PART IV. ARGENTINA.

The Argentine Republic has an area of 1,135,840 English square miles, or about 726,940,000 acres. According to the last census, in 1895, the population was a little less than four millions. It was estimated to have increased to six millions in 1907, giving an average population on that basis of a little more than five persons to the square mile. The arable land area is estimated to be 300,000,000 acres, of which 10,000,000 require irrigation. The total acreage under cultivation in 1907 was 36,000,000 acres, or about one-eighth of the cultivable

area.

IMMIGRATION POLICY.

Argentina is rich in natural resources. In addition to its vast grain-producing possibilities, much of it is finely adapted to grazing, while its immense timber and mineral resources have hardly been touched. The development of this vast, rich, sparsely settled country is waiting largely upon an adequate supply of settlers and laborers, and to this end the Government uses every means to foster foreign immigration, particularly that of farmers and farm laborers.

The encouragement of immigration is authorized in the constitution of the Republic, which also guarantees to aliens the same civil rights enjoyed by citizens. The articles of the constitution relating to these matters are, in part, as follows:

Art. 20. Aliens shall enjoy in the territory of the nation the same civil rights as its citizens. They have full liberty to engage in all kinds of business, industrial, commercial, or professional, and are authorized to own, hold, and possess real estate, acquire it by purchase, inheritance, or any other legal means, and to sell or convey it to others. They are also allowed to navigate the rivers of the Republic, and along the coasts of the same, and to practice freely their own religion. They can dispose by will of the property of which they are possessed, provided that the disposition which they make is not in contravention of the law of the country, and contract valid marriages, subject to the same proviso. They are entitled to obtain naturalization in the Republic if they so desire upon application for that purpose and sufficient proof that they have resided continuously within the limits of the country for the period of two years; but this period may be shortened at the discretion of the proper authorities at the request of the applicant and upon proof that he rendered some service to the Republic. Art. 25. The federal government shall promote and encourage European immigration. It shall have no power to restrict, to limit, or to burden with taxes or charges of any kind the afflux to the territory of the Republic of any foreigners coming to it to cultivate its soil, to improve its industries, or to introduce and teach the sciences and arts.

Naturalized citizens are exempted from military service during the ten years subsequent to their admission to citizenship. But this privilege may be waived by them if they wish, and in that case they may be allowed to render this service.

NATIONALITY OF IMMIGRANTS.

The transoceanic immigration movement to the Argentine Republic from 1863 to 1908, inclusive, and the immigration by way of Montevideo for the same period are shown by the following table:

TABLE 8.-Immigration to Argentine Republic, 1863 to 1908, by nationality.a [Compiled from the Statistical Year Book of Argentina, 1906. Data for 1907-8 furnished by the Bureau of American Republics.]

Oversea immigration.

Total.... 55, 379 20, 493 42, 628 196, 758 40, 303 1,771, 971 785, 402 27, 868 204, 637 3, 145, 439 1,072, 5244, 217, 963

The exact meaning of the word "nationality" is not stated in the reports. It appears to mean either the country to which the immigrant owes allegiance or the race or people from which the immigrant is descended. The statement is made that "nationality" does not mean "country of embarkation.'

The per cent each nationality forms of the total "oversea" immigration is as follows:

TABLE 9.-Oversea immigration to Argentine Republic, 1863 to 1908, by nationality; per cent distribution.

[Compiled from the Statistical Year Book of Argentina for 1906. Data for 1907-8 were furnished by the Bureau of the American Republics.]

As in the case of the United States and other large immigrantreceiving nations, a considerable part of the immigration movement to Argentina is temporary. This fact is illustrated by the following table, which shows immigration to and emigration from the Republic from 1871 to 1908, inclusive:

TABLE 10.-Immigration to and emigration from the Argentine Republic, 1871 to 1908.

[Figures compiled from reports of Year Book of city of Buenos Aires.]

THE ARGENTINE IMMIGRATION LAW.

The immigration and colonization law of the Argentine Republic, which was enacted in 1876, provides for the encouragement of immigration through agents in Europe and America and makes liberal provision for the reception, care, and maintenance of immigrants. It

provides for a central bureau of immigration, and commissions of immigration at the capital of each province, at certain ports of arrival, and, if necessary, at any other place. The law also provides for the establishment of employment bureaus, which, under the direction of the bureau of immigration or the local commissions, shall assist immigrants to find work and shall act as their advisors in other matters.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW.

