calculated, now turn out 10,000,000 gallons of alcohol per annum, valued at $15,000,000. This great production up to the present has been sufficient only for local consumption, but considering its abundance and excellent quality, the day is not far distant when it will become an important staple of export. Flour mills are now one of the great industries of the country, employing much capital and thousands of hands. Local consumption is amply provided for, and there is a considerable surplus for export. In the first three months of the present year, 2,400 tons of flour were exported and the total export of the year will probably range from 10,000 to 12,000 tons.

The sugar-cane plantations have given excellent results, and homemade sugar refined in the Rosario refinery, which receives a bounty from the Government, is finding its way into the markets of the coast Provinces.

The exportation of frozen meat has fallen off slightly, but the saladero industry has been very active. With regard to the exportation of frozen meat, the executive has the satisfaction of informing you that the meat-bounty law has been accepted, and that soon several freezing establishments of importance will be in working order in the coast provinces, and will necessarily prove of great benefit to the country.

In the imports of 1889, we see the influence of the general prosperity that marked that year almost throughout its course, but it is a mistake to suppose that these heavy figures of imports represent mainly articles of unproductive consumption.

Twenty years ago (1870) the ratio of importation per head was $27, of which $23 was for so-called unproductive consumption, and $4 for raw materials, machines, agricultural implements, etc.

The ratio in 1889 was $49 per head. The ratio of unproductive consumption remained the same at $23, but the ratio for raw materials, machinery, and manufactures, to give an impulse to the country's progress, had risen from $4to $18.

In the three years from 1887 to 1889, the importation of lumber and its appliances amounted to $29,392,000; that of metals, engines, implements of labor, etc., amounted to $54,702,000; that of materials for public works, tramways, railways, etc., to $55,478,000, a total of $139,572,000, gold, and all being elements to turn to account the wealth and resources of the country, many of which are still untouched. Of this enormous amount, $65,482,000, gold, say nearly half, belongs to the year 1889.

In these three years, the country has imported 83,721 plows, 3,351 corn shellers, 7,669 reaping machines, and 501 thrashing machines. Imports of coal, which amounted to 333,798 tons in 1888, reached 658,054 tons in 1889. The imports of writing paper have doubled, and those of printing paper have

trebled in this short time.

In articles of minor importance, one can trace the prosperity of the masses in the increased demand for articles now considered luxuries and superfluities. The imports of sugar, wine, textile goods, etc., are increasing, and show an increase also in the number of consumers and a growing ratio per head of population.

It must be acknowledged, therefore, that if the country has spent money beyond the limits of prudence, the greater part of that expenditure has gone into articles that will give returns and will form an increase of capital and of productive power for the country; also, the unproductive expenses include many millions spent in the maintenance of thousands of workers who are only now becoming incorporated with our industries as factors of production and wealth.

The figures of the foreign commerce for the year 1891 and for the first three months of the year 1892 show that these expectations were fully realized.

President Pelligrini, in his message to the Congress in May, 1892, made the following statements regarding the commerce of the country:

The statistical returns for the year 1891 and for the first three months of the present year, prove that great progress has been made toward restoring the equilibrium of the economic eonditions of the country; a condition that, in the end, depends upon the development of its resources, represented by the production of the country, which is consumed at home or exported abroad.

In the year 1891, the official value of our exports amounted to $104,163,158, gold, against an importation of $76,421,415, gold, which gives a balance in favor of the country of $27,741,743; and for the first three months of the present year, the corresponding figures are, for the single custom-house of Buenos Ayres. $23,875,447, gold, of exports, against $15,751,995, gold, of imports, which shows that the ratio continues to favor the country, as the custom-house of Buenos Ayres represents 80 per cent of the total importations into the country, while it represents only 73 per cent of the total exportations. This satisfactory result has been reached in spite of the fact that the wheat crop was greatly damaged by the locusts and the excessive rains.

The reduction of imports, at the same time that the production of the country increases, is of great moment at the present time, as it shows that the people have entered with resolution upon the road of economy, reducing their expenses so far as is compatible with their comfort, and showing, also, the development of home industries, which, such as those engaged in the production of sugar, alcohol, beer, tanned leather and shoes, woods, paper, and some others, control the Bull. 67-9

market by the good quality and cheapness of their products, which suffice, in most cases, to satisfy the demand for home consumption.

The $36,000,000 gold, more or less, which the commercial exchanges leave in favor of the country for the fifteen months commencing January 1, 1891, and ending March 30 of the present year, represent so much new capital introduced into the country and destined to advance the general welfare.

