Part 3

The Argentine Pavilion, which has been accorded a prominent position amongst other palatial constructions of the Exposition, conveys an expressive idea of the higher standard of national art, both from the architectural and decorative standpoints. In the centre portion of the Pavilion there is a beautiful Conference Hall and a spacious gallery in which there will be kinetoscopic and dioramic exhibitions of characteristic views of national life and activity and of some of the natural beauty spots of the country, such as the Iguazú Falls, the Nahuel Huapi and others. There is a Buffet for the testing and tasting of exclusively Argentine products, whilst other surrounding installations include a Library of national authors, a Reading Room, an Information Bureau, a Reception Hall and the various offices of the Commission. The principal frontage of the Pavilion is composed of two high laterals which coil on a central figure crowned by a handsome dome reaching to a height of 50 meters. Approach is obtained by a wide "stoop" which gives access to a porch adorned with caryatides forming a vestibule, the porch being decorated with a symbolic "vitrail" and enclosed in an imposing arch 21 meters high. On the right and left of this entrance there are two sculptured plaques, respectively, representing the profiles of San Martin and Washington, and throughout the graceful halls and buildings, all designed by Argentine architects and constructed by Argentine workmen, there are beautiful and graphic pictorial representations of the Port and City of Buenos Aires, of the Campo de Mayo, of the Puerto Militar, of the Immigrant Hotel and the natural fields and forests of Quebracho.

The main divisions of Argentine exhibits have been sub-divided into so many departments and classifications as to render it difficult within the necessarily brief limits of this work to describe in detail the character of each of the sub-divisions and of the respective exhibits they contain. It will, therefore, suffice for the object in view to furnish merely an outline of the plans adopted by the Argentine Commission to demonstrate the high grade of excellence and perfection of the national products and industries. The most important of the buildings comprising the Argentine section is the Palace of Agriculture, which covers an area of about 1,400 square meters and embraces a collection of about 2,000 samples of classified products covering the entire field of agriculture, including those of the crops of 1913-1914 and 1914-1915. In each sample of the collection there is specified the name of the product, the weight and measure in kilos and hectolitres, the weight in pounds per bushel, the output in pounds per acre, the zone of production, the name of the exhibitor and, in many cases, indications of the nature of the soil and other physical conditions. The arrangement of the exhibition of the various products has been moreover much simplified by the adoption of the plan of enclosing them in boxes with glass covers, giving to each product a unit of measure in a square of 15 centimeters, thus permitting the sample, once placed in its original packing, to remain unchanged and to be easily removed and classified, whilst by this arrangement space has been economized and facilities given for the addition of photographs and explanatory notes which serve the double purpose of giving useful information and decorative effect.

Other features of interest in this section comprise a collection of tobaccos cultivated in Argentina and on a wall of about 3 square meters in dimension there is exhibited a large illustration of a national tobacco manufactory in full operation. Considerable attention has been devoted to this particular department, one cabinet alone having cost $6,000 to construct. In the section set apart for textile products, there is an artistically arranged exhibition of samples of wool consisting of about 300 separate collections contributed in more, or less, equal proportion by public bodies and individual producers. The beautiful cabinet containing these samples also has a number of photographic views relating to the products shown as well as pictorial reproductions of sheep-shearing and other mechanical operations as carried out on the larger farms of the Republic. There are likewise shown here many classified samples of cotton and a variety of vegetable fibres.

The collection of woods and other forestal products is another centre of attraction for visitors and gives a clear idea of the riches enclosed in Argentine forests. The collection consists of upwards of a thousand samples representing, in their varied forms, a hundred classes of different woods. In addition to the great variety of this exhibit, its interest has been added to by the contribution of a number of maps and photographic views by the Forest Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. To make the Agricultural Section of the Argentine Republic more attractive and of added practical value, a number of the official Departments of the Republic have contributed statistics, plans and graphic illustrations pertaining to the methods and progress of this branch of industry. The drawings, paintings and statistics shown by the Board of Rural Economy demonstrate the enormous growth and progress made in this direction, whilst the exhibits of the Argentine Meteorological Office and the National Board of Agriculture furnish every necessary detail in regard to climatic and meteorological conditions and the provision made against agricultural plagues. Added to all this, there is a collection of photographic views relating to pastoral and agricultural production which may be considered to excel both in detail and variety.

