The Argentine as a Market

by Nowell Lake Watson

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS FROM AND TO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.

	1890	1895	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905
	$1000 Gold	$1000 Gold	$1000 Gold	$1000 Gold	$1000 Gold	$1000 Gold	$1000 Gold	$1000 Gold
Antilles:
Imports	...	86	19	43	106	373	571	505
Exports	975	1,616	438	366	470	164	282	420
Belgium:
Imports	10,986	7,441	8,430	8,688	5,484	5,448	9,069	8,727
Exports	12,003	15,417	17,980	13,457	13,760	20,143	17,566	20,780
Bolivia:
Imports	85	72	122	138	122	125	108	126
Exports	296	591	578	541	600	450	392	539
Brazil:
Imports	3,354	4,095	3,741	4,386	4,583	5,350	6,032	5,328
Exports	8,442	8,096	6,185	9,702	8,368	8,545	10,727	13,039
Chili:
Imports	51	41	124	111	213	200	469	669
Exports	2,188	3,067	870	568	684	1,170	1,440	1,510
France:
Imports	19,875	9,116	10,897	9,959	9,243	12,708	17,109	21,248
Exports	26,683	20,337	19,007	28,637	29,587	34,294	30,596	37,594
Germany:
Imports	12,301	11,162	16,635	16,724	13,229	17,009	24,926	29,083
Exports	11,566	13,323	20,070	21,479	22,939	26,812	29,522	37,058
Holland:
Imports	850	103	173	573	622	790	1,007	1,288
Exports	160	92	3,906	1,753	2,834	4,546	3,500	3,761
Italy:
Imports	8,663	10,363	14,924	14,736	12,265	14,702	19,127	20,284
Exports	3,194	3,518	4,304	4,318	4,215	4,338	4,344	6,468
Paraguay:
Imports	1,724	1,824	1,860	1,767	1,469	1,059	1,569	1,616
Exports	336	100	161	216	213	173	216	330
Portugal:
Imports	110	58	78	68	89	213	271	300
Exports	456	138	369	7	113	101	88	23
South Africa:
Imports	...	...	...	...	4	62	126	34
Exports	...	8	3,240	2,891	8,285	9,170	4,941	5,524
Spain:
Imports	4,302	2,575	3,691	3,912	3,166	3,574	4,797	5,726
Exports	2,083	1,311	2,699	2,131	2,025	2,035	1,923	2,334
United Kingdom:
Imports	57,816	39,524	38,682	36,460	36,995	44,826	64,517	68,391
Exports	19,299	14,694	23,890	29,920	35,084	35,600	36,445	44,826
United States:
Imports	9,301	6,686	13,438	15,533	13,303	16,684	24,473	28,920
Exports	6,066	8,947	6,882	9,296	10,037	8,126	10,214	15,717
Uruguay:
Imports	5,885	736	520	679	744	760	862	1,023
Exports	5,506	3,290	2,302	3,710	3,673	4,188	5,020	6,705
Other Countries:
Imports	6,932	1,207	141	175	1,393	7,314	12,265	11,870
Exports	1,557	25,516	41,711	38,715	36,593	61,119	107,233	126,208
TOTAL
IMPORTS	142,240	95,096	113,485	113,959	103,039	131,206	187,305	205,154
EXPORTS	100,818	120,067	154,600	167,716	179,486	220,984	264,157	322,843

While a similar table (calculated in Spanish dollars) gives the following figures for the principal exporting countries in the year 1822:—

United Kingdom	$5,730,952
France	820,109
Germany, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark	552,187
Gibraltar, Spain, and Sicily	848,363
United States	1,368,277
Brazil	1,418,768
China	165,267
Havana	248,625
Chile and Peru	115,674
TOTAL	$11,267,622

The contrast between the two tables is sufficiently remarkable; but before dealing with either, it is necessary to have clearly in mind the growth and nature of demand. For this reason the immigration returns and tables showing the development of the railway system are given at this point:—

ARRIVAL OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE REPUBLICFROM 1857 TO 1905.

Years.	Number.		Nationalities.			Arrivals in 1905.
1857-60	20,000		Italians	1,488,084		Italians	88,950
1861-70	159,570		Spaniards	507,853		Spaniards	53,029
1871-80	260,613		French	176,670		French	3,475
1881-90	846,568		British	37,537		British	1,368
1891-1900	648,326		Austrians	42,983		Austrians	2,793
1901-1905	536,030		Germans	33,686		Germans	1,836
			Swiss	26,690		Swiss	576
			Belgians	19,990		Belgians	263
			Others	127,614		Other nationalities	24,827
	2,461,107			2,461,107			177,117

The development of Argentine Railways is shown in following table[4]:—

Years	Extent of Lines in kilometres	Capital $1,000,000 Gold	Passengers No. in thousands	Freight 1,000 tons	Receipts $1,000 Gold	Expenditure $1,000 Gold
1857	10	·3	56	2	19	12
1865	240	5·3	747	71	563	438
1870	732	18·8	1,948	274	2,502	1,356
1875	1,956	40·9	2,597	660	5,178	3,009
1880	2,516	62·9	2,751	772	6,560	3,072
1885	4,502	121·7	5,587	3,050	14,298	8,616
1890	9,432	321·1	10,069	5,420	26,049	17,585
1895	14,116	485·3	14,573	9,650	26,394	13,846
1900	16,563	531·3	18,296	12,659	41,401	23,732
1901	16,907	538·3	19,689	13,988	43,866	24,128
1902	17,677	560·9	19,815	14,030	43,272	22,975
1903	18,404	573·0	21,025	17,024	53,569	27,766
1904	19,428	588·5	23,312	20,123	62,558	33,216
1905[5]	19,793	[6]626·3	26,634	22,283	71,341	39,155

[4.] Direccion General de Vias de Communicacion.