Argentina Part 14

3A, Coleman Street, E.C.

CHAPTER XVI

THE PASTORAL INDUSTRIES OF ARGENTINA

This is, on the whole, the most striking of the many very remarkable industrial features of Argentina. To begin with, some figures should be given. No doubt they are dry bones, but a body cannot be made without bones, and for the understanding of industrial phenomena it is necessary to have a skeleton map in the form of figures to guide us.

If we keep a few round figures before us, we can form an idea of the progress of a country in industrial matters and its position in regard to other nations. It is impossible indeed to carry long tables of statistics in the head, but a few essential figures can be remembered, and along with them the increases and decreases (though of decreases we seldom hear in Argentina) as compared with a period of ten years ago and also the relative production or export of Argentine staples as compared with the figures of other countries in those articles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABERDEEN ANGUS CATTLE, SANTA MARIA, ENTRE RIOS.]

Allusion has already been made to the benefit which the Spaniards conferred upon South America by setting down horses and cattle, and how abundantly they increased and multiplied in an astonis.h.i.+ngly short time. It has been seen also that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the exportation of hides was a most progressive industry.

Later, when the tyranny of Rosas was overpast, the production of cattle made giant strides and has by no means approached its limit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CATTLE DRINKING.]

The following figures represent the number of animals in the Argentine Republic:--

Cattle 29,116,625 Sheep 67,211,754 Horses 7,531,376 Goats 3,245,086 Hogs 1,403,591 Mules 465,037 Donkeys 285,088

Their total value is 645,000,000 dollars gold.[96] The United States has more cattle (71,267,000), but considerably fewer sheep and goats.

Australia has more sheep (87,780,819), but far fewer horses and cattle. Chile, although looked upon as a wool-growing country, is insignificant in comparison with Argentina, possessing probably hardly more than two million sheep. Argentina has fewer hogs, mules, and donkeys than Spain, but, on the whole, it may be said that she equals, if she does not surpa.s.s, any other nation in the number and variety of her live stock.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BULLOCK-BREAKING IN JUJUY.]

It is of course, to the Camp that the country owes all its wealth.

People in Buenos Aires use the term just as people in Calcutta speak of the Mofussil. Without the Camp, or plain, the great Buenos Aires would have no existence. The Camp is covered with estancias which are held by estancieros, or squatters. Immense fortunes have been made by those who have been skilled in the art of getting together the best stock and managing their estates, and probably there are still excellent chances of making a fortune for the competent. The life of the estanciero is free and healthy; it approaches to that of the receding Gaucho, it is a life of boot and saddle, of early rising and long days in the crisp, sunny air. It is also much more comfortable than the ranching life in most countries; good houses, billiard-tables, plenty of company, and a number of the amenities of civilised life are not unusual, and the splendid railways will swiftly transport the estanciero to Buenos Aires when he desires a change.[97] Still, it is obvious that these luxuries are the result and not the cause of success; and it must not be supposed that an estanciero grows rich by living in fine houses and amusing himself; as is the case everywhere else, the desirable things of wealth are won by hard work and business ability.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAMP TRAVEL.]

In 1864 cattle amounted to 10,215,000, in 1884 to 14,171,000, in 1895 to 21,701,526. It will be seen that the rate of advance has been tolerably rapid. As the country became more settled after the middle of the last century, the increase of pastoral industries was somewhat checked by the realisation of the enormous possibilities of agriculture. In 1857 cattle formed 25 per cent. of the wealth of the country, but in 1884 only 18 per cent.[98] But with the fall in the value of wheat and the increasing demand for meat and wool, and the wonderful ingenuity of the methods of freezing and preserving, the pastoral industry has held its own.

Cattle and sheep are raised all over the Pampas and far to the north and south; but, generally speaking, cattle keep to the eastern side and sheep to the west, while Patagonia is almost exclusively devoted to sheep. The cattle industry is very different from what it was in the memory of men still living. In the old days animals were killed for their hides and the carcase was left to rot on the ground; their flesh was eaten only by those who tended them. In 1873 the export of meat was under 1,500,000 dollars, and little of this found its way to Europe. In 1907 the exports of beef and mutton amounted to 222,273 tons. The prosperity of the meat industry, however, is due not only to improved methods of transport, packing, and preserving, but also to the wisdom of the estancieros in importing valuable bulls. It is said that even the smallest among them are convinced of the value of good blood and insist upon having it. Between 1899 and 1903 Argentina imported 3,005 bulls, princ.i.p.ally from England, and in 1907 the value of live animals imported was over 2,000,000 dollars. We have seen the huge prices that rich Argentines give for the best stallions, but, relatively, breeders are quite as eager for the best bovine sires.