The development of other Argentine national industries is to be seen in the Palace of Industry, which occupies a rectangular space of 30 meters frontage by 18 deep, on the Central Avenue. In this section are shown samples of a great variety of articles produced in the numerous factories devoted to the production of cloth, shoes, hats, decorative ornaments, electric light fittings, crockery, construction material, tools, implements, mechanical products, glassware, matches, tannery, saddlery and many others. As in all the other Argentine sections, the exhibition is made more complete by the display of splendid photographs which assist in demonstrating the rapid advance in the number and character of Argentine manufactures.

The justification of the description of the Argentine Republic as the "universal provider" of foodstuffs is to be found in the section assigned to such products, notwithstanding the absence of an exhibition of chilled and frozen meats, together with some of their by-products, as a result of circumstances which have temporarily impeded the operations of the great packing houses. The vast proportions of this branch of industry may be gathered from the admirable collection of photographs displayed. The regrettable fact that the Argentine Republic is unable to offer any practical demonstration of its meat-producing capacity through circumstances over which neither the country nor the producers had any control is, to some extent, however, compensated for by the large and interesting exhibition of many of its other leading food products. The milling industry is amply represented by samples of excellent quality from the raw material down to such by-products as biscuits, nutritious pastes, sweets, candies and all the other articles made from it. Here important space is also given to such articles of general consumption, as preserved fruits, condensed milk, sterilized and antiseptic, lard, cheese, conserved vegetables, etc. Beverages, wines, beer and liqueurs are abundantly represented, whilst there are numerous exhibits of other alcoholic products, oils and vinegars. A prominent feature of this section is the diorama illustrating field sports and fishing and an interesting collection of embalmed animals, particularly birds and fishes, of many different species and dimensions.

In the Mineral and Metallurgy Department of the Exposition, the Argentine Republic has an effective display of a general collection of minerals and three special exhibits of petroleum and combustibles, borates, salts and materials for construction. In regard to these, more attention has been given to the object of securing typical samples which demonstrate the character of the various ore deposits, than to the consideration of the actual number of samples. In the collection of petroleum and combustibles, there are samples from the following deposits: Commodore Rivadavia, Laguna de la Brea, Cerro Buitres, San Rafael, Cacheta, Covunco (Neuquen), Cerro Sotena, Challaco, Mina Carmelo (Salta), Yacuiba, Garrapatal (Jujuy). This collection contains 39 different samples, with specific details and statistics especially tabulated in every case. The exhibition of marbles and stones for purposes of construction is most complete. Here are to be seen the famous marble onyx of San Luis and of San Rafael, the marbles from the Sierras of Cordoba (represented by 15 varieties), and specimens of the large granites of Sierras Bajas, Olavarría, etc. There is also a collection of mineral waters in which are included those mostly used in the thermal establishments of Rosario de la Frontera; whilst, as a decorative contribution to the exhibition there is a plastic representation of the Sierras of Famatina, showing a part of its wonderful aerial railway, together with an admirable series of photographs, maps, and diagrams embracing practically every branch of the mineral and metallurgical industries.

The designation of "Palace of Liberal Arts" is a somewhat inadequate description of the Argentine exhibits of Liberal Arts in the generic sense of the words, as, in addition to the branches of study usually embodied in that classification, there are included under that head many exhibits of a scientific and technical character which, for the demonstration they afford of national progress in the direction referred to, might well have formed a separate collection. Here are to be seen a complete series of drawings, maps, statistics and plans of works graphically depicting, with full details, the principal river systems and general workings of the rivers and ports of the Republic, all prepared by the Department of Public Works. Nearly every technical division of the Government Departments is represented in this section, many of the exhibits having been sent by the General Board of Railways, the Board of Bridges and Roads, the Board of Architecture, the Board of Health, the Board of the Capital and various Divisions of the War Cabinet, each unit containing photographs, plans and diagrams indicating the advance that has been made in all these important public works. Amongst other features of interest contained in this section, special mention should be made of the representation of the National and Foreign Press, which furnishes unquestionable evidence of the high state of efficiency and general excellence as well as the enterprise of Argentine journalism. Here also are the exhibits of the literary, scientific and educational works produced in the Republic and the contributions of the National Centre of Engineers, of the Argentine Graphic Institute, of the Central Society of Architecture, of the Society of Architects and Construction of Works, etc., etc., all combining to illustrate the high degree of Argentine progress in the field of Liberal Arts.

