The Coolidge examiner., 1934-02-02

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Warrington. u. C-wSU Service.
THE Argentine government IS
augmentlng its fighting forces
against devastating locust
hordes with 1900 miles OF sheet
iron barriers TO be used on It's IA.
nous pampa.
Pampa was the Indians name for
plains. Spanish colonists took the
name, and thus the world knows
the vast. fiat Argentine grasslands
that sweep from the Atlantic sea
board to the foot of the Andes
mountains
History picked the pampa as a
vast stage for one OF the most
eventful and swlft-moylng dramas.
Probably no other region. in so
brief n time. mas seen more astound-
Ing changes. More Europeans are
settled here. more magic cities
are leaplng up. more railways
are being built. and more wealth
amassed than In any equal area be-
low the equator. Ask Paris wait
ers II any other visitor spends like
an Argentine cow king. who leaves
all change on the plate"
Alfalfa alone. as we shall see. mi
grated to this new land TO bring II
amazing economic strength. In a
few short decades, with such forces as
prize bulls. barbed wire. cold stor-
age and fast ships. man turned a
wilderness into a farm so big and
rich that now II helps fix the world
price OF bread and meat.
This swift rise OF a new Canaan
whose theme song. as n Texan hint
cd. is the ceaseless moan and bel
low OF myriad kline. affords a fan
tastic example OF mass migration.
Its marvel Is not In the fact that
millions OF white settlers swarmed
across the South Atlantic to this
fecuud pampa. That was extraor.
binary. OF course; you can imag-
Inc the infinite host slipping down
under the equatorial horizon like
figures turning in a phenaklsto-
scope
Extraordinary Migration.
But the whole truth Is harder TO
imagine Not only did the millions
move from southern Europe. but,
as II lifted and carried overseas on
some magic carpet. they took with
them 10 the pampa cross-section
OF European life. Speech, culture
religion. manners, and customs
they carried; likewise tools and
trades-eyen their animals. fowls
grains, fruits. flowers-weeds.
Today their thistle almost Gov
ers Argentina. Tradition says the
first thistle seed came over acct
dentally, in the long hair Of army
mules Along immigrant trails
into the pampa a scattered fringe
OF European grass, weeds, yege-
table and berries first grew up,
where fodder. camp refuse. and
seeds from food were dropped, just
as along the Santa Fe and Oregon
trails our covered-wagon trains In.
troduced many berries, plants and
fruit trees from farther east. His
tory holds no parallel In time or
space TO certain aspects OF this
amazing movement of people and
plant life.
But, one asks. since whites first
landed. some 400 years ago, why
was the conquest OF the pampa so
long delayed? The reasons are
plain, yet curiously interesting.
Except for Indians, who at first
dwelt near the River Plate coun-
try, the pampa was empty. No
glitterlng pagan cities, no rich gold
mines or Inca treasures were here
to lure the Conquistadores. Also,
Europe still lived then from It's
osn farms. 1t had not yet grown
so thickly peopled or so highly In
dustrialized that, as later, 1t had
to look overseas for more bread
and meat.
Here, as In our own land, white
settlements were long confined TO
limited regions. The Atlantic sea-
board had been settled for many
generations before we knew much
about our Far West. SO it was
on the pampa, with this difference
Spain, who early ruled most of
South America, long allowed sea
trade only through Porto Bello
(Puerto Bello). In Panama. 1t took
about two years, by land and sea,
to exchange goods between Cadiz,
In Spain, and the settlements along
the River Plate (Plata).
Early Inland Development.
This decree, while it made life
hard for traders in Buenos Aires
and encouraged smuggling by Dutch
and English ships, really hastened
the development OF certain Argen-
tine back country by many GEN.
turies. Tucuman, Cordoba. Men
doZa, and Jujuy. for example,
though far inland, were founded