The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1949-06-16
THROUGH
HAZEL
EYES

Argentina, like her neiehbor.
Brazil, is a land of great spaces
and many contrasts. Its area is
1,078,769 square miles and its
population only 16,250,00O, of
whom 3,l50,000 reside in Buenos
Aires, its capital city - which is
$500 miles from the port city of
New Orleans, Louisiana.
Also like Brazil Argentina's
economy is largely agricultural -
but Argentina differs in that her
lands are largely pastoral, devoted
chiefly to feeding beef and sheep
and producing grains, meat, wool,
and hides. For these she is known
the world over.
Brazil is the only South Ameri-
can country exceeding Argentina
in area - but the climate of Ar
gentina is much more diversified.
1t ranges from the tropical to the
south polar regions. There are
five great river systems in Ar
gentina and one of them, the
Plata system, is second only to
the Amazon, the largest in the
world.
The Rio de La Plata, on which
Buenos Aires is situated, the
River of Silver" or the River
Plate" drains more than l,200,-
600 square miles of the most fer
tile and tillable land in the west
ern hemisphere, most of which
is in the temperate zone. Less
than Is million people inhabit this
river basin in Argentina, Uru-
quay, Paraguay, Brazil and Boil
via. Here in the not too distant
future, authorities say, there is
bound to be q cycle Of develop
ment such as that which charac-
terized our Mississippi Valley be-
tween the years 1850-ls10.
Before the first World War Ar
gentina was dependent almost en-
tirely on her meat, wool and GER
eals and they are stin her main
stays today. In the 30 odd years
before 1914 her economy expand
ed at a great pace. Free trade was
the byword and Argentina bene-
fitted greatly because her volume
Of exports rose rapidly and prices
paid for her produce were high.
Up until this time Argentina had
been dependent upon imports for
fully forty per cent Of her Capri
tai and consumer goods, even
foodstuffs. Because of the war
imports were drastically cut and
caused a serious upheaval in her
economy but had the overall eff
feet of stimulating Investigation
Of production in agriculture, de-
veloping her manufacturing in
dustries, and promoting markets
within the country.
After the war, needless to say,
Argentina continued to expand
her industries to such an extent
that they more than absorbed the
100000 people who would prob
ably have become unemployed in
1933-34 due to world conditions
following the war particularly
the drop in prices Of products ex-
ported by Argentina.
The second World War found
Argentina in a much better posi-
ton than any other previous cri-
sis. This time she had merchant
fleet than at the end of the war
was among the largest in the
world, central banking snd
monetary system had been insti-
tuted in 1885, her production was
more highly diversified and fl
nally she had a manufacturing in
dustry which permitted her to
meet most of her own require
ments and have some left over for
export.
Today her chief industry is
meat refrigeration and the largest
refrigerating plant in the world
is located in b. A. Flour milling
ranks as the second industry in
size. The cotton, wine, fruit and
sugar industries are making rapid
strides as is the Argentine motion
picture industry ana aviation.
Argentines love TO fly.
The mountains of Argentina
contain gold, silver and copper
and she also has petroleum re-
sources but most of her oil and
chemicals has to be imported.
Chief among her other necessary
imports are heavy machinery,
agricultural implements, and tex
tiles.
Racing is an industry here, too.
Beautiful horses and lavish race
tracks are natural in countries
like Argentina which devote
themselves to raising fine stock.
Tracks like Palermo at B. A. and
many others cater to the sporting
crowds which are very large and
contain representatives from all
walks of Argentine life, lowly and
great. The outstanding race