El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-04-17

n DENOS AIRES, Argentina. April II,
* The Argentine railways have
- been badly struck by the war The
people are ccOuomizing in every pOssi-
bic way. There is decrease in the
sales Of season tickets, family tickets
and also in freight. During the three
months following the advance Of Ger
many into Belgium the receipts of the
Central Argentine company fell off
more than S2OO0OOO those of the
BuenOs Aires and Southern railway
S1.50O, 200, and those OF the Buenos
Aires and Pacific about the same. The
ordinary freight volume has shruuk
and all OF the railways show large de-
creases in traffic
Argentine IS fast becoming one OF
big businesses, and il takes thousands
Of miles Of railways to carry its traffic.
Argentina has now almost one-thIr-
tieth OF the railway tracks OF the
world. It's mileage is equal 20 one
tenth that OF all Europe, and more
than all the railways Of Africa Taking
ont the India roads and the transiber-
ian system it is about equal TO that
OF all Asia, and 1t is 40 per cent Of
that OF South America
Brazil is three times as big as Ar
gentina, but il has only twO-Chirds as
much track, and Chile, that long shoe
string OF a country, with its Longitude
nal system. has a railway mileage OF
only a little more than 5000 miles.
Has 2O,G0O Miles of Railway.
The railways of Argentina are now
more than 10000 miles, and If Joined
end to end would go seven times
across the United States from ocean
TO ocean. Laid upon the spider-web
Of iron tracks that cover Great Britain
they would, with a few exceptions, COW
er every line in that network, and
multiplied by ten would equal the total
railway tracks Of all Europe and by
u would surpass the mileage OF the
United States. which is by FAR the
greatest railway country OF the world
Is Just beginning.
Notwithstanding this the Argentine
railways are on the edge OF their be
ginning. They are mainly long trunk
lines running from one end OF the
country to the other. The towns are
far apart. and one may ride for miles
without seeing a house A large part
Of the country Is pasture lands Whlcn
will some day Nc cut up into small
farms and iutensively cultivated At
present the holdings are enormous.
There are wheat farms of tens of thou
sands Of acres and alfalfa tracts as
big as q township of Ohio or Indiana
The population numbers somewhere
between eight and nine millions In
teusively farmed the country would
support several hundred millions and
it might feed the United States and
Europe IN the far future il viii be
cut up into garden patches and grid
ironed with tracks like the prairie
lands Of the United states
Traffic Is Not Heavy.
Today the railway traffic Is small
in proportion to the area Nevertheless
the freight carried last year was over
AZ. COZ. goo tons and the railway passen-
gers numbered more than 45,00O,00l-
The most Of the freight was made up
of food products, carried from the
farms TO the railroads in wagons
The trouble is that most Of their pco-
pie live in the cities, and that one-fifrh
of the whole population resides al
Buenos Aires. The money is made IN
the camp and on the farms, and II Is
sDent at the capital The result Is that
this city is the Paris, the LondOn, the
New York and the Washington a Ar
geutiua and il is the great railroad
center to which everything contributes
The density Of the traffic may be
known by the fact that more than 500
passenger trains go out OF the city e'-
cry day
Most of the Roads Are British Owned.
The most Of the railways OF Arsen-
tina belong 10 the British Ihey nave
something like one thousand mllllons
Of gold. hard gold dollars invested IN
such properties. and their roads are
paying dividends Of 6 per cent and up
ward year. Many Of them were pLiil
upon q guarantee from the government I
OF seven per cent, and they have neen
given many other favors in concessions Z
and in the remission Of duties
As it is now all railway materials
come in free. and the government IS (
encouraging the building Of new roads /
and the extension OF the old ones Up !
TO the time Of the war about Sluoovv-
coo a year was coming from Europe
for railway construction Nearly every I
road was improving its system. and /
that not only in the country at large,
but here at the capital Some OF the Z
suburban roads were being electrified, Z
and among them those Of the Central 3
Argentine Railway company, whose su- !
burbau lines are now carrying some ,
thing like 100000 passengers a year. (
The Western railway has constructed I
two tube lines which take passengers 4
right into the heart Of Buenos Aires +
In the beauty of their equipment these 4
tubes are superior TO anything we have I
in New York and in efficiency they are Z
fully equal to any tube lines OF the I.
world. In addition, a tube has been I
made for freight trains This passes /
under the Aveuida de Mayo to the
series OF box pIeats. the material ac- :
ha~z-apn aren r1g4T