TRANSPORTER BRIDGE, PORT OF BUENOS AIRES 122 GRAIN ELEVATORS, MADERO DOCK, BUENOS AIRES 126 RUINS OF JESUIT BUILDINGS, MENDOZA, ARGENTINA 174 A BIT OF THE TRANSANDINE RAILWAY, ARGENTINA 176 ENTRANCE TO THE SUMMIT TUNNEL THROUGH THE ANDES (CHILEAN SIDE) 176 PUENTE DEL INCA; MENDOZA, ARGENTINA 178 VIEWS ON LAKE NAHUEL HUAPÍ, ARGENTINE NATIONAL TERRITORY OF NEUQUEN 186 HEAD PORTION OF THE RIO NEGRO, ARGENTINA, GREAT IRRIGATION AND CONTROL WORKS. (BIRD’S-EYE VIEW) 188 A TYPICAL SMALL “CAMP” TOWN (RIVERA, URUGUAY) 212 LIST OF DIAGRAMS I. INTERNATIONAL TRADE OF ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CHILE, AND URUGUAY 133 II. DEVELOPMENT OF ARGENTINE AGRICULTURE 243 III. ARGENTINE MEAT TRADE 273 IV. ARGENTINE FROZEN AND CHILLED MEAT EXPORTS 275 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND THANKS For the majority of the Statistics and Statistical Diagrams contained in this book the Author is indebted to the Division of Commerce and Industry of the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture and particularly to the kindness and courtesy of Señor Ricardo Pillado, the Director-General of that Division, for permission for their reproduction; for others to Señor Emilio Lahitte, the Director-General of the Division of Rural Economy and Statistics in the same Ministry. And in Uruguay to Dr. Julio M. Llamas, Professor of Political Economy in the University of Montevideo, and Dr. Daniel García Acevedo, of the Uruguayan Bar, eminent as an authority on Commercial Law. The Author’s sincere thanks are also tendered to the Buenos Aires Great Southern, the Buenos Aires Pacific, and the Central Uruguay of Montevideo Railway Companies, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Mitchell’s Library, Buenos Aires, and several private persons for permission to reproduce photographs with which this book is illustrated; to the Proprietors of _The Times_ for their consent to the embodiment under the heading “Currency” of the material portions of an article by the Author which appeared in the Special South American Number of that Newspaper under date December 28th, 1909; to the Argentine Committee for the National Agricultural and Pastoral Census taken in 1908 for much information; to Mr. Herbert Gibson for his very kind permission to quote portions of his pamphlet, “The Land We Live On.” And to very many official and other friends of different Nationalities for help freely given to the literary work of the Author in the past, much of which help has borne fruit in this book. ARGENTINA AND URUGUAY BEFORE THE WAR AND AFTER CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY