Other features of interest in this section comprise a collection of tobaccos cultivated in Argentina and on a wall of about 3 square meters in dimension there is exhibited a large illustration of a national tobacco manufactory in full operation. Considerable attention has been devoted to this particular department, one cabinet alone having cost $6,000 to construct. In the section set apart for textile products, there is an artistically arranged exhibition of samples of wool consisting of about 300 separate collections contributed in more, or less, equal proportion by public bodies and individual producers. The beautiful cabinet containing these samples also has a number of photographic views relating to the products shown as well as pictorial reproductions of sheep-shearing and other mechanical operations as carried out on the larger farms of the Republic. There are likewise shown here many classified samples of cotton and a variety of vegetable fibres.
The collection of woods and other forestal products is another centre of attraction for visitors and gives a clear idea of the riches enclosed in Argentine forests. The collection consists of upwards of a thousand samples representing, in their varied forms, a hundred classes of different woods. In addition to the great variety of this exhibit, its interest has been added to by the contribution of a number of maps and photographic views by the Forest Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. To make the Agricultural Section of the Argentine Republic more attractive and of added practical value, a number of the official Departments of the Republic have contributed statistics, plans and graphic illustrations pertaining to the methods and progress of this branch of industry. The drawings, paintings and statistics shown by the Board of Rural Economy demonstrate the enormous growth and progress made in this direction, whilst the exhibits of the Argentine Meteorological Office and the National Board of Agriculture furnish every necessary detail in regard to climatic and meteorological conditions and the provision made against agricultural plagues. Added to all this, there is a collection of photographic views relating to pastoral and agricultural production which may be considered to excel both in detail and variety.
The development of other Argentine national industries is to be seen in the Palace of Industry, which occupies a rectangular space of 30 meters frontage by 18 deep, on the Central Avenue. In this section are shown samples of a great variety of articles produced in the numerous factories devoted to the production of cloth, shoes, hats, decorative ornaments, electric light fittings, crockery, construction material, tools, implements, mechanical products, glassware, matches, tannery, saddlery and many others. As in all the other Argentine sections, the exhibition is made more complete by the display of splendid photographs which assist in demonstrating the rapid advance in the number and character of Argentine manufactures.
The justification of the description of the Argentine Republic as the "universal provider" of foodstuffs is to be found in the section assigned to such products, notwithstanding the absence of an exhibition of chilled and frozen meats, together with some of their by-products, as a result of circumstances which have temporarily impeded the operations of the great packing houses. The vast proportions of this branch of industry may be gathered from the admirable collection of photographs displayed. The regrettable fact that the Argentine Republic is unable to offer any practical demonstration of its meat-producing capacity through circumstances over which neither the country nor the producers had any control is, to some extent, however, compensated for by the large and interesting exhibition of many of its other leading food products. The milling industry is amply represented by samples of excellent quality from the raw material down to such by-products as biscuits, nutritious pastes, sweets, candies and all the other articles made from it. Here important space is also given to such articles of general consumption, as preserved fruits, condensed milk, sterilized and antiseptic, lard, cheese, conserved vegetables, etc. Beverages, wines, beer and liqueurs are abundantly represented, whilst there are numerous exhibits of other alcoholic products, oils and vinegars. A prominent feature of this section is the diorama illustrating field sports and fishing and an interesting collection of embalmed animals, particularly birds and fishes, of many different species and dimensions.
In the Mineral and Metallurgy Department of the Exposition, the Argentine Republic has an effective display of a general collection of minerals and three special exhibits of petroleum and combustibles, borates, salts and materials for construction. In regard to these, more attention has been given to the object of securing typical samples which demonstrate the character of the various ore deposits, than to the consideration of the actual number of samples. In the collection of petroleum and combustibles, there are samples from the following deposits: Commodore Rivadavia, Laguna de la Brea, Cerro Buitres, San Rafael, Cacheta, Covunco (Neuquen), Cerro Sotena, Challaco, Mina Carmelo (Salta), Yacuiba, Garrapatal (Jujuy). This collection contains 39 different samples, with specific details and statistics especially tabulated in every case. The exhibition of marbles and stones for purposes of construction is most complete. Here are to be seen the famous marble onyx of San Luis and of San Rafael, the marbles from the Sierras of Cordoba (represented by 15 varieties), and specimens of the large granites of Sierras Bajas, Olavarría, etc. There is also a collection of mineral waters in which are included those mostly used in the thermal establishments of Rosario de la Frontera; whilst, as a decorative contribution to the exhibition there is a plastic representation of the Sierras of Famatina, showing a part of its wonderful aerial railway, together with an admirable series of photographs, maps, and diagrams embracing practically every branch of the mineral and metallurgical industries.
