ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



000, which was finally concluded in May, were 

 an issue price of 90, less 1^ per cent, commission, 

 with interest at 6 per cent, in gold and a sinking 

 fund of 1 per cent., the loan being secured on 

 the alcohol tax. The external obligations of the 

 provinces, which have now been assumed by the 

 National Government, were originally contracted 

 iinder the free banking law of Nov. 3, 1887. The 

 proceeds of the various loans were deposited in 

 gold in the care of the National Government, 

 which issued 44-per-cent. gold bonds for the 

 amount; and these were delivered to the con- 

 version bureau, where they were retained as se- 

 curity for the note issue of the various provin- 

 cial banks. The gold was sold by President 

 Juarez Celman, and thus the security for the 

 4^-per-cent. bonds disappeared. The National 

 Government for a long time repudiated responsi- 

 bility for the bonds, placing its argument on the 

 ground that it had acknowledged liability for 

 the note issues. 



The Army and Navy. The authorized 

 strength of the regular army is 29,513 officers 

 and men. The actual strength in 1898 was 945 

 officers and 12,073 men. The National Guard em- 

 braces all able-bodied citizens, and numbers about 

 480,000. Young men are called into camp every 

 year from the age of twenty for the period of 

 two months, and receive a careful military 

 training. 



The navy contains the old armored cruiser Al- 

 mirante Brown; the small coast-defense vessels 

 Libertad and Independencia ; 5 new belted cruisers 

 of 6,880 tons, the Garibaldi, San Martin, Pueyrre- 

 don, Gen. Belgrano, and Rivadaria, built in Italy 

 for the Italian and Spanish governments, each 

 armed with 2 10-inch guns mounted for an 

 elevation of 40, besides 10 6-inch and 6 4.7- 

 inch quick-firing guns; the protected cruiser 

 Nueve de Julio, of 3,575 tons displacement, capa- 

 ble of making 22 knots with natural draught; 

 the second-class cruiser Buenos Aires, of 4,500 

 tons, which has made more than 23 knots without 

 forced draught; 5 converted cruisers, obtained 

 from the Italian and Spanish commercial ma- 

 rine; and* the destroyers Corrientes, Missiones, 

 and Entre Rios, built in England, with a contract 

 speed of 26 knots. Their sister, the Santa Fe, has 

 been lost. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 from abroad during 1897 was 10,363, of 6,064,064 

 tons, of which 6,827 were steamers, of 5,522,973 

 tons, and 3,536 were sailing vessels, of 541,091 

 tons. 



The merchant marine in 1898 numbered 86 

 steamers, of 31,976 tons, and 157 sailing vessels, 

 of 39,695 tons. 



Commerce and Production. The cultivable 

 area is estimated at 240,000.000 acres, of which 

 only 15,000,000 are now tilled. There are 5,500,- 

 000 acres devoted to wheat, the crop of which in 

 1897 was 1,500,000 tons. Sugar cane occupies 

 about 82,000 acres. Vineyards in 1895 covered 

 71.135 acres, producing 42,267,000 gallons of 

 wine, 10,582 tons of raisins, and 478,800 gallons 

 of alcohol. The number of cattle in 1895 was 

 21.702,000; of horses, 4,447,000; of sheep, 74,380,- 

 000: of goats and other animals, 3,885,000. 



The gold value of imports in 1897 was $98,289,- 

 000, and of exports $101.169,000. The imports of 

 animal products were $2,425,759; of vegetable 

 products, $12,896,503; of beverages, $7,728,705; 

 of textile goods and apparel, $30,449,912: of oils 

 and minerals, $3,215.057; of chemicals, $2,985,231 ; 

 of colors and dyes, $626,000; of timber and wood 

 manufactures, $4,985,698; of paper, $2,642,984; 

 of hides and leather, $904,638; of iron and iron 



manufactures, $16,986,023; of other metals, 

 $2,508,530; of glass and crockery, $8,011,029; of 

 various articles, $1,922,879. The exports of ani- 

 mals and animal products were $74,044,525; of 

 agricultural products, $23,336,369; of forest 

 products, $1,918,241; of mineral products, $164,- 

 989; of products of the chase, $587,863; of vari- 

 ous articles, $1,117,312. The export of beef and 

 mutton was 91,374 tons; of wool, 205,571 tons; 

 of sheepskins, 37,077 tons; of wheat, 101,845 

 tons; of corn, 374,942 tons. The imports of gold 

 and silver in 1897 were $663,378, and the exports 

 $4,936,088. The business of exporting live stock 

 and meat to the European markets, especially 

 England, has grown so rapidly in the course of 

 the last six years that sheep and cattle have lat- 

 terly been bred for their flesh rather than for 

 wool and hides, as was formerly the practice. 

 The Argentine exports of live animals now com- 

 pete successfully with those of the United States 

 and Canada, and the trade in frozen mutton com- 

 pares favorably with that of Australia and New 

 Zealand. The rich pastures of the river Plate 

 are succulent during the whole winter, and are 

 never dried up in summer like the grazing lands 

 of Australia. The importation of fine bulls and 

 rams from England and France has greatly im- 

 proved the breed of cattle and sheep. The first 

 shipments of live animals were made in 1889. 

 The shipments for the first six months of 1899 

 were 116,000 steers and 341,000 sheep, besides 

 805,000 frozen carcasses. This includes the trade 

 with Brazil, but not the large herds driven over 

 the Andes for sale in Chili. The average weight 

 of bullocks exported to Europe is 1,500 pounds. 

 This market and the Liebig factory of extract 

 of beef on the river Uruguay absorb the native 

 breed of cattle to the extent of about 300,000 ani- 

 mals yearly, which are worth only a third of the 

 price of the better bred cattle. The old long- 

 horned breed is only raised in the remote dis- 

 tricts, and even there a slight intermixture of 

 Durham or Hereford blood is found. In the prin- 

 cipal grazing districts breeders have not only 

 graded up their cattle till they are all three quar- 

 ters or seven eighths Hereford or Durham, but 

 have greatly increased the capacity of the land 

 for fattening stock by sowing alfalfa. The land 

 adapted for this forage crop is practically unlim- 

 ited, and with the extension of its cultivation 

 at the present rate the country in the course of 

 five years will be able to support 50,000,000 head 

 of cattle, and double this number in five years 

 more. The herds are allowed to graze in the 

 alfalfa fields, and some rancheros prepare them 

 for export by feeding corn. Animals unsuitable 

 for export are converted into dried beef for the 

 Brazilian and Cuban markets in the saladeros, 

 in which 1,360,000 were slaughtered in the first 

 six months of 1899. Butter and cheese are not 

 yet manufactured on a large scale, but consider- 

 able shipments of butter have been made to Bra- 

 zil and more recently to Europe. The number 

 of sheep in the country is at least 85,000,000, con- 

 sisting of the merinos and merino grades that 

 formerly preponderated everywhere, and Lin- 

 coins, Oxfords, Leicesters, and other mutton 

 sheep now bred for export in the live state and 

 as frozen mutton. The bulk of the wool is shipped 

 to the Continent of Europe, but the coarse long 

 grades are worked up in the carpet factories of 

 the United States. Horses and mules have not 

 been bred extensively, but in the last three years 

 the British Government has purchased the re- 

 mounts for its cavalry in South Africa in Buenos 

 Ayres. New regulations for the shipment of 

 live stock, published on May 25, 1899, provide 



