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Published online by Cambridge University Press:Â 11 December 2015
The highly visible change which took place in Argentina during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries fascinated contemporary observers of the republic. The millions of immigrants, the formation of a large urban middle class, and the growth of the great metropolis of Buenos Aires all seemed to indicate that Argentina rapidly was emerging as a modern, developed nation. Equally impressive to foreign observers was Argentina's apparently booming economy, which was based on a flourishing export trade. With only brief interruptions, exports, nearly entirely composed of agricultural and cattle products, had risen from 22 million gold pesos in 1862 to 519 million in 1913. To produce the exports, total area under cultivation rose from 580,000 hectares in 1872 to 24.1 million in 1913.
1 Ernesto Tornquist & CÃa., Limitada, El desarrollo econÃģmico de la RepÚblica Argentina en los Últimos cincuenta aÃąos (Buenos Aires: Ernesto Tornquist & CÃa., Limitada, 1920), pp. 20, 134. The value of the paper peso during periods of convertibility was 44 per cent of the gold peso or about U.S. $.42.
2 See, for example, DÃaz Alejandro, Carlos F., Essays on the Economic History of the Argentine Republic (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1970), pp. 1â66.Google Scholar
3 In his memoirs, essayist Carulla, Juan E. discusses the contribution these and other literary figures made to the formation of the myth. Al filo del medio siglo (ParanÃĄ: Editorial Llanura, 1951), p. 93.Google Scholar
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18 Scobie, , Revolution on the Pampas, p. 123.Google Scholar The author does not specify whether these were paper or gold pesos.
19 Argentine Republic, ComisiÃģn Central de Inmigracion, Las colonias, pp. 277, 280, 313, and passim. For careful evaluation of the scope and quality of Wilckenâs work, see , Gori, GastÃģn, Ha pasado la nostalgia (Santa Fe: LibrerÃa y Editorial Colmegna, 1950), pp. 43â44.Google Scholar
20 Gibson, Herbert, The Land We Live On (Buenos Aires: R. Grant & Co., Printers, 1914), p. 16.Google Scholar Also see Jefferson, Mark, Peopling the Argentine Pampa (New York: American Geographic Society, 1926), pp. 57â58.Google Scholar
21 Quoted in Gori, GastÃģn, Vagos y mal entretenidos: Aporte al tema hernandino, Second edition (Santa Fe: LibrerÃa y Editorial Colmegna, 1965), p. 46.Google Scholar
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23 ChÃĄvez, FermÃn, JosÃĐ HernÃĄndez: Periodista, polÃtico y poeta (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Culturales Argentinos, 1959), pp. 107â109;Google Scholar Gori, , Vagos y mal entretenidos, pp. 46, 70;Google Scholar Estrada, MartÃnez, Muerte y transfiguraciÃģn de Martin Fierro, 2, pp. 107â108.Google Scholar
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25 Letter of Sarmiento to Domingo de Oro, June 17, 1887, quoted in ChÃĄvez, , JosÃĐ Hernandez, p. 16 Google Scholar. Also see GÃĄlvez, Manuel, JosÃĐ HernÃĄndez, Second edition (Buenos Aires: Editorial Huemul, S.A., 1945), p. 21.Google Scholar
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28 The massacre is described in Beloqui, Gorraiz, Tandil a travÃĐs de un siglo, pp. 94â104;Google Scholar and in Fugl, , Abriendo surcos, pp. 141â143.Google Scholar Conflict between Argentines and immigrants in Santa Fe province is discussed in Gallo, Ezequiel, âConflictos socio-polÃticos en las colonias agrÃcolas de Santa Fe (1870-1880),â (Buenos Aires: Instituto Torcuato Di Telia, Centro de Investigaciones Sociales, 1973), pp. 17â28.Google Scholar
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30 The provincial statistics, among other things, counted as literate over 12,000 students who allegedly were educated âat home.â Bianco, JosÃĐ, Los problemas del analfabetismo (Buenos Aires: G. Mendesky e hijo, Editores, 1909), pp. 43â46, 50, 169-170.Google Scholar The quote is on p. 165.
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33 Argentine Republic, Presidencia de la NaciÃģn, Ministerio de Asuntos TÃĐcnicos, IV Censo general de la naciÃģn, 2 Vols. (Buenos Aires; DirecciÃģn Nacional del Servicio EstadÃstico, 1947), I, p. 22; Taylor, Carl C., Rural Life in Argentina (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1948), p. 318.Google Scholar In October, 1973, Minister of Education Taiana announced that 8.6 per cent of the Argentine population remained illiterate and 42 per cent semi-literate. La RazÃģn (Buenos Aires), October 30, 1973, p. 7.
34 Weinberg, Daniel, âLa enseÃąanza tÃĐcnica industrial en la Argentina, 1936â1965,â (Buenos Aires: Instituto Torcuato Di Telia, Centro de Investigaciones EconÃģmicas, 1967), p. 9.Google Scholar For the comparison with Canada, see Bunge, Alejandro E., The Cost of Living in the Argentine Republic: Wages and Output (Buenos Aires, n.p. 1928), p. 23.Google Scholar
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37 MassÃĐ, Juan Bialet, El estado de las clases obreras argentinas a comienzos del siglo, Second edition (CÃģrdoba: Universidad Nacional de CÃģrdoba, 1968), p. 290.Google Scholar The title of the first edition, published in 1904, was Informe sobre el estado de las clases obreras en el interior de la repÚblica. On immigrant predominance in urban occupations, consult Scobie, James R., âBuenos Aires as a Commercial-Bureaucratic City, 1880â1910: Characteristics of a City's Orientation,â The American Historical Review, 77 (October, 1972), pp. 1058â1059.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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46 Miatello, Hugo, La chacra santafecina en 1905 (Buenos Aires: CompaÃąÃa Sud-Americana de Billetes de Banco, 1905), p. 67;Google Scholar MassÃĐ, Bialet, El estado de las clases obreras argentinas a comienzos del siglo, p. 112.Google Scholar Bialet MassÃĐ was Professor of LegislaciÃģn Industrial y AgrÃcola at the University of CÃģrdoba. Commissioned by Minister of the Interior JoaquÃn V. GonzÃĄlez to prepare this report on mass living and working conditions, he travelled much of the interior and pampa provinces in painstaking research and observation. The work remains a key source for the social history of the period.
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53 An interesting discussion of the work of the ârural brigadesâ is found in âColaboraciÃģn eficaz de la Bolsa de Cereales en la Obra Pacificadora de la Liga PatriÃģtica Argentina,â in Buenos Aires (City), de Cereales, Bolsa, Memoria e informe de la ComisiÃģn Directiva presentada en la Asamblea del 28 de abril de 1921. Ejercicio 1920-1921 (Buenos Aires: Imp. y Lit. C. Girard, 1921), pp. 112â113.Google Scholar Also see La Protesta, December 28, 1919, p. 3; and February 1, 1920, pp. 1-2. For an overview of rural strikes in this period, see Solberg, Carl, âRural Unrest and Agrarian Policy in Argentina, 1912â1930,â Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs, 13 (January, 1971), pp. 18â52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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