Agriculture

This is naturally the most important industry in a country so rich in land and so sparsely settled as Argentina. Although the land under actual cultivation constitutes less than 5 % of the total available area, Argentina already figures as an important factor in the world's grain markets. In 1895, at the time of the last census, the total land under cultivation was
4,892,005 hectares (nearly 12,000,000 acres); in 1888, at the time of the first agricultural census, the area under cultivation was 2,459, 120 hectares (nearly 6,000,000 acres); while in 1872 it was but 580,008 hectares (or about 1,450,000 acres).

The area under cultivation, therefore, doubled in seven years, and increased more than eightfold since 1872. The Total available agricultural area is estimated at 250,000,000 acres, or more than was taken up in 1900 by the combined grain, cotton, tobacco and vegetable crops in the United States. The census estimates the number of people engaged in agriculture at one-fourth the entire population.

The rapid increase in the cultivated area is to a great extent due to European immigration, the newcomers settling in colonies, living in accordance with their own customs, and using their own methods of cultivation. The first colony thus founded consisted of Swiss peasants, who came to Argentina in 1856; in 1874 there were 32 colonies tilling 12,900 acres; in 1884 the number of colonies increased to 85, the area under cultivation to 86,000 acres; in 1895 the census records 709 colonies, with a very large increase in the number of acres under cultivation. The wonderfully rapid growth of colonies is explained by the very liberal immigration laws of the Republic, alluring inducements being held out to immigrants, who are given in some of the provinces large tracts of land, provisions and implements with which to begin farming life in the new country.

Immigration and Emigration

Since 1857, when the statistics of incoming foreigners were first taken, there has been a growing stream of immigration, which swelled the country's population in the period from 1857-99 by 2,564,000 . Immigration received a great setback in 1890, and although it has been recovering since that year it has not yet reached the high-water mark of the year preceding the crisis.
In 1889 the total immigration into the country was 261,000, of whom 219,000 came by sea and 42,000 by land. In the following year there was a drop of one-half, the total immigration in 1890 being 132,000. In 1891 there was a further drop to 52,000, but since then there has been a gradual increase, the total immigration in 1899 exceeding 111,000. On the other hand, the emigration from the country, which was only 40,600 in 1889, rose to 83,000 in 1890. It has averaged about 50,000 per year since then. About 70 per cent. of the immigrants are Italians, about 10 per cent. Spaniards, and nearly 8 per cent. are French, the rest being made up of the various nationalities .

The Argentineans have long understood the great value of immigration to a naturally rich and fertile, but sparsely settled, country like their own. Hence their great efforts to attract foreign labor, as well as foreign capital, to their country. In addition to very liberal immigration laws, and generous distribution of land to colonists, enormous sums of money have been spent in bringing over and aiding immigrants before they are able to support themselves. Besides the sums thus spent by the Province of Buenos Ayres and by the private Colonization Association, the national treasury has been spending annually from one to three-quarters of a million pesos during the last decade of the century, and on the average a sum close to a quarter of a million annually since 1870. The number of people gratuitously brought over, lodged, and finally settled at public expense in the forty years from 1857 to 1897 was 897,805, 697,398, and 576,396, respectively. To what extent the free distribution of land to immigrants and the planting of agricultural colonies have added to the national wealth has already been shown under AGRICULTURE.*( N.I.E.)

Principal Ports:

El Tuyu, Mar de Plata, Bahia Blanca, San Antonio, (Buenos Aires): San Jose, Roca, Madryn, Camarones, Santa Elena, Tilly, Rivadavia, Piramides y Malaspina (Chubut); Deseado, San Julian, San Sebastian, Santa Cruz, Coyle Y Gallegos (Santa Cruz); Huergo, Popper y Espanol (Tierra del Fuego).

Shipping Lines ( From Europe to Argentina)

1. Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., Southampton--Buenos Aires, 21 days, every week.

2. The Pacific Steam Navigation Co., Liverpool to Buenos Aires, 21 days,every 15 days. Also to Bahia Blanca, every month.

