The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-18

than the Sioux or Pawnees or Com
mancheS.
For three centuries after their ar
rival the Spaniards did little to ex-
plore or settle the western or southern
parts of the country. Meanwhile,
some cattle and horses which had
been turned loose In tho Pampas after
the middle Of the sixteenth century
began to multiply, till by the begin
ming of the eighteenth there were vast
herds of both all over the plains,
wherever grass grew, as far south as
Patagonia
When the development Of the coun-
try had received an impetus by the
creation of 1776 of a viceroyalty at
Buepos Aires. and by the permission
given to the Atlantic ports to trade
with Europe, the cattle and horses
became q source of wealth, men took
ranching, and colonization spread out
Into the wilderness.
Then, in 1910, came the revolution
which freed Argentina from Spain,
and gave her people the opportunity
of making their own prosperity. I'm
fortunately a period Of civil wars fol-
lowed, and 1t was not till the fall OF
the dictator, Rosas. in 1852 that the
era OF real progress began.
With the comparative peace that
| followed the fall Of Rosas there came
the new factors which have enabled
the country to advance so quickly
the entrance OF European capital,
chiefly expended In providing means
of transportation, and the arrival of
| immigrants from Italy and Spain.
No country offers greater facilities
| for the construction Of railways.
| Quickly and cheaply built over a sur
face everywhere smooth and level,
they radiate out from the capital. and
have now penetrated every part OF
the country except the marshy wilder
ness in the north and the arid wilder
ness of remote Patagonia in the south.
The central part of the republic
within three hundred miles of Buenos
Aires Is as thickly scored with lines OF
steel as is Westphalia or Ohio. Set
tiers. mostly following the railroads
have now put under crops or laid out
in well-appointed stock farms all this
central region and a. good deal more
of land to the north of II. The rest
Of the plain is occupied by cattle
ranches or sheep farms, except where
the want Of water makes stock rails
ing impossible.
A Region of Great Estates.
a
process of their settlement resembles
In many points that of the Western
United States and Western Canada
but differs in one point of great sig
niflcance.
In North America the settlement OF
the new lands has from first to last
been conducted by agricultural settlers
drawn from the middle or working
tclass of the older parts of the country
| nf Of Es,IrOna nd ba la nd hac bao
allotted to them In small properties
seldom exceeding one hundred and
sixty acres. Thus over all the Mis-
sissippi Valley States and over the
Canadian northwest there has grown
up a population Of small farmers
owning the land they till. and fur
nishing a solid basis for the estab,
lishment of democratic institutions
among intelligent and educated mer
who have an interest In order anc
good administration.
In Argentina, however-and tht
same Is generally true OF Mexico
Chile. Peru. and Brazil--the land, be-
fore or when it began to be regularl,
) settled, passed in large blocks into
) comparatively few hands. There wal
no class like the men who settled
New England in the seventeenth cen
fury and whose descendants settled
the Great West In the nineteenth. The
ideas of Spanish feudalism still lived
among the Argentine colonists OF q
century ago. Leading men or rich
men took as much land as they could
get on the Pampas; and, seeing thai
there was little competition. each
could get pretty much all he wanted
Thus the country became and Is q
country OF great estates. They art
measured by the square league, which
contains about SIX thousand acres
Though tendency to subdivision has
set In and will doubtless continue
estancias of sixty thousand acres are
not uncommon: and the average hold.
ing Is said to be even now about ss
square miles.
Argentina's Rural Population.
This feature has, Of course. had
important effects on the character OF
1.-THE rural population. 1t consists
proadly speaking, of two classes, the
'rich estancieros or landholders anC
the laborers. Though good mann
Englishmen and other foreigners have
bought farms and mean to stay or
them, SO that they or their children
Will doubtless end by becoming Ar.
gentines, still most of the large land
holders are Argentine born.
Many have become or are becom.
ing opulent not only by the sale OF
their crops and their live stock, bu
simply by the rapid rise in the value
of land. They live in a liberal, easy
open-air way IN struggling mansion.
of the bungalow type, low and large
which they are now, thanks to the
railways, able to furnish with The
modern appliances of comfort.
The laboring class, who gather like
feudal dependents round the estancia
are of two classes. Some are natives
The rest are immigrants drawn from
Italy and Spain by the immense de,
mand for labor. Most numaEaasmaxa
ItaaaA@Haa axex-e$* ss6f theTT Yta1y, hard
working men who do not fear the he;
and can live on very little. Many o
them come out for the harvestin