TOPICS OF THE DAY
THE PRINCE AND THE ARGEN TIN E
WHOEVER it was who planned the Prince of Wales's visit to South America—very possibly the Prince himself—had a very happy and wise inspiration. The right man is doing the right thing, at the right place, at the right time. The South American States in general, and the Argentine in particular, are about to enter upon a new and vast epoch of development, and will fill a far bigger place in the -world's eye than ever before. That being so they want someone of consequence to intro- duce them into National Society, and to make the: world understand them, and value them at their true worth— not gaze at them as though they were backwoodsmen with an invisible past and a hypothetical future. Well- informed and thinking people—about 5 per cent. of our population—know, of course, that the Argentine has aI ready arrived and is a rich, prosperous, and stable State, and one likely to develop beyond the dreams of avarice. But even she wants publicity. . Could there be a better person to launch her and her sister States in the Grand Monde of the nations than the Prince of Wales—a man who has probably travelled more and seen more lands and cities, oceans and mountains, forests and farms, than any one alive to-day ? When he offers the debutante his arm and leads her into the ballroom as his partner, the thing is done, and the happy fair has her picture in every newspaper in the habitable globe. Before she only saw Europe from the head of the stairs. Now Europe sees her too, and in full dress. Europe hears the Prince's compliments, while his suite are taking notes as to the millions of livestock in the great alluvial plain which seems designed by Nature to be the Home Farm of civilized man. • The endless valley of the River Plate is endowed with a climate, a soil, and a water supply both for power and cultivation which make it one of the very best places in the world for breeding horses and all types of cattle, and for growing cereals of every kind. In that happy region Nature responds with an unrivalled generosity and rapidity to the call of the producer. In the Plate it is no fable or figure of speech to say that when you tickle the soil with a hoe it smiles with a harvest. Fortunately the Argentine has got a population which is able to seize and make use of its great opportunity and, further, which can bestow on itself that stability of Government without which the gifts of Nature are of little avail. The original Spanish stock was a good one, and has been less impoverished and diluted than in other South American States. To it has been added a large complement of some of the best agricultural settlers in the world—the peasant-proprietors of Piedmont, Lom- bardy, Venetia and Tuscany. The Argentine has some two millions of these excellent people, who find there a climate little, if any, hotter than their own and a soil capable of producing their home crops in profusion. They find, also, -a language akin to their own. This infusion of Italians is making, if, indeed, it has not already made, a new type of Latin State of high quality. Though the Spanish culture and the Spanish language Will prevail, Italian influences are everywhere visible. We have every right to expect that the stocks thus mingled will in time produce a nation wholly worthy of its environ- ment. The British colony in the Argentine is considerable in numbers and of high quality. The inhabitants of the Argentine have never been jealous of our settlers or of British enterprise, or afraid of British influences. They know that we do not want to exercise - control, or to- dominate, and British capital, British managers, and British professional experts from engineers to bankers are as warmly welcomed as English thoroughbreds,-.' English bulls, or other English prize stock.
We do not mean to repeat here the glowing and stimu- lating statistics with which our newspapers have been filled during the past week. They are full of wonder and interest, whether they tell us of the splendid city of 2,000,000 people which has'grown up in " the good air " at the mouth of the mighty La Plata, of the vast railway system that is spread through the land, of the force latent in the rivers and waterfalls, or Of the wealth that is only, waiting 'to be awakened. All that is not fairy-story, but' fact. Here we want to urge the Government of the Argentine, and especially the enlightened and far-seeing President, to do their best' to prevent the nation under. their control from neglecting in the intoxication of a rapid prosperity to give due care and thought to the con-1 dition of the poorer part of the community---to the hand-. workers on whom will fall so much of the necessary toil; The Argentine cannot escape industrialization, and does not want to escape it. It is no evil in itself, -but she must make unceasing effort to s get the benefits without the' wrongs. Let the Government take warning by' what happened in Europe a century ago, owing to carelessness and ignorance. Material prosperity is worthless, and moreover cannot last, unless it is founded on a free people; living, whethei they be workers or capitalists, under con- ditions which conduce to the general health, happiness,1 and intellectual advancement. This sounds like the copy book, but is only common sense. No one wants to see the latest adventurers in the field of material pro-' sperity censored, or restricted, or even slowed down. All that we as friends of South America desire is that the new Nations should not forget their real goal—the creation of happy and worthy States. This they can perfectly welt accomplish while rearing a vast commerce. Let them save' theinselves from future shame and remorse by a conscious effort and at the same time save the rest of the world by' their example. J. ST. LOE STRACHEY. i
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