Part 12

On the subject of railways generally in the Argentine Confederation there cannot be a second opinion that it is through their instrumentality the future development of the country must be looked for; and it is to the credit of General Mitre that so much has been done during his presidency, especially the great work of the Central Argentine Railway, which more than any other measure must tend to link together the provinces of the Confederation and strengthen their union. So soon as the line is open to Cordova the communication with the western provinces will be speedy, and produce will find its way to that city as a central point, thence to be brought down to Rosario, Buenos Ayres, or Monte Video, comparatively at great saving of time and expense. At present the cost of transit absorbs a large part of the total value, the effect of which has been to discourage any notable increase of production beyond the necessities of local consumption. The railway will in addition afford a more easy mode of locomotion, and will greatly promote intercourse, while emigrants can be at once conveyed to distant places where their services are required. On every ground, therefore, the promotion and extension of railways is the first duty of President Mitre's successor, and it is to be hoped Senor Sarmiento will not be remiss in this respect. At all events, the way has been paved and a good example set. The only other railway to notice, and which I had not an opportunity of seeing, is a small one from Puerto Raiz, on the Parana, to Galaguay, a distance of about six miles, which was constructed by Mr. Coghlan for a sum of £20,000, or about £3,380 per mile. I believe it is very useful and returns a fair percentage on the outlay.

EMIGRATION TO BRAZIL.

Both the Government and the people of Brazil feel the necessity and the value of promoting immigration to the fullest extent. Experiments have been tried, and small colonies of Europeans founded in some of the southern provinces, all of which have been more or less successful.

In my account of the Province of San Paulo I have alluded to the settlement of Germans on the coffee plantations of Senhor Vergueiro, and to the desire of other large owners of property to follow his example. I also instanced the case of a little colony of Germans at Juiz de Fora, in the Province of Rio de Janeiro, which I had an opportunity of seeing, and there are besides in the same province other colonies on a larger scale. Various efforts have been made by individuals in other parts of the Empire to introduce foreign labour.

Slave labour is of course an impediment to the more general influx of Europeans, but where lands are set apart and arrangements made for the location of colonists there is no reason why the latter should not succeed, and form the nucleus of a large future population. The assistance and pecuniary co-operation of Government is of course required to effect any decided progress in this direction; and considering that every labourer brought into the country contributes to the national revenue, as well as to national production, the primary expense of passage money is soon repaid.

Many of the high table-lands of Brazil are admirably adapted to agricultural purposes, the climate, owing to elevation, being also favourable to European settlement. Enormous tracts of such land are at the disposal of the Executive, but it needs some outlay in order to prepare the way for emigrants, as they cannot be expected to pioneer as in the case of the United States, on account of their ignorance of the language and the difficulty of access from the port of debarkation.

The time is fast approaching when slavery must cease to exist in Brazil; and it behoves the Government to anticipate this event by the introduction of free labour. It is morally certain that the negroes, even if they settle down under their new condition, will not labour so constantly as when in a state of servitude. The Government ought, therefore, I repeat, to adapt itself to the exigences of its position, and encourage by every means the accession of European agricultural labourers of a suitable class. Large landowners, whose estates are now only partially worked, might devote a portion of them for new comers, and, in connection with the Central and Provincial Governments, attain the desired end. Financial difficulties, caused by the long war with Paraguay, may be pleaded as an excuse for neglecting this great question, but the very drain that has thus taken place of men and money only renders the case more pressing. I believe the Emperor entertains the most enlightened and practical views, both as regards doing away with slave labour and replacing it by the introduction of emigrants; but the trammels of a war expenditure, and the degree of attention the struggle demands on the part of the Ministers, prevent their inauguration of measures which all must see are inevitable, if the Empire is to prosper as heretofore.

In our own colonies the Colonial Governments have naturally been the chief promoters of emigration, from exercising, as they do, full control over their own revenues and over public lands; but in Brazil the impetus must first come from the action of the Central Government, which receives and distributes the provincial revenues after payment of provincial expenditure.

In the southern provinces of Brazil the cultivation of coffee and cotton offers the greatest scope for European labour, and the Province of San Paulo alone is capable of wonderful development as respects the growth of these two important articles if only proper means are adopted to provide augmented manual power.

