CHAPTER III
MINES, ELECTRICAL AND OTHER INDUSTRIES
The Argentine has not entered the industrial age—She has no coal-mines in operation, no natural motive forces of any importance.
Mines—Symptoms of the awakening of the mining industry—Numerous lodes in the Andes—The mines of La Rioja and Catamarca—Mines in other provinces and territories—Mining legislation.
Electric Industries—Tramways; their development, their perfected equipment, and their profits—Progress of electric lighting—Telegraphs—Telephones.
Various Industries—List of various industries established in Buenos Ayres, according to the last census, with the value of their products.
Comparison between the statistics of 1895 and those of 1904—Progress realised in 1908—Workshops and factories.
The Argentine Republic, as we have already on various occasions explained, has not yet entered upon the industrial phase. All its capital and all its energies tend toward the exploitation of the soil, and as the results are greater than the boldest speculator could have predicted, the country has no need at present, with its small population, to launch itself into the unknown by entering the province of industry.
Moreover, the Argentine does not so far possess coal or iron measures easily workable, and has very little labour at its disposal, and therefore should not disperse its activities among too many objects. It is its best policy to limit itself to producing articles that it can make more cheaply than the foreigner; not artificially to develop its industries in the shelter of an ultra-protectionist tariff. It would fall to the consumer to pay for such products of the national industry, and the state would lose a serious portion of its revenues.
In other words, we may well ask whether the Argentine, in addition to its agricultural wealth, should pretend to a great industrial future, like that of the United States.
So far we cannot reply in the affirmative; not, at least, under present conditions. However rich the subsoil of the country may be, a matter at present uncertain, especially in respect of coal and iron measures, which are the basis of all industries, we must remember that the majority of these measures are situated in the region of the Cordillera, 4000 to 5000 feet above sea-level, over 900 miles from the coast, far from roads or waterways, and are consequently very badly situated for the establishment of industrial centres.
What coal and iron the Argentine may possess is distributed over a region of some thousands of miles in extent, which does not appear to contain continuous lodes or measures, and in which there are no real valleys or river-basins. Putting all questions of tariff aside, but considering the constant lowering of freights, we think the Argentine will always find it cheaper to obtain its supplies from abroad, except such as it can produce economically, rather than attempt to embrace all industries in its dreams of greatness.
Neither can we expect from the utilisation of natural motive forces a development which might in some degree compensate for the absence of fuel. There are a few waterfalls in Córdoba and in Tucuman, but such energy as they might furnish would hardly allow one to hope much from their adaptation to industrial uses. One of the most important of these falls is that below the Barrage San Roque, in the Sierra de Córdoba; it belongs to the North American Company, “Luz y Fuerza” (Light and Force). The company’s plant gives a yield of about 3000 horse-power, which is employed, for the greater part, in providing light and motive power to the town of Córdoba, and also for the production of carbide of calcium. Another installation, belonging to the Molet Company, has a capacity of some 700 or 800 horse-power, which is employed in the same manufacture.
The falls of the Yguassu, on the upper Parana, some 230 miles above Corrientès, on the confines of Brazil, Paraguay and the Argentine, have been described as a marvel of nature. It would seem that these falls represent a force three times greater than Niagara; their width is 12,000 feet, or more than two miles, with a fall of 212 feet. Unfortunately this
cataract is on the border of the Argentine territory, in a region of forests accessible only with difficulty, and will probably flow for many years yet before any one profits by this enormous natural source of power.
Mines.—Although the industrial future of the Argentine is as yet by no means clear, we must admit that during the last four years there has been a livelier movement in favour of gold, silver, and copper mining, which has resulted in the flotation of several important limited companies. It was to support these first steps that the Government built an aerial railway—one of the boldest works ever attempted in the whole world—to exploit the rich mines of Famatina.
“Over the whole stretch of the eastern slopes of the Andes,” says an important official publication[84] which we take for guide, “from Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego, the existence of numerous mineral-bearing regions is proved; notably in the Provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca, Salta, Jujuy, Tucuman, Córdoba, and San Luis, where traces of ancient mineral workings have been discovered.”[85]
[84] Description sommaire de la République Argentine comme pays d’immigration, 1904.
[85] The Argentine lost much of its mineral wealth when Potozi and La Paz were lost to Bolivia.—[Trans.]
There are many villages which ever since the Spanish Conquest have drawn their sustenance from the gold and silver which their inhabitants obtain, by rudimentary processes, from the beds of stream or river, and by plain mining. Also, despite the difficulties of transport, various well-organised companies have obtained very fair results from their workings, since they obtained their concessions a few years ago. Now that the feelers of the railway systems have reached these districts, and the mining companies have established aerial cable-ways to connect them with the mines, we can already perceive a greater vitality in this industry.
