The latest (1914) Commercial and Industrial Census of the City of Buenos Aires shows that the number of Commercial (chiefly wholesale and retail trading) establishments in that City has increased from 17,985, as shown by the previous Census of 1904, to 29,600—an increase of 65%—while the number of Factories and Manufacturing establishments which in 1904 was 8,877 was in 1914 11,132—an increase of 25%. The motive power employed in these last-mentioned establishments has increased during the same period from 19,458 h.p. to 194,411 h.p.—an increase of 900%—while the number of persons employed has increased 112%.
An amusing but characteristic note is struck by comparison of the figures representing the annual sales of flour and tobacco respectively, the former being nearly $48,000,000 (paper) and the latter nearly £44,000,000 (paper).
Not such a great difference between the money spent in Buenos Aires on flour, much of which is exported, and on tobacco, which is all home consumed! Another is that nearly 1% of the whole population of the City consists of Medical Men; Brokers and Commission Agents (clubbed together and classed as professional men by the Census) run them very close, with Builders a good third, and the rest, in the sporting sense, nowhere.
Most of the wholesale and retail traders are Italians, Spaniards and Argentines, in this order; the Italians being in both cases nearly three times and the Spaniards nearly twice as numerous as the Argentines. After them come French, Russians (chiefly Jewish), Levantines and Egyptians (locally known as “Turcos”), Uruguayans, German, British and other nationalities in commerce; and French, Russians, Levantines and Egyptians, Belgians, Danes and Portuguese and other nationalities as Manufacturers.
A good many establishments of both classes are, however, shown to belong to Argentines and foreigners in partnership.
It is due to the compilers of the Census to remark that they have treated “Jews” as pertaining to a separate nationality, though therefore there is possibly some confusion under the heading “Russians.”
A GLANCE AT THE PROVINCES AND NATIONAL TERRITORIES OF ARGENTINA, AND THE INTERIOR OF URUGUAY
This is the largest and most densely populated and the most uniformly prosperous Province of the Republic.[23] It is bounded on the North by the Provinces of Santa Fé and Córdoba, on the West by the Territories of the Pampa Central and Rio Negro and on the East and South by the Paraná and Plate Rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital, La Plata, is of a somewhat sadly monumental aspect. It is indeed as yet but a monument to the still unrealized dreams of its modern founders and architects. It was to have been a great city with a busy port; it is now a place where Provincial parliamentarians, lawyers, university students and Law Court and Police officials spend some hours each day, coming each morning and returning each evening from and to the superior activity and attractions of the Federal Capital.