with their lot in Brazil, although the more experienced and better informed among them are of the opinion that if the immigrants. from Germany, who were induced by very considerable subsidies to go to southern Brazil, had settled in the United States, their possibilities would have been far greater; that they could have lived in more congenial surroundings among kindred people and enjoyed rights and privileges which are denied them here. The German Brazilians were hampered a good deal by what is known as the von der Heydt law, promulgated in Prussia on the 3d of November, 1859, prohibiting Prussian emigration to Brazil, which law was finally repealed, after a long and energetic agitation, in the year 1896. But even now, they have great difficulty in increasing their ranks from the old country, inasmuch as, for economic and military reasons, the German Government does not favor emigration, and there are at present very few Germans desirous of emigrating.

Of the 300,000 Germans in southern Brazil, not 200 are citizens of the German Empire. There are only 40 in the great German colony of Blumenau and about 30 in the much-talked-of Hanseatic colony of Joinville (Santa Catharina). They are nearly all Brazilian citizens, very fond of their adopted country, and would resent any interference from outsiders in their own affairs. The great difficulty of mastering the Portuguese tongue, in sound and construction so utterly different from their own, and of assimilating with people of the Latin race, with whom they have so little in common, is the cause of their isolation, so often commented upon.

Southern Brazil is wonderfully endowed by nature. It has a favorable geographical position, a fine climate, a rich soil, gigantic rivers, mountains, and meadows, a sea front of 750 miles on the east, with numerous natural harbors, and, last but not least, great forests, which, with their endless varieties of valuable hard woods, their palms, roots, and herbs, furnish the colonist with almost everything needed for food and shelter.

What southern Brazil needs is capital, transportation, and more men of skill and enterprise to develop its vast resources. Only onetenth of this great country of 332,500 miles square is under the influence of civilization; there is nowhere a more lucrative field for legitimate enterprise.

Will the people of the United States, who have lately so vigorously asserted themselves as one of the leading industrial and commercial powers of the world, continue to refrain from competition with the Europeans in an American field of such exceptional promise? Of course, we can not send colonists; but we can send ships with merchandise and improved machinery; we can send capital with engineers and electricians; we can build railroads, bridges, and fac

tories; we can organize new industries and improve the old ones; and we can show an industrious, hard-working, and sympathetic people how to fight the battle of life with improved weapons.

The development and advancement of the southern States of Brazil will be the stepping stone to an enterprise yet greater and more important, which can not fail to materially influence the character and future of the southern half of this continent, an enterprise cut out for the early part of the century on whose threshold we are now standing the building of a railroad connecting the capital of Paraguay with the Brazilian railroads already existing or soon to be constructed, with terminal points in Porto União (on the Iguassu, in the heart of Parana) and in one or two ports of the State of Santa Catharina, on the Atlantic coast. Thus the great "hinterland" of the southern States of Brazil-Paraguay, Matto Grosso (so rich in mineral and agricultural resources), Goyaz, and a large part of the Amazon country, which territories now have but a slow and precarious river connection with the outside world by way of Buenos Ayres-would be brought 2,000 miles nearer their natural outlets and enjoy the blessings of rapid transit; the most important part of South America would be opened to the markets of the world.

We ought to have our legitimate share in this great industrial enterprise. We can not reap a harvest without sowing the seed; we can not expect benefits for something for which we have not worked in competition with others. The great commercial advantages the Germans have secured in South America during the last ten years are not surprising, in view of the efforts made by them.

German capital is largely invested there, and in a few months the German-Brazilian Bank, a very strong and lucrative institution, will have a branch in Porto Alegre. The German fleet in the service of the South American trade receives additions every year, and is devoloping into a highly profitable enterprise. Not less than thirtyone steamers were built by the Hamburg-South American Steamship Company within the last ten years for the service of the trade with the east coast of South America and the River Plata countries, twenty during the last five years, and six in 1898. Six steamers of this line call regularly at the southern Brazilian ports, and next year there will be two more, besides the cargo steamers of the Freitas Line, of Hamburg, and half a dozen steamers of the North German Lloyd and the Hansa Company.

If we are not willing to let our legitimate trade with South America, and particularly with the promising southern States of Brazil, go by default, we will have to bestir ourselves to make up for lost time and enter into a rational, vigorous, and systematic competition.

In order to do this successfully, it will be necessary to create a

regular American steamer service between the United States and the principal South American ports; to establish a banking system, with branches at Para, Rio de Janeiro, Blumenau, Porto Alegre, and Buenos Ayres; to take a leading part in the construction of railroads necessary to develop the resources of the southern States of Brazil.

The men who go there in the interest of American trade ought to be commercially and socially well trained, and not without the necessary linguistic attainments.

The incomprehensible lack of initiative on the part of our merchants and financiers regarding the southern Brazilian trade is illustrated by the fact that at most of the places in the interior of Parana, Santa Catharina, and Rio Grande do Sul visited by me there had never been an American before, and in the latter State we are represented only by the German importing firm of Thomsen & Co.-whose managing partner is Mr. E. H. Müller, of New York, a German American—a few missionaries, and one dentist.

It is extremely difficult to obtain statistical data anywhere in Brazil, very little attention being paid officially to that part of governmental science.

