Omaha daily bee., 1899-01-29


cannot be driven into II without first boring
holes for them. After the rails are once
fixed II is impossible to draw the spikes out.
Such ties are very expensive. so much so
that the southern railroad not long ago tried
the experiment Of importing ties from Aus
tralia because they were cheaper than the
Paraguay ties.
How Railroads Are Built.
The most of the railroads are in the
hands of the English. Some have been
built much like our roads at home. with
a heavy capitalization and with their ups
and downs on the stock market. 1t Is safe
to say, however. that more than half a
billion dollars has been actually spent in
constructing railroads through the Argen-
tine. In 1896 the capital stock OF the roads
footed over $50, 600, 900 and their gross re-
ceipts were more than $31 900, 600, while
the expenses were not more than sl6,O 900, 600.
This made a clear profit Of $l5, 100000 gold
during that year. The most Of the roads
are English broad gauge, or wider than any
Of our roads at home. The rails now being
J used by the Southern railway weigh sew
enty-four pounds to the yard. They arc
OF steel. They are imported from England,
from where most OF the rolling stock has
been brought, although now the chief COM
panies have their own stock and are max
ing cars. There are a few Baldwin and
Rogers engines, but these are chiefly on
the government lines.
Italians are the chief railroad workmen.
The work is done by contract, one Italian
taking a gang and doing his work by the
job or yard. The captain Of each gang is
called a capitaz and he is responsible for
the work of his men. Upon a road in Pata-
gonia which | visited l found twenty gangs,
each containing ten men, laying tracks.
They were given so much per mile. The
workmen lived in tents which they put up
along the railroad, and they were supplied
with provisions from a provision car.
\ Grocery store on Wheels.
This provision car of the Argentine Is a
curious railroad institution which i have not
seen elsewhere. 1t Is called a provideria,
and it is, in act, a little grocery and de-
partment store on wheels. The car Is fitted
up with shelves, upon which are clothes, TO-
bacco, liquors, groceries and in short every
thing that the men can possibly want. 1t
has a storekeeper in 1t, who furnishes goods
to the railroad men at the lowest possible
rates.
The company supplies the goods and pays
all the bills. 1t keeps about $4,000 worth
of goods In stock, and sells them to It's
men at such rates that its profits are about 3
per cent. 1t puts the goods at such prices
that the .men know they can buy more
cheaply of the provideria than at the
stores.
For instance, good Italian wine Is sold
for about 40 cents of Argentine money a
quart. This is less than 10 cents American.
Beef costs about 4 cents of our money a
pound, and clothing Is proportionately
IL ,,,-, sn~ 7 6 yy In
one of these stores were London jams and
Indian chutney. ] saw olive Oil, macaroni
and all kinds of crackers.
was interested in the tracklayers and
visited them In their camps. l was told
that a man could live on about 20 cents of
our money a day, and that the average man
received about $25 a month and saved about
60 cents a day out Of his wages. The men
complained that their tents were too small.
They were of the A shape, so little that only
four cots could be placed in each tent. But
five men were allotted to a tent, and so one
man had to sleep On the ground.
Freight Cars with Sails.
Among the discomforts Of railroad riding
in the Argentine are those which come
from the wind. 1t blows on the pampas at
times with all the force of a Kansas bliz-
card. l am told that while the road from
, Buenos Ayres to Mendoza was building the
cars were sometimes blown off the track
and that It was customary to put sails on
the freight trains and allow the wind TO
push them along over the rails. This, how
ever, l doubt, as l am prone to do other
stories told here in this land of luxury,
laziness and lies.
do not doubt, however, the stories as
to the dust. There is no land where the
dust blows more than it does here. The
!, duststorms are thicker than snowstorms.
They sometimes stop the cars, filling the
grades and cuttings so that you need a pillow
to get through. During a storm a few
years ago it took 1000 men a week to clear
the track of one of the roads.
Such duststorms sometimes obscure the
sun and if a rain comes while the dust Is
in the air it brings down a shower of mud,
which paints the houses and fences and
everything with a sticky mass. If the rain
continues the wood is secured clean by the
mud, but if not it is left in a most de-
plorable condition.
have heard Of duststorms which have
filled the floors Of the cars, the dust being
so fine that it went through the windows
and doors, and l know to my sorrow that
such a storm will coat your face and
clothes in ten minutes with a thick coat OF
dirt and make white man and Indian, Al
rican and Caucasian OF the same gray COM
plexion. 1t will cause your lips to crack
and coat your tongue so that you feel as
though you had been biting into one of the
apples OF Sodom and had gotten therefrom
a mouthful Of ashes.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.