3. La Italia, Genoa to Buenos Aires, 21 days, every 15 days.

4. Hamburg Sudamerikanische Dampfschiffahrt Gesellschaft and Hamburg Amerika Linie, Hamburg to Buenos Aires, every 10 days;

5. Cruzeiro do Sul, Rio Janeiro to Buenos Aires, every week

6.Compania Hamburgo-Sudamericana, every 20 days,

7. Compania de Navegacion General Italiana, La Veloce, Genoa to Buenos Aires, every week.

8. Compagnie de Transports Maritimes a Vapeur, Naples, Genoa, Marsella and Barcelona to Buenos Aires, twice a month.

9. Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes, Burdeos to Buenos Aires, every 15 days.

10. Compania Lloyd Italiano, Genoa to Buenos Aires,

11. Hamburg Amerika Line, Genoa to Buenos Aires,

12. Compania Trasatlantica, Genoa and Spanish ports to Buenos Aires, every month.

13. Sociedad Anonima de Navegacion Trasatlantica, Barcelona to Buenos Aires, each month.

14. Lloyd Sabaudo, Barcelona to Buenos Aires. etc.

Agriculture is the main factor of Argentina's wealth and its great progress is largely due to Immigration. The economic and ethnic strength that immigration brings is a great contributor to abundant resources in providing finances for the administrative needs as well as for the National treasury.

Immigrants To Argentina (according to 1906 statistics)

127,348 Italians, 79,517 Spaniards, 17,424 Russians, 7,177 Syrian maronitas, 4,277 Austrians, 3,698 French, 2,178 Germans, 1,843 Hungarians, 1,690 English, 1,081 Montenegros, 503 Swiss, 230 Belgiums, etc.

Classification of Immigrant Professions:

89,732 agricultures, 44,761 workmen, 10,276 seamstress, 9,534 merchants,9,345 servants, 5,269 ironers, 4,583 cooks, 4,084 clerks, 3,389 weavers, 3,184 carpenters, 2,909 dressmakers, 2,588 bricklayers, 2,749 shoemakers, 2,335 seamen, 1,439 blacksmiths, 1,080 mechanics, 881 bakers, 558 barbers and 515 miners. Of the immigrants quoted, there was a total of 107,455 that were accompanied by their families, and of the remaining 128,694 were single men and 16,387 single women.

Immigration Law

With regard to the immigrants are the following procedures:

A) Regulation Visits
All vessels that arrive with immigrants on board as second and third class passengers are visited by an employee of the Immigration office, a medical doctor and an employee of the Maritime Prefect. These will advise if the ship complied with the required healthful and hygienic conditions, if it offered comfort in the transportation of immigrants, if these have been well fed, etc. The commissioner hears the complaints of the passengers and collects the documents, which the captain must surrender regarding the transportation of immigrants.

B) The Reception
After an interrogation, the immigrants are classified according to their occupation, aptitude and places where they wish to transfer to. A list is composed of those who refuse to avail themselves of the benefits, that the Immigration Law offers and are regarded as common travelers having a passport. The ones who have already been in the country, their passport is stamped with a particular seal as "Old Residents". After the stamping of the passports, those who welcome the Immigration Law are received by the immigration hotel's employees. Their baggage are also transferred by the servants of the hotel.

C) The Assistance
Upon arrival at the hotel, the immigrants are inscribed in the register, given a valid ticket for a term of 5 days, for food and lodging, which can be extended due to sickness. They are lodged by sexes, they are fed, milk is given to the children and the sick are attended to.

D) The National Labor Department
The Labor Department offers employment in the areas where the immigrants wish to transfer, indicating salary & conditions. If the immigrants' vocation, or trade is not in demand, the Labor Department will take it upon themselves to find one, whether directly with the factories, workshops, or telegraphing the immigration commissions of the provinces. To the immigrants that request passage to a location where there is no need for workers of their profession, a warning is given.

E) Free Transportation
The immigrants and their families, as well as their baggage and professional instruments. are transferred for free, to their destination. There they are received by the Auxiliary Commission, lodged and fed for 10 consecutive days until they have found work or departed to the definitive location where there is no immigration commission. *(E.U.I.E.A)