Most of the literature descriptive of southern Brazil is either obsolete or compiled by people who make a hurried trip along the seaport towns, relying principally on hearsay evidence and newspaper extracts.

My visit was extended not only to the coast of the south of Brazil, but to all inland towns and colonies of interest accessible by boat, horseback, or by means of those little springless vehicles drawn by four horses or mules which are so characteristic of overland traveling in South America.

Detailed information obtained during this trip will be sent later. EUGENE SEEGER,

RIO DE JANEIRO, July, 1899.

Consul-General.

THE TASAJO, OR DRIED-BEEF, INDUSTRY IN THE RIVER PLATA COUNTRIES.

Although the production of tasajo has been an industry of long standing in the Argentine Republic and the Republic of Uruguay, little seems to have been heretofore published on the subject.

Even before these countries had acquired their independence, and while still under Spanish viceroyal government, the preparation of dried beef was well known in the River Plata. The Spanish colonists applied a system of preserving beef by removing the fat and drying it by the simple means of exposing it to the sun and air.

This product was termed "charque," and is well known in the Argentine Republic, Chile, Peru, and on the western coast of Colombia. It is also called "carne dulce," being very slightly salted, to distinguish it from the "tasajo del país," which receives a stronger saline treatment. The tasajo, of which this report will specially treat, may indeed be said to owe its origin to "charque," being hardly more than an improved class of the same, capable of longer preservation, and hence possessing a greater commercial value.

A similar product known as "cecina," a term used in Spain for a species of preserved beef, was also manufactured in the past and at a very early date exported to that country.

The increase of stock raising on the lands adjacent to Buenos Ayres caused, as far back as 1602, the inhabitants of that city to solicit of and obtain from Philip III of Spain the permission to export "cecina" to Spain, and it is interesting to note that a first shipment. of this product was made in 1603 in the vessel Nuestra Señora de la Concepción. In the same year, there followed five other shipments; in 1604, six; and in 1605, five.

Notwithstanding such shipments having been made and it having been related by le sieur D'Acarete* that a salting establishment ("saladero") existed in Salta in 1658, the production of tasajo and its kindred products could hardly be considered an industry of the country before the beginning of this century. This view is borne out by passages contained in a "memoria," or report, by Viceroy Vertiz, published at the close of the last century, wherein he recommends the salting of beef as a means of utilizing it and as a progressive step in the development of the pastoral interests of the country.

At the beginning of this century, however, the making of tasajo was unquestionably developing into an industry. A proof of this was the resolution adopted in 1812 by the junta composed of Gen. Don Juan Martín de Pueyrredon, Don Feliciano Antonio Chiclana, and Don Bernardino Rivadavia, that

For the purpose of establishing saladeros as institutions of primary importance to the country, salted meats, tasajo, tongues, etc., and similar products should be declared free of export duty.

The result of this law was the killing of cattle in such considerable numbers as to awaken apprehension of producing a scarcity of cattle in the country, so that in 1817 Director Pueyrredon issued an order strictly prohibiting the sale of cows to saladeros.

From then to the present time, the development of the saladero industries in the Argentine Republic and the Republic of Uruguay

* Recuerdos de Viaje.

has more or less kept pace with the expanding pastoral industry of these countries.

The census of May 10, 1895, the last that has been made in the Argentine Republic, fixes the number of cattle in that country at 21,701,526 head, of which 14,197, 159 were native or criollo, 4,678,348 mestizos, 72,216 pure-bred stock, 1,800, 799 milch cows of all kinds, and 953,004 oxen for labor. The total number is claimed not to have increased since then, but I have not been able to secure authoritative data on this point.

The animals used for the production of tasajo are chiefly of the "criollo," or native, breed, though some mestizo, or mixed, breeds. produced by the crossing chiefly with the Hereford or Durham stocks are also used. The usual age for killing is from 3 to 4 years. Steers and cows are indiscriminately killed, though the tasajo from the cow is alleged to be somewhat finer.

The usual weight of the animals killed ranges from 750 to 950 pounds. Apart from the influence upon the price which the supply of and demand for cattle must always necessarily have, the weight and quality of the animal naturally play an important part in determining the price of tasajo cattle.

In the last killing season, the current prices were from $9 to $15 gold per head, and these prices have more or less prevailed for the past five or six years, while prior to that period it is claimed that they were somewhat lower. The price of Uruguayan cattle is usually 10 to 15 per cent higher than for Argentine, which difference is. due to the superiority claimed for Uruguayan over Argentine cattle. The average estimate of the yield of each animal is as follows:

Minor products (tongues, bones, horns, blood, and entrails) are estimated at a value of from 50 to 75 cents gold per head of cattle.

The price of tasajo ranges from $6 to $6.50 gold per 105 pounds, not including packing charges. A consignment recently shipped from this port for Cuba via New York, by the steamship Newlyn, was contracted for at $12.60 plus 50 cents packing charge, making the total price $13.10 per 200 pounds. The freight charges to Cuba at the present moment are excessively high, being 492s., or $10.88 gold, per ton of 2,030 pounds. The normal freight rates to Cuba range between 36s. and 40s. ($8.76 and $9.73) per ton, including transshipment, which is done on account of vessel.

The prices of hides range from $9 to $10 per 105 pounds. Dry