Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/228

The output of all the packing and curing houses in 1914 was $114,960,886. The petroleum output at Comodoro Rivadavia increased from 14,784 kg. in 1907 to 198,672,698 kg. in 1918. Foreign Commerce. The imports and exports for the years 1914-8 are shown in the following table:

Imports. Exports.

1914 64,505,992 80,626,303

1915 61,097,601 116,435,855

1916 73,226,114 114,599,904

1917 76,064,235 110,034,009

1918 99,325,943 159,021,120

The amount of trade with each of the five countries with which Argentina does her chief foreign business is shown for the year 1918 in the following table, the amounts being in pounds sterling:

Imports from Exports to United Kingdom 24,819,739

United States France Italy Brazil

60,690,730 32,768,180 22,430,986 7,992,252 6,616,380

Revenue. 34,602,288 34,602,288 32,962,569 32,860,306 34,969,953 39,255,764

Expenditure. 34,572,625 34,572,625

33,973,357 34,409,000 35,671,023 39,245,706

33,632,331 5,149,700 3,969,995 9,796,341

Although Germany ranked second after Great Britain in imports into Argentina in 1913, her trade sank to practically nothing during the World War; it has since shown signs of increasing. The chief articles imported by Argentina are cottons and woollens, iron and steel, hardware, machinery, railway equipment of all kinds, lumber and coal. The chief exports are agricultural: wheat, maize, linseed, oats, wool, and meats, chiefly beef and mutton. The customs receipts were 19,795,749 in 1913; 12,135,528 in 1914; 9,901,664 in 1915; 10,726,026 in 1916 and 9,800,114 in 1917. The commercial depression which began about the middle of 1920 proved very injurious to Argentine foreign trade, curtailing both imports and exports.

Finances. The expenditure and revenue of Argentina for the years 1915-20 are shown in the following table, the amounts being in pounds sterling:

1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

The 1919 and 1920 figures are budget estimates.

Railways. Argentina in 1920 was tenth among the nations of the world and third among American nations in respect of her railway mileage. In 1910 the total was 17,403 m.; in 1915, 21,551 m.; and in 1920, 21,915 m.

Army and Navy. The estimated army budget for 1920 was 3,000,000 and the naval budget 2,004,611. The total peace establishment of the army was in 1920 approximately 1,751 officers and 18,000 men. In addition there was a trained reserve of 300,000 men, 150,000 of whom were of the first line, and 150,- ooo of the special reserve. A territorial reserve was in process of formation. The navy consisted of two Dreadnoughts, two pre- Dreadnoughts, four armoured cruisers, and one old light cruiser. There were also seven destroyers, being with the Dreadnoughts the only modern units in the Argentine navy. The Dreadnoughts " Moreno " and " Rivadavia " were built in the United States and launched in 1917. Their displacement is 27,940 tons each and their nominal speed 22-5 knots. The personnel of the navy included 316 executive and 97 engineer officers, 23 electrical en- gineers, and from 5,000 to 6,000 men. There was also a coast artillery corps of 450 men.

The addition of the " Rivadavia " and the " Moreno " to the Argentine navy was by far the most important event in its development since 1910. Since 1914 the German influences in the Argentine army have somewhat abated with the return of the German military instructors to Europe. Both the army and the navy seemed in 1920 to turn more toward British, French and U.S. methods; no less than 23 naval officers were in that year undergoing instruction in the United States.

History. The administration of President Jose Figueroa Alcorta came to an end Oct. 12 1920, when the inauguration of

Roque Saenz Pena took place. Although early in 1910 an at- tempt had been made to conduct a campaign on behalf of Guiller- mo Udaondo, former governor of the province of Buenos Aires, as an opposition candidate to Saenz Pena, this movement did not develop much strength and Saenz Pena was elected without opposition. He was the son of Luis Saenz Pena, who had been President from 1892 to 1895, but was of a more cosmopolitan type, having spent much time in the Argentine diplomatic service, in both Europe and America. Victorino de la Plaza, who had been Minister of Foreign Affairs in the administration of Figueroa Alcorta, now became Vice-President. His long residence in England as Argentina's financial representative had placed him in close touch with sources of foreign investment which mean much to Argentina, and had given him a sympathetic point of view as regards foreign interests and affairs. Saenz Pena's Cabinet was a strong one. Dr. Indalecio Gomez, who had been Argentine minister to Germany, was Minister of the Interior and continued in this office throughout Saenz Pena's administration, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was filled by Dr. Ernesto Bosch, who had also been in the diplomatic service. Saenz Pena had no less than four Secretaries of the Treasury, beginning with Dr. Jose Maria Rosa, who had put Argentina's finances on a gold basis when Minister of the Treasury in Roca's administration in 1899 and possessed much knowledge of financial affairs. His successors were E. S. Perez, Norberto Pinero and Lorenzo Ana- don. Dr. Juan M. Garro and Dr. Carlos Ibarguren were Saenz Pena's Ministers of Public Instruction and Worship, Gen. Gregorio Velez and Rear-Adml. Saenz Valiente holding the War and Navy portfolios throughout the Administration. Esquiel Ramos Mejia, who had been in the Cabinet in the previous Administration, and Carlos Meyer were the Ministers of Public Works, and Adolfo Mujica Minister of Agriculture.

President Roque Saenz Pena died Aug. 9 1914, Vice-President de la Plaza succeeding him. An entirely new Cabinet, except for the Navy portfolio, which continued to be held by Adml. Saenz Valiente, came into office Aug. 9 1914. Manuel Ortiz became Minister of the Interior; Jose Luis Murature, who had long been an editor of La Nation, one of the most prominent Buenos Aires newspapers, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship; Manuel Moyana Minister of Public Works; Horacio Calderon Minister of Agriculture; and Gen. Angel P. Allaria Minister of War. The Treasury portfolio was held successively by Dr. Alejandro Carbo and by Dr. E. E. Oliver, and that of Justice and Public Instruc- tion by T. R. Cullen and M. E. Lamas. The period of de la Plaza's presidency almost exactly coincided with the first two years of the World War. When it broke out England stood first in Argentine foreign trade, with Germany a close second. The English also led in the amount of foreign capital invested in Argentina, although French and German investments were also considerable. Through his term of office President de la Plaza maintained an attitude of strict neutrality on behalf of his country, though his personal preference and certain of his official acts showed an inclination toward the Allies.

In 1916, when de la Plaza's successor was to be chosen, divisions in the old Government party, which had been so long in power under various names, made it powerless to prevent the nomination and election of the candidate of the Radical party, Hipolito Irigoyen, who had never before held public office. For the first time in Argentine history the Radical party was in con- trol of the Government and for the aristocrats (from whose ranks almost all the higher officials had been chosen) it substituted as members of the Cabinet either politicians of their own party or practical business men, such as Domingo Salaverry, the able Minister of the Treasury. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship was nominally filled, first by Dr. Carlos A. Becu, who resigned Feb. 3 1917, and then by Honorio Pueyrredon, who had previously been Minister of Agriculture, the able young Under-Secretary, Diego Luis Molinari, who had travelled in the United States and Europe, practically directed the actual management of Argentina's foreign relations during the first five years of Irigoyen's administration. -Pueyrredon was not formally made Minister of Foreign Affairs until Sept. 13 1918. The