Evening star., 1928-12-15
HJENOS AIRES PUTS
SPELL ON GUESTS
Hoover Party Captivated by
Beauty and Progressive
! Spirit of Capital.
BY WILL IRWIN.

can Newspaper Alliance.
BUENOS AIRES. December 15.-The
train bearing President-elect Hoover
and his party travelled a full day
through the pampaS without our seeing
a single hill.
Although 1 have described the coun-
try in previous dispatch ] should like
to describe it all over again. so much
has its beauty and productivenesS i'm
pressed us all.
The first sign Of a hill signaled our
approach to BuenoS Aires on the At
lantic Coast After a crowded three
days of sightseeing and intellectual
cramming the start for home will be
made.
Buenos Aires, judged from the
glimpSes Of day, is worthy to be the
capital of an empire SO rich and unique
as Argentina. Tnis metropolis Oh nea4ly'
two and a half millio,3 Of people lies
with charming irregi. .arity over the
hills and along the little peninSular OF
Its harbor The streets are narrow and
irregular and in that circumstance lies
part of the cityS charm.
Architecture is Gay.
It has the gayeSt architecture of any
city / have ever seen. 1t has finer
buildings as banks, great shops and
public Offices. They are French in gen.
eral structure, but the native architects
have decorated them with f1amboyant
detail such as ornamental pillars, lace
work carving, friezeS and airy domes
which outdo Madrid. That eXuberance
goes with the climate. It SHOWS here
only once in 10 years. And though it
never grows excessively hot in Summer
there is a bright and eager sun.
I noticed the traffic policemen all
wear in this Summer weather Arab
like neck wells, falling from sweat
bands of their caps. The very taxicabs
and American touring cars are painted
IN color schemes, which no one with
en eye for effect would dare employ
10 the United States. but which har-
Honize with the brilliant lights and
shadows of this sun of the South.
I find myself impressed not SO much
By the Plaza de Mayo the old heart of
the town, where stand the classic ca
thedral and the strange old building
IN which Argentina declared her lnde-
pendence, as by several modern build
tngs. Notable among these is a group
of three nine or ten-Story structures
dedicated to business which occupies
Q whole ample block in the center of
the city.
Appear as One Structure.
The architects have harmonized Theses
Auildings so that they appear to bel
al one great structure, which, in spitel
Of the inferior height, look more pow
erful than our skyscrapers. Cut into
the upper center stories is high and
beautiful balcony with impressive pill
lars, and on the cornice rides heroic
equestrian grouped statue.
Then there is department store
where many of the official party Went
shopping today, in spite OF the troplcal
heat of the journey. On hrst Slgnt
the store IS just a pretty arcade OF
diverse and very smart shops, running
through massive building between
two narrow streets.
Ask in the shops for anytnlng you
don't find and Il. clerk will lead you.
to back door. You discover tnen .nat
these apparent shops are but the snow
windows to a great department store
which occupies the lower floors OIL the
building. Above that for three or four
stories are Offices. And for the rest OF
the way to the garden on the roof are
fats which the renters OF the otnces
occupy. Furthermore, in the pasemenG
floor is a theater and cabaret. The ten
ants can work, live and amuSe them
selves without stirring from their gl-
Cantic nest in the very center OF the
City.
boulevard Is Interesting.
A further detail of the city Is the
Oreat double drive and promenade
Thicl Buenos Aires is stretching tor
az miles along the plata. Between the
S,tde naraIlel walks lie superb gardens.
yav some mysterious management OF heI
hsrhor facilities the city has slowed
dncks inside of this strip OF oehgn.
~nd loveliness. The shipping hes tieo
IN in two rows Of freighters, liners; Cuss
enc tankers, which stretches n1eraiiy W
The horizon. "a 49,, ss,rorca
of enormous stability-tnat lhpenl' l'1i
nannpas country which oIlpS ILclnleS4 :,
,..on1e the great libarator sits on
,,roncing horse among weeping WILLOWS,
Ea GREAT houses resembling, except ioI
t1,a h,xlIriolls gardens tthe inner patloS
Cf the Vanderbilt and Astor mansions
ef New york. which lately disappeared
Tnasolv because the owners 1ouno lLlS'A
too much trouble. so,
m Argentina, and that seems 10 DC
passing. .,+,,,s
Like all Spanish American countrles,
Argentina began with enormous esIates
granted 10 conquistadoreS by tne KING
and worked the estates f1rst' with slaves
and then with poems. Heonage was
never so much Of q part tof the eco
1eon1ic Structure here as in, some other
southern countries and it apasSed long
ago.
Labor Need Brought lMany.
But while the cattle on the enormous
estates formed the econonlci malnsLay,
the old-fashioned gaucho was content
with small wages and an easy ihfe. Insa
came the stage of more interAslVe agri :
culture. Labor was needed and II
poured in from all the LatiHi lanos OF
Europe. especially from Itciy.
A generation ego Ike Italians We're
mostly from the efficient North and
they began coming here In Slch NUM-
bers that they may by the END o1
this generation displace Spanish as the
6asic blood. These newcomers were dis
satisfied with the old gaucho condttlons.
They began forming unions ana
agitating. ,,
AS yet there has been little serious
attempt to break up the big estates,
though political gossip says President
Iriqoyen intends to tackle that before
long. But if there were cheap land
on which the agricultural laborer, after
q term of wages, could get farm OF
his own, the problem would be solved.
FOR some time Argentina has had
n law like the French Napoleonic law
Of inheritance, requiring that the land
be divided among all the heirs. But
that naturally will not produce sensible
changes for two or three generations.
There is always froth on such move
nnents as this One manifestation OF the
anti.Aueriean propaganda-what there