Passing of Old -Time Cowboy 

 Mourned in Argentina 



Modern Gaucho Phoney, Students Say, 

 Pointing Out His Defects 



(No. 30 of a Series.) 



By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., 



Star Staff Correspondent. 



BUENOS AIRES— What has be- 

 come of the North American cowboy? 

 . Di d he saddle his bronco and ride 

 off into the blue, headed for the 

 last round-up— ,»:,.„„.„„... 

 or flag a West- 

 bound express 

 with a Holly- 

 wood contract in 

 his pocket? 



The answer to 

 that ques tion|| 

 might furnish ^11 

 the youth of the 

 Argentine with a 

 clue to where 

 the Gaucho went 

 ... the restless 

 Gaucho, who 

 leaned against 

 the free wind of 



the pampas With W. H. Shippen, Jr. 



such regularity that his hat brim 

 folded back against his forehead. 



The Gaucho, part Spanish, part 

 Indian, ranged far and wide— beyond 

 the fences, the farm dwellings,' the 

 growing settlements. He had his 

 horse, his great sheepskin saddle, 

 his beloved silver trappings, his fine, 

 hand-woven pancho, his knife for 

 eating and fighting, his quirt, lasso, 

 boleadoras and huge silver spurs. 



He was an independent, self- 

 sufficient man, free to follow the 

 cattle which drifted like cloud 

 shadows over the pampas. He was 

 equipped to fight, frolic, race, gamble 



the silver coins on his belt, or ban- 

 quet on the fat of the land— the 

 cattle and sheep whose flesh he 

 consumed with such gusto. He drank 

 his wine and he had his fun in his 

 day. 



That Day Is Gone. 



But that day is gone now. The 

 trappings of the old Gaucho are 

 museum pieces and his successors 

 fall short of traditions which sur- 

 vive only in story. Young people 

 here read about the Gaucho and 

 mourn his passing— even rather 

 cynical college students, bred to the 

 city. 



Some of our friends, the students, 

 were good enough, on a trip to the 

 back country, to point out the de- 

 fects of the modern, "streamlined" 

 Gaucho— a "phoney," they called 

 him. 



"Look at his hat!" they said. "It 

 has a flat brim. He never rode hard 

 enough against the wind to fold his 

 brim against his head! Look at 

 his boots! His toes are inclosed in 

 leather and he uses a modern stir- 

 rup. In the old days Gaucho boots 

 were cut off at the toes. The Gaucho 

 rode Indian fashion, gripping a 

 knotted rope between his toes! 



"He fought with boleadoras and 

 knife. Can you imagine a 1939 

 Gaucho challenging an enemy to 

 a duel for his life? Or roping a 

 steer, a horse or an ostrich with his 

 boleadoras? He has sold all his 

 boleadoras to antique shops!" 

 Lived in Mud Huts. 

 The Gaucho of old spitted his 

 meat on iron rods dug into the 

 ground and leaned over a bed of 

 coals. When he wasn't lying out 

 on the pampas he lived in mud huts 

 thatched with pampas grass. His 

 excess baggage was transported in 

 a covered wagon on two wheels. He 

 stitched into his belt the coins he 

 did not hammer into silver spurs, 

 bridle trappings and saddle acces- 

 sories. 



His knife, with its heavy silver 

 handle, was made of Toledo steel, 

 or improvised from the bayonets of 

 invading armies. The British at- 

 tacked the Argentine during the 

 Napoleonic wars, and the liberator, 

 San Martin, fought off the legions 

 of Ferdinand VII of Spain, sent by 

 the mother country to subdue rebel- 

 lious colonies in South America. 



The Gaucho used his knife, among 

 other things, to slice his own cut 

 from the barbecued meat. The 

 college students told us he would 

 . take a piece of meat between his 

 teeth and chop it off with a keen 

 blade. 



The old Gaucho ate beef and 

 mutton in prodigious quantities — 

 modern Gauchos follow suit, accord- 

 ing to a young resident of Buenos 

 Aires who employs them on his 

 estancia in the south. 



"Three of those boys," said the 

 ranch owner, "can eat a sheep at 

 one sitting ! I ought to know— 

 they're my sheep!" 



Hollywood Offer Refused. 



One of the best selling books here 

 is a classic treating with the life 

 of old-time Gauchos on the pampas. 

 The widow of the author recently 

 refused a fabulous offer from Holly- 

 wood for the film rights on the 

 book. Her reason was that the film 

 directors planned to edit the book 

 after their own ideas. She insisted 

 that neither the letter or spirit of 

 the book be altered. She backed 

 her refusal with the contention that 

 even Hollywood could not duplicate 

 the Gauchos of old. 



Washington Zoo Director William 

 M. Mann is inclined to agree. A 

 friend of his with Ringling Bros. 

 Barnum <fe Bailey Circus asked j 

 him at the opening in Madison I 

 Square Garden to make inquiries in J 

 the Argentine about hiring some j 

 Gauchos for the Wild West spec- j 

 tacle. 



"If you can find any Gauchos who j 

 will outride and outrope our rodeo j 

 boys," the circus agent said, "please ' 

 get in touch with me. I want to 

 hire them!" 



Dr. Mann hasn't found any circus 

 Gauchos yet. The old-timers, like 

 the American cow punchers, have 

 left for unknown pastures. 



