ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



39 



century of Christ, when the great immigra- 

 tion took place of the Indo-Scythic tribes, 

 who were all zealous Buddhists. Rawlinson 

 thinks it is possible, however, that some of 

 the excavations may be still older than this; 

 for there were Sacse in the mountains as early 

 as the time of Darius, and the Chinese pil- 

 grims refer to monuments at Balkh, which 

 date from Kasyapa, who was the Buddha pre- 

 ceding Sakya Mtmi. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, an independent re- 

 public of South America. For details of area, 

 population, etc., see " Annual Cyclopedia " for 

 1883. The present population of the capital, 

 Buenos Ay res, is estimated at 400,000 ; in Feb- 

 ruary, 1884, it numbered 283,758. 



Government. The President of the Republic 

 is Lieut.-Gen. Don Julio A. Roca (elected Oct. 

 12, 1880, for six years). The Vice-President 

 is Don Francisco B. Madero. The Cabinet was 

 composed of the following ministers: Interior, 

 Dr. Don Benjamin Paz ; Foreign Affairs, Don 

 Francisco Ortiz ; Finance, Don Victorina de la 

 Plaza ; Justice, Public Worship, and Public 

 Instruction, Don Eduardo Wilde; War and 

 Navy, Gen. Benjamin Victories. 



The Argentine Minister at Washington is 

 Dr. L. L. Dominguez, and the Consul-General 

 at New York, for the Union, is Seflor C. Car- 

 ranza. The United States Minister Resident 

 at the Argentine capital is the Hon. Thomas 

 O. Osborn, and the American Consul at Buenos 

 Ayres, E. L. Baker. 



Army. According to official returns, bearing 

 date of April, 1884, the army of the republic, 

 exclusive of the National Guard, was 7,312 

 strong, comprising 3,704 foot, 2,576 horse, and 

 1,032 artillery. The National Guard was 322,- 

 962 strong. 



Navy. In April, 1884, the navy was com- 

 posed as follows : 



The officers and men are distributed as fol- 

 lows: navy, 1,366; torpedo service, 137; ma- 

 rines, 371. 



Finances. On Jan. 1, 1883, the public debt 

 consisted of the following items : 



Foreign debt $58,035,600 



Home debt 36,530,188 



Due banks 10,052,406 



Treasury acceptances, due 4,192,1 85 



Floating debt of 1830 15,802,305 



Total $124,112,683 



The debt of the province of Buenos Ayres 

 on March 31, 1884, was $32,271,290. The net 

 income and outlays in 1882 were: revenue, 

 $24,323,127; expenditures, $52,331,241. The 

 budget estimate for 1884 was : revenue, $33,- 



770,333; expenditures, $34,053,484. In the 

 foregoing estimate the income from duties was 

 valued as follows: on imports, $21,270,333; 

 on exports, $3,593,000 ; from stamp - tax, 

 $1,500,000; post-office and telegraphs, $760,- 

 000; lighthouses, $600,000; direct taxes, $1,- 

 150,000; from railroads owned by the Gov- 

 ernment, $1,957,000; and from railroads on 

 which the Government guarantees the inter- 

 est, $500,000. The chief items of expenditure 

 were: Interior, $6,950,714; Army, $6,150,- 

 925; Navy, $2,549,538; Justice, $4,291,671; 

 finances, $13,738,936. The budget of the 

 province of Buenos Ayres for 1885 estimated 

 the income at $11,620,964, and the outlay at 

 $11,491,556. 



The Financial Crisis. After Gen. J. A. Roca 

 was elected President of the Republic, the 

 confidence that his character and energy in- 

 spired gave a great impulse to all sorts of un- 

 dertakings, both public and private, and new 

 settlers poured into the country in surprising 

 numbers. Railroad-building was carried on 

 with more vigor than ever. Flushed with 

 success, the Government launched out into 

 public works at such a rate that since 1881 the 

 administration has contracted $125,000,000 of 

 new indebtedness, despite the rapidly increas- 

 ing income. Aside from the Federal Govern- 

 ment, each of the fourteen provinces had its 

 own budget. 



In 1884 several disappointments came. In 

 the first place, there was the cholera, which 

 compelled the Government to decree a rigor- 

 ous quarantine against Mediterranean steamers 

 bringing immigrants, which, to some extent, 

 interfered with the usual current of new settlers 

 from southern Europe. Then came the dis- 

 astrous inundations that flooded the country 

 during the latter part of the year, and hin- 

 dered the arrival of products from the interior. 

 Merchants hesitated to ship even the goods 

 they had, because there was pending in Con- 

 gress a bill abolishing export duties, and there 

 was considerable delay in passing this bill. 



On Dec. 1, 1884, $90,000,000 new loans were 

 still to be floated. The European market was 

 tried with $10,000,000 for public works, but 

 only $3,500,000 could be placed. On Jan. 12, 

 1885, a run on the Banco Provincial, of Buenos 

 Ayres, set in ; the next day the bank suspended 

 specie payments, and on Jan. 16 the Presi- 

 dent of the Republic declared the national 

 currency a legal tender, gold rising thereupon 

 17 per cent., and subsequently to 20 per cent. 

 With these measures the panic subsided. In 

 July, 1885, Congress passed the new budget 

 estimate for 1886, which placed the income at 

 $41,197,500, and the outlay at $39,433,877, and 

 Dr. Carlos Pellegrini succeeded in negotiating 

 a 5 per cent, sterling loan in London at 84, to 

 run thirty-seven years, for 8,400,000, but it 

 was not ratified. 



At this time the floating debt of the Govern- 

 ment amounted to $30,000,000, and it was re- 

 solved to raise a domestic 5 per cent, loan to 



