The Condition of the People question, as Carlyle says, is the most pressing of all. But it is a question almost impossible to answer, and few inquiries are more futile than the attempt to ascertain the comparative well-being of different countries. Two inquirers with equal knowledge of a country will collect statistics and compile elaborate volumes, and one will come to the conclusion that the people are extremely well off and the other that they are in extreme destitution. They will then apply themselves to another country with the same contradictory results. Carlyle complains: "Hitherto, after many tables and statements, one is still left mainly to what he can ascertain by his own eyes, looking at the concrete phenomenon for himself. There is no other method; and yet it is a most imperfect method. Each man expands his own hand-breadth of observation to the limits of the general whole; more or less, each man must take what he himself has seen and ascertained for a sample of all that is seeable and ascertainable. Hence discrepancies, controversies, widespread, long-continued; which there is at present no means or hope of satisfactorily ending." Wages, price of food, rents, and the other weapons of the statistician are of very little use in attacking the problem. The Hindu peasant may be too poor to buy meat, but if he is non-carnivorous, the deprivation is no hardship, and he may enjoy much greater material well-being than many who eat meat daily. But knowledge of the elementary facts about the life of a people seems to have little effect in elucidating the question, for, as just remarked, people with long experience come to diametrically opposite conclusions. Those who have lived all their lives in England or Ireland disagree toto cÆlo in their opinions as to the well-being of the working classes. Many observers, of course, believing that facts are silent until they are interpreted by theory, use their facts for the sole purpose of making their theory speak, but, as a matter of fact, entirely disinterested persons differ quite as profoundly. One is tempted to believe that in the Condition of the People question there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Probably no one could get an idea of the condition of the poor approaching in any degree to accuracy without living long among them in exactly their way, and even then his conclusions would be warped in every way by reference to his own standards and by the fact that the circumstances, which to him were temporal, were to his associates everlasting. Further, his imperfect knowledge would apply only to one people and so would be useless for the purposes of comparison.

It is not likely, therefore, that a visitor will be able to impart much information upon the subject, but the opinions of the experienced and the testimony of statistics form a rough guide, and these may be given.

In Buenos Aires, of course, wages are higher than elsewhere and the cost of living is also high. The following table shows the rate of wages in some important trades in that city:—

The above figures, then, give a rough idea of the rewards of the labour market in Argentina. In Rosario also, where there are great railway works which compete with other occupations and so raise the standard of wages, the figures are probably high. But in smaller centres wages are lower and probably the figures before us are somewhat optimistic, for they are compiled with a view to encouraging immigration. It must also be remembered that their advantage is discounted by the cost of living, which is very high everywhere and especially so in Buenos Aires and Rosario. All imported goods are, of course, extremely dear, and in many cases this fact does not affect the labourer, seeing that most of his simple luxuries can be procured in the country, but in the matter of clothes he gets very poor value for his money. Tobacco also is extremely dear. That foreign goods should be expensive is not strange, for not only is it the policy of the Government (hitherto not very successful) to stimulate home manufactures, but also the customs are absolutely necessary for revenue purposes. However, it is surprising that all other articles follow suit. Meat, for example, although Argentina supplies most of the markets of the world in increasing quantities, is nearly as dear as in England, and, in fact, a very tiny sheet of paper would have ample room for a list of the articles that are cheaper in Argentina than in the Old World. The people have not learned to regard the day of small things; they will not take trouble in little matters; in dairy-farming, gardening, cookery, all the little arts that make for comfort, they are extremely negligent; it is too much trouble to put on the market the hundred and one little comforts that are cheap and ever present in England or France. This is, of course, the case with all new countries, but particularly with those of South America.

