Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1920-07-27
Farming In Argentina.

Ii We consider their capacity, and cli-
mate more benign to agriculture, over
the greater part Of the republic, than is to
be found elsewh here In the world. There
are cotton lands to the north more fertile
and expansive than those OF our own,
but not yet growing cotton 10 quantity
worthy of mention. Excellent sugar
beet lands are scattered extensively all
over the central part of Argentina, but
az yet not sugar beet is harvested.
There are two CALIFORNIA; In Argentina,
II we gauge rightly the potentialities OF
Mendoza and San Juan. At the present
these provinces grow few grapes to
make q little wine. Corn and alfalfa
grow almost for the asking, for the rain.
fall is abundant and the growing season
ranges from nine to twelve m0ntbs OF
the year. There is no area In the
United States which compares in ex-
panse Of fertility TO the alfalfa belt OF
Argentina.
But the thing the newcomer to Ar.
gentina does not Understand is that there
there are no people to eat the food
which these lands might produce, or to
till them at any intensity approaching
their capacity. He says, "What dream!
Land as rich az that of Iowa, and In
more favorable climate, selling for $40
the acre" But of what value is 1t IL the
only market for its products Is 1000
miles away, and II these products must
be marketed by q marketing system
which eats away more than half their
value? q
The population of Argentina Is little
less than 5000, 900 people, barely that of
the Philippine Islands, and less than
that of the city of New York. OF these,
something like million and half live
in the city of Buenos Aires, and quarter
Of million live in Rosario. There are
two or three other cities having a popu-
lation near 100000, and perhaps half
dozen others whose population exceeds
%, 900. This means an urban popula-
ton of approximately two and half
million people, mere handful to feed,
in very truth. The urban population of
New York City, and within radius of
20 miles of that city, is nesr.20 millions.
Theother Eve million people of Ar
gentins bave spread their efforts over
cultivated area of between sixty and
seventy million acres, and no one knows
how many millions of acres of fertile
pasture land. The ratio OF cultivated
area to population is therefore eight
acres TO one person. In the United
States it is 312 acres per inhabitsnt.
Let me quote the figures from the Ar
gentine government for all the exports
from Argentina, to show you how COM
pletely is the nation q one-industry
nation:
Agriculture is Argentina's only indus
try and the only market she has for the
products of that industry is q foreign
market. She is therefore wholly at the
mercy of whatever manIpulations of
market may be effected by brokers In
England, New York, or whatever center
and, having scarcely ship on the seas,
she is also wholly dependent upon the
whims OF foreign carriers. At the pres
eut moment Argentine dairymen are
accusing the British government of
maintaining freight rates on milk prod
ucts at level unproportionately high,
and thus controlling prices. However
that may be, it does not affect the fact
that Argentina is helpless In altering the
situation.
Let us look In little more detail at
some phases of the dairy industry in
Argentina. Figures are not available for
the consumption of milk In Buenos Aires,
owing to the methods OF distribution,
but it is to an American, incredibly small.
The people of Argentina have not the
milk habit. You must request butter
at any hotel Or restaurant to get 1t.
"Bread and butter" the people OF Argen-
tina do not eat. Cheese alone do they
relish, 1t seems. Some of the milk sold
in Bnenos Aires Is pasteurized before
sold, but the majority, am informed,
is not. Very little, practically none. is
sold in bottles. The manager of one of
the milk wholesalers said that the whim
of his clientele would not permit bot
tling. Little milk is distributed, the few
families who require milk sending child
to the milk. shop with cup or q can,
for "medio-litro"-half q quart-of
milk. There is an interesting method
of delivering milk which one often sees
iu the small towns and In the outskirts
of Buenos Aires. Two or three cows are
driven through the streets with muzzled
calves tied to their tails, the milkman
drawing the milk in front of the eyes of
clientele. Sometimes 1t is not cows, but
goats. There are no evsporating facto.
ries of Importance. One creamery man.
ager with whom / talked assigned the
reason for this to the high price for sugar,
now something like 24 cents pound.
Before the world war the normal price
was 10 cents. A short while after the
armistios, sugar reached the price Of 30
cents pound. Another ascribed the
reason to the poor quality which had
been produced in the past, and which
had ruined the market for evaporated
milk from Argentina. When / asked
one creamery man why Argentina had
previously imported 90 much cheese, he
explained that the greater experience
and competence of foreign producers
had made it possible for them always to
give prices below cost of production 10
Argentina. The milk producers suffer
rigid inspection only In the factories and
large wholesale houses, and In conse-
quence of this, 80 1 am told by the man.
ager of one of the wholesalers, the
majority of the milk sold In Buenos
Aires, is bad, dirty and watered, for
want of an ordinance to make honest
quality obligstory.-Glenn B. Snapp in
Hoard's Dairym man.