The designation of "Palace of Liberal Arts" is a somewhat inadequate description of the Argentine exhibits of Liberal Arts in the generic sense of the words, as, in addition to the branches of study usually embodied in that classification, there are included under that head many exhibits of a scientific and technical character which, for the demonstration they afford of national progress in the direction referred to, might well have formed a separate collection. Here are to be seen a complete series of drawings, maps, statistics and plans of works graphically depicting, with full details, the principal river systems and general workings of the rivers and ports of the Republic, all prepared by the Department of Public Works. Nearly every technical division of the Government Departments is represented in this section, many of the exhibits having been sent by the General Board of Railways, the Board of Bridges and Roads, the Board of Architecture, the Board of Health, the Board of the Capital and various Divisions of the War Cabinet, each unit containing photographs, plans and diagrams indicating the advance that has been made in all these important public works. Amongst other features of interest contained in this section, special mention should be made of the representation of the National and Foreign Press, which furnishes unquestionable evidence of the high state of efficiency and general excellence as well as the enterprise of Argentine journalism. Here also are the exhibits of the literary, scientific and educational works produced in the Republic and the contributions of the National Centre of Engineers, of the Argentine Graphic Institute, of the Central Society of Architecture, of the Society of Architects and Construction of Works, etc., etc., all combining to illustrate the high degree of Argentine progress in the field of Liberal Arts.
In an earlier chapter reference is made to the great advance made by the Argentine Republic, in recent years, in the development of education, to which cause successive Governments have given ever-increasing thought and attention, whilst Congress has, year by year, sympathetically supported the Government policy by augmented money votes for the addition to the number and the improvement of educational institutions. In the Palace of Education and Social Economy which was voluntarily accorded a place of honor by the Exposition Commission amongst the principal Palaces of the Fair, there has been formed a collection of detailed exhibits pertaining to Argentine national education which points to the very great importance given to this subject by the authorities of the Republic. The efforts of every official element in educational matters have been brought into play with a result that leaves no doubt, either as to the desire for, or the standard of culture in the Argentine Republic. This exhibition, moreover, is not only an effective exponent of national progress but will also serve to remove an easily understood, though generally prevailing ignorance in many foreign countries of true conditions in Argentina. In order to add perfect completeness to the educational exhibits, a new departure has been made to show full details of every branch of teaching, official and private, primary, secondary, university, commercial, industrial, agricultural, professional, etc., etc., for all classes and ages, by means of plans, statistics and some 6,000 photographs representing 150 leading institutions and upwards of 100,000 students and pupils whose physical characteristics at once reveal the predomination of the higher European types. As may be imagined, these illustrations represent the scholarly activities of the country in their widest aspect and are not merely photographs of special groups of children such as are frequently shown in educational exhibitions. The statistics, which form an instructive addition to the pictorial matter, have been so compiled and tabulated as to make their full value and significance easy of comprehension and there is every reason to believe that those which accompany the illustrations of the agricultural sections and experimental stations will be of special interest to the majority of American visitors to the Exposition.
In regard to the group of exhibits corresponding to the section of Social Economy contained in the same artistically arranged building, much detail is furnished concerning many of the social and charitable institutions of the Republic, in reference to which there is an absence of information abroad. The co-operation of the Argentine Social Museum and other important public bodies has enabled the Commission to present a comprehensive exhibition of views and of the methods of operation of the various national Associations established, as asylums, refuges, hospitals, poor-houses and other organizations for the protection of women and children and for the prevention of crime, as well as demonstrations of the work performed by these bodies, some of which also have for their purpose the extension of social improvement, of public order, economy, hygiene, labor, the construction of dwellings and other objects of public advantage. In this section there is also an exhibition of works of arts produced by Argentine artists embracing a careful selection of paintings and examples of sculpture representative and characteristic, in every sense, of national art; and with a view to demonstrating the artistic progress of the country, this collection is made up of only recent works, not one of which has previously been shown in any foreign Exposition.
