The Argentine in the Twentieth Century

In short, a profit of about one pound per acre.

The above figures relate to the property known as “La Vizcaina,” in the Department of Bolivar; it consists of 123,800 acres of agricultural land, or 183 square miles, and is the largest agricultural farm in the Republic belonging to a single owner or held by a single tenant. It must be mentioned that, on the whole, the land is high; it has never been invaded by locusts; the depth of the mould or upper soil is considerable, and the property has two railway stations built upon it and a third about 2¹⁄₂ miles distant, which facilitate the despatch of the harvests.

The above figures do not give a precise idea of the farmer’s situation, since agricultural land is let for four years, and in four years, six harvests may be obtained (three of wheat and three of maize), which sensibly diminishes the cost of working and increases the profits in proportion.

We may use the same table as relating to linseed, substituting £7, 18s. 6d. per ton, or thereabouts, for the sowing, and £1, 1s. per ton for thrashing. In this district linseed-farming is accompanied by certain risks, on account of the scanty rain and the late frosts; sometimes the harvest is 7, 8, or 10 quintals (metric) per hectare; but it is usually only 3 or 4.[49]

In order that these figures representing the farmer’s profit shall give a true idea of the reality, it must be remembered that besides the wheat crop he can also obtain another and equally profitable crop of maize in the same year, and he may also increase his profits by fattening pigs and raising game and other products which command a ready sale in the neighbouring towns.

These examples must not of course be taken as representing a general law; the net income of course depends upon the cost of production and the yield of each harvest, and these two factors may vary infinitely, where the crops under consideration are as large as those raised in the Argentine. But what we may affirm is that, besides a certain number of farms lying fallow, there are hundreds of thousands of acres of virgin soil, purchasable at a low price, on which it is enough to cast the seed, after a superficial cultivation, in order to obtain a splendid harvest. In conditions as favourable as these, and using machinery which enables the farmer to cultivate enormous surfaces with little labour, there are always serious probabilities of success for the agriculturalist. This it is that explains the great increase of cultivated lands during the last few years, whether virgin lands divided and sold by the owner, or lands leased to tenants who pay in kind or give up a percentage of the crops.

In a country whose soil gives such wonderfully abundant yields, great fortunes, and fortunes rapidly made, are common. The Argentine, like the United States, has her legendary type of immigrant, who has progressed in a very short time from extreme poverty to great riches, by applying his energy and initiative to agriculture or stock-raising.

Here are two of the most notable and best-known, examples.

A few years ago there died in the Argentine one of the greatest landed proprietors; a man named Santamarina, whose life-history is worth relating.

Son of a small farmer of Galicia, Santamarina decided, when about twenty years of age, to seek his fortune in America. His means not permitting him to meet the expenses of the voyage, he resorted to the classical procedure; he shipped as a stowaway on a vessel about to leave Vigo on a voyage, to Buenos Ayres.

Discovered on the voyage, the captain had compassion on him, kept him on the vessel and landed him, fifty years ago, in the capital of the Argentine; without any resources, and sustained only by the hope of gaining a livelihood more easily than in Spain.

Santamarina immediately made his way towards the great plaza, where the produce of the country was at that time sold; and there, hoping to secure a job, he spoke to a man who was conducting a wagon, and whose business it was to bring wool from the country into the Buenos Ayres market.

This man, seeing him strong and willing, offered to share with him his work as wagoner; but he first inquired of Santamarina whether he possessed a knife, as at that time in the Argentine it was the necessary instrument of defence, and at need, of attack, and was also employed in all the usages of the nomad life.

Santamarina had no knife; but he had a piastre, which the captain had given him before he left the ship, and with this piastre he bought a knife, which served in this partnership as his only capital.

Having led the common wagon for some time, Santamarina had saved enough to buy a better one for his own; then, chance aiding him, he purchased a few sheep whose wool he sold; and finally, by dint of work, he succeeded in saving sufficient capital to buy a little land and start sheep-raising on his own account. This was the beginning of his success; little by little Santamarina bought more sheep and more land, and became in the end one of the greater landed proprietors of the Argentine. He died in 1904, leaving a large fortune and a name justly honoured throughout the country.

