40 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



the amount of $20,000,000 in order to meet 

 its more pressing liabilities. 



In February the gold premium reached 33 

 per cent. ; in March, 61 ; in April it receded to 

 41 per cent., and recovered to 50 ; in May it 

 fluctuated between 36 and 44; in June, be- 

 tween 30 and 65 ; in July, between 36 and 37, 

 and reached again 45 to 46 on Aug. 81. 



Post-Office. In 1884 the post-office of Buenos 

 Ay res handled 18,000,000 items of mail matter, 

 and during the first six months of 1885, 10,- 

 000,000 ; whereas in 1865 the number was but 

 1,000,000, and in 1875, 7,000,000. There is a 

 mail leaving for and arriving from Europe 

 nearly every day. All mails for the United 

 States go and come by way of England, be- 

 cause of the lack of direct steamship commu- 

 nication. 



Railroads. There were in operation in 1884 

 the following lines of railway : 



Lines. Kilometres. 



Private : 



Buenos Ayres to Tandil 1,016 



Nueve de Julio to Temper-ley 691 



To Tigre 30 



To Enseuada 56 



To Campana 81 



Mercedes to Chacabuco 108 



Kosaria to C6rdoba 396 



Rosaria to Candelaria 60 



(Joncordia to Monte Caseros 155 



~2,598 

 Government : 



Villa Maria to Mendoza 599 



Cordoba to Tucuman 546 



Frias to Santiago del Cestero 162 



Puerto Ruiz to Guaieguay 10 



Total 8,910 



There were in July, 1885, five street railway 

 companies, with 93 miles of track, carrying 

 1,850,000 passengers monthly. 



Telegraphs. There were in 1884 six Govern- 

 ment land lines of telegraph, with a length of 

 wire of 21,278 kilometres, 286 offices, and 856 

 telegraphers, besides 85 kilometres of cable and 

 8 private land lines with 4,758 kilometres of 

 wire, 105 offices, and 157 employes, besides 

 63 kilometres of cable. In June, United 

 States Minister Osborn, acting in accordance 

 with instructions received from the State De- 

 partment in Washington, concluded a contract 

 securing to the Central and South American 

 Telegraph Company a concession to establish 

 cables between Buenos Ayres and Rio Janeiro, 

 and land lines between Buenos Ayres and the 

 Pacific coast. 



Owners of plantations mostly reside in Bue- 

 nos Ayres, and have telephone wires between 

 their offices and their plantations. There are 

 more telephones in use in the city in propor- 

 tion to its size than in most other cities. 



Stock-Farming. In the central region of the 

 republic are vast plains, where feed over 

 80,000,000 head of sheep and from 16,000,000 

 to 18,000,000 head of cattle, in addition to 

 droves of horses in uncounted numbers. One 

 owner has over 60,000 mares that he is about 

 to slaughter for their hides and grease. 



To convey an idea of the comparative im- 



portance of the La Plata region as a wool-pro- 

 ducer, and the rapidity of increase, we give in 

 millions of pounds English, reduced to clean 

 wool, what the three chief producing regions 

 have turned out during the past four years : 



In 1884-'85 the Argentine clip furnished for 

 export 283,000 bales, against 254,000 in 1883- 

 '84. Australians confess that the chief reason 

 why their wool does not bring, on the whole, 

 as good prices in London as formerly, is to 

 be found in the steady improvement that is 

 taking place in the quality of Argentine wool. 



Mutton. In September a company was 

 formed in Hamburg for the purpose of import- 

 ing mutton from Buenos Ayres in refrigerator 

 steamers, the capital being fixed at 1,000,000 

 marks. The company expects to import 120,- 

 000 carcasses annually. 



Commerce. The foreign trade of the Argen- 

 tine Republic for five years has been : 



The American trade with the Argentine Re- 

 public is shown in the following table : 



Report of the American Commissioners. The 



commissioners appointed to visit the Central 

 and South American states, waited on Presi- 

 dent Roca while at Buenos Ayres and reported 

 as follows : 



The share of the United States in the enormous 

 commerce of the River Plate country, which includes 

 Paraguay, Uruguay, and the Argentine Republic, is 

 lamentably insignificant, and less than it was half a 

 century ago. The reason is very apparent. Twenty- 

 one lines of steamships connect these ports with 

 those of Europe, while there is no regular steamship 

 communication whatever with our country. From 

 forty to sixty steamers arrive at Buenos Ayres every 

 month from Europe, and not one from the United 

 States. The flag of our country is never seen in these 

 waters except upon men-of-war, and semi-occasion- 

 ally upon some sailing-vessel which happened to be 

 chartered for some special voyage. An English com- 

 pany sends a steamer to New York when necessary, 

 where it discharges a cargo of hides and wool and re- 

 loads with a cargo of merchandise for Europe. The 

 few products of our fields and factories found there 

 are brought sometimes in these chartered vessels, but 

 more frequently come by way of Europe, the mer- 



