Evening star., 1939-05-28
Poorest Argentine Loborer Enjoys Better Meat
Than Average u. S. Housewife Gets
Steak So Tender 1t
Cuts With Butter
Knife Is q Cents
mo. 81 OF a Series.)
BY w. H. SHIPPEN, Jr.,

BUENOS AIRES.-People who
dislike beefsteak had best wave
this aside.
Their interest would be purely
academic in the question: why
can't the American family Of modest
means afford to sit down oftener
to tender, tasty steak?"
Why can the poorest Argentine
laborer buy better meats for his
wife and children than American
executives, skilled tradesmen or
salary and wage earners in the
higher brackets?
At the best hotels here a peso
(now about % cents) will provide
choice cut of grilled steak 2 inches
thick, very sweet, and tender enough
to be cut with butter knife, a steak
which might (but probably couldn'D
be duplicated in the States for So
enough to buy half a beef In the
Argentine.
The answer to the question is an
involved one. Experts disagree and
economists debate the issue. Lush
grazing lands. of the Argentine fat
ten cattle IL months year; stall
feeding is a luxury rather than a
necessity, and labor costs are lower
all down the line-from gaucho to
packing plant employe.
Britain Likes Argentine Beef.
The possibility of importing
tho fo0f ord y,o,,fh disease fo tho
States seems strong enough, from
one viewpoint, to continue the en-
barge on Argentine meats indef1-
nitely. 1t cost California and the
Federal Government millions to
eradicate the contagion on the West
Coast IS years or so ago. The
epidemic, it was said, started from
shipment Of meat to San Fran
cisco from the Argentine. Even
wild deer in public parks were
rounded up and slaughtered to stop
the spread Of illness to hooved
stock.
On the other hand, England i'm
ports great quantities Of local meat
without spreading the disease, said
to be common there in a mild form.
Our English cousins buy large
amounts of meat. wheat and corn
and do not hesitate to point out,
when they come in competition with
American-made goods. that they
accept product the United States
has sought to stigmatize.
The Argentines are intensely
proud of their beef. The people here
dts astonishing how many are in
terested in the subjecO say Presi-
dent Roosevelt promised them he
would do his best to break the trade
blockade between the two nations.
The fate of bill in Congress to
ratify a sanitary agreement be-
tween Argentine and the United
States is front-page news in Buenos
Aires almost daily.
The agreement was worked out by
experts to permit a limited ex-
change of meat products between
the two countries under rigid
inspection system The United
States was to send inspectors here
W CCl lilly Vic 4QdA1ty Va tklC CAPOl TO-
Another front page news story has
been the controversy in America
over the purchase for the Navy of
Argentine timed beef. Statements
| of Legislators in the States are
quoted here at length, pro and con.
Ban on U. S. Goods Continues.
Meanwhile a virtual embargo on
American goods continues. I'M
porters are closing shop or loafing
about their Offices with nothing to
do but hope for the future. How
ever, the Argentines still buy Amer
lean motor cars, farm machinery
and lumber, despite high duties and
government restrictions on import
permits.
The typical Argentine likes a big,
roomy, powerful car The tiny, eco
nomical machines of British and
German manufacture cramp his
style. Therefore he buys "a per cent
of his automobiles from the States,
although they cost about twice the
Detroit quotation. Too, the farm
machinery developed for the prairies
of the States is better suited to local
needs than anything England or
Germany can supply. The Argen-
tines buy lumber from the States
out of necessity.