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It cannot be said that Argentina is a poor man's paradise, in the sense that his interests and general well-being are carefully regarded. Indeed the newspapers are full of complaints of the "oligarchies of office" and the scuffle for power among lucky cliques, who appropriate all the good things and leave the uninitiated multitudes to take care of themselves. An inquiry as to why Mendoza had no tramways elicited the reply, "Oh, the people in power here have carriages. As long as they can get about comfortably themselves, they do not care about the others." The authorities squeeze the poor as much as they can, but the latter yield most reluctantly to the process. A standing subject of wrangle is licences, which are like Sydney Smith's taxes; everything is licensed; the most petty trader or porter has to pay handsomely for the right to live, and this licence question is a perpetual source of friction. Besides the cost to the poor, it is excellent matter for the ingenuities of police persecution. Licence regulations are bulky and complicated, and licence-holders are, of course, liable to the attention of the law of street-traffic and the like; consequently the police have powerful weapons to hold in terrorem over the refractory, for it is easy to awaken a sleeping statute and effect an arrest under it. As might have been expected, there is considerable discontent among the working classes, and strikes are frequent. Trades Unions exist, but it does not appear that they are very well organised, and the South American mind is so permeated with politics that industrial strikes tend to become wholly political. About a year ago the whole of Rosario went on strike against the municipal dues, and the movement was by no means unsuccessful. A few months later there were repeated attempts at a universal strike in Buenos Aires, and a considerable amount of bloodshed resulted from the sharp repressive measures which were taken against it. If the poor complain, they have considerable justification.

But it would convey a very false impression to suggest that the condition of the people was miserable, or even that it was unsatisfactory, as far as an observer can judge. The worker is no doubt harassed by petty officials and exactions, but in the Latin countries, whence he came, he probably suffered as much or more; he was therefore acclimatised before he arrived; and he has now, what he seldom had before—a bellyful of food and some pocket-money, and, if he is enterprising, the chance of rising to competence or wealth. If we make allowance for different standards of comfort, it would be correct to say that any man who is willing to work hard with his hands can live in Argentina in as great comfort as the worker in any country in the world, and infinitely better than in most lands. It is a testimony to the prosperity of Argentine labour, that swarms of reapers come from Spain for every harvest, and return with £30 apiece in their pockets. The evils, from a material point of view, are upon the surface, while it is a fact that the working man in Argentina has, besides a fair livelihood, that hope which is at the same time the main factor in individual happiness and the best security for the economic efficiency of the country.

This subject leads us to one which is the crux of the situation in Argentina—that of immigration. The natural growth of the population[67] is not very considerable; it may be that, apart from immigration, it would remain stationary. Thus the matter is one of great import, and all rulers since Rosas have done everything in their power to encourage the influx from foreign countries. Several different views have been taken about the subject. We have the pessimistic view of Mr. Theodore Child,[68] who, while praising the "urban development" of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, says that: "In the rural districts, however—even in the provincial capitals of the old colonial days, but more especially in the new colonies, where the scum of Spain and Italy has been deposited in ever-increasing numbers during the past twenty years—one sees aspects of humanity that fill one with sadness rather than with satisfaction, or even hope." This extremely superficial work has formed the material for a few contemptuous sentences by M. Gustave Le Bon,[69] in which he dismisses South America as an instance of "the terrible decadence of the Latin race." On such slight foundations do philosophers erect their edifices. Again, there is a natural but perhaps somewhat Chauvinistic view which regards Argentina as a "puissance nouvelle qui suffirait À elle seule À rÉhabiliter la race latine À laquelle elle appartient et À la relever de cette espÈce de dechÉance et d'inertie dont elle semble frappÉe, dans ce dernier quart de siÈcle, devant la brutale expansion du monde saxon et germanique."[70]

It may be added that these two views well illustrate the power of the human mind, to which reference was made in a previous page, of drawing diametrically opposite conclusions from the same premises. Thirdly, there is the view of the statesman, which is doubtless shared by all Argentines and their well-wishers, and which has been expressed by the veteran statesman M. Charles Pellegrini:[71] "The unity of language strongly encourages this fusion and explains the fact, elsewhere illustrated by the United States, that the descendants of immigrants of races differing in speech, religion, manners, and customs have the power of effecting a complete fusion into a mass of people perfectly homogeneous, with the same mental characteristics and sentiment, and thus making a new nationality, both young, vigorous, and strongly characterised."

