The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-02-07
|DR|T|SH RETAl|ATE
| SHIPPING BEEF HERE
SENDING 1T FROM ARGENTINA TO
GET BACK AT CHICAGO
PACKERS.
'DWICGINS EXPL AIN S
TRAVELLER WHO LIVED Rue
nos AYREs THREE YEARS,
GIVES ADVICE TO
YOUNG MEN.
'DWICGINS EXPLAINS

Elmer Dwiggins, the world travel
ogist. who Is taking Richmond people
on cruises all the way around the
world at the Academy OF Music, today
has a plausible explanation Of the
shipments of Argentine beef and corn
to this country. He lived three years
In Buenos Ayres, and has kept in close
touch with that wonderful contry.
When seen by a representative of
The Virginian at the Richmond yes
terday. he said:
three or four years ago our Chi
cago packers entrenched themselves
very strongly In the business OF
slaughtering and shipping Argentine
cattle to Europe. About year ago
they started on an aggressive cam
paign to capture English wholesale
and retail meat market They begun
the same tactics in England which
they worked successfully in America.
underselling local competitors with
cheap Argentine meat and Carrying on
a ruinous trade warfare intended to
drive out local slaughterers ana
wholesalers in England.
1.-THE English packers and shippers,
who were In the Argentine before us,
found their English and continental
trade slipping away from them. and
begun to look about for way to re-
tailiate. They found the highest re
tail price for meat in the world paid
In America. and SO they decided to
strike at this price which the Chicago
packers have been holding very high.
Hence the shipment of whole steam
er cargoes of beef in the attempt to
break our prices. Then on January
1st, when the duty was taken off corn,
ten steamer loads of Argentine corn
was found to be afioat for this coun-
try in the hope Of reducing the price
of pork here.
Fattened on Alfalfa.
"Argentina does not produce pork,
and her beef and corn are inferior to
ours in quality. but both beef and corn
are grown there cheaper than any
where else in the world. The beef 10
not corn-fattened. but is brought up
to market weight on alfalfa.
Argentina is the great America of
the southern hemisphere. There Is
a great plain, 500 miles wide with the
finest alluviai soil and a temperate
climate, lacking all severity except in
Patagonia. 1t is as big as our whole
Mississippi Valley and has as good
and often a better. richer soil than
Iowa. Illinois or Indiana. Argentine
produces essentially the same things
we do, and will continue to be heard
from as our competitor in the mar
kets OF Europe.
The greatest opening for us IN Ar
gentina is for our manufactured pro-
ducts, and our greatest need there
is for an American bank to facilitate
commerce. All the countries of E,u
rope have great banks there The
Germans, French and Italians control
the commerce, the English control
the railways, the Argentines own the
land, raise stock, Craze rather than
farm and go in for politics. Their
government has been stable and pro-
gressive for twenty years; their paper
currency Is depresiated bur no Ion
ger fiuotuates. having a fixed value OF
Al cents gold for the paper dollar.
Youth Must Have Capital.
"Bueros Ayres is no place for q
young man to 60 without capital and
without a knowledge of Spanish. If
| he is 4 dentist or an electrical engi
neer he is apt TO succeed, but if he