To-day a visitor to his magnificent “estancia” of Tandil may still see, under a glass shade, the knife and a model of the wagon which were the first instruments of his fortune.

The second story is more commonplace, but no less true. Twelve years ago two Neapolitan immigrants came to settle at Rosario. To gain a living, and no doubt in memory of their former trade, they founded in partnership a boliche; that is, a bar for the sale of drinks. When a certain time had elapsed, their business being far from prosperous, they decided that one or the other of the two was one too many, and so determined to separate. But which of the two should retain the boliche? They drew lots to decide the point; and he whom chance favoured retained the business alone, while the other went in search of his fortune elsewhere.

The latter, far from allowing himself to be discouraged, made for Rosario harbour, in search of a new trade: he assumed that of a dock-labourer or lighterman. This was at the time when the growing of maize was beginning, in the Province of Santa Fé, to give satisfactory results. Our hero, having spent some time in carrying sacks of grain upon his back from the quays to the vessels about to sail, conceived the idea of buying, with his savings, a sack of maize, and to sell it retail, in the country, for the purposes of seed. This first venture having succeeded, he continued his operations with a larger number of sacks; then, finally, he abandoned the trade of porter in order to enlarge his new business, which from that time increased by thousands of sacks, and soon became a great export business.

Thanks to the development of the culture of maize in this region, he has become one of the greatest merchants and speculators in this product, and enjoys to-day a fortune of many millions, while his companion, less happy in his affairs, still keeps the little drink-shop in Rosario.

CHAPTER II

Having described the progress realised by the Argentine Republic in the course of the last few years, it will be not without interest to inquire what are the resources of those nations which are, or may be, the competitors of the Argentine in the world-market and in the production and consumption of wheat.

Here, according to the most reliable sources, are the figures relating to the average yield of wheat in the whole world during the last sixteen years:—

We see that the European production of wheat represents nearly 59 per cent. of the world’s production, for a population which, according to the calculations of M. Levasseur, consists of about 411 millions of inhabitants. If we reduce this figure by one-fourth, thus eliminating infants and the aged, we find that this population disposes of only 272·8 lb. of wheat per head, or 521·2 lb. less than the “type” or standard ration of 793·8 lb. per annum, recommended by the Bureau of Experimental Stations of the Ministry of Agriculture of the United States, after long and patient research.

In pursuing this inquiry into the distribution of wheat production among all the countries of the world, we shall be able to judge of the rank occupied by the Argentine Republic, and by so doing to rectify an error which is frequently committed, the error of confounding exportation and importation, which gives this country a very different place to that which is its right.

Here are the figures showing how the production of wheat is distributed:—

This table shows that in 1907 the Argentine occupied the fifth place as a wheat-growing country.

If we compare this production of wheat with the minimum ration of 793·8 lb,[50] which is considered indispensable to human nutrition, we see that apart from European Russia, with its 116 million inhabitants, there is left for the remaining 300 millions of Europeans, less a quarter, as we have explained above—that is, for a population of 225 millions—about 1,200,000,000 bushels of wheat. This quantity represents an average of 151·5 lb. per head per annum, or a deficiency of 249·7 lb. per head.

The population of Germany, estimated at 59 millions, has only 147·4 lb. of wheat per head, making a deficiency of 644·6 lb. per inhabitant.

The United Kingdom furnishes its 42,500 inhabitants with only 50·6 lb. of bread per annum, leaving a deficiency of 741·4 lb. per head.

Thus Europe, which, without Russia, produces more wheat than the rest of the world, does not produce enough for her own consumption, low as it is. It is therefore necessary to seek out these wheat-producing countries which are in a position to make up this deficiency. Now at the present time there are very few such countries; they are Russia, the United States, the Argentine Republic, Canada, and India, and among these it is the Argentine for which the most important place seems to have been reserved.

Russia has hitherto been one of the great providers of wheat to Europe; but it would seem that this position is not one that she can retain. Russia is far from having attained the degree of agricultural evolution which the Argentine has achieved; it is true that she exports 80 per cent. of her wheat harvest, but then the Russian peasant eats only rye bread. Of the 326 millions of acres of cultivated land in Russia, 30 millions only are devoted to wheat, or rather less than double the area used for the same cereal in France, or just double the wheat-area of the last Argentine harvest.

