Buenos Aires Tries 

 'Pedestrian Control' 

 Much Like D. C. 



City Carries On Program 

 Of Education With 

 Loud-Speakers 



(No. ZOoLj* Series.) 

 By WfflTsHIPPEN, Jr., 

 Star Staff Correspondent. 

 BUENOS AIRES.— The heretofore 

 emancipated pedestrian of this me- 

 tropolis today forfeited his liberty— 

 his right to dodge, hop, skip and 

 jump (and some- 

 times bleed and 

 die) for the free- 

 dom of the 

 streets. 



A pedestrian 

 control some- 

 thing like that 

 recently inaugu- 

 rated in Wash- 

 ington went into 

 effect on May 

 Day. The inno- 

 vation was in- 

 troduced on a la- 

 bor holiday 

 when almost no 



motor vehicles, t. h. smppen , Jr. 

 public or private, were m operation. 



For davs now the efficient police 

 have been carrying on an educa- 

 tional campaign like that in Wash- 

 ington. Loud speakers and screens 

 were mounted at principal intersec- 

 tions, on which were projected prac- 

 tical (and often humorous) sug- 

 gestions about how to walk m com- 

 pliance with the new regulations. 



The pedestrians of this city are 

 noted all over the world for their 

 daring, dexterity and nonchalance. 

 There exists some doubt as to how 

 they will take to the new restric- 

 tions. Today was no real test, as 

 the pedestrians had the streets to 

 themselves from dawn until mict- 



ni The only taxicabs abroad charged 

 double fares-one f are foi : the ride 

 and the other to console the driver 

 for his humiliation in being com- 

 pelled to work for himself on a labor 

 holiday. Persons who usually go I 

 about in opulent private cars spent 

 the day unobtrusively— their chaul- 

 feurs were on holiday, and they had 

 no desire to invite undue attention 

 to themselves. 



Police Are Plentiful. 

 The police, too, were unobtrusive, 

 but plentiful. While thousands of 

 workers assembled in the wide ave- 

 nues for a parade in the afternoon, 

 the officers lined the curbs, alert, 

 well-armed and smartly uniformed. 

 Their discipline is of the best-you 

 have the word of two of 'New 

 York's finest" for it. The way the 

 mounted police handled their horses 

 4n advance and at the rear of the 

 marching column won the praise of 

 officers who had helped put down 

 riots at Madison Square Garden 



There was not the least disorder 

 in the marching procession— thou- 

 sands of young men with almost 

 no women or elderly marchers. All 

 were strangely quiet. Only an oc- 

 casional clenched fist was raised in 

 the Communist salute One red 

 banner bore a modification of the 

 Communist sickle and hammer. The 

 inscriptions on the banners were not 

 Sands on the Government for j 

 shorter hours, more pay on relief, . 

 etc., but rather requests for arger 

 youth opportunities in the fields of 

 education and employment One 

 sign said, "No help, no protection 

 for the Nazis or Fascists! 



Todav only the blue and white 

 flags^f the Argentine fioated^over 

 the wide avenues. Other flags, 

 especially the swastika of Natzi Ger- 

 many, had been the signal for riots 

 in the past-for the smashing of 

 windows and the charge of the 

 mounted police. Today all foreign 

 flags were banned. Along the line 

 of march many plate windows were 

 protected by sliding doors of corni- 

 gated iron-an unnecessary precau- j 



tl0 Last night we noticed a squad 

 of mounted police in the vicinity of 

 a hotel popular with visiting Ger- 

 mans. There had been a demon- 

 stration there previously, but none ; 

 developed today. 



Americans Well Received. 

