Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-03
lately granted are for that gauge. The gov


State regulations are strtcter than in the
United States. and the government super
vision IS much more stringent than that
exercised by the Interstate commerce COM
mission 1t follows the provisions Of a
general railroad law. The railway shares
are good investment. Though there are
few non-paying lines, and some new ones
from which immediate returns could not be
expected. the interest earned last year on
the total capital Of $685.. 600. 600 (goid) was
Just fraction under per cent. 1t will be
more this year.
l have not been over the standard gauge
lines. but after travelling on both the broad
ana narrow gauge systems. have found that
the individual passenger is Of more conse-
quence than In the United States. The
1ares for f1rst-class passengers seem to
be from 10 to 20 per cent cheaper than with
us. Second-class fares are about one-third
less than frst-class Much Of the travel is
of this grade. Good accommodate tons are
provided for 1t. Unlike most of the other
South American countries. baggage is not
treated as express matter and made to pay
extra Under the government regulation
the passenger is allowed ITO pounds.
Sleepers are owned and operated by the
companies. The charge is half that of the
Pullmans In the state For the trip from
Buenos Ayres to Cordoba. or from Cordoba
to Tucuman, taking in either case an after
noon and night, the charge for a berth
is $Z.oo currency. or little more than
dollar gold Some of the sleeping cars are
constructed wholly of compartments of two
and four berths respectively. while others
are partly compartments and partly berths
on either side. Separate compartments are
reserved for women.
Railway Restaurant Service.
1t is in the restaurant service that the
Argentine railways are specially convenient.
All the through and the express trains
carry buffet cafe cars the whole trip.
Breakfast. or the midday meal, and dinner
are served for the uniform price of 81
currency, IS cents gold. They are very
good meals. too. But the most attractive
thing about the restaurant cars for the
traveller is that they are always open. and
In addition to the regular meals he
have whatever refreshments he chooses at
any hour. The o'clock tea habit is as
prevalent in Argentina as in England, and
at that hour it is difficult to obtain a seat.
At other hours also the cars pretty
full. and are in fact genuine cafes on
wheels. This steady patronage adds ma
terially to the receipts of the passenger
traffic,
Meals and light refreshments are served
from the restaurant car through the whole
train. including the second-class coaches.
In the morning cafe con leche pam"
coffee with hot milk and a roll is uni
versally taken. and the continental custom
OF taking 1t In bed and at leisure obtains.
1t Is better than the American habit OF a
haSty swallow.
Unlike the railways In the United States,
the restaurant service on the Argentine
because 1t is continuous instead of being
jerky and available only at stated and
often inconvenient intervals. as on the
North American railways. On some of the
roads 1t adds to the net passenger receipts,
and on all of them 1T has the effect of slim
ulating travel. The various lines carried
2O,OO0,o0O passengers last year. The cal
culaton is that each of these passengers
spent some money in the restaurant car.
1 journeyed from Cordoba to Tucuman
north on the narrow-gauge lines, and had
the opportunity to see something of the
service In the region remote from Buenos
Ayres and the more thickly populated dis
tricts through train is run three times
week. 1t consists of seven or eight Sleep
ers. to be dropped off at the various juno
lions where connection is made with the
branch lines; express and mail cars ordi
nary coaches and the restaurant car. The
latter was constructed of beautiful native
woods and a small tablet told that 1t was
built in the shops at Cordoba. a full ex
emplftcat1on of native resources and in
dustry. The sleeping cars. noticed. were
constructed In Wilmington, Del. Argen-
tine was a good buyer of railway equip
ment and locomotives in the states until
the shops got too busy to fill the orders
promptly.
When Cordoba has been left few hours
behind and the surrounding lands become
denser with scrubby timber growth and
cactus, it is possible to dispel the impress
sion that Argentina is all one plain. The
Hattest stretch of land In this section is in
crossing the great salt marshes. The tim
Der Increases in size and the mountains,
which do not seem far away, appear to be
full OF 1t. But 1t takes an effort to realize
that one Is getting into the tropical regions
until the sugar plantations furnish the con-
vincing proof.
The Sugar Cane Country.
Tucuman is the heart of the cane sugar
industry. 1t has been fairly profitable
industry in the past, but Is now depressed
In 1902 the Argentine production was 1885,
600 tons, of which the major portion came
from this province. The import duty is
prohibitive. 4 cents per pound. Both the
national and the provincial government
stimulated the industry so literally by leg
islative bounties that the home consump-
ton, which is SIS, 900 tons. was soon exceed
ed and foreign market had to be found.
The system Of internal taxation and export
rebates is somewhat involved.
sugar companies realized after the Brus-
sells convention that their foreign market
was In danger cooperative effort was
made to restrict production, but more radi-
cal action was taken by the provincial gov
eminent. 1t passed law limiting the out
put by laying additional taxation on all
sugar produced by the various plantations
beyond a fixed proportion of the general
consumption. The constitutionaMty of this |
law may not be upheld by the Supreme
Court yet 1t has the effect to limit produc-
tiou Tic udtlOudl congress Is pTepaT-
ing to abolish the bounties and comply with
the Brussels convention in order to save
the market of Great Britain. The province
has other agricultural resources and the |
sugar crisis is not likely to injure 1t per- |
manently. 1t can raise rice, tobacco, cot !
ton, wheat. corn and alfalfa. Some recent |
experiments in growing ramie have pro- |
duced good fiber, which has been sent to |
Europe. |
Tucuman IS the railroad center Of north |
ern Argentina, though 1t Is not exactly |
railroad town. All the lines converge |
here. In short time the government line |
which runs north will be prolonged into |
Bolivia. The Chilean project for a northern |
route across the Andes at Capapo will |
naturally extend to Tucuman, so that with |
in few years the city promises to be an |
International railway center and in direct |
communication with the ports of the Pacific |
as well as with the Bolivian Andes.
Where Independence Was Declared.
Tucuman is both an old and a new city.
OF the older part the most interesting me- |
mortal Is Independence Hail. in which was |
proclaimed the Argentine declaration OF |
independence That was on July 0, 1915. |
It's existence Is a reminder that most Of the |
fighting which ended the Spanish power
,olo hoo