In the wheat-belt of Tchernoziom, the black earth is all in cultivation, and its extent cannot be further increased. Fertile though this soil may be, and although its depth is from 12 to 40 inches, the results amount to no more than four or five grains of wheat for each grain sown. The last harvest gave about 5·54 bushels per acre, while the average in France is 20 bushels.

These results are due chiefly to the poverty and ignorance of the Russian peasant; it often happens that his wheat crop no longer belongs to him, having been sequestrated by the tax-gatherer in payment of unpaid taxes. On the other hand, the Russian peasant cannot procure agricultural machinery, the price of which is increased by exaggerated tariffs.[51] He cannot even obtain draught animals, his wretched resources not allowing him to procure them.

If to these factors we add the progressive exhaustion of the soil, we see that the production of Russian wheat for export is very near its limit; the more so as the home consumption of wheat tends to increase with the economic development of the country. We can hardly wish otherwise than that these peasant farmers, habituated to a life of poverty, should themselves consume some of the wheat they produce, instead of contenting themselves with rye.

Let us now compare this picture of Russian production to that presented by the Argentine.

What is it that is responsible for the superiority of the Argentine Pampa over the Russian steppes? It is the inexhaustible fertility of a virgin soil, which produces abundant crops, without necessitating artificial enrichment, nor even the system of the rotation of crops. The soil yields harvests of 20 bushels to the acre, without exhaustion, producing for many years in succession, as it is doing now in Chubut, in the south of Buenos Ayres, and in Córdoba, while the yield of the Russian harvests is only 5·5 bushels.

For the exploitation of this wealth, Argentine agriculture employs the most perfect machinery to be obtained in the world, employing thousands of horses also, to drive it; while the Russian peasant has to work with his own hands, having neither machines nor horses to multiply his strength.

What shall we say of the prosperous and fortunate situation of the Argentine colonist, who is not only enabled out of the fruits of his labour to have bread and meat in abundance upon his table, but is often in process of acquiring, and that without long delay, the earth he cultivates. His happy lot has nothing in common with that of the Russian peasant, the veritable serf of the soil, who never gets so far as to eat the smallest crumb of the wheat he has harvested.

The one labours under a soft, benign sky, which does not expose him to the rigour of extreme temperatures in an atmosphere of freedom and brotherhood which make for energy, while the other labours at his furrow in a severe and unequal climate, and under a system of political oppression which crushes his individuality and diminishes the value of his efforts. A comparison between the social and economic conditions of agriculture in the two countries inclines us to conclude, without prejudice, that Russia cannot be considered a dangerous rival to the Argentine or the markets of the world.

The Republic of the United States of America is incontestably the first wheat-growing country in the whole world; and it is interesting to consider whether this country, which is also the greatest exporter of wheat, will remain in the future, in spite of the growth of internal consumption, a formidable rival to the Argentine in the markets of the world.

Let us first of all consider what great progress there has already been in the production of wheat in the United States.

In the United States the area under wheat has considerably increased, but the yield per acre has steadily decreased. Thus we find that in 1875 the yield was 12·3 bushels per acre; 17 bushels per acre in 1879; 11·7 in 1883; 14·9 in 1892; 13·4 in 1899; 10·5 in 1902; 10 in 1903; and 13·6 in 1904. Thus in spite of the increased yield, the results per acre have not increased, and the average of 1904 is inferior to that of 1879; while in France the average yield has been one of 20 bushels per acre from 1900 to 1904.

The national census of the United States for 1900 contains a graphic chart, which represents the average yield; from which we find that only in the north-west, certain districts of the west, and in a portion of the States of Washington, Oregon, and California has the production equalled this maximum of 20 bushels per acre; in most other localities, which afford the vast majority of cases, the yield has varied between 8·5 and 15·6 gallons per acre.

Having glanced at the production of the United States, we must inquire whether this great nation is increasing its exportation of wheat proportionately, and how far such exportation may prove an obstacle to the development of the Argentine.

The following figures representing the years of the largest export of wheat, will throw light upon this matter.

