PLATELAYERS, BUENOS AIRES CENTRAL RAILWAY.
This subject leads us to one which is the crux of the situation in Argentina—that of immigration. The natural growth of the population[67] is not very considerable; it may be that, apart from immigration, it would remain stationary. Thus the matter is one of great import, and all rulers since Rosas have done everything in their power to encourage the influx from foreign countries. Several different views have been taken about the subject. We have the pessimistic view of Mr. Theodore Child,[68] who, while praising the "urban development" of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, says that: "In the rural districts, however—even in the provincial capitals of the old colonial days, but more especially in the new colonies, where the scum of Spain and Italy has been deposited in ever-increasing numbers during the past twenty years—one sees aspects of humanity that fill one with sadness rather than with satisfaction, or even hope." This extremely superficial work has formed the material for a few contemptuous sentences by M. Gustave Le Bon,[69] in which he dismisses South America as an instance of "the terrible decadence of the Latin race." On such slight foundations do philosophers erect their edifices. Again, there is a natural but perhaps somewhat Chauvinistic view which regards Argentina as a "puissance nouvelle qui suffirait à elle seule à réhabiliter la race latine à laquelle elle appartient et à la relever de cette espèce de dechéance et d'inertie dont elle semble frappée, dans ce dernier quart de siècle, devant la brutale expansion du monde saxon et germanique."[70]
It may be added that these two views well illustrate the power of the human mind, to which reference was made in a previous page, of drawing diametrically opposite conclusions from the same premises. Thirdly, there is the view of the statesman, which is doubtless shared by all Argentines and their well-wishers, and which has been expressed by the veteran statesman M. Charles Pellegrini:[71] "The unity of language strongly encourages this fusion and explains the fact, elsewhere illustrated by the United States, that the descendants of immigrants of races differing in speech, religion, manners, and customs have the power of effecting a complete fusion into a mass of people perfectly homogeneous, with the same mental characteristics and sentiment, and thus making a new nationality, both young, vigorous, and strongly characterised."
The first view may be ignored. To speak of the "scum of Spain and Italy" in connection with immigrants whom the mother-countries would give anything to retain—sturdy peasants who are the life-blood of Argentina—is absurd, and indeed the danger of the country is not that it may become the common sewer of Madrid and of Rome, but rather the tendency of the people to crowd into those examples of "urban development" which the writers regard with so much complacency. As regards the second view, it is natural that Frenchmen should look with satisfaction upon the stately cities and wide plains in which the ageing Latin race is renewing her mighty youth; but people do not emigrate to illustrate theories. The Latin races are no doubt glad to find other Latin races to welcome them across the Atlantic, and also a congenial climate, but they go abroad in search of bread. It is undoubtedly a good thing that the Latin races should flourish in the New World, although hitherto they have been sterile from an intellectual point of view; but the forces that impel them are economic, not racial. The loss to Europe is undoubtedly great, but the third view is naturally that of Argentina, which is every year receiving an abundant stream of white colonists to develop the industries which cry aloud for labour. The figures are indeed remarkable. In 1857 there were 4,000 immigrants, in 1908 there were 255,710. The following table shows the rate of progress:—
| 1857-1860 | 20,000 |
| 1861-1870 | 159,570 |
| 1871-1880 | 260,613 |
| 1881-1890 | 846,568 |
| 1891-1900 | 648,326 |
| 1901-1903 | 223,346 |
It will be noticed that during the eighties, when trade in Europe was indifferent, while the progress of Argentina was rapid, the figures were very high, and that after the crash they fell considerably, though they recovered somewhat before the end of the century. The following are the figures for recent years:—
| 1904 | 125,567 |
| 1905 | 177,117 |
| 1906 | 252,536 |
| 1907 | 209,103 |
| 1908 | 255,710 |
It will be seen that the influx is now larger than ever.
It is important to observe the nationalities of the new subjects. Between 1857 and 1893 Argentina received peoples in the following proportions:—
| Italians | 1,331,536 |
| Spaniards | 414,973 |
| French | 170,293 |
| English | 35,435 |
| Austrians and Hungarians | 37,953 |
| Germans | 30,699 |
| Swiss | 25,775 |
| Belgians | 19,521 |
| Others | 92,238 |