The Argentine Republic

by Anonymous

This shadowy outline of the nature and quality of the Argentine exhibits at the San Francisco Exposition, though utterly incomplete as a description of their importance and value, will convey a general idea of the position attained by the Argentine Republic in all those moral and material factors which go to make up a great nation; and if to these elements are added the initiative and beneficial labors of Argentina in the international sphere, a sense of pride should be awakened in the hearts of all Americans that in the arts of peace, the widely separated, though great, countries of the American Continent, stand out as shining examples, worthy of emulation even by many countries of the old world.

INTERCHANGE OF COMMERCE

In 1895 the exports from the United States to the Argentine Republic amounted in value to $6,686,999 and the imports from that country to $8,947,165. In 1912 the exports from the United States amounted to $53,158,179 and the imports to $29,847,016. These figures sufficiently indicate the results likely to follow the active campaign of the manufacturers and commercial bodies in this country, recently initiated as a consequence of the war. The conditions arising out of the great upheaval caused by that world disaster have furnished the occasion for the exercise of an effort without parallel in the United States in any previous attempt to secure a larger share of South American trade. In this movement the Argentine Republic must necessarily be the main objective, owing to the vastness of its resources and commercial activities. Yet, although there is no doubt that the United States should and will constitute a still greater source of supply to that country of manufactured products, machinery and other articles, not only during the war, but for a long period after its close, it is necessary to consider that in order to secure a permanent extension of international trade upon a scale of magnitude apparently justified by superficial conditions, serious attention should be given to matters of reciprocal interests and the past relations of the Argentine Republic with the European countries to which it has freely opened its markets.

In this connection the words "reciprocal interests" must be taken rather in a literal sense than in the sense of reciprocity, as that expression is usually understood when applied to international treaties. Even though the question of tariffs does not now form so insuperable an obstacle to a large interchange of commerce between the two countries as was formerly the case, the fact that the balance of Argentine's trade with the leading countries of Europe has always been in her favor, renders it a condition precedent to a permanent expansion of international commerce that there must be a greater quality of interest than exists at present. In other words, the United States must offer corresponding advantages to the Argentine Republic to attract a transfer of a considerable share of her commerce from European competitors.

In the instances of Great Britain, Germany and France, with which countries the Argentine Republic has always transacted the greater part of her foreign trade, there has not only been a steady and ever-increasing growth in the consumption of Argentine national products, but those countries have likewise furnished huge amounts of capital for the establishment on Argentine soil of industrial and commercial undertakings, which, by their own necessities, create a natural extension of commercial interchange. It must also be remembered that the main products of the Argentine Republic are also the main products of the United States, where they are protected by High Tariffs, whereas, in Great Britain, which is Argentina's principal customer, there are no duties upon the imports of foodstuffs. In these circumstances it is obvious that some means must be found whereby the interests of Argentina in her commercial relations with the United States must be made more reciprocal, either by the introduction of American capital for the development of local industries, or by the remission, at least, of a substantial portion of the duties now imposed upon Argentine exports to the United States.

The enormous growth of population which has changed the position of the United States from an exporting to a consuming country, so far as foodstuffs are concerned, will, doubtless, in course of time, considerably ameliorate the restrictive conditions which have heretofore operated as a barrier to large exports of Argentine products to this country. On the other hand, the production of the Argentine Republic, by reason of the largely increased area placed under cultivation year after year, maintains her exporting capacity at a constantly higher level. Thus, given equal conditions in other respects, the United States might ultimately become as free a market for Argentina's meat and grain as any of the countries of Europe. Under similar circumstances as those indicated, there could also be infinitely larger imports of raw material which could subsequently be re-sold to the Argentine Republic in manufactured form.

The countries which have hitherto occupied the first place in Argentine foreign trade are those which not only gave initial impulse to the development of national industries by the founding of banks and the construction of railways, but likewise by the creation of adequate steamship services. There are to-day upwards of 33,000 kilometers of railway in operation in the Republic, with an aggregate capital of considerably over $2,000,000,000, more than 90 per cent, of which is entirely British, whilst the oversea communications are conducted by regular and rapid services of steamships flying the flags of the maritime countries of Europe. The great traction companies in the capital and the provinces are British; the street electric railways established on an important scale throughout the Republic are British; the foremost Light and Power concerns are German; with the exception of the National Bank of the Republic and the branch of the National City Bank of New York recently opened, the banking interests are largely European, whilst the great majority of the principal industrial and commercial enterprises are also European. Of the $400,000,000 of the Argentine External Debt, practically the whole of the issues making up this vast sum are in the hands of European investors and, in normal times, as further capital is called for to meet the requirements of any of the established enterprises, or of others formed on similar lines, it is invariably forthcoming from Europe; and to these advantages which the Argentine Republic enjoys in her commercial relations with the older countries, there is the additional fact that she derives all her immigration from northern and southern Europe.

Let us now examine the American interests, the most encouraging features of which are the establishment of a branch bank of the National City Bank of New York and the unqualified success in the United States of the loans recently made by that enterprising institution and other American bankers to the Argentine Republic. These two factors point to the realization, by those who are best able to judge, of the necessity for a new basis of intercourse in the future; and that this fact is understood in the Argentine Republic may be seen by the appreciative opinions of the press and the public authorities of that country. In other forms of industrial or commercial enterprises, American interests are comparatively insignificant. The acquisition and establishment of local freezing plants by the American packing houses, though important in extent, involve considerations of too controversial a character to be dealt with in this survey of the commercial relations of the two countries. It is considered desirable, therefore, to treat only of such branches of industry, commerce and finance as embrace the general field of foreign enterprise. The only American interest in railways is in the Argentine Railway Company, which consists of a combination of three or four minor lines in the north and north-eastern provinces, with a small proportion of American capital. In the great cattle raising and agricultural industries there is little or no American capital employed and it is also conspicuous by its absence from the lengthy list of land, mortgage and finance companies established in the Republic. It is true that there are many manufacturing concerns of the United States represented by agencies, but apart from the Customs revenue this representation brings to the country it is in no sense a contributor to its development.