In addition to the wealth of the Cordillera, prospectors are discovering new lodes in the interior of the country; but, as always happens, miners prefer to gather in already familiar
districts, rather than undertake long journeys, and the labour of prospecting at their own expense.
The best-known mines of the Argentine are distributed as follows:—
In the Province of Mendoza there are mines of copper, silver-bearing galena, gold-bearing quartz, coal, alabaster, slate, and marble, and wells of petroleum; in the Province of San Juan, of gold-bearing quartz, silver, copper, antimony, coal, sulphur, and amianthus.[86] In view of the development which this region may undergo through the exploitation of the coal-measures, the Great Western Railway has decided to construct a branch line as far as the coal mines of Salagasta (Mendoza).
[86] Amianthus—the best quality of asbestos.—[Trans.]
The Province of La Rioja has been known for a long time for its rich mines of metallic silver, and also for its copper mines, whose ores contain a high percentage of gold and silver; and for its gold “placer” mines. It is to facilitate the working of these mines that the aerial cable-way is being constructed, which will unite Cerro de Famatina and the mining centre of Chilecito with the railways. Here, as everywhere, skilled miners are somewhat scarce.
The Province of Catamarca, the centre of the Capillitas mining country, possesses copper mines with a high percentage of silver and gold, which have been worked for more than thirty years. These mines, which are, it appears, very rich in minerals, have been acquired by a foreign company, and will be the object of an important enterprise; here, too, an aerial cable-way will be built to transport the ore from the mines to a lower level.
There are also in this region two important smelting works; “Le Pilcian” and “La Constancia,” which are buried in the depths of the forests of carob-trees, which furnish abundant fuel. In other parts are found surface veins of copper, silver-bearing galena, bismuth, antimony, mica, gold-bearing quartz, as well as “placer” mines and coal-measures.
The Provinces of Salta and Jujuy, which possess rich veins of auriferous quartz, argentiferous galena, copper, borate of
lime, lignite and petroleum, are famous for the gold obtained from the streams that descend from their mountains. Undertakings have been formed with foreign and native capital, and profitable results are expected. The extension of the Argentine railways to Bolivia will still further develop the exploitation of mining districts all through this region.
In former times silver mines were worked in the Province of Tucuman. In Aconquija also we find mines of copper which must be a continuation of those of Catamarca.
The Provinces of Córdoba and San Luis, besides ascertained veins of gold-bearing quartz, galena and copper, contain mines of manganese and wolfram, and well-known quarries of marble, and of onyx, both green and of other shades.
In the Territories of Tierra del Fuego and Santa Cruz the sands along the Atlantic coast contain, especially after storms, an abundance of gold in powder and small nuggets, whose extraction gives employment to numbers of workers.[87] There also are seams of lignite and of peat. Finally, in Santa Cruz there are several salt workings, the produce being sent to Buenos Ayres.
[87] few years ago a company was formed with North American and Argentine capital to work the sands in this manner in Tierra del Fuego.
The River Chubut, in the Territory of Chubut, brings down fine gold along its bed, as do its numerous small tributaries, which rise in the Andean slopes. The presence of gold more than 100 miles from the Cordillera tempted some colonists to organise an expedition; at the foot of the mountain they found gold in nuggets.
Another company exploits the salt pits of the Valdez Peninsula, and another the quarry of flat granite slabs, known as the Atlas Quarry.
For many years now large quantities of gold have been found in the rich “placers” of the Territory of Neuquen, where copper also has been discovered, silver-bearing galena, coal, and petroleum. The gold taken out of the washers of Villa Michicó and the neighbourhood is estimated at 330 lb. avoirdupois annually.
In the Territory of Rio Negro there are abundant quarries of gypsum, limestone, and other building materials; in that of the Pampa Central copper has been recently discovered and is being worked; in that of Misionès there is native copper, iron, and manganese; in that of the Andes (Puña de Atacama), there are immense deposits of borate of lime, as well as veins of quartz and “placers.”
Considering the vast extent of these territories, which have never been seriously explored except at a few points, we have every reason to believe that it will be many years before we have even an approximate knowledge of the mineral wealth they contain; but the data gathered up to the present time augur well for the future of the mining industry in the Argentine.
We will add finally, as a further reason for success, the fact that the law regarding mines is remarkably liberal; the State may not exploit them on its own account, but concedes them to any adult applicant capable of administering his own property.
The same mining laws are in force throughout the country. To acquire a claim it suffices to present a written demand, containing an exact indication of the position and nature of the claim demanded, the details of its discovery, and all other useful information, accompanied by a sample of the mineral. Immediately upon the presentation of this demand the administration enters it with the date of deposition, in order to prove the right of priority; and directly the concession has been surveyed and delimited, the claimant has full rights in his mine and may dispose of it as he wills. The mine is untaxed, and so are the mineral products, whether sold at home or abroad. The only obligation imposed upon the miner is that he shall work his mine with at least four miners during 230 days of the year; if this condition be not fulfilled, any other person may demand the concession of the abandoned mine.[88]
[88] Senator Domingo Perez has just laid before Parliament, a projected law substituting a fine or tax for this obligation.
