Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/555

NOTES AND MEMORANDA 533 (3) Equalization of agricultural labourers and farm servants with industrial labourers. Abolition of the menial service ordinances. (4) Security of the right of combination. (5) Insurance of all working men by the state, with effective participation of working men in the management of the system. JOHN RAE THE ARGENTINE CRISIS. IT is probable that the remarkable credit accorded in recent times to the Argentine Republic is owing to the str!king instance of the good faith of the Government in 1876-77. Dr. Nicolas Avellaneda held oi?ce as President of the Confederation, and Dr. V. de la Plaza was finance minister, when, owing to the failure of the great firm of Im Thurm & Co. following upon the Peruvian default, a commercial crisis supervened, by which the whole of South America was affected. Chile found a partial suspension necessary; Brazil and the Argentine Republic alone kept faith and weathered the storm. The President of the Argentine Re- public and Dr. de la Plaza (who at present is in London as financial delegate of the Argentine Government), in concert with Messrs. Baring Bros. and Messrs. C. de Murrieta & Co., in London, succeeded in finding means to pay the coupon of the Argentine 1871 Loan, then held to be doubtful, and established the credit of the Confederation in Europe. Subsequently, under General Roca, a measure of interior reform was effected in the consolidation of the military forces of the states composing the Confederation, under federal control. By this measure the chances of revolutionary disturbance were reduced, greater stability was assured to the Government; and, as its good faith to the European creditor had been manifested in a period of financial disorder, British investors, by whom Argentine enterprise had been particularly favoured, readily gave ear to proposals for the further development of a great country by means of additional supplies of capital. The Railway Loan of 1881 was successful in a larger degree than had been anticipated: it was followed in 1884 by a loan at 5 per cent. interest, which proved the still rising estimation in which Argentine credit stood. In 1886, Messrs. Morgan & Co. thought it well to assure themselves of a special security in the customs dues for the large loan of which they undertook the issue. The demand for a special security was the first sounded note of doubt; but it floated by unheeded. A rapid succession of loans followed. The English market responded with undiminished willingness to the demands made upon it. France, Germany, and Belgium showed some eagerness. One loan for the Confederation, of 2,570,000 was issued abroad and provincial loans to the extent of 7,500,000 were absorbed. The mass of borrowing took place between 1886 and 1889 inclusive: 1887 and