The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-20

tine. 4JS SOIL Will ylelQ one nuQOreu DuSuc1S
Of corn to the acre. Much of 1t IS wooded
with tropical trees. It is mountainous. hav-
ing an average elevation as high as Denver
and general appearance much like that
of the country along the Pennsylvania Rail-
road at the Horse Shoe Bend. Here the
streams are dry half the year and boiling
torrents during the remainder. The Tucu-
man valleys are hot in the summer and
warm in the winter. Buenos Ayres people go
there to get away from the cold, a thing
that seems ridiculous to me, for the city is
never much colder than Savannah or At
lanta.
In addition to these sections there are
other lands still nearer Bolivia heavily
wooded, the Chaco and Formosa territor-
les, for instance. They are tropical and wild
and filed with half-naked Indians. These
countries have been little explored and are
comparatively unknown.
Further west in the Andes is country
unlike anything in the United States. 1t IS
both mountainous and tropical. The timber
here disappears and mineral riches come
to the surface. The finest of marble and
the most beautiful onyx have ever seen
exist in this region Here are mountains
said to be rich in gold and silver. some
mines are now being worked. The mining
engineers of the Rothschilds and others are
prospecting in these mountains. The great
drawbacks are the inaccessibility OF the
country the lack of water and the enor-
nous cost of carrying mining machinery
into it.
The wheat region of the Argentine is COM
paratively small part of the whole terri
tory. 1 will write of it more fully in the
future. 1t lies chiefly north of Buenos
Ayres and east of Cordoba, in the basin or
the Parana, and also in the province of
Entire Rios, between the Uruguay and Pa
rama rivers. This country is like Illinois
along the Ohio river. 1t is divided into COM
paratively small tracts and is largely
farmed by colonies of foreigners.
Such is a bird s-eye view of the Argentine
Republic. will fill out the picture In letters
describing different parts of the country and
the different industries.
THE POPULATION.
The Argentine now has 100000 people. 1t
grows fast. 1t has trebled in within thirty
years, and it's people claim they will have
100000 in 1900 More than 10000 immi-
grants came in last year. More than one
third of all the people in the country are
foreigners, and 70 per cent. of the foreigners
are Italians. More Italians are coming, and
paper that King Humbert estimates that
100000 Italians will emigrate next year.
Eighteen per cent. of the immigrants are
Spanish and 4 per cent French. This
makes 90 per cent. of all the immigrants of
the Latin race. The remaining per cent. is
made up of British, Russians. Danes, Swiss
and Portuguese. Until lately there were so
few Americans that they were not worthy
of consideration. Now Americans of the
better class are coming in, and they will
form an important factor in the Argentine.
The Portuguese, as rule, do not stay. The
men Of the other classes remain In a gem
GRAFTON or so they marry Argentine girls and
become Argentines, and out of the whole is
being evolved the Argentine type of the
future.
These Argentine people are not like the
South Americans of the west coast They
have no great strain of Indian blood run
ming through them. They are of almost
pure European extraction. They are not
Spanish. not French, not Italian, not Anglo
Saxon. They are evolving a combination
of all these, with the Latin strain predom-
mating, just as in America we are forming
type with the Anglo-Saxon strain in great
ascendancy. 1 think, however that our
type is far superior to any that can be pro-
cuced here.
The change in the Argentine goes on very
rapidly. At the beginning of this century
the old families were Spanish and Portu-
guese. Since then they have been inter-
marrying with the English, Scotch, Ger
mans and Americans and Italians. You
can see this in the names of the distin-
guished Argentines. Admiral Brown, one
of their famous naval officers, was of En-
glish extraction. The Livingston family,
whose ladies are noted for their wealth and
beauty, is in the fourth generation from the
Livingstons of New York. Pelligrine,
former President, and one of the most able
men of the country, has English blood in
him. The grandfather Of the chief of po-
lice Of Buenos Ayres was an American.
The father of Tornquist another prominent
Argentine, was New Orleans man. and
there are many leading families in whose
veins flow rich strains of Irish and Italian
blood.
Already the Spanish type has been ma
terially modified. Indeed with its large per-
centage of foreign born, this country is to-
day as cosmopolitan as any country of the
world. If you could be blindfolded and upon
one of the magic carpets Of fairyland trans
ported in the winking of an eye to the bust
ness parts of Buenos Ayres you could not
tell where you were by looking at the faces
or dress of the people. If you should be
dropped into the Stock Exchange, for in
stance, you might, if you were deaf, imagine
yourself in New York or London. You
could not imagine yourself in Buenos Ayres.
If your ears should be suddenly opened
you would still be at a loss. The cries of
the brokers would be in Spanish, but from
all around you would come a babel of
Italian, French and English. If you went
outside your situation would be even worse.
You would hear the street sweepers swear
ing at each other in Italian, English mer-
chants discussing trade in Anglo-Saxon
and groups of Basques on every street cor
ner gambling at each other in Spanish. You
would hear much French and you might
meet with Russians, Poles or even with
Turks.
AN UP-TO-DATE COUNTRY.
This large mixture Of foreigners keeps
the Argentine up to date. New ideas are
coming in from everywhere, and the latest
improvements are to be found. Nearly ali
the towns have more or less electric lights,
many have good streets and there are ex-
cellent railroad connections with the lead
ing centers. The Argentine now has 5000