MANUFACTURES. The manufacturing indus tries of Argentina are largely in foreign hands. This is especially true of the larger industries, requiring investments of considerable capital and management on a large scale, such as elec trie-light and power plants, flour mills, smelting works, etc. The census of 1895 re ports in the country 22.204 manufacturing establishments, 18.706 of which belonged to foreigners, 3498 to natives. The proportion of native workmen in these establishments was more than one-third of the total number of 143.650, 52.356 being Argentinians, 93,294 for eigners. The total number of people engaged in manufactures. ineluding employers and em ployees, was 167.854. The various industries are classed by the census in nine large groups, as follows: Thus, nearly $280.000,000 of capital was in vested in 1895 in the infant industries of Ar gentina. The table shows that the manufacture of food products is foremost among the indu-t tries. That does not include, however. the two largest industries of the country, which have contributed more than any others to its pros perity—viz.. the flour mills, employing a capital of about $20.000.000, and the meat - packing houses, with a capital of more than $22.000.000. Nor does it include sugar plantations and re fineries, with a capital of over $17.000,000; the wine-making establishments, with a capital of $8,500,000; breweries, with a capital of nearly $3,000.000: and distilleries, with a capital of over $5.000,000. The growth of the flour-milling industry is shown, not so much by the increase of the total number of flour mills—from 63S in 1888 to 659 in 1895—as by the increase of steam driven mills from 139 in 1883 to 234 in 1895. accompanied by a shutting-down of milli driven by animal power, which numbered 173 in 1388 and only 56 in 1895. It is the only industry, too, in which the proportion of native owners is comparatively high—viz., 344 out of a total of 659.
These facts illustrate the direction taken by the development of the Argentine industry— viz., the building-up of those brandies of manu facture in which the natural products of the country can be converted into more valuable tinished or half-finished products. As a con sequence, the country is being gradually relieved of the necessity of paying a tribute to foreign nations for articles of prime necessity; and what is equally important, employment is pro vided in the country fur a large and steadily increasing number of people, nearly equal to that engaged in agriculture. The growth of the suga•-refining industry is another ease in point. Previous to 1870 the country imported annually sonic 22.000 tons of sugar, and hardly produced 1000 tons at home; in the decade of 1870-80 the imports increased to about :30,000 tons, but the home production increased to some 8000 tons per annum. In the following decade the imports remained stationary, while the home product rose to 40,000 tons per year and this figure subsequently increased to 70,000 tons. Among the industries carried on on a large scale. the manufacture of gas should be men tioned. It is almost exclusively in foreign hands (largely English), and in 1895 there was invested in it a capital of nearly $40,000,000. Electric-lighting plants have made much less progress, the capital invested in such plants in 1895 being only $1,000,000. The more distinc tive native manufactures are those of baskets from the willows of the Parami Islands: the homespun cotton and woolen cloths, blankets, rugs, laces, and embroideries of the northwestern highland provinces; the tanned leather, wooden ware, laces, blankets, etc., of Cordoba; and the
harness, belts, ponchos, ho•se-blankets, ropes, etc., of the Indians in various States. The growth and diversification of Argentine indus tries are best brought out by the following table, showing the absolute and relative values of the products of the various industries exported from the country at three different periods: with the manufacturing industry still in its infancy, Argentina must on the one hand import most of the ma on faetured products needed by its people, and on the other hand seek to dispose of its enormous agricultural surplus to the nations of Europe. Of the total imports brought into the country, manufactured articles of all kinds, including textiles, metal ware, chemicals, paints, and liquors, constitute more than SO per cent., while vegetable and animal substances constitute less than 13 per cent.; and even these include many manufactured products, such as refined sugar, cigars and cigarettes, dried fruit, manu factures of rubber, and preserved meats. Mak ing allowance for such articles, the value of really crude products Of the farm barely exceeds 1 per cent. of the total imports; on the other hand, the only manufactured articles exported from Argentina consist of semi-crude products of the farm and mine, such as refrigerated meat, washed wool, hides and furs, lard, animal oil, linseed oil, flour, copper bars, etc. The imports into Argentina, in the order of importance, are textiles and apparel, iron and iron manufactures, food substances, coal, coke, oil, drinks, wood and wood manufactures, chemicals, paper and paper manufactures, etc. The trade with Europe has been facilitated by the establishment of branches of foreign mercantile houses in Argentina.
Since British capital has contributed more to the development of the material resources and the industries of Argentina than the investments of any other nation, Great Britain naturally gets the lion's share of Argentina's trade. The prin cipal countries sharing in the import trade of Argentina are: Great Britain, 34 per cent.; Germany, 15 per cent. ; Italy, 13 per cent. ; the United States, 12 per cent.; and France, 10 per cent. Of those taking Argentine products, the most important are: Great Britain, 15 per cent.; Germany, 13 per cent.; France, 12 per cent; Bel gium, 11.5 per cent.; the United States, 4.5 per cent. The growth of Argentine trade is shown by the following figures: (minions of Pesos.) (Millions of Pesos.) Imports. Exports.
1870 38.50 29.5 1880 43.10 64.9 1885 92.25 83.9 1890 142.25 100.8 Early in 1890 a severe commercial and finan cial crisis struck the country, from the effects of which it took her several years to recover. The following figures show the downward movement of the trade within the few years following 1890, and the gradual recovery until in 1894 the ex ports began to exceed the high-water mark of 1890: Thus the value of animal products, which for merly made up nearly the entire amount of its exports, has dwindled to less than two-thirds, while agricultural products have risen from next to nothing to over one-third the total value. The small exports of manufactured products does not indicate lack of industrial progress, since the manufactures go mainly to satisfy the home mar ket, and do not appear in the above table.