Uruguay is better known to the world than Argentina as a seat of the meat industry, but, as a matter of fact, the latter has infinitely more stock of every description. However, in 1908, the Uruguayan beef-salting factories slaughtered three times as many cattle as the Argentine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BULL CALF.]

A great many estancias are in English hands; all over the Pampas are great numbers of young Englishmen managing the estates. A warning note has lately been sounded to the effect that Beef Trusts and other United States Trusts are attempting to acquire land and meat factories and to control the supply of meat. It is needless to say that if these organisations make headway, neither the estancieros, nor our traders, nor the meat consumer, will have any reason to congratulate themselves, and it is to be hoped that the Argentine Government will take energetic measures to keep the country out of the grip of the octopus.

The sheep industry has not maintained its old relative importance. In 1830 Argentina had 2,500,000 sheep and exported 6,000,000 lbs. of wool; in 1883 the figures were 69,000,000 sheep (somewhat more than now) and 261,000,000 lbs. of wool. In 1908 the s.h.i.+pments were 175,538 tons, and Argentina is of great importance in the world's markets, but the conditions of the industry have changed considerably within recent years. In the old days Spain prohibited the export of her valuable merino sheep to foreign countries, but the colonies were fortunate enough not to be included in the prohibition, and in 1550 the first merinos appeared in Tuc.u.man from Peru.[99] Professor Clapham, in his valuable work, "The Woollen and Worsted Industries," says: "There, together with an inferior, long-wooled breed, also of Spanish extraction, they ran wild and deteriorated for over two hundred years; so that eventually the Argentine flocks were as sorely in need of new blood as were those of France, Germany, or Russia, which, until the middle of the eighteenth century, had never had the benefit of a cross with the old Spanish strain. Between 1760 and 1840, thanks to a change in the commercial policy of Spain, such crossing took place in almost every country of Europe and in many European colonies." About the beginning of the nineteenth century pure-bred Spanish rams were brought to Argentina, and others from France and Saxony. By 1846 the wool had so greatly improved that it was exported to England. Forty years ago the exports consisted almost entirely of merino wool, but now seven-eighths is cross-bred. For this change there are two reasons--firstly, the rich, loamy soil does not suit merinos, which are apt to deteriorate in rank pastures, and, secondly, the trade in frozen meat has made such enormous strides that estancieros are anxious to obtain mutton breeds, especially Lincolns. The Lincolns.h.i.+re breeders drive a flouris.h.i.+ng trade with Buenos Aires, and as much as 1,000 guineas is often given for a ram. There used to be a prejudice in Bradford against Argentine wool,[100] but it is disappearing, although the Australian product still fetches a somewhat higher price.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN CHAMPION. EXHIBITED BY MR. M. J. COBO.]

The improvements which of late years have been introduced into sheep-breeding and sheep-farming are very remarkable, and they are partly due to the efforts of immigrants from New Zealand who have introduced effective cures for foot-rot and other diseases. During the last ten years of the nineteenth century breeders pinned their faith almost entirely to Lincolns, and the importations were very large. Up to 1890 the majority of Argentine sheep were weak cross-breds, and such good blood as remained had been weakened by over-crossing. The hardy Lincoln brought health and energy to the enfeebled ma.s.s, and breeders made it their business to rear hardy sheep and obtain a good average without going to extremes in their preference for any particular stock. The breeding of sheep has been greatly benefited by the fact that the estancias have been largely in English hands[101]

and the proprietors have thus introduced hardy English breeds and good methods.

All over Argentina the intelligent selection of breeds is receiving great attention. It is now recognised that in an alfafa district a stock-master should keep cattle rather than flocks, and that such sheep as he has should be producers of mutton rather than wool. Again, in the southern districts where the gra.s.s is rich and tender, the Lincoln breed is unsuitable and crossings are favoured with the Romney Marsh, which counteracts the tendency towards coa.r.s.eness, and gives silkiness, closeness, and, to some extent, fineness to the wool. Thus in Tierra del Fuego the hardy Romney Marsh, imported from the Falkland Islands, is being bred, and in this inhospitable climate the sheep keep fat all the year round, even when the snow lies a foot deep on the ground, for the sheep have learned to sc.r.a.pe the snow away with their hoofs and find the gra.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ESTANCIERO'S HOUSE.]

