30 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



several governors to cooperation, sending 

 agents in all directions, and locating 4,400 

 people in the first quarter of 1875. In this 

 number are included 25 sent to the Rio Ber- 

 mejo, now open to steam navigation, and who 

 will shortly be followed by thousands of 

 others. During my tour through Entre-Rios 

 I visited the rising colony of Villa Colon, where 

 the custom-house yielded in the first quarter 

 of 1874 and 1875 $3,000 and $16,000 respec- 

 tively. In proof of the success of our agricult- 

 ural colonies, I may add that the value of the 

 grain-crop alone of those of Santa F6 amounted 

 to $2,000,000 in 1874. To the Concordia colo- 

 nists, on the western frontier of Buenos. Ayres, 

 who had suffered greatly by war and the failure 

 of the crops, I had assistance promptly sent." 



Indeed, in the early months of the year, the 

 Government and the public press were very 

 much concerned at the large numbers of 

 foreigners who daily left the republic, mostly 

 for Chili or Brazil, owing to the difficulty or 

 rather impossibility of obtaining work in the 

 city in consequence of the general stagnation 

 in every branch of commerce and industry. 

 A circular was addressed by the President to 

 the governors of provinces, urging them to set 

 apart lands for suitable families to settle upon, 

 and an appeal made to Congress for the neces- 

 sary funds for the successful establishment of 

 colonies. Notwithstanding the vast and hith- 

 erto unreclaimed territories possessed by the 

 several provinces, these have so far shown 

 little disposition to make free land-grants to 

 colonists individually, except in comparatively 

 dangerous and exposed regions. A much-de- 

 sired reform in this respect is, however, looked 

 forward to at no far-distant day. The very 

 existence of the republic depends upon its la- 

 bor, *nd the distribution of that labor over its 

 immense agricultural surface, where the most 

 encouraging results are undoubtedly to be ob- 

 tained. But existing circumstances are of a 

 nature to turn any foreigners from venturing 

 into the interior. 



Official statistics showed the aggregate value 

 of the property held by the settlers of the six 

 flourishing colonies in Santa Fe to amount, in 

 1875, to rather more than $10,000,000, or an 

 average of about $4,000 per family, against 

 $3,000 in 1872. The farming stock was set 

 down at 11,160 draught-oxen; 42,747 cows; 

 14,173 horses; 6,833 sheep; and 6,988 swine. 

 A project of a new homestead law was laid 

 before Congress by the Government, and a 

 large majority was in favor of its passage. 



The President of the Republic is Dr. Don Ni- 

 colas Avellaneda (succeeded Sefior Sarmiento 

 in 1874); the Vice-President, Dr. Don Ma- 

 riano Acosta (elected in the same year) ; Min- 

 ister of the Interior, Dr. Don Simon de Iriondo ; 

 of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Don Bernardo de Irig6- 

 yen ; of Finance, Seilor Don Lucas L. Gonzalez ; 

 of Justice, Public Worship, and Public Instruc- 

 tion, Seflor Don 0. Leguizamon ; of War and 

 Marine, Seflor Don Adolfo Alsina. Argentine 



minister to the United States, Seflor Don Ma- 

 nuel R. Garcia (in Europe since 1&72) ; charge 

 d'affaires, Sefior Don G. Videla Dorna. 



The following is the list of the Governors of 

 the fourteen provinces: 



Buenos Ayres C. Casares (May, 1875). 



Minister of the Interior ... Dr. A. del Valle. 



Minister of Finance R. Varela. 



Catamarca General 0. Navarro. 



C6rdoba l)r. E. Rodriguez. 



Corrientes Dr. V. Pampin. 



Entre-Kios Dr. R. Febre. 



Jujuy F. M. Alvarez Prado. 



La Rioja R. Ocampo. 



Mendoza F. Civit. 



Salta M. F. Araoz. 



San Juan R. Doncel. 



San Luis R. Cortes. 



Santa Fe S. Bayo. 



Santiago G. Santillan. 



Tucuman B. Lopez. 



The financial situation of the country, though 

 generally improving, is subject to considerable 

 fluctuations from year to year. 



The following tables set forth the amount 

 and various branches of the revenue and ex- 

 penditure for 1874: 



REVENUE. 



Import duties $12,512,878 85 



Export duties 2,803,029 03 



Public warehouse fees 478,077 58 



Stamped paper. 2(57,185 46 



Post-Office 174,200 48 



Telegraphs 77,930 75 



Lighthouses 85,601 73 



Dividend of Central Argentine Railway Co. 116,620 00 



Sundries 130,137 70 



Total $16,090,661 53 



EXPENDITURE. 



Ministry of the Interior $3,847,953 80 



Ministry of Foreign Relations 128,056 08 



Ministry of Finance 12,794,406 68 



Ministry of Justice, etc. . . 1,152,045 17 



Ministry of War and Marine 8,006,801 65 



Total $25,929,243 88 



On comparing the totals of these tables, a 

 deficit of $9,838,582.30 will be observed ; but 

 it is here necessary to consider the unusually 

 large outlay in the Ministry of War and Marine, 

 no less than $3,076,156.33 having been incurred 

 by the rebellion in Entre-Rios and that in Bue- 

 nos Ayres, the first headed by Jordan, and 

 the other by Mitre ; and also the marked de- 

 crease in the revenue in 1874 as compared 

 with that of 1873, notwithstanding the addi- 

 tion of a new source of national income, under 

 the title " Lighthouses " (which stands for 

 nearly $4,000,000), as will be seen by the 

 subjoined comparative table of the revenue for 

 the two years mentioned : 



