A Spanish Argentine Corporation with a capital of $10,000,000 is to build two large _frigorificos_ at Buenos Aires and Santa Fé, with steamers to transport beef to Spain. Another _frigorifico_ is designed for Puerto Deseado in the south to coöperate with local ranchmen. The lack of combustibles has for many years been a great and embarrassing problem, an early solution of which is now hoped for. Importation of coal from England and of petroleum from the United States has been carried on at great cost. In five years, 1912-16, $190,000,000 was spent for such articles, while as they say petroleum ran into the sea and wood rotted at the railway stations. In 1919 coal was $26 a ton. The forests of the north have an inexhaustible supply of wood; the charcoal industry is quite well developed in the Chaco, north Santa Fé, Tucumán, and Santiago. Many woods are appropriate, but high freights have impeded their use. A large deposit of coal is recently reported in Tucumán. A new railway to the firewood region of Santiago del Estero will save a 100 mile haul. A splendid source of electric power are the Iguassú Falls with 275 cascades, the greatest with a height of 213 feet. Investigation shows that 500,000 horse power is easily available, one half each for Brazil and Argentina. Ten thousand horse power would be sent 800 miles to Buenos Aires, the rest used in Misiones, Corrientes, and Entre Rios. From the Salto Grande Falls on the Uruguay 50,000 horse power might be available for Argentina and Uruguay each. INVESTMENTS The opportunity for investments for persons with capital is evidently large. A great deal of money is necessary for stock raising, though less in the far south. Agriculture, especially the raising of cotton, rice, or tobacco might be attractive; the sugar industry may be extended. Factories of various kind may be established by experts. Persons speaking Spanish fluently, capable of acting as foremen or superintendents of establishments of various kinds, might find employment. The minerals with the exception of petroleum are less accessible than in some other countries. An American department store in Buenos Aires is desirable, and one might succeed in Rosario. CHAPTER XXXVIII PARAGUAY: AREA, HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, POPULATION, ETC.