ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



33 



for the reopening of British ports to Argentine 

 cattle. 



The value in gold of the imports in 1900 was 

 $113,485,000, and of exports $154,600,000. Im- 

 ports of live animals were $364,27 1 ; alimentary 

 substances, $10,453,326; beverages, $7,277,851; 

 textile fabrics and clothing, $37,597,847; mineral 

 and other oils, $4,194,342; chemical products, 

 $3,760,594; dyes and colors, $865,727; lumber 

 and wood manufactures, $7,040,854; paper, $2,- 

 92(5,206; leather and manufactures thereof, 

 $1,244,764; iron and steel and their manufac- 

 tures, $19,054,051; other metals and manufac- 

 tures thereof, $3,343,172; earthenware, china, 

 and glass, $8,893,370; tobacco, $3,147,161; other 

 articles, $3,321,533. The exports of animals and 

 animal products were valued at $71,253,886; of 

 agricultural products, $77,426,356; of forest prod- 

 ucts, $3,508,915; of mineral products, $262,222; 

 of products of the chase, $990,594; of other prod- 

 ucts, $1,158,439. There were $38,609,571 of duties 

 collected from $96,502,452 of the imports and 

 $56,169,377 of the exports. The exports of wool 

 were 101,113 tons; of sheepskins, 37,593 tons; of 

 wheat, 1,929,676 tons; of corn, 713,248 tons; of 

 beef and mutton, 99,220 tons. The imports of 

 specie were $7,209,555, and exports $3,480,840. 

 The commerce was distributed among the princi- 

 pal countries as follows: 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at Argentine ports during 1900 was 12,917, of 

 6,193,783 tons. At Buenos Ayres 1,257 vessels, 

 of 2,110,306 tons, arrived from oversea. The 

 merchant fleet of the republic in 1900 comprised 

 155 sailing vessels, of 39,798 tons, and 101 steam- 

 ers, of 40,794 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. There 

 were 10,595 miles of railroad in operation in 

 1900, capitalized at $526,616,661 in gold. The 

 gross earnings in 1898 were $41,394,169; expenses, 

 $19,117,118. The number of passengers carried 

 in 1900 was 17,898,961; tons of freight, 12,719,- 

 297. 



The length of telegraph lines in 1900 was 

 27.584, with 58,656 miles of wire. The postal 

 traffic in 1899 was 242,016.000 pieces of mail-mat- 

 ter; postal receipts, $17,492,398; postal and tele- 

 gmph expenses, $30,732.670. 



Political Affairs. The old controversy be- 

 tween the Argentine Republic and Chile which 

 several times they have threatened to settle with 

 arms, regarding the limits of their territories in 

 Patagonia, was at last by mutual agreement sub- 

 mitted to the arbitration of Great Britain. The 

 agreement was concluded on Sept. 22, 1898, and 

 the British Government appointed the boundary 

 commissioners, but before they could begin their 

 task differences arose as to the basis of arbi- 

 tration and each government sought to im- 

 pose conditions. To improve their respective 

 cases Argentina promoted emigration into parts 

 of the territory in controversy and in other parts 

 Chile constructed roads, though both had agreed 

 to preserve the status Quo. Negotiations were 

 carried on for a long time and at several stages 

 suspended. After the last breach Chile made 

 fresh proposals, which were amended by the Ar- 

 gentine Republic, and in this shape were accepted 



VOL. XLII. 3 A 



by Chile. The convention was signed by the 

 plenipotentiaries on Dec. 25, 1901; but even after 

 that the Argentine Republic declined to adhere to 

 a provision in the protocol requiring each con- 

 testant to withdraw all police from the disputed 

 territory. The chief points of the protocol were: 

 (1) Chile renounced the contention that the ex- 

 istence of artificial roads in Ultima Esperanza, 

 one of the regions in dispute, was a proof of 

 continued occupation; (2) the Argentine Repub- 

 lic and Chile both agreed to retire their police 

 from the disputed district; (3) the disputed dis- 

 trict would, pending arbitration, be guarded in 

 such way as the Argentine Republic and Chile 

 should mutually agree; (4) difficulties arising in 

 the course of negotiations for such agreement 

 should be referred for immediate decision to the 

 British arbitrators. The Argentine Government 

 consented to withdraw its police from Ultima Es- 

 peranza on receiving an assurance from Val- 

 paraiso safeguarding the rights that Chile was 

 believed to have infringed. The act submitting 

 the -whole matter to British arbitration was 

 finally signed at Buenos Ayres on Jan. 6, 1902. 

 The dispute , as to the ownership of Patagonia 

 first arose in 1843 when Chile established the 

 seaport of Punta Arenas on Magellan Straits 

 and laid claim to the whole interior. The Ar- 

 gentine Republic protested against the presence 

 of the Chileans at Punta Arenas and asserted a 

 right to all Patagonia. The controversy re- 

 mained open till 1856, when a treaty was signed 

 by which both parties agreed to accept the 

 boundaries by which the Spanish rulers divided 

 the provinces when their rule ceased in 1810. 

 Such official Spanish delimitation could not be 

 found; but there were old maps in which Pata- 

 gonia was marked as Chilean territory, and ac- 

 cordingly Chile asserted a claim to the entire 

 country. The Argentine Republic did not recog- 

 nize this claim, but took no steps to establish 

 its own alleged rights until Chile became in- 

 volved in a war with Peru and Bolivia, when as 

 the price of non-intervention the Argentine Gov- 

 ernment exacted from Chile a treaty dividing 

 Patagonia. The line of division was stated to be 

 the line running along the highest peaks of the 

 Andes, which divide the watershed. The highest 

 peaks are near the western coast; the main 

 range of the Cordilleras which for the most part 

 forms the water-parting, runs through the middle 

 of Patagonia. The treaty of 1881 was loosely 

 drafted without the advice of geographical ex- 

 perts and without knowledge of the provisions to 

 be included for the strict definition of inter- 

 national boundaries. The Chileans construed it 

 as giving to Chile the main western watershed, 

 and drew the line at the principal divide of the 

 waters. The Argentines took the crest of the 

 great chain of the Andes that was thrown up in 

 a later geological period as the boundary, and 

 assigned to Chile only the steep Pacific slope. 

 Col. Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich, one of the 

 appointed commissioners, went to South America 

 soon after the protocol was signed to explore 

 with a staff of assistants the territories in ques- 

 tion. The boundary post at San Francisco south 

 of the Puno de Atacama, the district which 

 United States Minister Buchanan awarded to the 

 Argentine Republic, had to be fixed by the Brit- 

 ish commissioners as well as the frontier in 

 Patagonia, where the districts of Lake Lacar 

 and the Argentine settlement of 16 de Octubre 

 needed special examination, and also the Ultima 

 Esperanza and the territory between Lake Xa- 

 huel Huapi and 52 of south latitude. The ba- 

 sins of these Patagonian lakes are claimed by 



