The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-27


 has in the February Century Magazine an article which brings out sharply one |little-recognized fact about the enor- nous country which, with fine saSornhs of the remote and wild, we like 10 can "the Argentine.
 We have become accustomed to oeins fold of the fine cosmopolitan city wnicn is it's capital, of the theatres, the Douie- wards, the handsome buildings anu streets. But in his account or Joul ney Far and Wide on the Argentine Pampas," Mr. Franck says:
 "rhe traveller who visits Buenos Aires only will almost certainly carry away very mistaken notion of the Argentine. There is perhaps no national capitai na the world so far in advance ol' so ou' of proportion with, its nation as is sno great city on what the English call the Plate, We of the northern hemisphere are not accustomed to cities which are their countries to the extent that ouelos Aires is the Argentine. American eoieors and publicists expressed astonlsnnieh'' '' and in some cases misgiving, when 'ne latest census showed that one-tentn ene I nopulation of the United States dweils m 1 it's three largest cities. Of all the people inhabiting the Argentine republic Virtuai- l ly one-fourth live in the capital
 "The contrast between this and the great background of pampas IS increo- 1 ible. Buenos Aires is far more cioseiy allied to France or Rome than to the
 broad country over which it rules. : l .Numerous efforts have been made 10
 bring about a better balance. The gov ernment offers the immigrant lree transportation to any part or 'ne country.
 l But MT. Franck did not observe tnat this had much effect. The wages or fered for rural labor are from ~ to " per cent lower than for the same sfauo
 of labor in the United States at lne same period and the cost of meals some what higher. But it is something more than this that causes the majority or iin- 1 migrants to pause and read ana "anuei on in quest of some occupation nnatiei''- ly less attractive in or near the capi'al' Possibly it is subconscious oreao oA the horizonless pampas which stre'ch
 awav into the unknown beyond the ciey'
 soma attribute it to the now happily de-
 creasing autocracy of grating rural ol- acials and the lack of government pro- tection in districts out of touch witn the
 canital. or it may be nothing more than the worid-wide tendency to congregate in cities
 Not even this dauntless traveller couio f.ce inc illimitable distances of the pampas afoot.
 ..I was furnished" he says, witn l general passes by all the important raii- ways. and time is no object to mere
 wanderer. But for this official recogni- tion of my unstable temperament should probably have seen little Of the ]! Argentine; for even the man wno mas
 tramped the length of the Andes wouio scarcely have the patience to race oi jfoot the endless horizon of the pampns.
 ..rhe mud-bespattered countrymen al
 the stations which appeared with tns
 dull autumn daylight seemed to be large llv Spanish in origin, some still wearins lbonias and other reminders of Europe that looked out of keeping vii l., the soil leaked saddle horses awaiting them pe' Ihind the railroad building. Most of tne rustics appeared to have ridden In te buy lottery tickets or to find which tick' cts had won in the latest drawing. Ine raucous-voiced train boys sold more tc
 these modern gauchos than on the tram
 especially the list of winning numbers lat 10 centavos."
 Much of the land, at this season, was under water "The distribution Of ram Franck remarks, "seems to be pooris managed in the Argentine; if the country is not suffering from drouth. it is apt te be complaining of floods, or, in the warm
 ar and more fertile north, of the locusts which sometimes sweep in from the WIT
 derness of the Chaco in sucn cioucs tna the project has seriously been cons'u cred of erecting an enormous net, sup ported. perhaps. by balloons, agains them.p
 EArther-[WeSL Ine Couhtty e"~'' [ Here the pampa was broken by oens' } blue groves of trees. near at hand or o' the far horison--the planted eucaiyptu' trees of some proud estahcia house l Along the heavy roads betwesr then
 plunged an occasional automobile though there were more two-wheetet } sulkies and cumbersome wagons drawl by several teams of mules or horses Rows who sat their horses as if the! |had been born on them loped past nov lAnd then. or. for long distances. ther' were almost no sigma of animate life ex , Iccpt the large flocks Of nandues, the os : itriches of the pampas. cantering ava, from the approaching train like awkward
 schoolgirls who have as yet but litti' Icohtrol over the muscles. Groups Q ', shaggy pampa ponies. and the no les , \ shaggy countrymen who ride them, yer [ gathered about every boliche. orscountr, store and liquor shop.
 II The houses to be seen were truly "na ltive" in character. "There being virtual lly no stone or wood all the way iron the Cordoba hills to Tierra del Fuego.
 Twas not strange that the majority 9
 country houses should be made Of th