The northern provinces present greater difficulties, from the nature of the climate, which is more adapted to a people like the Chinese than to Europeans. There is, however, an objection to this industrious race in consequence of their desire to return home when they have accumulated a little money. A further introduction of the African race as free labourers would be very advantageous. Though this might be a great gain to the negroes themselves, whose lives in their own country are at the mercy of such wretches as the sable King of Dahomy, philanthropists object to the removal of Africans from their native soil on any grounds, entirely ignoring the miserable existence they lead there and the barbarities to which they are subjected. But let slavery be once abolished in Brazil, and there could be no objection that I can see to their settlement in those provinces where their labour would be most useful, say from the River Amazon down to the Province of Bahia. This, however, is only a casual remark, and does not come within the scope of my present inquiry, namely, as to the best mode of introducing European labour into Brazil. As I have already pointed out to the Government, the passage money of emigrants must be paid, or advanced, the selection of them must be carefully attended to, and on reaching Brazil they should be sent on immediately to their ultimate destination, where suitable accommodation should also be provided against their arrival. Every necessary arrangement can easily be made if the Government and landed proprietors would take some trouble and show their practical earnestness in the matter.

There is an Emigrants' Home, or temporary abode in Rio de Janeiro, where proper attention is paid to them, and an officer (Dr. Galvao) is especially appointed by Government to look after this department. I quite intended to have visited this establishment, but was unable to do so. I had, however, a conversation with Dr. Galvao on the subject of emigration generally.

EMIGRATION TO THE RIVER PLATE.

No country in South America is more favourably placed, or presents a greater field for European labour than the River Plate, notwithstanding the drawbacks which have to some extent retarded its progress and injured its character. It has an advantage over Brazil in the absence of slavery, and is of a milder climate, though it is very hot during the summer months, as I experienced when at Monte Video, in January last, at which time the cholera was at its height.

A friend, who has resided in Buenos Ayres for two or three years, chiefly out in the campo, has thus recorded his experience of the average temperature:—

20 Days very cold 45 to 55 deg. Fah. 182 Days moderate 55 to 75 deg. Fah. 60 Days warm 75 to 88 deg. Fah. 45 Days hot 80 to 85 deg. Fah. 58 Days intensely hot 85 to 105 deg. Fah. ——— 365 Days.

The thermometer, in exposed places, reaches 110 Fah. in the shade, but such cases are very exceptional.

He also adds as follows some very useful remarks as to clothing:

Flannel shirts are best; woollen drawers should also be used

For working, clothes of such colour as will not show the dust are best.

The thickness of the clothes for summer wearing may be very much the same as would suit in England during hot summer weather; they should be waterproofed before being made up.

Indiarubber coats, although very useful in winter, are ruined in hot weather, and stick together and tear, so as to be useless.

Good English boots are not to be had, and are therefore very useful.

As to food he says:—

Be careful about eating and drinking, especially when newly landed, and avoid as much as possible unnecessary exposure to the sun.

Fruit should not be taken in quantities at first. Peaches are said to be the best and most wholesome.

I may add from my own experience that where it is intended to frequent the campo a pair of good riding boots are very necessary, and a rough pea jacket would be a very good companion in winter. In town cloth cloaks are much worn, and in the campo chiefly _ponchos_.

The boundless tracts of open country are in a great measure occupied by sheep and cattle, and do not require much of the labour of man; but sheep farming having been carried to a large extent, the price of wool has much depreciated, and sheep can be bought very cheap. In consequence, agriculture is now much more attended to and will require labour. Good wheat can be grown in most of the Argentine Provinces, and now forms a staple commodity, which may be increased to almost any extent where railways afford the means of easy transport, and so soon as there are sufficient labourers to cultivate the soil. Indeed, there is no reason why wheat, as well as Indian corn, should not be largely exported, and I believe this will be the case in a very few years. Wheat crops are liable to injury from drought, but the price obtained for the product is a very remunerative one, and it is not subject to losses by depreciation as frequently occurs with sheep and cattle.

Foreign settlers in distant provinces have of late been much damaged by Indian raids, to prevent which the Government has done very little, owing to the drain of soldiers for the war and to internal discord, but this plague is merely a temporary one, and nothing would tend more to remove the evil than a large increase of population, of which the country stands greatly in need.

Emigration, at present, goes on to a limited extent, but chiefly of the class suitable for cities and towns, and not for an agricultural or country life. Several colonies, founded under arrangements with the Provincial Governments of Santa Fé and Entre Rios, are prospering, and those in the fine Province of Cordova will also do well when the National Government is able to repel Indian inroads and protect the settlers. Many young Englishmen have settled in Cordova during the last four years, with more or less capital, and have bought land, particularly near the line of the Central Argentine Railway, naturally looking to Government for protection, which unhappily has not been effectively extended. In many cases their stock has been carried off by the savages, and their prospects seriously injured. They are now turning their attention to agriculture, and I have every reason to think they will be successful.

