To sum up: the Argentine possesses at the present time, in the matter of ports, an equipment capable of keeping pace with the growth of its powers of production. Its rivers are truly arms of the sea, collecting on their banks, thanks to their numerous ports, the products of the central Provinces, which are thus connected with the Atlantic over a distance of more than 600 miles. It is the same on the Atlantic sea-board, where advantage has been taken of the least natural facilities afforded by the coast-line to multiply the outlet to exportation, in proportion as the progress of agriculture has travelled south.[21] [Footnote 21: Among the principal ports of the south we may cite Madryn, Rio Gallego, Commodoro Rivadavia, and Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. These ports, by a wise disposition of the Government, seeking to increase the population and encourage progress in the southern regions of the Republic, have been made free ports; that is all the operations of the douane may be effected without the payment of fiscal dues.] It is true that this great organisation can only yield the true measure of its value in years of good harvests, since upon the latter all commercial activity depends; yet it must be recognised that, however largely the future has been discounted in equipping these ports, the estimates of future traffic have scarcely ever hitherto been deceptive. CHAPTER II RAILWAYS Rapid development of the railway system——Tabulation of its extension in each Province——Table showing the general results of its exploitation——List of the lines actually running. List of railway companies, with the length of their roadways and their returns——The difficulty of obtaining exact figures——The tariffs of the railway companies——Form of concessions, and suppression of guarantees. Comparison of the railway system of the Argentine with the railway systems of other countries——Proportion of mileage to area and population. Extension of the system in the near future, owing to the numerous concessions granted——The mileage of these concessions—— Insufficiency of plans and previous examinations——Examination of the most important concessions for which the capital is already guaranteed——The dimensions which the railway system will attain after the concessions are realised——Programme of narrow-gauge construction; its value. Meeting of the Argentine with the Chilian railways crossing the range of the Andes——The aerial mining railway in the Province of La Rioja. Railways in relation to agricultural development——Insufficiency of transport at the moment of harvest; its causes and remedies—— Necessity of a better organisation which shall respond to the stress of production.