The Electrical Industry.—It is greatly to the credit of the Argentine that everything that makes for progress, for an increased welfare or greater convenience, is immediately applied by the Republic. The latter quickly absorbs all improvements and, profiting by the experience of older nations, immediately puts new procedures into practice, instead of lingering in the rut of outworn systems. Thus it was, for example, in the case of the electrical industry. The Argentine has no need, in this respect, to envy the most advanced nations. In Buenos Ayres—for only the large centres can be progressive to this extent—all the tramway and electric lighting concerns are most excellently equipped, and are in this matter equal to the best installations of England or the States.
The electric tramway companies, whose tracks cross Buenos Ayres in every direction, are seven in number, forming a network of lines which are distributed as follows:—
The “Anglo-Argentine” Company, 18·8 miles; the “Capital” Company, 34·7 miles; the “Metropolitan” Company, 19·8 miles; the “Grand National,” 76·9 miles; the “Compagnie Lacroze de Buenos Ayres,” 44 miles; the “Southern Electric Tramways,” 49 miles; and the “Harbour and City of Buenos Ayres,” 6·8 miles.
The great event of 1908 was the amalgamation of these companies by the “Anglo-Argentine,” which proposes to unite these lines under a single management, in order to form a vast network, comprising all the principal lines, with the exception of the “Compagnie Lacroze” and the “Harbour and City of Buenos Ayres.” The total capital invested in this important undertaking amounts to not less than £14,000,000.
It is to be hoped that this great financial operation, which will place the Anglo-Argentine Company at the head of the most important tramway companies of the world, will not fail to benefit the public, and that the Company will also turn its attention to improving its equipment and to lowering its fares to a uniform rate.
On the other hand the number of passengers carried by
the Buenos Ayres tramways is constantly increasing, as may be seen in the following table:—
| Passengers Carried. | Gross Profits. | Total Profits. | |||
| Year. | Horse | Electric. | Horse | Electric. | |
| Traction. | Traction. | ||||
| 1901 | 95,436,421 | 30,088,803 | £848,318 | £294,822 | £1,143,140 |
| 1902 | 92,638,025 | 33,593,734 | 827,979 | 334,060 | 1,162,039 |
| 1903 | 71,048,519 | 62,670,779 | 636,801 | 596,719 | 1,233,520 |
| 1904 | 65,532,745 | 82,746,352 | 587,022 | 805,071 | 1,370,093 |
| 1905 | 34,486,547 | 174,455,022 | 489,741 | 1,049,949 | 1,539,690 |
| 1906 | 24,927,089 | 175,773,158 | 232,903 | 1,565,472 | 1,798,375 |
| 1907 | 7,338,563 | 217,702,183 | 67,659 | 1,926,054 | 1,993,793 |
| 1908 | 293,269 | 254,780,627 | 1,980 | 2,229,547 | 2,231,527 |
These figures go to confirm all we have said as to the enormous development of capital in the Argentine, and of its commercial activity.
Electric Lighting.—In the matter of illumination, Buenos Ayres was early discontented with the old methods; electricity is now preferred both for public and private purposes. Today there are 721 miles of gas pipes and 233 miles of electric cables.
The capital of the electric lighting companies is estimated at nearly £2,000,000, and their output at 30,905 horse-power. The electrical supply is chiefly in the hands of the German Electricity Company, with a capital of £1,850,000, which has already absorbed the two companies previously in existence. Its equipment was furnished by the famous firm of Siemens Halske, which stands in the front rank of German electrical manufacturing firms.
Telegraphs.—Another mark of progress is the continual extension of the telegraphic system. The national, provincial, and private lines together represent to-day a length of 31,215 miles, of which 15,125 belong to the State; twenty years ago the mileage was barely half this figure.
As for telegraphic communication with the exterior, there are two foreign cable companies, one possessing the cable running to the United States via Galveston, and the other that communicating with Europe via Madeira. Communication between London and Buenos Ayres is now established in about forty-five minutes, while a few years ago the average was five hours.
Telephones.—The telephone is used in the capital and the principal towns—Rosario, Córdoba, Santa Fé, Tucuman, Mendoza, etc. Buenos Ayres is connected by telephone with Montevideo (124 miles), Rosario (190 miles), and will shortly be connected with Bahia Blanca (437 miles). The two companies established in Buenos Ayres, the “Telephonic Union of the Rio de la Plata” and the “Co-operative Telephonic Company,” represent a capital, respectively, of £243,963 and £582,032.