Numbers of young men have come out to the Plate with little or no resources, expecting to find employment on sheep farms, and failing this, have fallen into bad habits, often wandering about the country and undergoing great hardships and misery. To do any good in such a country steadiness of character is the most essential quality, nor is it at all safe to trust to the chapter of accidents. It is only by well organised arrangements, and great perseverance, that new comers can expect to overcome the difficulties attending their settlement in a new country, the very extent of which is a disadvantage until such time as the influx of population and the formation of communities do away with these inconveniences.

The Chilian Government have lately made a contract with a Hamburg house for sending to the port of Lota Swiss, Tyrolese, and German emigrants, on a principle that may be adopted with benefit in relation to the River Plate. The emigrants must be provided with good characters, viséd by the Chilian Consul at Hamburg, and on their arrival at Lota they are to be sent on to Arauco by the Government, and placed in possession of their land, according to the terms of the Chilian law lately published. The colonists are to be furnished with between-deck passages, and they will be allowed one ton of measurement for every adult, and half a ton for each person under 12 years, and they are to be treated on board in conformity with the Hanover Passenger Act. The Government also agree to pay 40 dollars (£8) for the passage of each adult, and 20 dollars for each child under 12 years of age. The contract is to last for four years, and if the scheme should meet with favour in Germany, the Government agree to contract for 100 families for the first year, 150 for the second, 200 for the third, and 300 for the fourth year, with liberty to the contractors to exceed these numbers to the extent of 25 per cent. It appears to me questionable whether the contractors can afford to take emigrants that distance for £8 passage money, but probably the nature of the land concession is an inducement to families possessing some means to augment this sum, in which case it becomes a scheme of assisted passages on terms arranged between the emigrants and contractors. It is, however, a step in the right direction, which other Governments will do well to follow.

At Monte Video there is an Emigrant Office under the management of a respectable committee, where every information is afforded as to employment, but there is no Home or Asylum. At Buenos Ayres there is a miserable building on the ground floor, called an Asylum, where emigrants are allowed to remain four days. It seems to have been formerly a large stable, and is indeed more fit for horses than human beings. It wants both ventilation and cleanliness, the latter at all events easy to provide, but, considering the vast importance of emigration to the country, a more appropriate place might be maintained at very moderate cost. It is not necessary, nor desirable, that emigrants should on landing find themselves so comfortable as to care little about removing, but there is a medium between this and the dirty place open to them at present. Of course the sooner the emigrants are sent off to the locality where their labour is required the better.

If ever there was a time when sheep farming ought to offer advantages to new comers it is the present, when the value of sheep has fallen so low that land may be stocked for a very small sum as contrasted with former years, and land itself can be bought or rented at considerably less than formerly. This has inflicted great loss upon the older residents; indeed the result has been sometimes so disastrous that sheep farmers here and there are giving it up altogether, and others putting as much of their land as possible under tillage. Everything is therefore in favor of new settlers who may choose to try their fortunes in this particular line, only they must make up their minds to rough it for a few years, and be content with a life in the campo.

The consumption of an article like wool can never be subject to any lengthened depression, and with railway facilities there will be increased means for utilising the carcasses of sheep, by boiling down, or otherwise disposing of them. On the other hand, in the ordinary course of things, more land will be put under cultivation, and agriculture as well as sheep farming is destined to play an important part in the commercial history of the River Plate.

As I have already remarked, the want of population is the great drawback under which this country now suffers, and is an impediment to progress in every way. This can only be remedied by emigration receiving the direct aid as well as the encouragement of Government. It is not sufficient that a few stray people find their way up the country, but centres of population and labour should be formed in the most productive parts of every province, which would lead to agricultural progress, and eventually to the formation of new towns and cities. The mere extension of existing cities will never bring solid wealth to the Argentine Confederation, nor develop political stability.

RAILWAYS IN BRAZIL.

