The farmer and mechanic., 1915-04-20

Wages.
BUENOS AIRES.
The Argentine railways have been
badly struck by the war. The people
are economizing in every possible way.
There is a decrease in the sales or
season tickets, family tickets and also
in freight. During the three months
following the advance Of Germany into
Belgium the receipts Of the Central
Argentine Company fell off more than
S2OOOOOO, those of the BuenOS Aires
and Southern railway s1,50Q,000, and
those of the Buenos Aires and PACING
about the same. The ordinary 1relSht
volume has Shrunk and all or the
railways show large decreases in traf-
tic.
1t will seem strange to many OF you,
who look upon the Argentine as wild
pasture land with. scattering grain
fields, that the railways should be
big factor in its prosperity. The fact
is this country is fast becoming one OF
big business, and it takes thou
sands of miles of railways to carry
its traffic. Argentina has now almost
one -thirtieth Of the railway tracks Of
the world. It's mileage is equal to
one-tenth that OF all Europe, and
more than all the railways of Africa
Taking out the India roads and the
trans Siberian system it is about equal
10 that of all Asia, and it is 40 per cent
Of that Of South America. Brazil is
three times as big AS Argentina, but
il has only two-thirdS as much track,
and Chile, that long shoestring of a
country, with its longitudinal system,
has a railway mileage of only little
more than 5000 miles. The railways
%nf Argentina a =
900 miles, and if joined end to end
would go seven times across the Uni
ted States from ocean to ocean. Laid
upon the spider-Web of iron tracks
that cover Great Britain they would
with few exceptions, cover every
line in that network, and multiplied
by ten would equal the total railway
tracks of all Europe, and by twelve
would surpass the mileage of the Uni
ted States which is by far the greatest
railway country of the world.
Notwithstanding this the Argentine
railways are on the edge of their be
ginning. They are mainly long trunl
lines running from one end of th'
country to the other The towns ar,
far apart, and one may ride for miles
without seeing Il house. A large par
of the country is pasture lands, which
will some day be cut up into small
u. Z n
present the holdings are enormous
There are wheat farms of tens of thou
sands Of acres, and alfalfa tracts a
big as q township of Ohio or indiana
The population numbers somewher
between eight and nine millions. In
jensively farmed the country woul
support several hundred millions an
it might feed the United States an
Europe. In the far future it will b
cut up into garden patches and grid
ironed with tracks like the parairi
lands of the United States.
Today the railway traffic is small
proportion to the area. Nevertheless
the freight carried last year was owe
forty million tons, and the railwa
passengers numbered more than Se'
enty-five millions. The most of IL
freight was made up of food product
carried from the farms to the raj
roads in wagons. 1t included abo1
three hundred million bushels Of CO.
something like two hundred millit
bushels of wheat and tens Of thousan
of cattle. The factory products we
small and the merchandise shipp,
from city to city did not compare wi
that of the United States, although Il
ArgentineS are man for man amor
the great spenders of the world.
The trouble is that most Of the
fifth OF the whole population resid
at Buenos Aires The money is ma
iii the camp on the farms, and it
spent at the capital. The result is tn
this city is the Paris, the London, t
New York and the Washington Of A
gentina, and it is the great railrO
center to which everything contribut
The density of the traffic may
known by the fact that more tn
five hundred passenger trains GO {
Of the city every day. .-@
The most Of the railways Of Arss
tina belong to the British They he
something like one thousand millit
of good. hard gold dollars invested
such properties, and their roads
paying dividends of per cent a
upward a year. Many of them "
built upon guarantee from the e
ernment of z per cent, and they n;
been given many other favors in c
%cessions and in the remission of dut
As tt is now all railway mater