The first view may be ignored. To speak of the "scum of Spain and Italy" in connection with immigrants whom the mother-countries would give anything to retain—sturdy peasants who are the life-blood of Argentina—is absurd, and indeed the danger of the country is not that it may become the common sewer of Madrid and of Rome, but rather the tendency of the people to crowd into those examples of "urban development" which the writers regard with so much complacency. As regards the second view, it is natural that Frenchmen should look with satisfaction upon the stately cities and wide plains in which the ageing Latin race is renewing her mighty youth; but people do not emigrate to illustrate theories. The Latin races are no doubt glad to find other Latin races to welcome them across the Atlantic, and also a congenial climate, but they go abroad in search of bread. It is undoubtedly a good thing that the Latin races should flourish in the New World, although hitherto they have been sterile from an intellectual point of view; but the forces that impel them are economic, not racial. The loss to Europe is undoubtedly great, but the third view is naturally that of Argentina, which is every year receiving an abundant stream of white colonists to develop the industries which cry aloud for labour. The figures are indeed remarkable. In 1857 there were 4,000 immigrants, in 1908 there were 255,710. The following table shows the rate of progress:—

It will be noticed that during the eighties, when trade in Europe was indifferent, while the progress of Argentina was rapid, the figures were very high, and that after the crash they fell considerably, though they recovered somewhat before the end of the century. The following are the figures for recent years:—

It will be seen that the influx is now larger than ever.

It is important to observe the nationalities of the new subjects. Between 1857 and 1893 Argentina received peoples in the following proportions:—

In 1895 the total population was 4,044,770, and of these 1,005,487 were immigrants who arrived after the age of eighteen. That the people came to settle rather than as pioneers or temporary labourers is shown by the fact that the proportion of men to women was considerably less than two to one. The population is now estimated at over 6,300,000. In 1907 the proportions show considerable variations upon those of former years. The figures were:—

The remainder came chiefly from the Balkan States or from other American Republics.

It will be noticed that Italy[72] still leads, but that Spain has nearly caught her up; indeed there is hardly a limit to the migration from Spain except the fertility of the home-staying Spaniard. A moderate increase in Spanish emigration would cause the population returns of that ancient and famous monarchy to show a positive decrease. Greeks and islanders are included under the term Syrian, and it is probable that this head will show rapid increases in the near future. The French are declining in numbers, and indeed that nation has favoured the Argentine Republic as a place of settlement to an unusual degree. It is said that in San Rafael more French is spoken than Spanish. The Germans prefer Brazil. Englishmen do not emigrate to Argentina in large numbers, and they are often warned against so doing, as the environment is not suited to the English working men, though of course mechanics and others find lucrative billets—which, however, should be secured before leaving home. In 1865 a small Welsh colony was founded at Chubut, and, favoured by the climate, it has attained considerable prosperity. Reference will be made to it in the chapter on Patagonia.

The largest class among those who enter the Republic is that of agricultural labourers, while ordinary day labourers are also numerous. Many also are tradesmen and domestic servants, but it is probable that the latter abandon their old calling, for the most part, after landing. The Consular Office in London gives the following advice: "The best chances of employment are, of course, for those who can speak some Spanish, and are farm labourers, dairymen, or stockmen of practical experience; but mechanics are in fair demand, especially in the building and allied trades. Clerks, shop-assistants and others in search of office work, &c., are strongly advised not to emigrate, unless they can count beforehand on a good chance of immediate employment. Persons with some capital, and not burdened by families having many members unable to work, may find good openings even in the towns; but as a rule there is more chance of success in agricultural or pastoral enterprises." All children born in the country are ipso facto Argentine subjects, and the males are liable to military service. This has been made a ground of complaint, but it cannot be seriously maintained that a State must maintain a huge alien population, enjoying all the benefits and few of the burdens of citizenship, who might in course of time actually outnumber the Argentines.

At Buenos Aires there is an Immigration Office, which looks after the welfare of the new arrivals, and the Immigration Law[73] is conceived on liberal and favourable principles. The London Consul-General remarks: "The people who arrived in the year 1908 coincide with the requirements of the country. They were not outcasts or people who were forced to leave their native country; on the contrary, they were sound and healthy people, honest workers, and well disposed to establish themselves, especially up country." This is one of the chief needs of Argentina—a rural population, for the towns are increasing out of all proportion to the countrysides.

This constant stream of workers to the River Plate is one of the most hopeful signs; young, healthy, hard-working people bring prosperity to the country and fill up the vast tracts that require only labour for their development. In the past the settlement of the southern regions has been hindered because the Government imprudently offered great blocks for sale at prices low enough to tempt speculators to buy them up, but now the importance of the matter is thoroughly realised, and every attempt is made to attract immigrants.[74] There are few countries to which immigration is more vital, and settlers of the Latin race are likely to benefit themselves by the change hardly less than they benefit Argentina.