Government of Argentina

“ CHAPTER XVIII THE CAMP
"To govern is to populate" is the maxim which has guided the policy of the Argentine Government ever since the first days of political emancipation. The immense wealth of the fertile plains must remain unappropriated just as long as there is insufficient labour to sow and reap, to tend, to feed, and shear.
As a result of this policy the immigration organisation of Argentina may now be regarded as the finest in the world. ”

“ With a new, and hopefully stable Government in Argentina, there is an opportunity to move forward – for Argentina to demonstrate a new political maturity on the world stage, by setting aside its claim to our country and working with us to create a safe and prosperous area in the SW Atlantic. ”

“ But then Argentina is not alone in these traits, and it is perhaps easier to find fault or give advice than to do the things ourselves if we were placed in the same position.
Like all Latin people, the Argentinian loves [195] politics. The opera bouffe style of government, which can still be found in Central America, has disappeared, so that the melodramatic element no longer exists. With each year the people grow less inclined to indulge in revolution simply as a pastime. ”

“ It has been seen that Argentina, on the whole, shows a considerably better state of affairs in the nineteenth century than most of its neighbours, and had she not fallen under the malign influence of Rosas, the Plate District might have been the one bright spot in Latin America. But all the faults of inexperience, ignorance, and passion marred the political history, and the complaint ever is that the government is carried on in the [123] interests of the official few at the expense of the hard-working many. ”

“ In regard to home politics, doubtless a good deal of intrigue is constantly at work at Government House in Buenos Aires, but those are matters which the foreign settler leaves exclusively to the Argentines themselves. So long as they do [75] nothing which may affect trade or credit, even the representatives of the largest foreign interests are careful to avoid any act or word which might savour of interference in the sole management by the Argentine of purely Argentine affairs. ”

“ Besides the excellent remuneration for not attending to business, the Argentine politician has the advantage of getting jobs for all his relatives. The majority of Government employees are the relatives of politicians. There are true and honourable men in political life, but, so far as I could gather, most men take to politics in Argentina because they can do their families a good turn. The only group that is cohesive is that of the Socialists. Socialist deputies are on the increase. ”

“ It is in domestic politics that the outlook is unsatisfactory, and here it must be acknowledged that although Argentina, owing to her wealth and the energetic character of her inhabitants, does not appear to the world in the same deplorable light as several South American Republics almost habitually exhibit themselves, she is nevertheless an extremely ill-governed country. The subject of South American politics is a commonplace with all writers; the hot-blooded Creole, who for centuries had been subject to a paternal government, was altogether unfitted for Parliamentary institutions. ”

“ Although the constitution of Argentina is in form Federal, the logic of facts has been too strong for the intentions of its framers. The immense importance of Buenos Aires has, in effect, forced upon the Republic a centralised form of government, and the Provinces are largely under the direct control of the administration at the capital. ”

“ The financial history of Argentina has been a checkered one and not without its scandals. In reality for years investors looked askance at all kinds of Argentine securities. The fact is that the national government suffered from its moral, if not actual, responsibility for the numerous loans floated by the various states. The national government in a real sense should [388] have no more responsibility for a provincial debt than our Federal Government assumes the obligation of a state under our form of government. ”

“ The improvements in Government methods led to gradual general improvement, which, however, was also the result of natural causes, and Argentina became undoubtedly the most prosperous country in South America. The fear [106] of political disintegration has become a thing of the past, owing to the preponderance of the capital in wealth and influence, but neither Roca himself nor any other successor has been able to banish a serious evil from which Argentina suffers, and which, though not causing civil war on a large scale, brings about disquieting strikes and riots. ”

“ Argentina at one time seemed more than likely to compete with Australia and Canada in this respect, trying to allure colonists with impossible promises of free land and gigantic crops, and only the untiring efforts of the Englishmen already established there have prevented that country realising the inevitable consequence. The present Argentine Government admit the unsuitable nature of the country for impecunious Englishmen, and confine their attentions to attracting Italians and other foreigners, for whom the climate and conditions of labour are certainly more adapted. ”

“ He never allowed militarism to become obnoxious. As a result Argentina entered upon an era of development and evolution that was simply marvellous. A reckless optimism ruled the country. Railway extension on a broader scale began; immigration agencies were opened up in Europe, government lands were sold at low rates. Public works were inaugurated, on a scale hitherto unprecedented, new docks were built in Buenos Aires and adequate drainage undertaken. European money lenders offered money for any enterprise. The petty jealousies were restrained and foreign capital encouraged. ”

“ If the government would enter upon a systematic campaign to encourage the homesteader and small farmer, much good of a permanent value might be accomplished, and a stable as well as intelligent population be built up. The fertile soil and kindly climate of this republic ought to easily support a population of more than five times the present number.
Politics has been one of the curses of Argentina. A certain class has had all the opportunity to get the benefits of office holding. The politicians work night and day—they are the counterparts of our own, and never sleep on the job. ”

“ The case of Argentina in particular suggests the process by which we may expect that other Latin-American states will, by degrees, advance towards a more settled and genuinely legal government. What is the first thing that is needed to enable any community to prosper? ”

“ The Argentine Government spends plenty of money in advertisement, and true advertisement, of the fertility and marvellous climates of a Republic which extends over 35 degrees of latitude, but neglects to make provision for those who may desire to respond actively to its propaganda. This neglect is due, really, to an inherent incapacity for detail, part of the Argentine nature which, therefore, is terribly prone to get tired half-way through a job. In South America, generally, a wonderful amount of enthusiasm is always available for the planning of new schemes. ”

