Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-04
Endangers Our Interests.

The people of the United States have
very little comprehension of the growth
of the agricultural industry in the Ar
gentine Republic and Uruguay and the
danger that cOnfronts our grain as well
as our cattle interests from that direction,
says a Washington correspondent
In 1880 the Argentine Republic was
importing flour and wheat, but in 1881
the tide turned and nearly 1000 tons of
wheat We're exported from that country
About that time modern mills were intro
duccd also, and soon after the flour pro-
duct exceeded the local demand and the
Argentine millers began To ship it to Eu-
rope The exports of wheat in 1882 We're
LOO tons. and in 1881 the first shipments
of flour We're BIB tons; in 1890 the total
had reached 32T.S94 tons Of wheat and
12,11I tons of flour. and in 1894 COS. 900
tons of wheat and JG.S12 tons Of flour.
Mr.. Mulhall, the well-known statisti-
clan of the London Times. is also editor
of the Buenos Ayres Standard and he
gives it is his opinion that the area in
wheat in the Argentine Republic in 1895
was more than double that OF 1893. The
following are his estimates of the wheat
acreage for the last three years and they
well rs the growth OF the industry in rhat
country and what our wheat farmers are
to expect in the future:
Years Acres
1893 33O5OkO
1871. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 3.453.200
1919. .................. 7,346,O00
The number of immigrants to the Ar
gentine Republic in 1891 WAS -. 266: for
the first eleven months Of 1893 they mum
bered J0.OS1. and during November alone
they numbered 1860. which Will bring
the total for the year up to 60OO0 The
most Of these immigrants 20 into the in
terror and settle upon the agricultural
lands which are furnished them free by
the Government. In fact. the agricul-
tural development of that country is very
similar 10 that which was going on in the
Mississippi valley twenty years ago
Ii IS important also 10 consider that the
cost Of raising wheat in the Argentine Re
public will average - per cent less than
in the United States. and that the average
cost Of transporting il from the farmers
cart 10 the hold Of the steamer is only
about 10 per cent of the market value at
the seabOard. Thus. assuming the aver
age price of wheat in BuenoS Ayres at
SD gold ton, the average cost of trans
portation is 500 4 ton.
The same story may be told about Uru-
quay. Mr.. Rodriguez Diez. of Montevi-
do, who has recently been in the United
States as the agent of his Government
for the purpose of examining into the
methods Of our agricultural department
for the purpose of organizing something
similar in L Uruguay, recently made very
interesting statement before the Commit
tee of Ways and Means concerning the
growth Of the export trade in beef pro-
duets and cereals from his country. He
showed by official statistics that the ex-
ports Of wheat from ruguay had ncreas-
ed from Sl69.307 in 1898 to 1852, SOB in
1894. and it was his opinion that in 1929
the gain was 100 per cent. He showed,
also, that there has been a similar in
crease in the exports of flour, which were
only LODI tons in 1893, but jumped to
3G0.024 tons in 1894. The great bulk of
this flour goes to Brazil-95 per cent Of it
and the exports in 1890 were doubled.
The exports of corn from Uruguay in
1893 were $23,212 and in 1894 $3.50. 539
There was very large increase in 1898.
the principal market being Brazil Mr..
Rodriguez stated that no more wind mills
are being erected in South America They
are all now mounted with Hungarian
stones and moved by steam power.