We see that in spite of the European alarmists, who in 1876 denounced the “American Wheat Peril,” it took fourteen years for the exports to increase from 145 to 218 millions of bushels, and that the latter figure has been only four times surpassed since 1892.

The production of wheat, on the other hand, increased 116 per cent, between 1875 and 1903, while the population, during the same period, increased only by 82 per cent. But we must not forget that although the increase in population is constant, that of production is not—indeed, the harvest of 1901 amounted to only 273 million bushels of wheat, as compared to 280 millions in 1877. There is a decrease in years of bad harvests, but the population naturally knows no such decrease.

The consumption of wheat did not increase between the census of 1890 and that of 1900; the average remained 424·6 lb. per head, representing a deficit of 368·8 lb. below the standard allowance of 793·4 lb.

On the other hand, as the population increases by about 1¹⁄₄ or 1¹⁄₃ millions per annum, while consumption remains stationary, we may conclude that if this country has not yet reached its maximum of wheat-production, it is very near that stage, and that the moment is approaching at which all its wheat harvest will be absorbed by internal consumption, to the detriment of the export trade.

We have mentioned India as a wheat-exporting country; but it is no longer a rival to the Argentine in the conquest of the international markets. Here is the comparative table of exportation from India and the Argentine.

A mere glance at these figures is more eloquent than any commentary, since the exportation of wheat from India increased by barely 10,000,000 bushels between 1902 and 1907, while that from the Argentine increased by 46,000,000 bushels. On the other hand, it is known that India exports only 10 per cent. of her harvest, although her extremely frugal population consumes only 1·26 lb. of wheat per head, instead of the 793·4 lb. we have taken as our basis of annual consumption. We see then that the production of India, if her population consumed a normal amount of wheat,[52] would not satisfy the national requirements, so that far from exporting wheat she would, on the contrary, be forced to import large quantities from without.

Canada is among those wheat-growing countries whose competition is most to be feared; and this for many reasons—geographical, political and economical. If Argentine statesmen do not seriously apply themselves to attracting a foreign population, and to reducing the expenses which press upon the inhabitants, the Argentine will run the risk of being supplanted in the future by this important British colony.

Canada, from many points of view, presents a singular analogy to the Argentine Pampas. Like the latter, it is an almost desert country, its area being 3,190,000 square miles (nearly 2 millions more than the Argentine), with a population of 5,371,000, or slightly less than that of the Argentine; and like the latter, Canada is a country in process of formation. A similarity which completes the comparison is that the exports of Canada consist principally of the products of agriculture and stock-raising. Her principal client for wheat is England; in 1906-1907 the harvest was 84,470,000 bushels, and 41,033,000 bushels were exported; or almost exactly half.

Here we should remark that the Canadian Government is making every effort to increase the population, and spares no pains to attain its object. In contrast to what has been done in the Argentine, where the public lands have only served to form latifundia, and to enrich a few individuals, the soil in Canada is sold by the aid of accurate maps, which are accompanied by a mass of information upon questions that may interest prospective colonists; more, the purchaser is given all kinds of facilities for payment, as well as for meeting the first expenses of installation. Thanks to a rational and active propaganda, immigration is abundant; the figures for 1903 were 128,364, compared with 112,671 in the case of the Argentine. Finally, Canada contains 19,500 miles of railways, as against 13,600 in the Argentine.

From the foregoing data we may conclude that the countries capable of exporting wheat are far from numerous, and that the area sown with cereals throughout the world is comparatively small. Hitherto wheat has been grown on an extensive scale in the United States, Russia, and India; the agriculturalist demands everything of the soil and gives it nothing, so that the alternative will soon arise of losing the harvest, or of restoring fertility to exhausted soils, by means of costly manures which will absorb enormous sums. Then the legend of new countries will have had its day.

To resume: there exists an enormous discrepancy between the needs of the consumer and the production of wheat; and the Argentine Republic, thanks to a concatenation of favourable economic and physical circumstances, is certainly in the best position in a great measure to supply this deficiency. But to obtain the desired result it is indispensable that she should still increase her population, and that the colonist should find upon the hospitable Argentine soil not only the guarantees of liberty and justice, but conditions propitious to his evolution as a land-owner.

CHAPTER III

Having spoken of agriculture and its future, we must mention another industry, which is the second source of national wealth—the pastoral industry.

