The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-29

100000, and their gross receipts were
more than $31 600, 900, while the expenses
were not more than $4,000, 900. This
made a clear profit of $15,000,00 gold
| during that year. The most of the
roads are English broad gauge, or wild
er than any of our roads at home. The
| rails now being used by the Southern
railway weigh seventy-four pounds to
the yard. They are of steel. They are
| imported from England, from where
| NEST of the rolling stock has been
brought, although now the chief COM
panles have their own stock and are
i making cars There are few Bald
win and Rogers engines, but these are
! chiefly on the government lines.
Italians are the chief railroad work
men. The work is done by contract,
one Italian taking a gang and doing
his work by the job or the yard. The
captain of each gang is called a cap
1taz, and he is responsible for the work
of his men. Upon a road in Patagonia
which l visited I 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 pro-
| vision car.
This provision car of the Argentine is
a curious railroad institution which I
a provideria, and it is, in fact a little
grocery and department store on
wheels. The car is fitted up with
shelves, upon which are clothes. to-
bacco. liquors, groceries and in short
| everything that the men can possibly
want. 1t has storekeeper in it. 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 $780,
700 worth of goods in stock, and sells
them to it's men at such rates that its
profits are about 8 per cent It 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 quart. This is less than Is
cents American. Beef costs about 4
cents OF our money a pound, and
clothing is proportionately cheap.
Among the curious things l saw in
one OF these stores were London jams
ana Indlan~chutney. l saw olive oil,
macaroni and ali kinds of crackers.
was interested in the track layers
and visited them in their camps. I
was told that man could live on
about 20 cents of our money a day.
and that the average man received
about $25 gold a month and saved
about 60 cents 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 Ct
a Kansas blizzard I am told that.
While the road from Buenos Ayres 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, however.
doubt, as 1 am prone to do other sto-
ries 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.
Inc dust storms are thicker than snow
storms. They sometimes stop the cars.
ming the grades and cuttings so that
you need a pillow to get through. Dur
ing a storm few years ago 1t took
1000 men a week to clear the track of
one of the roads,
such dust storms sometimes obscure
the sun, and if 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 most depIora-
bic condition.
l have heard of dust storms which
have filled the floors of the cars, the
dust being so fine that it went through
the windows and doors. and 1 know
to my sorrow that such storm will
coat your face and clothes in ten
minutes with thick coat of dirt, and
make white man and Indian, African
! and Caucasian of the same gray com
plexion. It will cause your lips to
crack and coat your tongue SO that
you feel as though you had been bit
ing into one of the apples of Sodom.
and had gotten therefrom a mouthful
of ashes. Frank G. Carpenter.