Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/916

ARGENTINA. l.ind. In the fonoving year there was a drop of one-half, the total immigration in 1890 being 132,000. In ISOl there was a further drop to 52,000, but since then there has been a gradual increase, the total immigration in 1899 exceeding 111,000. On the other hand, the emigration from the country, which was only 40,000 in 1889. rose to 83,000 in 1890. It has' averaged about 50,000 per year since then. About 70 per cent, of the immigrants are Italians, about 10 per cent. Spaniards, and nearly 8 per cent, are French, the rest being made up of the various nationalities mentioned below under Population.

The Argentinians have long understood the great value of immigration to a naturally rich and fertile, but sparsely settled, country like their own. Hence their great efforts to attract foreign labor, as well as foreign capital, to their country. In addition to very liberal immigra- tion laws, and generous distribution of land to colonists, enormous sums of money have been spent in bringing over and aiding immigrants before they are able to support themselves. Be- sides the sums thus spent by the Province of Buenos Ayres and by the private Colonization Association, the national treasury^ has been spending annu.ally from one to three-quarters of a million pesos during the last decade of the century, and on the average a sum close to a quarter of a million annually since 1870. The number of people gratiiitously brought over, lodged, and finally settled at public expense in the forty voars from 1857 to 1897 was 897,805, 697,398," and 57(i.:!9(]. respectively. To what ex- tent the free distribution of land to immigrants and the planting of agricultural colonies have added to the national wealth has already been shown under AGRici'LTtHE.

Education. The public-school system of Ar- gentina was admirably organized by President Sarmiento (lSOS-74). but on the whole it has not been kept up to the standard he set for it. Primary education is free and obligatory for all children between the ages of 6 and 14. The elementary schools are supported by the individ- ual Provinces, although subsidized by the Fedei-al Government. They are under the general control of Provincial boards of education, while the de- tails of administration are left to district school boards. The schools in the Territories and the Federal district are managed bya Xational Board of Education under the supervision of the ilinis- ter of Justice and Public Instruction. Besides the regular elementary schools, there are kinder- gartens, schools for adults, and in sparsely set- tled districts, ambulatory schools. In some of the provinces, and in the Federal schools, relig- ious instruction of any kind may be imparted outside of school hours: in others only the Catholic faith n)ust be taught; in one, Entre Eios, no religious instruction is permitted. In 1899 there were 4,291 primary schools, with 427,311 enrolled pu])ils, l)ut probably a far great- er number of children were receiving no instruc- tion. Secondary education is provided for by 16 lyceums and 35 normal schools, under the control of the Goveriunent, and higher education by na- tional universities of Buenos Ayres and Cordoba, and provincial universities at La Plata, Santa Fe, and Parana. There are also a school of mines, a college of agriculture, and a naval and military school.

Religion. The constitution guarantees free- dom of religion to all, but makes the Roman Catholic faith that of the State. The country is divided into seven dioceses and one archiepis- copate. The Government builds churches and supports the Catholic priesthood, but it controls all ecclesiastical appointments, and sanctions or rejects the decrees of the Papal See. Marriage was made the subject of a civil contract in 1888. The native Argentinians are nearly all Roman Catholics. Of the 3.954,911 people' returned by the census, 3,921,136 were Catholics, 26,750 Protestants, 6085 Jews, and 940 belonged to other denominations.

Finance. The economic progress of Argentina has been accompanied throughout its course by extremely unfavorable financial conditions. The chief cause of the unsatisfactory state of public finance has been the inordinate increase of ex- penditure, Axhich was incurred without reference to the capacity of the paople to shoulder new burdens. All thoughtful students of Argentine affairs unite in the opinion that the politicians of the country embarked with too li.ght hearts on all kinds of undertakings — some productive, others wasteful and useless, and, to make mat- ters worse, the administration of the Ijudget was until recently extremely loose. In 1870 the total budget of the Governj'nent was .$12,635,000; in 1880 it was .$16,815,000, or an increase of 33 per cent, in one decade: in 1890 it was $71,508,- 000, or a further increase of 325 per cent.: and in 1900 it was $95,000,000 paper and $33,000,000 gold, or reducing it all to a paper basis, .$194,- 000,000, or a further increase of 171 ])er cent. Dr. Albert B. Martinez, formerly Assistant Min- ister of Finance, ascribes the great increase in public expenditure to the following principal causes: (a) Increase of administrative func- tions, due to rapid growth of population: (b) increase of public debt: (e) depreciation of paper money; (d) wars, foreign and civil: (e) guar- antee by the State of the payment of interest on costly public works: ff) imperfect administra- tive machinery; (g) defective control of public expenses, etc. In 1800, on the eve of the great financial crisis, the revenues of the Republic amounted to $73,408,000 paper, as aaainst an expenditure of $92,854,000. The enormous defi- cit, together with the general unsettled financial condition of the country, forced the Government to suspend payment on the national debt, and during the following years the revenue continued to decline. Although since 1895 the revenue has been steadily increasing, the expenditure con- tinued to be in excess of it, as is sho-n by the following figures:

Revenue Expenditure Pesos (paper). Pesos (gold). Pesos (paper). Pesos (gold). 1896 1897 1898 1899 I90O 1901' .000.000 28..')00.000 61.000.000 49,700.(K)O fil.4.no.ooo 67,100.000 63.:J00,000 .800.000 32,000.000 .30.600,000 33.900,000 ,700.000 46,000,000 38,000,000 .900,800 92,100,000 93,400,000 93.100.000 .900.0111) 41111, 11(111 M.S, 4(1(1,11011 ,200,000 46,000.000 29."2(1,00 20,91 1(1, (H)0
 * ^(i,;ii),(Hio

3'2,'.irH),o{)0 2o!oO(l,000 •Estimated.