Each one of the foreign colonies entered heartily into the exposition spirit, and planned to present to the city some memorial in the way of a permanent work of art, in commemoration of this first centennial of the revolution which led to the independence of Argentina from Spanish rule or misrule, a date which is as sacred to the Argentinians as the Fourth of July with us. The British colony, which is one of the largest and wealthiest and numbers probably twenty-five thousand, presented a clock tower of artistic design. The German colony, of almost equal numbers, began the erection of a monumental fountain on a great and imposing terrace which was prepared by the city, and cost one hundred thousand dollars. The Austro-Hungarian collectivity offered a meteorological monument, similar to those found in the cities of Austria and Hungary, which will be adorned with meteorological implements and appliances. The Italians, who are the largest in number but not the wealthiest, built an artistic monument in Italian marble of that great discoverer, Christopher Columbus. Lastly, the three hundred Americans offered a statue of George Washington, to whose work and example more than anything else the liberty of all the Americas is due, and the government donated to them a beautiful location on one of the principal plazas. Thus, by this tribute, will another connecting link in the friendship between the two republics, each of which is predominant on its own continent, be added.
CONGRESS PALACE AND THE PLAZA, BUENOS AIRES
Courtesy of the Bulletin of Pan-American Union
All over the city of Buenos Aires men worked for months in the attempt to beautify the city for the centennial exposition. Plazas were rearranged, and new monuments erected in them; public buildings were redecorated and overhauled; the new Supreme Court Palace was hurried in order to have it ready for the sessions of the Pan-American Congress, which were held there contemporaneous with the exposition; six solid blocks were bought and condemned in order to give an approach to the new Congress Palace, and thousands of men were employed for months in tearing down these buildings, hauling away the débris, and preparing the ground for the beautiful little park into which the space has been created.
The great problem with Argentina is the settlement of the immense tracts of unoccupied land. These formerly belonged to the national government, but they are now generally owned by the various provinces. As in most Latin countries the government adopted the plan of subsidizing the railroads, instead of giving them lands which would have been an incentive to stimulate settlement along their tracks. The railways have only recently grasped the advantages of encouraging such migration. A large part of this land has already been secured by private owners. The country is overrun with land companies, and every newspaper is filled with advertisements of auction sales of lands and corner lots in projected colonies, or in estates which comprise thousands of acres. Nowhere will one find such elaborate advertisements of real estate as in the newspapers of Buenos Aires, where they spread over page after page of their bulky papers.
The government is making earnest effort to encourage immigration and has been more successful than any other republic in South America. The immigration department publishes prospectuses containing elaborate and detailed information concerning public lands and guides for prospective settlers. The efforts of the national government are ably seconded by the provincial administrations, and they are jointly endeavouring to attract a class that will adopt an agricultural life. Free transportation is given desirable immigrants, and in many places money is advanced to build a modest house. A number of European companies are also establishing colonies and bringing in settlers. Some landowners who find their estates too unwieldy are letting their land out to tenants on shares. The immigrant receives far different treatment there from what he does in the United States, where he is simply turned loose after the inspectors have passed him. It has been charged in some instances that the government does not always keep its promises with these incomers, but I do not believe that can be at all general, for they are too anxious to populate the country. The country has been pretty well surveyed and good titles can generally be obtained. It will require all of the power of the government to break the city habit and induce the people to establish their homes in the campo. The lonesomeness and monotony of the never-ending pampas, where distance seems limitless, will no doubt always be an objection to them as places of habitation.
Statistics show that, during the year 1909, two hundred and thirty-two thousand four hundred and fifty-eight immigrants entered Argentina. Nearly every steamer landing at Buenos Aires has a few hundred of these poor people down in the steerage quarters. They are just the same as one will see disembarking at Ellis Island from the Mediterranean steamers. During the past ten years the total number arriving over those departing was almost a million and a quarter. A great many come in for temporary work in the harvest fields or elsewhere, and after earning a few hundred dollars go back to their homes in sunny Italy. Of the number arriving nearly one-half are Spaniards and about one-third Italians. The proportion of Spaniards has greatly increased in the past two or three years. The other nationalities include Syrians, Russians (mostly Jews), French, Austrians, Portuguese, British, etc., in order of numbers. All the North Americans numbered less than three hundred. It will be seen that the overwhelming population come from Southern Europe. This is only natural for language, customs and religion are almost the same, and the transformation from Italian or Spanish to Argentino is easy. It is a fact, however, that this element does not furnish the sturdy agriculturalists that the country needs. This is not the fault of the government. It seems impossible to induce settlers from Northern Europe to go down there. Large as this emigration seems it does not nearly keep pace with the production of the nation, and there is always a scarcity of labour in the rural districts.
It has been heretofore, and perhaps always will be, the case that Europe will devote greater attention to the River Plate countries than North America. There are two good reasons for this: first, the temperate regions of South America provide an outlet for the surplus population of the Latin nations of Europe; and, secondly, these countries are depended upon to furnish a large part of the food supplies for the thickly populated nations of that continent. The Anglo-Saxon has a choice of the many colonies of his own land, such as Canada and Australia, and he, together with the German, finds the United States a congenial country in which to live. The Frenchman, Spaniard and Italian finds conditions in Argentina, Southern Brazil and Uruguay more in accordance with his traditional customs. For the Spaniard the language is the same, and the Italian soon masters the difference in idiom. So this nation forms and should form the natural haven for these people, when the struggle for existence drives them from the land of their birth. As the government improves it will become still more attractive for them, and it is to be hoped that the stream of Italian immigrants who now seek our shores will head for the River Plate. This will redound in every way to the interest of the whole world. If the production of cereals and meat in that quarter of the world is sufficiently augmented, it will mean a substantial reduction in the price of these essential foodstuffs—it will mean cheaper bread and a lowering of the present almost prohibitive prices of meats. Another reason is that the La Plata ports are more accessible to Europe than the United States, while on the north and west coast of South America the conditions are reversed and the North American influence is much more pronounced.