 Steamships up and down this coast 

 usually manage, as unobtrusively as 

 possible, to be at sea on May day- 

 their masters are hapiper to have 



lt American ships of war and com- 

 merce get a friendly reception here 

 Sents of B. A. still talk about 

 the visit of the Army's "flying fort- 

 resses" on the occasion of the presi- 

 dential inaugural, and President 

 Roosevelt has gripped the popular 

 imagination. Residents say that 

 when United States Navy ships are 

 in port officers and men of the Ar- 

 gentine Navy can be seen fraterniz- 

 ing with the visitors. a 



All this is true, one native of Ar- 

 gentina told me, despite the fact 



that the nation's pride has been 

 wounded by the refusal of the 

 United States to accept Argentine 

 beef They can understand how the 

 United States produces enough beet 

 for her own needs, but think it un- 

 fair to exclude a fine product on the 

 grounds of quality. 



The two countries are alike in 

 many ways-the "melting pots" of 

 the New World. The Argentine may 

 be of English, Irish, German, Italian 

 Scandanavian or Swiss descent, but 

 he's as much an Argentine as the 

 Spanish pioneer— from his view- 

 point, anyhow. 



I met one the other night whose 

 name was even more indicative of 

 his ancestry than "Jeremiah Alo- 

 ysius Patrick O'Leary." He couldn t 

 understand a word of English but 

 spoke perfect Spanish (I'm told), 

 gestures and all, despite an Irish 

 brogue! 



Tomorrow: Binds of the pampas 

 and lagoons. 



Dr. William M. Mann, director 

 of the National Zoological Park, 

 is now in Argentina collect- 

 ing birds, reptiles and animals. 

 Among those accompanying him 

 William H. Shippen, jr., fea- 

 ture writer of The Star staff, who 

 here presents t he 21st of a series 

 of articles abowTT^T^rtfts -ex- 

 pedition. , 



By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., 



Star Staff Correspondent. 

 BUENOS AIRES.— The wild birds 

 we saw today on pampas and 

 lagoon surprised even an experi- 

 enced collector like Dr. Mann. 



Flamingoes, wild swans, cormo- 

 rants, black ibis, coots and wild 

 ducks waded, 

 swam and cir- 

 cled the green 

 lakes, while the 

 vast plains and 

 planted groves 

 were alive with 

 bird life. 



Tinamou, the 

 big Argentine 

 patridges, ran 

 ahead of our 

 car ; oven birds 

 fluttered about 

 their clay apart- 

 ment houses , 

 erected on fence 



W. H. Shippen, Jr. posts and ij# 



trees along the roadway, and gravf 

 little owls watched our passing. 



These latter live underground, 

 the uninvited guests of the viscacha, 

 a burrowing rodent. They are not 

 as brazen about moving in on 

 strangers as their ,|fcousins of the 

 United .States, which exist in prairie 

 dog villages, where their life is com- 

 plicated by the presence of rattle- 

 snakes. 



The members of our party and an 

 American consular officer were 

 guests today of the owners of a big 

 estancia about 150 miles southwest 

 of B. A. Broad leagues of grazing 

 • land surrounded a winding, reed- 

 grown lagoon from which hunters 

 had been banned for years. 

 Find Flamingo Colony. 



In motor boats, with engines 

 throttled down, we approached a 

 colony of flamingoes peacefully sun- 

 ning on the green shore. They 

 were of the Chilean variety, ac- 

 customed to a colder climate than 

 the Cuban types, many of which 

 have been imported to Florida. 

 They took off in perfect formation, 

 flying single file. The individuals 

 looked like flying sticks, with long 

 necks and legs stretched in a hori- 

 zontal line, and the flock might 

 have been a string of roseate pearls 

 against the blue sky. Dr. Mann 

 took color movies of the spectacle. 



Several black-necked swans rose 

 ahead of us and the water and low 

 shore line teemed with wild ducks, 

 coots, plovers and cormorants— the 

 latter making gluttonous forays 

 upon the pejerrys, a small game 

 fish rippling the surface of the 

 lagoon in all directions. The na- 

 tives call the black cormorants 

 •'fish eaters." In Spanish the name 

 sounds a bit profane, as well it 

 might, for the cormorants feed 

 upon a prize table delicacy — one of 

 the most esteemed of fresh-water 

 edibles. 