Unfortunately the promoters of railway enterprises in Brazil, entered into with British capital, have looked more to the guaranteed interest offered by the Government upon the money to be expended than to legitimate sources of traffic, out of which a dividend might be earned. All the Brazilian Railways, with the exception of the little Mauá, at Rio de Janeiro, and to which reference is made in my former book, have been created since 1853, the first in order and time being the Recife, or Pernambuco, about which there has been so much controversy between the Company and the Government. Before submitting any comments of my own, I will quote the following from the report lately issued by the Minister of Public Works, Senhor Dantas, upon this and the other lines. The document is official, and therefore worthy of reliance:—

The annexed gives the length, receipts, and expenses of the railways in 1867. The receipts and expenses of the S. Paulo Railway include only nine and a half months:—

Name. Kilos. Receipts. Expenses. D. Pedro II 197.4 2,523:796$781 1,117:034$992 S. Paulo 139.0 1,236:423 702 305:140 286 Pernambuco 124.9 599:331 445 414:772 537 Bahia 123.5 263:323 292 517:870 760 Gantagallo 49.1 709:222 555 365:830 300 Mauá 17.5 297:595 347 172:297 628 ————— ————————————— ————————————— Total 651.6 5,599:693 122 2,892:955 503

These figures leave a balance of 2,706:737$610 over the cost of working.

D. PEDRO II. RAILWAY.

With the Macacos branch the length of this railway is 203 kilometres, 56.6 kilometres having been added during last year in its prolongations towards the station of Entre Rios. Failing to come to an agreement with the Companhia Mineira for the extension to Porto Novo da Cunha, an offer was made by the Companhia Uniao e Industria to construct a cart road to that point, the final offer of this Company being to make it gratuitously if certain favours were conceded to it. However, its offers were declined, as a cart road was judged incompatible with the requirements of the railway. Under these circumstances, as the state of the finances did not permit the contracting for the extension, orders were issued to give it a commencement by administration; and at the present time the works of the first miles are tolerably advanced.

A proposition to construct and work the fourth section has been received from capitalists and planters of the district it would serve, and it is now awaiting solution.

The competition between the railway and the Uniao e Industria road being prejudicial to both, the directory of this road has proposed bases for a compromise as under:—The Uniao e Industria road company to give up all its traffic between its station of Posse and Rio, receiving as compensation certain advantages, the principal one being the duration of its contract for twelve years, and the receipt of 120 rs. on every arroba transported on the railway between Entre Rios and Rio, which, it is estimated, would give the company 324:000$ annually, and transfer traffic of 2,700,000 arrobas, or 1,000:000$ annually, to the railway. In order to facilitate this transaction the company proposes to lease the railway for twelve years and pay a dividend of four per cent. to the Government. It also proposes to make any extension determined on, that to Porto Novo to be finished in five years, the Government to furnish the money, and the company to receive no compensation for its trouble except what would arise from the 120 reis the arroba upon the traffic over the line from Entre Rios and Rio. On the completion of the Porto Novo branch, the company would receive 2,000:000$ out of the profits over the four per cent. dividend as indemnity for any loss, rights or advantages secured to it by the contract of October 29, 1864, and it would then commence the construction of the railway through the valley of the Parahybano towards the Serra of Mantiqueira, using for this purpose four-fifths of the net revenue received from the railway, one-fifth remaining for the company, this continuing until the end of the twelve years, and the company binding itself to make, at its own cost, the branch from Juiz de Fora to the railway station of Uba. If, however, the Government judge it better to construct a system of macadamised cart roads, centering at Entre Rios, the company will then pay six per cent. on the railway, and will construct within four years, twenty leagues of road to Porto Novo da Cunha, and on to Barra do Pomba, and will, within six years, macadamise the Serraria road as far as Mar de Hespanha, the road from the Parahybuna station to Flores, and that from the Uba station to Juiz de Fora; making also, during the last six years of the contract, the road to Barbacena, following as much as possible the trace drawn for a railway, and prolonging it to S. Joao de El Rei. Besides, the company will settle 2,000 families of colonists along the road from Uba to Juiz de Fora, and on that between Juiz de Fora, Barbacena, and S. Joao de El Rei. The company also binds itself to keep in order all the cart roads in construction, transporting freight and passengers on them at the rates provided for the Uniao e Industria road; and, in addition, to deliver up to the Government, at the end of the twelve years, the railway and roads in good condition.

Three proposals have been made for the prolonging of the railway to the waterside; that of the engineers, Senhors Bulhoes and Passos, proposes to bring the line to the Praia da Gambôa, and there construct large warehouses and furnish all facilities for shipping and landing goods; that of Senhor F. B. Jansen Lima and others proposes to pass by a tunnel through the Livramento Hill to the Praia da Saude; that of Senhor Feliciano José Henrique proposes to connect the Santa Anna station with the principal parts of the city wherein goods are now stored.