“ The aristocratic Argentine of the old school is a very dignified gentleman indeed, notwithstanding a century of democratic profession. I say “profession,” for though I believe the leading families of the Republic are quite sincere in a conviction that they rank among the world’s most advanced democrats, the government of the country has remained almost exclusively in their truly patrician hands since the days of the Declaration of Independence. ”

“ The Argentine, while availing himself of every advantage derivable from the influx into his country of foreign Capital and Labour, has never really loosed his hold on his own independent Government nor the land. His land is and has always been the source of his fortune, and to his land he clings with unrelaxing tenacity. If there is a good bargain to be made in real property, it is an Argentine who immediately takes advantage of it to increase his probably already large holding. ”

“ Few people read statistics, fewer still remember them, and fewest of all understand them; and consequently the signs of industrial prosperity are almost stupefying. Still, as railway companies seem to find photographs the most effective advertisements, it [179]
[180] can hardly be doubted that well-illustrated pamphlets setting forth the industrial promise of Argentina would make many people in England realise the true state of affairs. Certainly, the Argentine Government does all in its power by exhibitions and the dissemination of intelligence to attract capital and settlers. ”

“ As these men are under the pay of the national government, they form a part of the defensive forces of the country and are a really creditable body. The mounted men are well mounted and have a very smart appearance as they canter through the streets.
Since the probability of war with Chile passed away the army of Argentina has not been kept as full as prior to 1904. The proportion [250] of soldiers to the population is perhaps less than in any other republic of South America, except Brazil. ”

“ The Frenchman, Spaniard and Italian finds conditions in Argentina, Southern Brazil and Uruguay more in accordance with his traditional customs. For the Spaniard the language is the same, and the Italian soon masters the difference in idiom. So this nation forms and should form the natural haven for these people, when the struggle for existence drives them from the land of their birth. As the government improves it will become still more attractive for them, and it is to be hoped that the stream of Italian immigrants who now seek our shores will head for the River Plate. ”

“ The improvement in the finances and administration came very slowly, but the chief troubles were political, for Argentina had not yet adapted herself to the smooth working of federal institutions. Alem, who had returned from exile, was still preaching disaffection and taking advantage of the turbulent disposition of the various Provinces. In 1893 Costa, the Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, who had a strong military force, planned the overthrow of the central Government, and his example was followed by Santa Fé and several other Provinces. ”

“ The greatest admirers of the old Spanish colonial system will hardly deny that the prodigious development effected since the declaration of Argentine independence, of the resources of the country, thanks largely to the influx of foreign immigrants and capital, would have been impossible under the Spanish domination. That a new people, unaccustomed to, and perhaps as yet unprepared for, self-government and political emancipation should have had to work out its own problems during a period of turbulence was inevitable. ”

“ Nothing is permitted to escape taxation, and duplicated taxes on the same thing are frequent. In Argentina these burdens bear heavily upon the labouring classes, and in years of depression they send away by thousands immigrants unable to meet the high costs of living. For the year 1900 the total expenditures of the national government, 14 provincial governments, and 16 principal cities, were estimated to have been $208,811,925 paper, which is equivalent to $91,877,247 gold, or (at $5.04 per pound stg.) ”

“ All that can be done is to attack and destroy the swarms when they have arrived. For this purpose special and, it should at once be said, very successful organization have been brought into existence by the Argentine National Government with the loyal concurrence and aid of the Provincial Governments and by the Uruguayan Government. ”

“ In 1620 Buenos Aires was separated from the authority of the government established at Asunción, and was made the seat of a government extending over Mendoza, Santa Fé, Entre Rios and Corrientes, but at the same time remained like the government of Paraguay at Asunción, and that of the province of Tucumán, which had Córdoba as its capital, subject to the authority of the viceroyalty of Peru. ”

“ IV. Her Britannic Majesty's Government recognizes the navigation of the River Parana to be an inland navigation of the Argentine Confederation, and subject solely to its laws and regulations, in the same manner as that of the River Uruguay in common with the Oriental State.
V. Her Britannic Majesty's Government having declared, " that it is freely acknowleged and admitted that the Argentine Republic is in the unquestioned enjoyment and exercise of every right, whether of peace or war, possessed by any independent nation ”

“ I. The Government of Her Britannic Majesty, animated by the desire of putting an end to the differences which have interrupted the political and commercial relations between the 2 countries, having on the 15th of July, 1847, raised the blockade which it had established of the ports of the 2 Republics of the Plata, thereby giving a proof of its conciliatory sentiments, now hereby binds itself, in the same amicable spirit, definitively to evacuate the Island of Martin Garcia ”

“ The signs that the old Spanish character is losing its baneful grip on this country are multiplying each day. It has been a long and hard lesson for the Argentinians to learn that political freedom does not mean unrestrained license, but it is being more clearly interpreted each year. The conditions are better understood when compared with Uruguay, Paraguay or Venezuela, where political conditions are still as they were in Argentina a half-century ago. ”

“ Just as the United States had to subdue savage Indians, to enter into war and to offer great sacrifices to develop the resources of vast uninhabited territories in order to establish the principles of liberty and justice, the Argentine Republic has successfully conquered the same difficulties and, to-day, is inviting the rest of the world to add to its developments and to share its wealth. In the disposition of its territories, in its form of government and in its constitution and laws, the Argentine Republic has modelled its policy upon that of the United States. ”