the Argentine Congress, remarked with re- 

 gard to the epidemic: "The capital in the 

 course of time has become more and more 

 powerful, as is proved by the increase of its 

 commerce ; but attention has not to an equal 

 degree been directed to those works, without 

 which a large city cannot remain healthy and 

 prosperous. Thus the danger came upon us 



unexpectedly, and our terrible experience will 

 lead to the most stringent measures for puri- 

 fying and airing the city, and perhaps the un- 

 healthy parts will be built anew." Among 

 these buildings will be the new port, which it 

 is thought can be safely and conveniently con- 

 structed, at an expense of two million pounds 

 sterling, within six years. Official returns of 

 the mortality caused by the epidemic up to May 

 llth placed the total number of victims at 

 13,403, a figure much under the estimate which 

 had been made by the press and the public. 



The transatlantic telegraph about the middle 

 of the year was completed to San Luis, and 

 the snow-cable across the Cordillera was be- 

 gun. There is now telegraphic communica- 

 tion extending through the most remote prov- 

 inces of the republic, and it was generally 

 hoped that, by the end of the year 1871, there 

 would be connection with Chili and the Pacific. 

 At the same time, an overland line was about 

 to be laid down from the river Plate to Ya- 

 guaron (Rio Grande), and, as the wires already 

 extended southward from Rio Janeiro to Port 

 Alegre, the republic would soon be in momen- 

 tary communication with the Brazilian capital. 

 A concession to lay a line from Rio Janeiro to 

 Para (near the mouth of the Amazons) was 

 granted to Mr. Lamas, of Buenos Ayres, by 

 the Brazilian Government. 



President Sarmiento, in September, vetoed 

 a resolution of Congress, to transfer the capi- 

 tal of the confederation to Villa Maria. In 

 his message to Congress, he urged that, in 

 order to protect arms, munitions, etc., against 

 internal enemies, it would be necessary to for- 

 tify Villa Maria. If, in such a case, the com- 

 munication of Villa Maria with Rosario or 

 Buenos Ayres should cease, the Government 

 would be lost, as arms and munitions were not 

 manufactured in the country, but imported 

 from abroad. Consequently, in order to pre- 

 vent this, the towns of Rosario, Cordoba, and 

 Rio Cuarto, would also have to be fortified. 

 To the expenses for fortifying these four places, 

 there would, moreover, be added the expense 

 for a number of new buildings as a capitol 

 for Congress, buildings for the President, the 

 ministers, for the press of the Government, a 

 prison, a post-office, barracks, etc. Besides, the 

 region around Villa Maria was unwholesome. 

 Therefore, Buenos Ayres must, for the present, 

 be the capital. The resolution having been 

 returned to Congress, the Senate again gave to 

 it the two-thirds majority which is required to 

 carry it over the President's veto ; but, the 

 House giving a tie-vote, the project has failed 

 for the present. 



The following is an extract from the report 

 of Minister Avellaneda, showing the progress 

 of education in the Argentine Republic : 



The department of public instruction has been very 

 busy during the past year in establishing' new schools, 

 granting subsidies, improving every branch of popu- 

 lar education, and losing no opportunity to enlighten 

 and instruct all classes of the people, especially in 

 the more remote provinces, where the lamp of learn- 