It is a notable fact that can not escape the attention of anyone versed in economic questions, that, in the midst of such an acute economic crisis as the one through which we have passed, the living forces represented by the production, have not only escaped unhurt, but have received a new impetus, and have shown themselves stronger than ever. Trade also, which has always been the first victim of such crises has not suffered, and to-day, is generally on a better footing than in previous years when prosperity seemed to be greater.

The import trade was especially liable to be disturbed by the crisis, but it has passed through almost untouched and to-day is reaping the benefit of last year's lucrative transactions and entering with renewed vigor upon the more active operations of the present year. This result must be attributed to the increase in the country's real wealth, the national production.

The following statement shows the yearly increase in the domestic river traffic of the country from 1881 to 1890:

As can be seen by the above figures, this river traffic has doubled since 1886.

tons.

In 1891, the freight traffic of the railroads amounted to 6,000,000 In the year 1890, 13,080 steamers entered and left the ports of the Republic, bringing and taking a total cargo of 9,580,361 tons, while the corresponding figures for the sailing vessels were 10,502 ships and 2,267,063 tons of cargo.

Of the 13,080 steamers, 7,047 entered the ports of the Republic, while only 6,033 left them.

Of the 13,080 steamers, the number of those carrying the Argentine flag were 6,749; 4,423 carried the English flag, 317 carried

the German, 23 carried the Belgian, 235 carried the Brazilian, 40 carried the Spanish, 380 carried the French, 186 carried the Italian, 31 carried the Paraguayan, 28 carried the Swedish, 1,622 carried the Uruguayan, and 47 carried other flags, but none of them carried the United States colors.

Of the 6,826 sailing vessels, which entered the ports of the Republic only 57 carried the United States flag, while 1,060 carried the English flag.

Of the 44 steamers that left the ports of the United States for the ports of the Argentine Republic, only 17 got return cargoes; the remaining 27 took cargoes to European ports, whence they came to America, making the customary triangular voyage of ships leaving the United States for the Argentine Republic.

Yet from 1852 to 1867, the number of ships flying the United States flag that entered the Argentine ports was greatly in excess of that of those carrying other flags; and between the years 1860 and 1867, the commercial exchanges between the two countries amounted to 50 per cent of those with England and France, and to 80 per cent of those with Belgium, and were five times greater than the commercial exchanges between the Argentine Republic and Germany.

merce.

Germany has since so much surpassed the United States, that, in 1890, its exports to the Argentine Republic amounted to $12,301,472 while the exports of the United States to the same country were only $9,000,000. No discrimination whatever is shown by the Argentine Republic against United States comTwenty per cent of the American importations enter free of duty, while Germany only introduces 6 per cent of its importations free. In 1890, the Argentine Republic (which exports only $6,000,000 to the United States, while the United States exported $9,000,000 to the Argentine Republic) paid to the United States. $1,677,009 for the importations of its articles, while the United States paid to Argentina only $1,389,261.

The cause of the decline in the commercial exchanges between

the two countries, must be attributed, in a great measure, to the adoption of the system of protection by the United States when a prohibitory duty was imposed upon the wool and hides of the Argentine Republic, which, up to that time, had found a ready market in the United States. This step produced a veritable crisis in the Argentine Republic, from the effects of which it did not recover until it had established sounder commercial relations with Europe, by sending to the markets of the old world, the products not admitted into United States ports.

In this way, the current of trade has deviated, as Argentine importers found it much easier and cheaper to buy, henceforth, the articles they had before imported from the United States, in Europe, where Argentine products were sold and converted into money. So long, then, as this condition remains unchanged, it seems impossible for the United States to regain the advantageous position they previously held in the commerce of the Argentine Republic. The government of that country has always favored an extension of trade, but the inhabitants will no doubt continue to buy what they need in the markets where their products are sold. *

These unfavorable conditions are made even worse by the refusal of the majority of American merchants to follow the example set by their European rivals, who not only study the taste of their clients, but also the peculiar conditions under which a new country, in its first period of material development, finds itself. European merchants understand the necessity of selling their goods on the

* A dispatch from Washington to the N. Y. Herald, under date of January 30, 1894, says: 'On account of suggestions made by the Argentina minister, Señor Zeballos, in regard to the removal of the duties from wools imported from his country to the United States, the Argentina Government has cabled that the Congress of that nation had taken off the duty on importation of crude American petroleum. This law was approved upon its being known in Argentina that the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives had placed wool on the free list. The Argentina minister believes his Government will also take off the present duty on lubricating oils and refined petroleum imported from the United States, of which great quantities are consumed in that country. Crude petroleum is used in immense quantities in Argentina, where it is employed as a fuel in competition with English coal. This indicates the opening of a new era, of mutual benefit and prosperity, for commerce between the United States and Argentina."

Inquiry at the Argentine legation in Washington confirmed these statements.