As a result of the rapid rise in the value of land, and the multiplication and selection of animals, the old form of Argentine stock-raising is undergoing, at the present time, a profound modification throughout the country. The traditional ranch or estancia, on which the animals browsed at will on vast prairies enclosed by wire fences, exposed to all the variations of the weather and all the vicissitudes of the temperature, feeding only on the grass of their pastures. This old type of estancia is gradually disappearing; is undergoing a transformation into carefully-managed farms, on which artificial prairies are constructed; farms with lucerne fields of 12,000, 25,000 or 50,000 acres, surfaces difficult for a European to conceive.[53]

The science of pedigree herds and the culture of carefully-enclosed pastures have created, says a distinguished writer, the true pastoral industry, in which stables and barns and sheds take the place of the ancient “corral.”[54] The wealthy owner drives from the railway station to his estancia in a carriage; the old rustic ranch-house is transformed into a true country-house, sometimes a veritable château, with a park and gardens. There are estancias within a hundred leagues of Buenos Ayres which we remember as desert country in the power of the Indians, where now traps and carriages of English type are seen crossing the plains, where folk dine in evening dress in luxurious homes. The European stock-breeders have driven back the Gaucho to the great estates on the borders of the desert.

Nothing would be more difficult—and for our part we renounce the task—than to say which are the first stock-raising establishments of the Republic; whether by reason of their extent, the numbers and the breed of their animals, or the magnificent dwellings of their owners. Establishments of this type are to be counted by hundreds, by thousands.

Nevertheless—though exposed to the danger of falling into inevitable errors or omissions, for lack of precise information—we must not forget to mention the Estancia San Juan, founded by Señor Leonard Pereyra, at a distance of 25 miles from Buenos Ayres, and a mile and a half from the La Plata, and consisting of over 40 square miles of meadows in full luxuriance. Then there is the Estancia San Jacinto, belonging to Señor Hugel T. de Alvear, an establishment reputed as one of the foremost in the country, which embraces an area of 244 square miles, or about one-third the area of the county of Surrey. Of this enormous area some 64 square miles are under lucerne, and support 100,000 Durham cattle, 100,000 Lincoln sheep, and 10,000 horses.

The Estancia la Gloria of Santamarina & Sons, situated at Laprida, in the Province of Buenos Ayres, comprises 145 square miles, and supports 20,000 cattle and 60,000 sheep.

Another establishment, which might be taken as a model, is the Estancia San Martin, the property of Señor Vincent L. Casares; which is situated at Cañuelas, and covers an area of some 30 square miles. The specialities of this establishment are the breeding of draught-horses—Morgans, Hackneys, Shires and Clydesdales; the breeding of cattle—Durhams, Holsteins and Swiss—of which the finest individuals are kept for breeding, and the second-grade animals fattened for export; the keeping and selling of bulls of the three varieties named for general breeding purposes; and finally the breeding of pedigree rams of the Lincoln and Negrete breeds, and also of pure cross-breeds and of pure-blooded Yorkshire pigs. The horses from this estancia have a merited fame throughout the Argentine, and are even beginning to be known abroad.

A portion also of this estancia is an establishment known as La Martona, which alone supplies three-quarters of the milk consumed in Buenos Ayres, and which also manufactures butter for home consumption and for export.

Another of the great stock-raising establishments of the Republic is the Señor Carlos Casares’ Estancia Huetel, about 150 miles from Buenos Ayres, on the Southern Railway. It occupies an area of some 240 square miles, all enclosed by wire fencing, and divided into forty-two stock-raising establishments, with fifty-seven shepherds’ houses and five managers’ houses. This establishment contains about 62,000 Durham cattle, 87,000 Lincoln sheep, with pedigree rams, imported or born on the estancia, and 4200 Clydesdale horses, draught-horses and saddle-horses. About 11,000 acres are sown with lucerne, and 5000 with maize, wheat, oats and linseed. There are fifty-six or more imported bulls, and notably one of the finest of his race, the celebrated Aguinaldo, winner of the first prize awarded by the Agricultural Society.

The park of this estancia draws the attention of visitors; it is 500 acres in extent, and contains some 520,000 forest trees, 870,000 shrubs, and 35,000 young trees. The total number of trees on the estate is over 2 millions.

