ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



29 



The Minister of Finance endeavored to meet 

 this deficit by $3,000,000 raised on Treasury 

 bills, which in that event would be added to 

 the floating debt ; yet the latter would be no 

 Creator at the end of 1874 than at the begin- 

 ning. as there would be paid off an amount 

 equal to the accretion. The interest and sink- 

 ing fund on the national funded debt, home 

 and foreign, are equal to one-third of the rev- 

 enue. The appropriations for immigration are 

 more and more generous, and not inferior to 

 those of some of the Australian colonies. The 

 customs receipts for the first five months of 

 ly"3 tend to confirm the minister's estimate of 

 the resources at his disposal. They were, in 



January ............................... $1 ,473.141 



February .............................. 1.S7. 14H 



Mairb ................................. 1.900.H26 



April .................................. 1,756,137 



May .................................... 4,162,191 



Total 



But for the rebellion in Entre-Rios the min- 

 ister would have reduced the duty on wine to 

 20 per cent., instead of 25 per cent. He esti- 

 mates that, if those troubles did not exist, 

 $1,500,000 could be saved, and the revenue 

 increased to $22,000,000. 



The export duties were, however, to be low- 

 ered to 4 per cent. 



About ^ of imported goods pay 25 per cent. 

 dty ; -fg pay 20 per cent. ; and -fa pays 10 per 

 cent. ; ,' 5 is duty free ; and a small proportion 

 pays 3 per cent. Toward the end of April a 

 monetary crisis broke out at Buenos Ayres, 

 caused, it is said, by undue speculation, not in 

 local securities alone, bnt also in real estate, to 

 an extent that could not fail to hamper in an 

 extraordinary degree the financial resources 

 of the Argentine capital. Unremitting com- 

 mercial prosperity during a series of years, due 



in a great measure to the high price of wool 

 and other animal products, has had for its 

 natural result a belief that it would continue ; 

 but a heavy fall in the value of those staples, 

 botli in the republic and in European markets, 

 brought about a change as disastrous as it was 

 unexpected ; and, worst of all, leaves but little 

 hope of an early revival. Government in the 

 mean time went on multiplying railway and 

 other costly enterprises, for the expenses of 

 which provision was of course to be made in 

 England, and the interest on existing loans 

 was likewise accumulating ; all which cir- 

 cumstances caused a financial pressure, to be 

 met only by shipments of gold, the supply of 

 which must soon be exhausted in the country. 

 Holders of produce were of course reluctant to 

 accept the reduced prices. 



In June a bill was presented to Congress for 

 the reduction of export duties by 50 per cent. 

 Although the measure met with general ap- 

 probation, and would tend to stimulate native 

 industry, it was objected, on the other baud, 

 that so large a reduction would be hurtful to 

 the national revenue. To meet this objection, 

 it was suggested that deficits resulting from 

 the proposed reform could be made up by the 

 taxation of such imported luxuries as silks, 

 wines, etc. 



On the 10th of June the news of two hun- 

 dred failures in Vienna produced almost a 

 panic, and national bonds fell 1| per cent. 

 A bill was introduced to empower the Gov- 

 ernment to increase the circulating medium 

 to the extent of fifteen millions of hard 

 dollars. Mortgage banks were multiplying in 

 various parts of the country, especially in the 

 province of Santa F6. Up to November the 

 state of the financial affairs of the province 

 continued unsatisfactory. 



tlTY OF BCENO3 AYUE8, FROM A rnnTofJItATMl I'HESENTED BY C. CAKBAUZA, ESQ., 



ctiAKog D'AFFAIRES TO THE UNITED STATES. 



In spite of the financial difficulties in Buenos 

 Ayres, commerce is in a most flourishing con- 

 dition. The imports are fast increasing; but, 

 as n nntnral result of the ever-swelling tide of 

 immigration, the exports for 1872, as compared 



with those of 1870, had almost doubled, 

 effect, the balance of trade was, in 



1870, Imports to exports, 08 9 to 5 



1S71, " " 5 to 3 



1878, " " 4 to 8 



In 