In an earlier chapter reference is made to the great advance made by the Argentine Republic, in recent years, in the development of education, to which cause successive Governments have given ever-increasing thought and attention, whilst Congress has, year by year, sympathetically supported the Government policy by augmented money votes for the addition to the number and the improvement of educational institutions. In the Palace of Education and Social Economy which was voluntarily accorded a place of honor by the Exposition Commission amongst the principal Palaces of the Fair, there has been formed a collection of detailed exhibits pertaining to Argentine national education which points to the very great importance given to this subject by the authorities of the Republic. The efforts of every official element in educational matters have been brought into play with a result that leaves no doubt, either as to the desire for, or the standard of culture in the Argentine Republic. This exhibition, moreover, is not only an effective exponent of national progress but will also serve to remove an easily understood, though generally prevailing ignorance in many foreign countries of true conditions in Argentina. In order to add perfect completeness to the educational exhibits, a new departure has been made to show full details of every branch of teaching, official and private, primary, secondary, university, commercial, industrial, agricultural, professional, etc., etc., for all classes and ages, by means of plans, statistics and some 6,000 photographs representing 150 leading institutions and upwards of 100,000 students and pupils whose physical characteristics at once reveal the predomination of the higher European types. As may be imagined, these illustrations represent the scholarly activities of the country in their widest aspect and are not merely photographs of special groups of children such as are frequently shown in educational exhibitions. The statistics, which form an instructive addition to the pictorial matter, have been so compiled and tabulated as to make their full value and significance easy of comprehension and there is every reason to believe that those which accompany the illustrations of the agricultural sections and experimental stations will be of special interest to the majority of American visitors to the Exposition.

In regard to the group of exhibits corresponding to the section of Social Economy contained in the same artistically arranged building, much detail is furnished concerning many of the social and charitable institutions of the Republic, in reference to which there is an absence of information abroad. The co-operation of the Argentine Social Museum and other important public bodies has enabled the Commission to present a comprehensive exhibition of views and of the methods of operation of the various national Associations established, as asylums, refuges, hospitals, poor-houses and other organizations for the protection of women and children and for the prevention of crime, as well as demonstrations of the work performed by these bodies, some of which also have for their purpose the extension of social improvement, of public order, economy, hygiene, labor, the construction of dwellings and other objects of public advantage. In this section there is also an exhibition of works of arts produced by Argentine artists embracing a careful selection of paintings and examples of sculpture representative and characteristic, in every sense, of national art; and with a view to demonstrating the artistic progress of the country, this collection is made up of only recent works, not one of which has previously been shown in any foreign Exposition.

This shadowy outline of the nature and quality of the Argentine exhibits at the San Francisco Exposition, though utterly incomplete as a description of their importance and value, will convey a general idea of the position attained by the Argentine Republic in all those moral and material factors which go to make up a great nation; and if to these elements are added the initiative and beneficial labors of Argentina in the international sphere, a sense of pride should be awakened in the hearts of all Americans that in the arts of peace, the widely separated, though great, countries of the American Continent, stand out as shining examples, worthy of emulation even by many countries of the old world.