One thing more about the ancient j 

 Gaucho. He draped his lower ex- j 

 tremities in a cloth that folded 

 something like a baby diaper, and, 

 believe it or not. 



The hem of his trousers was em- 

 broidered ! 



Than Average U. S. Housewife Gefs$ AY 28 1939 



ifeok So Tender It 

 Cuts With Butter 

 Knife Is 23 Cents 



(No. 31 of a Series.) 

 By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., 



Star Staff Correspondent. 



BUENOS AIRES. — People who 

 dislike beefsteak had best wave 

 this aside. 



Their interest would be purely 

 academic in the question : "Why 

 can't the American family of modest 

 means afford to sit down oftener 

 to a tender, tasty steak?" 



Why can the poorest Argentine 

 laborer buy better meats for his 

 wife and children than American 

 executives, skilled tradesmen or 

 salary and wage earners in the 

 higher brackets? 



At the best hotels here a peso 

 (now about 23 cents) will provide 

 a choice cut of grilled steak 2 inches 

 thick, very sweet, and tender enough 

 to be cut with a butter knife, a steak 

 which might (but probably couldn't) 

 be duplicated in the States for $3— 

 enough to buy half a beef in the 

 Argentine. 



The answer to the question is an 

 involved one. Experts disagree and 

 economists debate the issue. Lush 

 grazing lands of the Argentine fat- 

 ten cattle 12 months a year; stall 

 feeding is a luxury rather than a 

 necessity, and labor costs are lower 

 all down the line — from gaucho to 

 packing plant employe. 



iii'-llllit' 



Britain Likes Argentine Beef. 



The possibility of importing 

 the foot and mouth disease to the 

 States seems strong enough, from 

 one viewpoint, to continue the em- 

 bargo on Argentine meats indefi- 

 nitely. It cost California and the 

 Federal Government millions to 

 eradicate the contagion on the West 

 Coast 15 years or so ago. The 

 epidemic, it was said, started from 

 a shipment of meat to San Fran- 

 cisco from the Argentine. Even 

 wild deer in public parks were 

 rounded up and slaughtered to stop 

 the spread of illness to hooved 

 stock. 



On the other hand, England im- 

 ports great quantities of local meat 

 without spreading the disease, said 

 to be common there in a mild form. 

 Our English cousins buy large 

 amounts of meat, wheat and corn — 

 and do not hesitate to point out, 

 when they come in competition with 

 American-made goods, that they 

 accept a product the United States 

 has sought to stigmatize. 



The Argentines are intensely 

 proud of their beef. The people here 

 (it's astonishing how many are in- 

 terested in the subject) say Presi- 

 dent Roosevelt promised them he 

 would do his best to break the trade 

 blockade between the two nations. 

 The fate of a bill in Congres to 

 ratify a sanitary agreement be- 

 tween Argentine and the United 

 States is front-page news in Buenos 

 Aires almost daily. 



The agreement was worked out by 

 experts to permit a limited ex- 

 change of meat products between 

 the two countries under a rigid 

 inspection system. The United 

 States was to send inspectors here 

 to certify the quality of the exports. 

 Another front page news story has 

 been the controversy in America 

 over the purchase for the Navy of 

 Argentine tinned beef. Statements 

 of degislators in the States are 

 quoted here at length, pro and con. 

 Ban on U. S. Goods Continues. 

 Meanwhile a virtual embargo on 

 American goods continues. Im- 

 porters are closing shop or loafing 

 about their offices with nothing to 

 do but hope for the future. How-, 

 ever, the Argentines still buy Amer- ! 

 ican motor cars, farm machinery j 

 and lumber, despite high duties and ' 

 government restrictions on import 

 permits. 



The typical Argentine likes a big, : 

 roomy, powerful car. The tiny, eco- 

 nomical machines of British and 

 German manufacture cramp his 

 style. Therefore he buys 94 per cent 

 of his automobiles from the States, 

 although they cost about twice the 

 Detroit quotation. Too, the farm 

 machinery developed for the prairies 

 of the States is beter 'suited to local 

 needs than anything England or 

 Germany can supply. The Argen- 

 tines buy lumber from the States 

 out of necessity. 



AN ARGENTINE HUCKSTER — In a picturesque setting, the Ar- 

 gentine grocer in the Delta country makes his rounds in a row- 

 boat delivering bread and fresh meat, which he hangs on trees at 

 the landings. This photograph was made by Correspondent 

 Shippen from the launch Ceres. 



reduction on express train supple- 

 mentary charge. 



2. A National Exposition abonne- 

 ment, available for 16 days, at the 

 price of 45 francs, third class; 60 

 francs, second class, and 75 francs, 

 first class. Within its validity this 

 ticket entitles the holder to four 

 days of unlimited travel over the 

 Swiss lines indicated on the abonne- 

 ment, the days to be chosen by him- 

 self. On the remaining 12 days the 

 ticket will enable its owner to buy 

 20 single or return trip Swiss 

 tickets at a reduction of 50 per cent. 

 The abonnement is furthermore 

 good for one free admission to the 

 exposition. For a modest additional 

 fee it gives the privilege of a 7- 

 day extension of the validity. 



Next: Beefsteak economics. 