M. Bernandez, to whose valuable work this chapter is indebted, concludes this subject with the following words: "Thus the moral to be learned from all this would be, that there is no reason why either the coa.r.s.e or fine wools now produced should be abandoned to any great extent. The coa.r.s.e can afford to give over a large proportion of its flock to the evolution, because they are in an immense majority; but it would not be prudent to go to the other extreme in this reaction, as the coa.r.s.e long wool will always have its use, not only in rough goods but also in the warp of fine cloths, which in the great mechanical looms has to be extremely strong--a reason that has prevented the decadence of French wools. The merino, on its side, has its strongest defence in the singular fact that our woollen factories _import_ their fine wools in the form of yarn. As soon as spinning-mills are established in the country, and the customs tariff combines the interests of the wool-grower with that of the manufacturer, there will be, in this country alone, more than half a million sterling at hand for the purchase of the wool produced by our Rambouillet flocks. It can thus be seen that there is a field for stock-breeding and industrial art that will cause the development on a colossal scale of all the breeds comprised in our flocks, and that the times are singularly propitious for it, as we have at hand in enormous quant.i.ty all the elements tending to good results that can be offered to capital and to the vigorous enterprise of mankind, with greater certainty and more favourable auspices than can be obtained in any other cla.s.s of business, or in any other part of the world."[102]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ESTANCIA.]

The life of the estancia has been described by many pens, and the free, open conditions have always had an attraction for Englishmen.

The management is everywhere upon the same principles. The property is divided by wire fences into paddocks varying from 200 to 3,000 acres.

Some paddocks are used for breeding, some for fattening, and the head station is situated as nearly in the middle of the Camp as possible. It consists of the houses of the owners and managers, the labourers' quarters, tool- and store-houses, shearing-sheds, dipping-troughs, and the like. The owner's house is often very large and handsome, and the grounds beautifully laid out. There is generally considerable variety of stock, but where the fattening of steers is the main object few or no sheep are kept. Some estancias have dairies attached. Land was taken up very rapidly by ranchers in the early days of Argentina's prosperity. Now, with the increase of the area of cultivation, the land in the Pampas which is available for grazing is greatly curtailed. It is estimated that nearly a hundred million hectares are still to be disposed of by the State, but this is all far to the north or south, and Chubut and Santa Cruz make up nearly half the total.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ESTANCIA SANTA MARIA.]

The dairy industry is now on a gigantic scale. All arrangements were till very lately most primitive and the traveller, did he not know to the contrary, would still believe them to be so; but it is a peculiarity about Argentina that the people hurry to inst.i.tute a great export trade long before they think of supplying themselves adequately with an article. As late as 1891 the first b.u.t.ter--a few hundred pounds--was exported. Now the exports amount to 8,000 tons. The dairies are provided with the most up-to-date machinery, and the export trade of b.u.t.ter will, no doubt, rapidly increase. The industry is, however, looked upon with some distrust by estancieros, for it is important not to allow the winning of milk to diminish the young animals, either in quant.i.ty or quality, upon which the prosperity of Argentina depends.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LEMCO AND OXO PREMISES.]

Inseparably connected with the pastoral industry are two great English businesses concerned in the extract of meat. It was in 1884 that the Kemmerich Company purchased some estancias and built a factory at Santa Elena in Entre Rios. The Bovril Company had for some years been obtaining material for its meat extract from Santa Elena, and eventually bought the factory and that of San Javier, together with a block of 438,000 acres, and additional land was leased. These were formed into the Argentine Estates of Bovril, Limited, and hence is obtained a large proportion of the raw material of that well-known beverage. The final stages of manufacture take place in the London factory. The estancias support from 130,000 to 160,000 head of cattle, but even this large number does not supply the whole demand, and every year many cattle continue to be sent by the Kemmerich Company to the Bovril factories. The favourite breed is the hardy Durham. Several thousand head of this fine breed are kept by the Company to level up the remainder of the stock. The Durham, or Shorthorn, has been a brilliant success in the Pampa, both as a pure breed and as a means of raising, by crossing the standard of the criollo, or native animal, and no breed equals it for beef-production in districts where the pasture is rich and the climate temperate. The Bovril Company also keeps Polled Angus, but finds the Durhams unequalled for its purpose.

All the best parts of the beef are used to make Bovril, and the preliminary process takes place in the Argentine factories, where 80,000 to 100,000 cattle are slaughtered annually. The hides and tallow are also prepared at Santa Elena, sold at Buenos Aires, and s.h.i.+pped to Europe and the United States. The rapid growth of this business and the skill and enterprise of the Company in importing good stock are very characteristic of English methods in Argentina.

The other Company is considerably older. The Lemco and Oxo Company[103] ill.u.s.trates the history of an idea which occurred in 1850 to Baron Justus von Liebig, who suggested that, instead of killing cattle for their hides and tallow and leaving the carcases to rot on the ground, ranchers might do well to devise an economical process of obtaining an extract of meat from the neglected beef. In 1865 the idea was at last put into practice. Baron Liebig says: "In 1862 I received a visit from Herr Giebert, an engineer of Hamburg, who had spent many years in South America and Uruguay, where hundreds of thousands of sheep and oxen are killed solely for the hides and fat.

