The capital invested in the refrigerating industry, including both share capital and loans, is estimated at £4,449,825. The profits obtainable may be judged by the dividends paid by the most important of the refrigerating companies: the Sansinena Frozen Meats Co., in 1902, paid 50 per cent. out of the exceptional profits realised by the sale of cattle in South Africa during the Boer war. Since then the dividends of this company have fallen to 10 per cent.
Another cause of the development of this industry is the closing of English ports against cargoes of live cattle, for fear of anthrax. It is by the help of this prohibition that the refrigerating companies have conquered the English market, which to-day takes up the greater part of our frozen meat, as before it took our cattle. Steps have of late been taken with a view to re-opening the ports under a pledge of sanitary measures; but nothing decisive has been done, on account of the protests of English cattle-breeders, and also of the refrigerating companies, most of which have been created by English capital.
The Dairy Industry.—Among the industries connected with cattle-breeding there is one which, without having the same importance as the industry dealt with above, has yet a certain margin of development. This is the dairy industry, with its derivatives, butter and cheese-making.
The Argentine breeders having imported excellent Durham or Dutch milch-cows, the dairy produce is of the finest quality.
Large establishments, of which one, La Martona, belongs to a private company, have been installed for the purpose of supplying the city of Buenos Ayres with milk. It is estimated that the daily sale at the counters of La Martona amounts to 10,000 glasses; the sales of La Marina amount to 6000, and of La Granja Blanca to 10,000 glasses. All these approximate figures refer to the summer only, and the sales across the counter by the litre, for family consumption, and the house to house distribution, are not included in these figures. Besides the above establishments there are many cow-keepers in the city, as well as dairymen who receive their milk by rail.
As for butter and cheese, it was estimated at the time of
the census of 1895 that there were 357 establishments devoted to this industry. In the matter of butter the Argentine does more than suffice to itself—though ten years ago this was not the case—but to-day it exports considerable quantities to England, Brazil, and South Africa.
To give the reader some idea of the dimensions which the butter-making industry may attain in the future, we need only cite the following data:—
According to the national census of 1895 there were 22,000,000 cattle in the Argentine Republic, of which only 1,200,000 figured as milch cows; the value of the latter being not less than £14,000,000. Butter-making and cheese-making were very restricted industries, especially the former, and the statistics of 1895 mention an export of only 500 tons. But the impulse was already given; and the combined efforts of agriculturalists and cattle-breeders, directed towards the improvement of the bovine species, were about to give an extraordinary impetus to the butter-making industry. Let us see how the situation has improved between 1895, the time of the last national census, and 1908, the year in which the agricultural and pastoral census was taken.
This latter inventory has shown that in 1908 the Argentine Republic contained 29,119,625 head of cattle, of which 2,163,900 were milch cows and 12,825,904 were cows employed for breeding purposes. That is, considering the milch cows only, we do not find a very extraordinary increase since 1895, although all agricultural and pastoral industries have undergone such a remarkable development. It is extremely probable, however, that a certain number of milch cows are counted among the cows employed for breeding purposes, as the latter do produce milk, whether for consumption on the farm or for commercial purposes. Here are the figures of the exportation of butter from 1895 to 1908:—