414 TRANSPORTATION OF WHEAT IN ARGENTINA. [March 1896. 



But while the railway facilities for getting wheat from the 

 place of productioa to the port of export leave room for much 

 development, it must bs borne in mind that the great centres 

 of wheat cultivation are now situated in the provinces of 

 Buenos Ayres, Santa Fe, and Entre Rios, all three bordering 

 on watercourses which are navigable for ordinary-sized ocean 

 craft ; the distances from the principal ports of export in no 

 instance probably exceed 150 miles, so that what may be 

 lacking in interior transportation facilities is more than made 

 good by the short distances for which such transportation is 

 needed. 



So far as the cost of transportation from the farm to the 

 railway station is concerned, this is represented by Mr. Baker,^ 

 U.S. Consul at Buenos Ayres, to amount to little more than the 

 interest on the cost of sufficient teams and waggons, when these 

 are owned by the farmers, and the outlay for any extra hands 

 which may be required. The expense of keeping the teams is 

 merely nominal, as they for the most part live on the grasses which 

 grow spontaneously throughout the pampas. As regards the cost of 

 labour in moving grain, it is estimated tha,t in spite of the increased 

 acreage in grain crops the rate of wages has decreased 50 per 

 cent, since 1885. The low wages ordinarily prevent the increase 

 of surplus hands ready for emergencies, and thus, when the 

 harvest demands them, the farmer is saddled with an increased 

 expense for harvesting. Owing to this fact, many Italians are 

 now in the habit of going to the River Plate to work during 

 the harvest at a higher rate of wages, returning to Italy when 

 the harvest is over. But even so, the wages of farm hands in 

 Argentina are stated to be much less than they are in the 

 United States, and the cost of moving grain from the farms 

 to the railway stations is apparently a very small item of 

 expenditure. 



As to the cost of transportation from the station to the port 

 of export, each railway has its own tariff, graded according to 

 the distance or the competition it has with other railways. The 

 principal shipping ports are Eosario and Buenos Ayres, but all 

 along the Parana and Uruguay rivers there are points wdience 

 grain is exported directly in ocean-going vessels. From 19 to 

 21 feet of water can generally be counted on in the Parana 

 River, though a bar at Martin Garcia IslanJ, in the La Plata, 

 sometimes causes a delay to vessels trying to get out. The 

 lesser ports, where cargoes of wheat are put on board, are 

 Colastine, near the city of Santa Fe ; Diamante, in Entre Rios, 

 just below the city of Parana; and Villa Constitucion, San 

 Nicolas, San Pedro, Zarate, and Compana, on the River Parana 

 de los Palmos ; and Concepcion, on the Uruguay River. On the 

 La Plata River is the city of La Plata and the Ensenada Mole ; 

 and on the Atlantic coast the port of Bahia Blanca. The largest 



* Consular Reports No. 183, Bui-e.iu of Statistics, State Department, WashingtoD, 

 U.S.A. 