The following statement concerning the administration of the Argentine immigration law is taken from "A Sketch of the Argentine Republic as a Country for Immigration" prepared in 1904 by the department of agriculture of the Republic:

The immigration visit and its object.-Every vessel arriving in the country carrying immigrants, who, according to the law, are second or third class passengers, is visited and carefully inspected by a commission composed of the immigrant's visitor, the sanitary doctor, and an official from the maritime prefecture, which verifies the hygienic and wholesome conditions of the vessel; the accommodation for transportation; food during the voyage; supply of medicines; if a doctor and apothecary are on board; if it carries or not an excess of passengers in relation to its tonnage; if the dimensions of the main and lower decks and berthing are in accordance with regulations; if there are a sufficient number of ventilators, fire pumps, and kitchen utensils; life buoys and lifeboats; if they carry persons suffering from contagious disease; if passengers have come on board in ports where any epidemic prevails; if it carries any inflammable or unhealthy articles amongst the cargo; and, finally, it receives any complaints on the part of the passengers as to bad treatment, together with the documents that the captain has to deliver respecting the knowledge of the immigration laws, as also a statement of incidents occurring during the voyage, all of which is enforced for the benefit of the immigrants.

Reception. The immigrants are minutely interrogated and classified in order to acquire a knowledge of their ability for labor and the intentions they have formed; then a list is made of those who abandon the benefits conferred by law, their documents being stamped "simple vaijero" (ordinary passenger); other passports are classified and stamped "residente antiguo" (old resident).

The passports of the immigrants who take advantage of the law having been stamped by the visitor, they are taken in hand by the employees of the immigrant's home named to receive them, who attend to them and direct them what to do, placing them in tram cars, which are sent down in anticipation, in which they are transported from the port to the home. The baggage is loaded on the trucks by porters from the home.

Free lodging.-On arrival at the home the immigrants are given entry and are noted on the registers, and further are provided with a board-and-lodging ticket valid for five days, which term may be increased in case of sickness. The immigrants are conveniently lodged, the women and children in halls separated from those occupied by the men. The baggage is taken by the home porters to a deposit store, where it is examined by the customs officers as a special service.

Free board. The immigrants are rationed with food of the best quality, the quantities which form the daily ration of an adult being: Meat, 600 grams; bread, 500 grams; potatoes, carrots, or cabbage (alternately), 150 grams; rice, macaroni, or beans (alternately), 100 grams; sugar, 25 grams; and coffee, 10 grams. The children are supplied with milk. The meals, prepared in good steam kitcheners, are served by waiters in a large dining hall.

Medical assistance.—In the infirmary attached to the home the sick are always carefully attended to; the young are vaccinated, and also the adults who so desire. There are doctors, students, men and women nurses, and a dispensary with an ample supply of medicine and disinfecting material.

The national labor bureau.—As soon as the immigrants arrive they are questioned as to the places to which they wish to go, and they are offered by the labor bureau the situations which it is able to provide, according to the requests it may have received, the originals of which are filed, stating wages that can be paid and other conditions, all of which are carefully noted in special books kept for the purpose. Should it happen that for the moment no request is to hand

for men of the trade of the immigrant desiring work, the bureau itself will endeavor to procure it for him, either by applying at the factories, companies, and works, or, in default, telegraphing to the interior of the Republic. The immigrant who wishes to proceed to some point where there is no demand for men of his trade is duly notified of the fact by the bureau. No pressure is applied to the immigrant to induce him to proceed to such or such a place, but due regard is given to his wishes.

Free transport to the interior.-Immigrants for whom situations have been procured in the interior of the country or who wish to join their families are sent off by the expeditionary officials, whose duty it is to have their baggage, properly addressed, loaded up, to note the names of the immigrants on the list of the expedition, to provide them with the corresponding tickets for the journey, and to look after them generally until they are conveniently and fully installed on the train or river steamer.

Reception in the provinces or places of destination.-The immigrants who proceed to the provinces or national territories where work is to be procured for them are received from the train by the secretary of the auxiliary commission, lodged and boarded for ten days, at most, until they are provided with a place or leave for their ultimate destination. In case they have been sent up to be forwarded on by another railway, they are similarly attended to by that employee, in the same manner as in the federal capital, from the moment that the train arrives until the instant in which the other that has to take him on leaves. Postal and telegraphic.—In the immigrant's home there is an office for the dispatch of mails and telegrams in order to facilitate delivery of correspondence, and also with the object that the general commissary and the national labor bureau may be enabled to transmit throughout the Republic the necessary orders and instructions for the proper carrying out of the service.