ARGENTINA 



338 



ARGENTINA 



were legal; in that year civil marriage was 

 legalized. Education of children from six to 

 fourteen years of age is compulsory, and a 

 recently-improved system of free secular 

 schools is making its influence felt. The gov- 

 ernment is yearly adding largely to its expen- 

 ditures in this direction, and the illiterate pop- 

 ulation of fifty-five per cent in 1905 which 

 was less than the corresponding population in 

 several of the countries of Europe is now only 

 fifty per cent. There are sixty-seven normal 

 schools for the training of teachers, five na- 

 tional universities and numerous colleges. The 

 national observatories at Cordoba and La Plata 

 enjoy a reputation in Europe and America. 



Commercial Opportunities. Business oppor- 

 tunities for North Americans in Argentina are 

 generally associated in the mind with great 

 corporations and the investment of large cap- 

 ital; and indeed, North American enterprise 

 is to be witnessed in the business of such cor- 

 porations in various lines of production. It 

 is nevertheless a fact that contracts for the 

 construction of public works are usually made 

 with European companies, and that North 

 American salesmen have not learned to com- 

 pete very successfully with agents of European 

 houses in securing orders for wholesale trade. 

 Various reasons are offered for this. Conti- 

 nental Europe makes use of the metric sys- 

 tem of weights and measures, which is uni- 

 versally used in South American lands; and 

 other weights and measures are foreign and 

 perplexing. Further, the North American sys- 

 tem of credits is more restricted than that 

 of European houses, which are generally ready 

 to extend the time of payment considerably 

 beyond the time to which wholesale houses 

 in the United States are accustomed. Further, 

 North American shippers have acquired in 

 Spanish America a reputation for carelessness 

 in the packing and shipment of goods, and for 

 delays in shipping, and however much or little 

 this reputation may be deserved it remains 

 to be overcome by care and promptness in the 

 future. 



But probably these matters count for less 

 than the barrier which is found between peo- 

 ples in difference between peoples in educa- 

 tion and in habit relating to social matters. 

 Representatives of European houses acquire 

 the speech, social customs and sentiments of 

 representative Argentines, and do not seem to 

 be foreigners. A knowledge not only of the 

 rudiments of Spanish speech, but also of the 

 idioms of commerce, avoids misunderstandings. 



A similarity of tastes in literature, art, music 

 and drama, and a common historical and relig- 

 ious inheritance, constitute a bond of sympa- 

 thy which cannot but influence trade relations. 



There is much opportunity offered in Argen- 

 tina for small retail trade establishments such 

 as the "ten cent stores" of Northern lands. 

 A Monte pio (small loans on collateral) is 

 guarded in the interests of the poor, and is 

 controlled by the municipality. The business 

 of supplying mate, or Paraguayan tea, is grow- 

 ing rapidly. The quebracho flojo, or iodina, a 

 hardwood tree of Argentina, produces a dye 

 much used in South America. Another, que- 

 bracho, rich in tannin, produces a very hand- 

 some red. 



Government. Argentina is a federal repub- 

 lic, with a constitution in many respects sim- 

 ilar to that of the United States, adopted in 

 1853 and twice amended. The President is 

 chosen by electors, and serves six years; both 



ARGENTINA NATIONAL, FLAG 



Outside stripes, blue ; middle stripe, white ; 

 sun, yellow. 



he and the Vice-President must be Roman 

 Catholics, and neither can succeed himself. 

 The legislative department comprises a Con- 

 gress, of which the Senate, with thirty mem- 

 bers, and the House of Deputies, of 120 mem- 

 bers, are the two branches. Senators serve 

 nine years; Deputies, four. There are four- 

 teen provinces (states), ten territories and one 

 federal district (Buenos Aires). The consti- 

 tution gives to the provinces full control of 

 affairs purely local. There are provincial leg- 

 islatures, also elected. 



History. Sebastian Cabot, commanding a 

 Spanish expedition in 1526, named the La 

 Plata River, and founded upon its banks a 

 colony which Spain at once claimed and de- 

 veloped as a dependency of Peru. In 1776 

 some semblance of home rule was granted to 

 the La Plata colonists; but Spanish rule was 

 oppressive, and in 1810 the colonists declared 

 their independence. Years of war and disorder 