There is a school on the estate, all the expenses of which are paid by the proprietor.

The Estancia San Jacinto, owned by Señor Saturnin J. Unzue, also merits a special description. It is a few hours distant from Buenos Ayres, and covers an area of some 55 square miles. It supports 10,000 cattle and 30,000 sheep. On this estancia the Durhams have been brought to a great pitch of perfection. The stud is famous for its saddle-horses, and contains 140 pedigree animals, imported or born in the country.

Las Palmas, belonging to Colonel Alfred T. Urquiza, would figure as a model establishment in any country in the world. In the Province of Buenos Ayres, in which it is situated, it would be difficult to find a pedigree stock-raising establishment so well organised, and so well adapted to its purpose. The estate consists of some 4000 acres, overlooking the majestic Parana de las Palmas, with its green islands, which reach as far as the Rio de la Plata. Here about 3000 beasts are annually fattened for export. The cattle are shorthorns, and the horses Hackneys.

Yet another establishment, which must be reckoned one of the best in the Argentine, is the Cabaña San Gregorio, belonging to Señor Gregorio Villafañe; an Argentine who in strict justice ought to be mentioned as one of the first breeders in the country, on account of the intelligent efforts and pecuniary expenditure devoted by him to improving the breeds of cattle, sheep, and horses, during many years of personal labour.

Señor Villafañe’s establishment is not of very great extent, its area being only 18,000 acres, but is notable for the great number of its pedigree cattle and the purity of type to be observed in his sheep. He devotes himself chiefly to breeding Durham and Hereford bulls, Lincoln rams, Hackney and Clydesdale stallions, collie dogs, fox-terriers, Brahma fowls, Catalans, Dorkings, and Plymouth Rocks.

We must also mention the Estancia San Pascual del Moro, the property of Señors Adolfo and Rufino Luro. It is famous for its stud of race-horses, from which issued, in 1904, the great winner of the season, Old Man.

This long list of breeding establishments would still be incomplete indeed, did we fail to make special mention of the Estancia Chapadmatal of Señor M.-A. Martinez de Hoz, who has made the greatest efforts to raise his establishment to the level of the best European models.

“Equal to the best in Europe,” was the judgment of a competent and impartial observer, Colonel Holdich, who, in his last book, entitled Los Paises del Fallo del Rey, bestows upon it this well-merited praise:—

“A well-known estancia, that of Señor Michel-Alfred Martinez de Hoz, near the Mar del Plata, surprised me by the singular character of its surroundings. The soil, with its irregularities, had the look of an English park. Little hills and knolls, one after another, stretched away, covered with their golden harvest, with soft undulations, to the precipitous borders of the sea; instead of the eternal barbed-wire fence, living hedges were already springing up, dividing the fields and the pastures. On the highest hillocks rose stacks of oats, carried up from the fields in the high-wheeled wagons characteristic of the country-side; and there the stacks were being rapidly built by hand-labour. It was a beautiful rustic scene.

“Lower to the right, on the softer soil by the banks of a stream, which descended babbling to the sea, through beds of rushes and buttercups, was a pasture; here, standing in the branches of the bank, were the Shire horses; they formed animated groups, and placidly watched our movements; they were the most magnificent examples to be found out of Lincolnshire. Further down still, on drier soil, was a troop of mares, of an English-Creole cross, with their foals. These animals were for draught, and the excellence of their breeding is proved by the registers of the Argentine Rural Society, which record the prizes awarded to the Estancia Chapadmatal.

“In a higher part of the estate, in a quarter reached through long avenues of poplars, which lead thither from the house, and where the ground is covered with forests of eucalyptus or willows, are the bulls and cows. The Argentine stock-breeder does not consider expense when it is a matter of importing good English cattle for breeding purposes. The chief estancia has a series of breeding bulls, which are led before the visitor, each by his special keeper, with the same pomp and ceremony as the stallions which precede them in the brilliant review. It is not only near the capital and the principal centres of population that we find these model estancias, which afford their owners every European comfort. They are to be found also in the extreme south of the country, in the solitudes of Patagonia, near the 50th degree of south latitude.”[55]