The sea-going Gaucho at the 

 controls of our boat cast fierce 

 glanches at the feeding flocks. He 

 told the consular officer, in rapid- 

 fire Spanish, that the "fish eaters" 

 gang up on the pejerrys. They 

 form a great circle on the water, 

 each cormorant diving inward and 

 closing in, driving the fish into a 

 smaller and smaller area until they 

 can be gobbled up in one grand 

 finale. 



Fresh Fish Luncheon. 



The boatman was also fisherman 

 for the estanchia, and should know 

 what he was talking about. I did 

 not witness his story, although I 

 can testify to the veracity of part 

 of the tale— the edibility of the 

 pejerry. The fisherman cast his 

 net upon the waters and we had a 

 luncheon dish (it was the second or 

 third course, I believe) , which had 

 been alive and kicking all the way 

 to the frying pan. In addition, 

 there were succulent little shrimp 

 from the lagoon — a treat the "fish 

 eaters" had overlooked. 



The estanchia buildings of old 

 brick and tile were surrounded by 

 a grove in which lived thrushes, 

 wrens, doves, song sparrows and 

 many vivid, semi-tropical songsters 

 I never managed to identify, even 

 with a zoologist present. Life on 

 the estanchia, I am told, is much 

 of the same pattern as that on the 

 Western ranch— free and easy, with 

 plenty to eat, more leisure than 

 luxury, and nothing to worry about 



today that can't be postponed until 

 tomorrow. 



Our hostess, the wife of the es- 

 tancia manager, was amused, 

 rather than harassed, when her na- 

 tive servants, a bit confused by so 

 many unexpected guests for lunch- 

 eon, were slow about getting food on 

 the table. She spoke French (learned 

 in a convent in Paris) , Spanish and 

 Portuguese, the tongue of her native 

 Brazil. If she was surprised to learn 

 that several of her guests under- 

 stood none of these languages, there 

 was nothing about her gay and 

 gracious manner to indicate it — 

 rather, she seemed to apologize for 

 having neglected to study English. 

 Her husband was a native of Hol- 

 land, who had spent most of his life 

 in Brazil. He knew English and 

 proved a willing interpreter. 



A Pleasant Memory. 

 The hours we spent cruising about 

 the lagoon will long remain a pleas- 

 ant memory. The Latins, who had 

 made the excursion many times be- 

 fore, became even more excited than 

 their guests, pointing out the natu- 



ral beauties of their country. Their 

 exclamations, ready laughter and 

 swift, musical comments mingled 

 with the cries of birds high in the 

 air or on some far shore. 



We returned across the pampas 

 at dusk. The sun was setting be- 

 hind us, and ahead a huge, orang'3 

 moon rose through the autumn haze. j 



Gauchos on sturdy, cattle-wise j 

 ponies called greetings, or courteous- ! 

 ly directed us on our way, and flocks 

 of birds wheeled into the sunset 

 There were few automobiles on the 

 highway to B. A.— only farmers' 

 carts, mounted on two huge wheels, 

 and boys and girls carrying jars of 

 wine for the evening meal. 



The vast pampas, with picturesque 

 life, extended to the edge of Buenos 

 Aires— a city of 2.500,000. The con- 

 trast surprises even the natives. Our 

 host, a resident of B. A. for many- 

 years, exclaimed : 



"Sometimes I cannot believe it 

 myself ! Now we are on the pampas, 

 with all those cows and gauchos! 

 Then a few bumps, and caramba ! — 

 a traffic cop he peench us, yes?" 



"In that case, senor," said a mem- 

 ber of our party, "would you mi? id 

 slowing down a bit? We do not wish 

 to be projected into another world 

 with such magnificent prompti- 

 tude!" 



Tomorrow: Markets in B. A. 



