ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



19 



railroads, stamps, post office, licenses, land tax, etc. 

 The estimated gold expenditure was $19,957,402, of 

 which $17,619,802 was for the debt, $2,025,000 for 

 public works, and $313,040 for foreign affairs ; esti- 

 mated expenditure in paper currency, $92,159.745, 

 of which $21,710,098 was for the interior and Con- 

 gress, $592,648 for foreign affairs, $6,709,933 for 

 finance, $5,552,422 for the national debt, $8,824,577 

 for temporary debts, $13,002,741 for justice and 

 public instruction, $16.581,004 for the army, $10,- 

 626,319 for the navy, and $8,500,000 for public 

 works. The premium on gold in the middle of 1898 

 was 175 and over. 



The national debt in the beginning of 1897 

 amounted to 86.635.680 sterling, consisting of an 

 external debt of 63,380,290, $91,861,000 of internal 

 debts payable in gold and $82,374,994 payable in 

 paper. The provincial debts, including unpaid 

 interest, amounted in 1895 to $137,261,866 in gold 

 and the municipal debts to $24,596,422 in gold. A 

 bill was passed in 1896 providing for the assumption 

 of the provincial external debts by the Federal 

 Government. The railroad guarantees were also 

 assumed in accordance with the terms of another 



gallons of alcohol. The vineyards cover 71,000 

 and the sugar plantations 82,000 acres. There 

 were 21,702,000 horned cattle, 74,380,000 sheep, 

 4,447,000 horses, and 3,885,000 goats, etc., in 1895. 

 In 1896 there were 367,230 cattle slaughtered. In 

 1897 there were 164,414 slaughtered and 73,867 

 shipped alive to England, where 345,217 sheep were 

 also landed, being 68 per cent, of the total year's 

 produce. The exports of frozen mutton, nine tenths 

 of it for the British market, were 50,894 tons, show- 

 ing an increase of 5,789 tons over the shipments of 

 1896. The exports of frozen beef show an increase 

 year by year, but those of jerked beef are declining 

 to a much greater extent. Efforts have been made 

 to establish a large export trade in butter, but the 

 shipments in 1897, amounting to 1,319,364 pounds, 

 show a decrease of nearly a third, while the export 

 of cheese was only half as great as in the preceding 

 year, and a fifth of that of 1895. The export of 

 Argentine wheat in 1897 was only 101,845 tons, 

 one tenth of the quantity exported in 1895. The 

 exports of corn were 374,942 tons, one fifth as great 

 as in 1896 and less than half as great as in 1895. 

 The exports of linseed was 162,477 tons, compared 



THE MUSEUM IN LA PLATA. 



act of Congress. A deficit in the revenue for 1897 

 was covered by an internal loan of $39,000,000. 



The Army and Navy. The Argentine regular 

 army numbers 29,513 officers and men. The 

 National Guard is estimated at 480,000. It com- 

 prises the whole able-bodied male population, which 

 receives military instruction four days in every 

 year, while the young men first inscribed at the age 

 of twenty are drilled in camp for two months. 



The navy consists of the first-class cruisers " San 

 Martin " and " Garibaldi," bought of Italy, 3 other 

 armored cruisers, 3 second-class cruisers, 2 monitors, 

 11 small cruisers and gunboats, 4 destroyers, and 12 

 first-class and 10 third-class torpedo boats. 



Commerce and Production. The Argentine 

 Republic is one of the greatest grazing countries in 

 the world, and is rapidly becoming a great agricul- 

 tural country also. Of a total cultivable area of 

 240,000,000 acres 15.000,000 acres were tilled in 

 1895. The production of wheat in 1897 was 1,500,- 

 000 tons, raised on 5,500,000 acres. The sugar crop 

 in the northern provinces amounted to 110,000 

 tons. There were 42,267.000 gallons of wine and 

 10,582 tons of raisins produced in 1895, also 478,800 



with 276,443 tons in 1895; The exports of wool 

 were 204,571 tons, compared with 187,619 tons in 

 the preceding year. 



The total gold value of imports for 1897 was 

 $98,288,948, of which $36,392,057 came from Great 

 Britain, $11,114,102 from Germany, $11,019,576 

 from France, $10,943,038 from Italy, and $10,101,- 

 714 from the United States. The total value of 

 exports was $101,114,102, of which $22,999.019 

 went to France, $14,047,135 to Germany, $12,999,019 

 to Great Britain, $8,934,829 to Belgium, $8,685,187 

 to Brazil, and $8,321,611 to the United States. In 

 1896 the total value of imports was $112,058,000, 

 and of exports $115,671,000. The imports of coin 

 and bullion were $6,063,345, and the exports 

 $2,178,891. Of the value of merchandise exports 

 $70,534.040 represented animals and animal prod- 

 ucts, $36,963,480 agricultural produce, $6,169,105 

 manufactured products, $1,268,663 forest produce, 

 $352,840 mineral products, and $382,836 various 

 products. As compared with 1896 there was a fall- 

 ing off in the total trade of $30,000,000, about 

 equally divided between imports and exports. The 

 cause was a failure of crops. The cattle exports 



