Evening star., 1898-12-31

thick!y they do in
any tenement section of New York or Lon
don Rents are very high In Buenos Ayres
only the rich are able to have houses to
themselves. The weII-to-do live in flats and
apartments, and the poor are crowded into
conventillos. ConventilIos are a peculiaritv
OF Buenos Ayres- They are immense build
lngs Of one or two stories. running; around
narrow passages or courts. and containing
scores upon scores of one-roomed homes.
Each room is the living place for one or
more families. and in most cases ii has so
many inmates that the washing and cook
ing must be done outside in the court
These one-roOmed homes are without VEN
ulat!on. except from the front They have
no light but that which comes through the
doorway, and their sanitary condition is
bad beyond description.
In the COnventiIIOs
You find these conventillos in every part
of BuenOs Ayres. They exist under the
shadow of the government mansions. Some
are TO be found on the by-streets of the
bEsines - sectors. and there are others
back of the palaces of nabobs. each of
whose incomes runs into more dollars per
week IMAM any one of the inhabitants of
the conventions receives in a wear Take
one for Instance. which lately visited un-
der the shadow of the Grand Opera House
llfi'A just come from lne DON-Off1Cp where
saw score of men paying sixteen dollars
seat for the next nights entertainment
ana where one man had laid down a thou-
sahd dollars 10 pay for his family box for
the season The conVentillo was entered hv
a door from the street. Passing through
tnis came into a court. six feet wide and
about TWO hundred feet long This was
walled with a tWO-StOrv buildina, maJe of
rooms about twelve feet wide and not much
more than twelve feet deep There was a
EdHery along the outside Of the second
story. and the two opposite walls were so
cloNe together that the stone tagging of
the court OCZed with moisture 1t received
but little sun and there was damp green
mold on the stones not trarnnad by the ten
ants feet Opening upon the court from
tacn room was a door. and the rooms had
neither light nor ventilation but that which
came from the door. Just outside each
room in the court was a bowl or box of
charcoal This formed the cook stove of
the family within. Upon some of the fires
rested pots Of steaming soup. with ragged
Italian women bending over them. There
was portly. grdy-haired italian dame in
one doorway. cleaning a cabbage. and next
I" her l saw lean woman with Spanish
lace cooking maCaIoni Further on a girl
mother OF perhaps fourteen washing
c."theS- Wmie Under the tub her dirty baby
sprawled on the stone and squalled The
most of the people in the court were Ital-
lAuS- and many Of the women were very
young The Italians Of BUenos Ayres de
veiop young. and You may read any day in
the papers the records OF marriages of girls
OF fourteen. Big families are the rule and
several of those in this court comprised /
was told, as many ten children Father
and mother gTOwn-up sons and daughters
children aad babies. all sleep in a space not
over Htteen feet square. Many rooms have
one bed. which is occupied by the DareDtS
and as many childr as can crowd in, and
the rest must sleep on the floor There is
TO way Of heating the rooms They made
me tnink OF caves rather than the homes
OF human beings. and most OF them were
quite aS dirty as the average cave Not
withstanding this the children seemed to
be generally healthy. although ] heard one
mother croouinc away over her sick baby
her sad lullaby mirsiing with the strains of
the singers who were practicing a comic
opera In the great theater over the way.
The death rate. however, is not so high as
70 = in some European cities. The climate
Of the Argentine IS excellent. and the last
general census taken showed that there
w-re then living 23t persons who were over
one hundred years old. \ large proportion
of the population is made up of Italians
SuagiardS and French immigrants the
Italians predOminating. The latter have an
annual birth rate of 90 per 1000. which is
~ per cent higher than the average birth
rate Of Europe
The Poor of the Argentine.
The working classes of the Argentine Re
public are largely foreigners. The native
poor do little more than herd cattle. The
real work Of the country Is done by the
Italians and the Spanlards, furnished by
the stream of immigrants which is always
flowing from Italy and Spain to the lower
parts Of eastern South America. Within the
past twenty-four years about 1000, 900 emf
grants have been imported from southern
Europe, and today out of the 1000 900 peo-
pie in the Argentine Republic il is esti-
mated that more than one in every four is
n foreigner. The railroads are built by the
Italians, although the English furnish the
money. l am told that they make splendid
workmen. They are thrifty, economical and
generally happy. They send a large pro-
portion of their wages back TO Italy. Just as
our Irish do with their wages in the United
States The Italians are also the small
farmers. They work on wheat lands, many
OF them taking tracts to farm on the
shares. They are as a rule thrifty and ac-
cumulative, and many who have come poor
have amassed fortunes. The fact that a
man lives in squalid quarters is not sure
sign that he is poor. for in these very con-
ventillos am told there are Italians who
have nice little properties, but who prefer
to save and starve for the time In order to
be the richer hereafter. The Italians are
the masons. the carpenters and the me-
chanics of the Argentine. They are very
apt at trades and will work for much lower
wages than those of the United States.
TAay tf,ra nha $So,~