He told me that directly he saw my account of the preparation of this extract he came to Munich with the intention of learning the process and then returning to South America in order to undertake its manufacture on a large scale. I therefore recommended Herr Giebert to Professor Pettenkofer, who willingly made him familiar with every detail of the process. He then returned to Uruguay in the summer of 1863, but, owing to many difficulties which generally hinder the introduction and management of a new business, it was almost a year before he could actually commence the manufacture." It was arranged that the extract should be called Liebig, and in due course the first sample of about 80 lbs. of beef extract arrived at Munich, and was p.r.o.nounced highly satisfactory, considering that it was "a product from the flesh of half-wild animals."

These pioneer attempts were quickly absorbed by Lemco and Oxo. The beginning was made in Uruguay, but now the Company owns ten estancias in Argentina, nine in Paraguay, and seven in Uruguay.[104] The chief Argentine estancia is at Colon in Entre Rios, about 180 miles north of Buenos Aires, but there are many others, both in that Province and Corrientes, including La Luisa, Jubileo, Chacra, and Curuzu Laurel, as well as numerous hired farms. The total area of the estates very nearly equals that of Kent and Surrey put together. Some of the estancias are larger than the Isle of Wight. The soil is fertile, the climate genial, there is an inexhaustible water supply, and an ample rainfall. All products can be s.h.i.+pped direct from Colon. The great feature of Camp conditions and the main element of success in the meat industry is the splendid open-air and free life which, with abundance of sweet gra.s.s, is the deadly enemy of the tubercle bacillus. In the whole of Argentina the cattle that come to the freezing and preserving establishments show usually an average of under 1 per cent. afflicted with tuberculosis. These results are not surprising, seeing that the one known remedy for consumption is the open-air life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PURE BRED HEREFORD BULL (OXO).]

As was seen, the Bovril cattle are Durhams, and this may be attributed to the fact that they are largely fed on lucerne. The stock on the Lemco and Oxo estancias is gra.s.s-fed, and therefore a different breed finds favour. In place of the "half-wild animals" of forty-five years ago, the estates are grazed by beautiful herds of almost pure-bred Herefords.[105] Many well-known breeders of that county, and also H.M. King Edward, have contributed to the Company's stock. The n.o.ble, white-faced beasts, standing deep in the rich gra.s.s, are a glorious spectacle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GROUP OF HEREFORDS.]

The Hereford is the second favourite in Argentina, but breeders only pay about half as much for them as for good Durham bulls. Where the surroundings do not conduce to early maturity and where lucerne cannot be had, the Hereford is excellent. It is slow in maturing, and at three years of age is said to be 15 per cent. lighter than its rival, but the popularity of the Hereford is steadily increasing.

The factory at Colon is only seven years old and is splendidly equipped. Every process follows the other in geographical order, and each departmental factory duly delivers its produce into the vast s.h.i.+pping wharf. Behind stand the houses of the Company's servants, stores, schools for the children, and a club. Standing by a mighty river, in a green country, the industry presents none of the dingy conditions and ugliness which are a.s.sociated with European wealth-production. It is rather a palace of health.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PEDIGREE COW AND CALF.]

The killing season opens in January and ends in June, and usually about a quarter of a million beasts are slain--hecatombs as much exceeding the etymological sense of the word as the Homeric phrase doubtless fell below it. They are a stupendous yearly sacrifice to aesculapius. It should be added that the factory at Colon is constantly inspected by a representative of the Cattle Inspection Department of the Ministry of the Argentine Republic, and he is required to certify each month that he has not allowed any animal to be killed that was not sound and free from disease. Nothing that the bounty of Nature or the skill of man can achieve is left undone to secure the perfect condition of all the products.

That statesman is proverbially the wisest who can make two blades of corn grow where one grew before. In like manner, the men who can trans.m.u.te scrubby sheep and big-boned, lean cattle into well-proportioned animals with heavy fleeces and fat stock is a benefactor to the human race. In Argentina, at least, to say nothing of other lands, this work has been most effectually accomplished by private effort, and in reviewing the pastoral industries of Argentina we must admire the enterprise which has scattered plenty over the land. The old poets a.s.sociated wealth and peace with great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep.

"One way a band select from forage drives A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine, From a fat meadow ground; or fleecy flock, Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain."

It is these, created by skill and enterprise and drawing the vigour and virtue from our English counties, that have made Argentina a great country.

FOOTNOTES: