474 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



third to one-fourth for the whole country. Each province has its national 

 college, besides which there are normal schools, two agricultural schools, a school 

 of mines at San Juan, and two universities — Buenos Ayres and Cordoba. 



Excluding the ephemeral sheets, which are due to political rivalries and which 

 disappear after every election, the periodical ])ve>is comprises (1892) one hundred 

 and seventy newspapers, of which twenty-four are dailies. Of the latter as many 

 as fifteen appear in Buenos Ayres in the five more important current languages — 

 Spanish, Italian, French, English, and German. 



AdMIMSTRATIOxN. 



The constitution of the Argentine Republic, as framed by the Santa Fé Con- 

 vention of 1853, gives the State a federal representative form of government. 

 Each of the fourteen provinces of the Confederation has its own administration, 

 represented in six of them by two Chambers, and in the eight others by a single 

 legislative body. But each province has also its governor or president, elected 

 for a certain period, and assisted in some instances by a vice-governor. All adult 

 male citizens enjoy the franchise for the election of the municipal bodies, the 

 provincial legislatures, and Congress. All titles of nobility and prerogatives of 

 birth are abolished. 



Undoubtedly a chief source of the troubles and difficulties besetting the Central 

 Government is the political status of the fourteen provinces. Each of these is 

 practically an independent state, an ii)iperiuni in wipcrio, framing its own laws 

 for internal administration, often with little regard to the general interests. 

 When the present constitution was adopted there were, no doubt, many reasons 

 why the several provinces should enjoy the privileges of self-government. The 

 distances were so great and the routes so difficult, that constant communication 

 with the Federal Government was impossible, and some of the more remote regions 

 had, in fact, to be left to themselves. But these difficulties have been removed 

 by the development of the railway and telegraph systems, and a reform of the 

 Constitution seems now urgently needed in the direction of greater centralisation. 

 At present (1894) all the provinces except Entre-Rios are bankrupt, and a favour- 

 able opportunity is thus presented for the Central Government to take over the 

 responsibility of the provincial debts in return for the abolition of the provincial 

 organisation. 



Non-naturalised strangers are admissible to the municipal functions, and enjoy 

 all the civil rights of the natives, with freedom to exercise their trades and 

 professions, to own real property, to navigate the fluvial waters, to practise their 

 religions, to give evidence, and to marry in conformity with the general laws. 

 They are not required to take out letters of naturalisation, or to pay enforced 

 contributions of an exceptional character. Naturalisation, if desired, is obtainable 

 by a residence of two years, and even sooner in case of eminent services rendered 

 to the State. On the other hand the children of foreigners are required, at the 

 age of twenty-one, to choose their nationality, having the option of retaining that 

 of the father or of becoming Argentine citizens. 