All these data, which we merely mention in passing, go to prove that the Argentine has assimilated all the details of industrial progress, even in their most improved forms. Experiments in wireless telegraphy are now being made with a view to communicating at long distance with the steamers leaving or approaching Buenos Ayres.
Various Industries.—At the end of 1908, according to the statistics of the official industrial census of that year, which was undertaken by the Department of Commerce in the Ministry of Agriculture, there were, in the city of Buenos Ayres, 10,349 factories or workshops, representing a capital of £23,443,144. The sales of these factories, etc., for 1908, amounted to £47,048,773. The raw material consumed was worth £25,223,681. The motive power employed in these factories was equivalent to 105,575 horse-power, and the number of workers employed was 118,315. Of the owners, 14·8 per cent. were of Argentine nationality.
If we compare these figures with those of the municipal census of 1904, we obtain the following results:—
| Census of 1904. | Census of 1908. | |
| Number of factories and workshops | 8,897 | 10,349 |
| Capital employed | £8,733,127 | £23,443,144 |
| Sales | £16,143,832 | £47,048,773 |
| Motive power consumed (H.P.) | 19,458 | 103,575 |
| Workmen employed | 68,512 | 118,315 |
| Raw material consumed | — | £25,223,681 |
| Masters or owners of Argentine nationality (per cent.) | 12·35 | 14·81 |
We see that even in four years there has been a remarkable development of the industries of Buenos Ayres. This development is especially demonstrated by the increase of
the capital represented by the sales of merchandise or manufactured articles and by the horse-power employed. At the end of four years the capital has increased by nearly 300 per cent., the sales by the same amount, and over five times the motive power is employed.
This progress is certainly remarkable, but it does not perhaps truly represent the actual progress achieved. The Director of the Census, Señor Ricardo Pillado, declares that “the general opinion prevalent in the offices of the census department is that certain important items of information, relating to matters of great interest, have been concealed by interested persons. Among such we may cite the value of output, the amounts of sales, the capital employed, the number of employés, etc.; as the manufacturers are anxious, above all, to shelter themselves from a possible increase of taxation or licences.” So that in spite of the satisfactory results of the last census, in spite of the notable increase of wealth and industry recorded, the figures given are far from representing the true significance of the industries of the capital city.
The results already given may be classified as follows, under the headings of the kind of industry, capital employed, value of produce, motive power, and employés engaged:—
| Industries. | Capital. | Value | Number of | Motive |
| of | Hands | Power | ||
| Production. | Employed. | (H.P.). | ||
| Gas lighting, electric lighting, | ||||
| lighting installations, | £6,712,470 | £2,227,376 | 4,754 | 66,392 |
| and plant | ||||
| Alimentary products | 3,873,386 | 10,520,532 | 14,227 | 11,756 |
| Clothing and toilette | 3,256,512 | 9,156,774 | 37,259 | 2,586 |
| Woven fabrics, leather and furs | 1,967,672 | 5,084,053 | 10,861 | 5,451 |
| Metal work, etc. | 1,598,722 | 2,916,793 | 10,090 | 4,311 |
| Graphic arts, paper | 1,489,525 | 2,178,294 | 8,296 | 2,758 |
| Woodwork, cabinet-making, etc. | 1,461,103 | 4,336,954 | 11,736 | 5,570 |
| Tobacco factories | 605,487 | 2,249,836 | 2,829 | 539 |
| Chemical products | 432,160 | 754,207 | 1,774 | 1,231 |
| Building | 408,056 | 1,097,219 | 4,415 | 719 |
| Art products, ornaments, etc. | 301,244 | 729,903 | 2,199 | 367 |
| Various industries | 1,364,881 | 5,779,208 | 9,875 | 3,895 |
| ————— | ————— | ——— | ——— | |
| Totals | £28,421,318 | £47,032,146 | 118,315 | 105,575 |
| ————— | ————— | ——— | ——— |
The establishment of large electric works which furnish current at very moderate rates, as well as the advantages of
electro-motors as compared with steam-engines, have led a number of industries to adopt new systems of motive-power. Of a total of 105,575 horse-power, 12,505 are furnished by electricity, 90,655 by steam, 1939 by gas, and 476 by naphtha.
Among those industries which are still in a state of infancy we must mention the chemical industry; this is limited to a few candle and soap factories, sulphuric and nitric-acid works, scent distilleries, dye factories, etc., whose produce is insufficient to the needs of the country.
The match factories, on the other hand, furnish a good article and are sufficient to the country. The consumption at present exceeds 200 million boxes per annum.
We must also mention the existence of a few paper-mills, glass furnaces, and various works where certain agricultural necessities are produced: such as iron wire, fencing, etc., and also certain wheel factories; but here again importation furnishes a great proportion of the articles consumed.