INTERCHANGE OF COMMERCE

In 1895 the exports from the United States to the Argentine Republic amounted in value to $6,686,999 and the imports from that country to $8,947,165. In 1912 the exports from the United States amounted to $53,158,179 and the imports to $29,847,016. These figures sufficiently indicate the results likely to follow the active campaign of the manufacturers and commercial bodies in this country, recently initiated as a consequence of the war. The conditions arising out of the great upheaval caused by that world disaster have furnished the occasion for the exercise of an effort without parallel in the United States in any previous attempt to secure a larger share of South American trade. In this movement the Argentine Republic must necessarily be the main objective, owing to the vastness of its resources and commercial activities. Yet, although there is no doubt that the United States should and will constitute a still greater source of supply to that country of manufactured products, machinery and other articles, not only during the war, but for a long period after its close, it is necessary to consider that in order to secure a permanent extension of international trade upon a scale of magnitude apparently justified by superficial conditions, serious attention should be given to matters of reciprocal interests and the past relations of the Argentine Republic with the European countries to which it has freely opened its markets.

In this connection the words "reciprocal interests" must be taken rather in a literal sense than in the sense of reciprocity, as that expression is usually understood when applied to international treaties. Even though the question of tariffs does not now form so insuperable an obstacle to a large interchange of commerce between the two countries as was formerly the case, the fact that the balance of Argentine's trade with the leading countries of Europe has always been in her favor, renders it a condition precedent to a permanent expansion of international commerce that there must be a greater quality of interest than exists at present. In other words, the United States must offer corresponding advantages to the Argentine Republic to attract a transfer of a considerable share of her commerce from European competitors.

In the instances of Great Britain, Germany and France, with which countries the Argentine Republic has always transacted the greater part of her foreign trade, there has not only been a steady and ever-increasing growth in the consumption of Argentine national products, but those countries have likewise furnished huge amounts of capital for the establishment on Argentine soil of industrial and commercial undertakings, which, by their own necessities, create a natural extension of commercial interchange. It must also be remembered that the main products of the Argentine Republic are also the main products of the United States, where they are protected by High Tariffs, whereas, in Great Britain, which is Argentina's principal customer, there are no duties upon the imports of foodstuffs. In these circumstances it is obvious that some means must be found whereby the interests of Argentina in her commercial relations with the United States must be made more reciprocal, either by the introduction of American capital for the development of local industries, or by the remission, at least, of a substantial portion of the duties now imposed upon Argentine exports to the United States.

The enormous growth of population which has changed the position of the United States from an exporting to a consuming country, so far as foodstuffs are concerned, will, doubtless, in course of time, considerably ameliorate the restrictive conditions which have heretofore operated as a barrier to large exports of Argentine products to this country. On the other hand, the production of the Argentine Republic, by reason of the largely increased area placed under cultivation year after year, maintains her exporting capacity at a constantly higher level. Thus, given equal conditions in other respects, the United States might ultimately become as free a market for Argentina's meat and grain as any of the countries of Europe. Under similar circumstances as those indicated, there could also be infinitely larger imports of raw material which could subsequently be re-sold to the Argentine Republic in manufactured form.

The countries which have hitherto occupied the first place in Argentine foreign trade are those which not only gave initial impulse to the development of national industries by the founding of banks and the construction of railways, but likewise by the creation of adequate steamship services. There are to-day upwards of 33,000 kilometers of railway in operation in the Republic, with an aggregate capital of considerably over $2,000,000,000, more than 90 per cent, of which is entirely British, whilst the oversea communications are conducted by regular and rapid services of steamships flying the flags of the maritime countries of Europe. The great traction companies in the capital and the provinces are British; the street electric railways established on an important scale throughout the Republic are British; the foremost Light and Power concerns are German; with the exception of the National Bank of the Republic and the branch of the National City Bank of New York recently opened, the banking interests are largely European, whilst the great majority of the principal industrial and commercial enterprises are also European. Of the $400,000,000 of the Argentine External Debt, practically the whole of the issues making up this vast sum are in the hands of European investors and, in normal times, as further capital is called for to meet the requirements of any of the established enterprises, or of others formed on similar lines, it is invariably forthcoming from Europe; and to these advantages which the Argentine Republic enjoys in her commercial relations with the older countries, there is the additional fact that she derives all her immigration from northern and southern Europe.