The Saint Paul globe., 1899-01-01

meal a day, which Is eaten after they
have stopped work in the evening.
They take nothing but a cup Of tea
and q piece Of dry bread upon rising.
and this lasts them until dinner, al
though they may have another cup of
tea at noon. AS to the markets, meats,
with the exception of pork, are ex-
ceedingly cheap. but other things are
high. Mutton brings almost nothing,
and beef costs about half its value in
the United States. Very little pork Is
used by the laboring classes. Most
families buy their bread, as the poor
have no facilities for baking. Licensed
bakers supply the demands. and the
bread man on horseback, with his pam
nters filled with rolls. goes from house
to house daily. The bread sold in
Buenos Ayres is as good as that which
IS made In our cities. Cornmeal Is not
used, although hominy is common.
onions are everywhere eaten, and a
frequent sight upon the streets is the
onion peddler, who goes along carry
Ing strings Of onions, the bulbs being
braided into straw 80 that they can
be thrown over the two ends of q pole
and thus carried upon the shoulders.
Out in the country the laborers live al
most entirely upon meat, and although
they could if they would have garden
patches, they seldom care to under
take the trouble of raising vegetables.
TRADES UNIONS IN ARGENTINE.
The different classes of laborers have
their own unions. 1 have been told by
railroad men that they seldom have
a strike among their employees. There
is no great variation in wages from
year to year, and in all branches strikes
are almost unknown. The most Of
the employers prefer to get their work
done as far as possible by contract or
by the piece. This is especially so in
railroad construction, where eXcaya-
tion is done by the cubic yard, and
other things in the same way. One man
VIII hire gang of men to help him,
and he will be responsible to the con-
tractors or their officials. Upon all the
large eStanciaS or farms the proprietor
has store and furnishes the goods to
his hands, deducting a certain amount
from their wages to pay for them. The
railroads often carry provision cars
with them and sell at little over cost
price eatables and other goods to their
Workmen, furnishing wine and clothes
as we'll as all sorts Of provisions, from
London jam to hard-tack Neither in
the country nor in the cities do the
laboring classes seem to care for COM
forts as our laborers do. A galvanized
Al Oil SllS0 lOIIIlS lIlG IlOillS OIL the Idrln-
er, and room in a conventillO that
of the city workman. An American
mechanic would not live in this way,
and l do not think he could make
enough money in the Argentine to en-
able him to buy the comforts he has
at home. The Argentine laborer has to
pay more for his clothing, and he has
nothing like the educational or social
advantages of his North American
ic IN f-o
in South America for North American
labOrerS.
WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.
AS to the women, those of the poorer
classes have a much worse chance in
the Argentine than in the United
States. There are but few female
clerks in the stores. Women are not
generally employed in the government
departments and the professional type
writer of the Argentine has yet to be
born. In the government telegraph
ofllce there are a few women operators.
and at the telephone there are girls to
answer the calls. They are not "hello
girls" however. The Argentine man
When he calls up central" yells out
ola" to get the young lady's atten-
ton, and often talks to her a moment
before he begs her to have the graci-
BUSINESS to connect him with his butch
er, baker or candlestick maker I am
told that it was first thought the girls
would not serve as telephone opera
tcrs. The young Argentine dandies
who We're among the patrons of the
institution made love to them over the
wires SO that severe restrictions had
10 be imposed before the service could
80 on without clogging.
FEMALE SCHOOL TEACHERS
There are number of women en-
ployed as school teachers In the Argen-
tine republic. This is perhaps the most
respectable profession young woman
can nave. A former president named
Sarmiento introduced the first female
school teacher He had been minister
70 the United States, and had there met
horace Mann, and through him became
Interested in our system of education.
II was through him that number of
american school teachers were import
ed and normal schools established
throughout the whole republic. There
are no better equipped schools of the
klnd anywhere than the Argentine now
mas: They have some of the finest
buildings Of the republic. They are
fund today in nearly every province
and many young Argentine girls are
pelng trained in them. The native Ar
genuine women make excellent leach
ers, but there are not enough schools
for them in the cities in which the nor
mai COLLEGES are located, and it is not
considered just the thing for a vollng
iaoy TO go away from her own home
10 teach. The result is that most of
them remain at home and stand in the
doors or lean out of their windows dav
after day gazing at the passers-hv
rms is the chief occupation of the mid
die class girls of the Argentine cities
AS to factories the Argentine Renub-
1c is yet in its infancy as a manl1fac-
turing nation, and the females en-
pioyed are comparatively few. There
are some glovemakers, capmakers and
umbrella sewers, who are paid from
30 cents to 81 of our money per dav
Ihere are some good seamstresses and
nllilners. In private families women
are used as house servants. but about
the hoteiS and boarding houses all of
the scrubbing and cleaning and much
OF the chamber work are done by men
HOW THEY WASH AND IRON.
The washerwoman and the JaiIndre-s
has not the chance in the Argentine
-that she has in the United States. All
1amlles have their washing and IRON
ing done out of the house. and it is
customary for one set Of women to do
the washing and another to do the
ironing. The washerwoman never irons
ana the 1roner never washes. The cor
rugated zinc washboard is not known.
Inc clothes are usually taken to the
banks OF a stream and rubbed with
the hands on fiat stones or upon boards
In the public wash houses, where for
small sum for the week a woman
can get place at the trough and use
of hot and cold water. There are MANY
families who do nothing but iron. one
woman employing from five to ten
helpers and paying each about so cents
gold per day. The ironer usually ar
1,