New-York tribune., 1902-01-12

my health and the fact that hold some shares
in an Argentine railroad led me to select Buenos
Ayres as my objective point. To my great surprise
L sound that the journey could be made more ex-
pedtiously and comfortably by first going to Eng
land and taking a steamer from Liverpool or
Southampton. In fact, with the exception of
cargo steamers with meagre accommodations for
passengers there was no means of going from this
country either to Brazil TO Argentina. 1 crossed
10 Southampton by of the big liners. and three
days after arriving there took Royal Mail steam
er for BuenOs Ayres The steamer was OF about six
thousand tons, comfortably fitted and well ap
pointed with beautiful promenade deck; the food
up to the average North Atlantic liners
"The journey from Southampton was more like
a yachting trip than ocean voyage At first
every few days stops wera made including those
at Chcrbours. France; VigO. Spain: Lisbon. Portu-
GAL and the Cape Verd Islands. From this
point made the longest stretch without a stop,
IL being days to Pernambuco. Brazil From
this point the steamer proceeded to Bahia, thence
TO Rio from there 10 MoEtevideo. and finally.
the twenty-trst day from Southampton We
into the docks at La Plata. twenty miles from
Buenos Ayres.
Il had expected to find a city of between three
and four hundred thousand inhabitants with a few
pretenttous public and private buildings, but in
general rather unattractive ill-kept striving sort
OF city. with all the general marks of new city
in country. From La Plata took the
through several attractive suburban towns and
villages, and the train finally brought up at
station that would have done credit 10 a American
city. This first surprise. and drive OF
about mile and a half to hotel clearly showed
that all preconceived ideas of Buenos Ayres
were In fault. To be brief, found a city of
over a million inhabitants. attractivey laid out;
public and private buildings that would not be out
OF place in Paris Brussels and park system
that bids fair 20 become in few years one Of the
most beautiful in the world.
The public streets paved with asphalt. the
city is well severed brightly lighted and splendidy
policed. The private dwellings, especially those in
the newer parts of the city. are paatal and hand
sOmely furnished. There are several theatres, at
which French and Spanish companies appear.
Opera is given a magnificeE. scale but IL IS eX-
pensive the seats in the orchestra costing s. in
gold. On a gala night a more attractive house or
a brighter more appreciative audience 1t would
be difficult to find. The chief fortunes in Argentina
come from the ranches. which measured not by
the acre but by the square league. and produce
enormous revenues. The result is that when people
have money they have plenty OF il, and spend 1t
lavishly The women dress exquisitely and in good
taste. Their gowns as rule come from Paris
The impression that they gaudy iE their dress
and accustomed to bedecking themselves with
great quantities OF 1ewelry is wrong. There is
greater display of jewelry in Metropolitan
Opera House than in the opera house Buenos
Avres.
The leading business interests in Buenos Ayres
in the hands of the English and Germans. al
though there are several prominent Spanish and
Italian firms. The Argentinos think il beneath
them To engage in trade or manufacturing, or any
thing other than a professional life a
under the government. The result is that every
young Argentine starts out in life with the ambi-
ton of lacking the title of doctor his name.
which title is conferred graduates both ir med-
cine and law. The legal graduates almost invarf-
ably endeavor to secure government place. and
as result there are about ffty-hve thousand gov
many there are in Canada. which has about
equal population
and perhaps possessing more Spanish blood than
that OF any other nationality does not like TO be
referred to as a Spaniard any than the patrt-
otic American. with strong dash of English blood
man In fact one Of the surprises that visitors en-
We could only get rid of the Spanish poison in
heavily in debt it's total obligations amounting to
ngaad SG sa sSme 9sSt 9sa d SGst 4 gse ad
3 saes tss 3he vaTTs arr Of whh 5 there
all in recent years deiaulted in the payment OF in
legation is one of the problems which the govern
national loans is paid through customs duties.
which are extremely heavy. and by internal taxa
great It dsGH IS in pse Gnted sats i00r as
Argentina ts in extent ABOUT equal to the United
great resources and is imprSying year BY year year
and n other ways. ThsTe IS iIt.Ie Aify Mssli-
t ao3d OF any repualauon or the paI99naI ooli,
about IS and pay per cent interest. The rate of
bank discount ranges from 10 to 70 pee cent, and
loans on first class property are made at and 10
per cent. the former rate being charged when the
mortgage is in currency and the latter when IL is
in gold. In other words. Argentina is a high in
terest country. and this fact sometimes gives rise
10 the Impression in this country that the securi-
ties deprecated in value.
There are many strong and influential men in
Argentina, especially President Roca. who has
many views pertaining to his country which il he
could live to realize them. would make him the
Diaz OF Argentina, but he is well along in years,
ana Tor this reason perhaps. may be able to
Withstand the pressure of events around him The
great drawback to the Argentine people politically
Is lack or Ideals and an ignorance the foruna-
uon OF political parties. For instance, there Is
neither IN Argentina nor Brazil-and IL is only of
these TWO countries that / speak advisedly-
two strong political parties each with some object
or cause TO bring before the people; the result
IS that the party in power generally manages
Things TO please itself. and the only way by which
change can be brought about is to get up what
we call here reVClution.' = -