killing, skinning, and cutting and working up, is paid by piecework. A first-class expert workman or peon will earn as much as $7 to $8 gold per day; second class, from $5 to $6 gold per day.

The killing season begins in October and ends in June. The number of cattle killed for tasajo in the Provinces of Buenos Ayres and Entre Rios, Argentine Republic, in the last four seasons was as follows:

The number of cattle killed for tasajo in Uruguay during the same period was:

The great falling off in the number of animals killed in the Argentine Republic in the last two years, as contrasted with the Uruguayan figures, can to some extent be ascribed to the effect of the Cuban revolution and the Spanish-American war.

The following table, covering ten years, will show the amount of tasajo exported from the Argentine Republic, and its destination:

The export of Argentine tasajo for the first six months of the current year was only 6,731 tons, valued at $698,499 gold, and no export duty is levied this year. The continued decrease of this trade during the current year may also be ascribed-and to some extent this holds good with respect to prior years-to the exportation of live cattle. This trade has unquestionably had the indirect effect of diminishing the tasajo industry by offering another more remunerative form of utilization of the year's increase of stock.

The exportation of live stock began about ten years ago and proved at first a failure financially, on account of only the criollo, or native kind, being shipped. But, with the breeding and export of finer cattle, this trade is proving remunerative. It has now reached a point where it pays better to breed a fine class of cattle for exportation alive than to raise an inferior kind for the saladero industry.

As above stated, the price of cattle for saladero purposes averages from $9 to $15 in gold, 3 to 4 years old, while those exported on the hoof, 4 to 5 years old, with a minimum weight of 1,100 pounds, sell on the average for $35 gold per head.

The exports of live cattle to Europe and Brazil from January 1 to May 31 of this year amounted to 69,000 head, about 14,000 head more than the number exported for the same period in 1898.

While the cattle in the Province of Buenos Ayres have undergone little change with respect to quantity, and have improved in kind, on the other hand, in the Provinces of Santa Fé, Corrientes, and Entre

No. 231-5.

Rios a large decrease in the number of cattle has taken place, and to such an extent in Entre Rios that the government of that Province has been debating the passage of a bill providing for levying a tax of $5 paper for each cow killed under 7 years of age.

Notwithstanding these facts, however, the demand for tasajo must continue to prevail, for it will prove, indeed, difficult to discover a substitute for it in any tropical market, since it is the only cheap form in which beef can be kept at such points for a long time without deterioration.

I hardly think, too, that the United States can even at present compete advantageously with the tasajo industry of the River Plata, the lower price of cattle, the cheapness of labor, and the climatic advantages here being too great to be even offset by any mechanically improved methods of preparation which we might apply.

The saladeros, or salting establishments, are chiefly located on or near the banks of the River Plata and its great tributaries, the Parana and Uruguay rivers. Sailing vessels and even steamers come up these rivers and the tasajo is shipped for Brazil or Cuba directly on board from the wharves of the saladeros. The important saladeros of E. Soulez & Co. and of Freitas y Giorgio are situated at Concordia, on the right bank of the Uruguay River, 280 miles from Buenos Ayres. Opposite to these at Salto, on the Uruguayan side of the river, are also two large saladeros. Another large establishment is situated at Colon; 70 miles farther down the same river, but on the Uruguayan side, at Fray Bentos, is also the famous Liebig establishment, which for the two years past, however, has ceased producing tasajo and manufactures only preserved meats, beef extract, and pepsin. In the Province of Buenos Ayres, at Magdalena, near the mouth of the River Plata, are located the large establishments of Rocca, Terrarossa & Co. and of J. B. Repetto & Son, the former establishment alone having killed in the last season 45,000 head of cattle for tasajo. Other saladeros in the Province of Buenos Ayres are at La Plata, Tuyú, Zárate, Bahia Blanca, Dolores, Chascomús, Lanús, Luján; those at the last six places mentioned, however, were not working this season.

In the Province of Entre Rios, in addition to those already mentioned at Concordia and Colon, one saladero was working this season at Garbino and one at Gualeguay. The most important saladero, however, in the western portion of Entre Rios is that at Santa Elena, on the Parana River. This saladero, together with the one at San Javier in the adjoining Province of Santa Fé, is owned by a Belgian firm-Compagnie des Produits Kemmerich-which killed during the last season 107,700 head of cattle, 64,600 of which were utilized for extracts of beef and preserved meats.

In addition to these, there is one other saladero in the Province of Santa Fé, one in Corrientes, and one in Salta, the latter, no doubt, supplying only the local demand and that, to some extent, of the Bolivian market.

It is difficult to give any estimate of the value proper of these establishments, as they are worked more or less in connection with the estancias, and I have not been able to secure any figures later than those for 1894,* in which year it was estimated that the capital represented in the Argentine plants amounted to $12,250,000 gold. This sum, in my opinion, is an underestimate, and, at all events, the amount at the present time must be considerably more, for the balance sheet in the annual report of the directors of the Kemmerich Company for 1898 alone fixes the value of the lands, stock, and plant of their enterprise at $2,933,418.80 gold.

It may be pertinent to state here that the owners of saladeros aim at securing large tracts of land in order to produce a portion of the cattle which they can utilize in the manufacture of their products. The saladero industry must, in my opinion, become more and more united with stock raising in order to prove safely profitable. This must be done in order to control the supply and the price of animals. Thus, for instance, the Kemmerich Company owns and controls 270 square leagues of land, from which it can annually withdraw 50,000 head of cattle for its saladeros.

In the Republic of Uruguay, the saladeros at Mercedes, Casa Blanca, Nuevo Paysandú, Guaviyú, and Nuevo Cuareim also deserve to be mentioned.

The above information has been collected and sifted from personal observation in company with Mr. F. L. Rockwood, an American, who has been sent here from the United States to make an investigation of this industry, and from consultation with several owners of saladeros, exporters of tasajo, and cattle brokers; among the latter, I take pleasure in naming Señor Don Nicolás Calvo, who holds a prominent position in that line of business. I have also freely consulted such historical publications and official statistics as I was able to secure on the subject.

I believe it would prove profitable for some of our great packing houses to engage in business here. Such a step, if it could be brought about, might eventually lead to a combination of American and Argentine meat interests.

BUENOS AYRES, August 24, 1899.

FRANÇOIS S. JONES, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim.

*Second census of the Argentine Republic, May 10, 1895.

TIN IN STRAITS SETTLEMENTS: OPENING FOR CAPITAL.

Consul-General Moseley writes from Singapore, August 30, 1899: At my request, Mr. J. J. Anderson, an engineer and surveyor of wide experience, has prepared and sent me the two inclosed letters, with report of the directors of the Straits Trading Company.

Mr. Anderson is a very capable man and is well informed as to the cost of the production of tin.

There is certainly a large profit made by the Straits Trading Company, as this company has complete control of the manufacture of tin in this section.

Knowing that tin is used in all American homes, I thought that these two letters of Mr. Anderson would perhaps be instrumental in causing capitalists and manufacturers in America to investigate this field, for I am sure that large profits will inure to those who may engage in the production and manufacture of so necessary an article. There are millions to be obtained by the right investment of capital, directed by American vim and vigor.

Branches of American banks, large American stores for the introduction of all kinds of American goods, a line of United States merchant vessels from here to New York and also to San Francisco would be the cause of largely increasing the trade of the United States with this eastern country. To my mind, no more inviting field than this can be found.

SINGAPORE, August 1, 1899.

ROBERT A. MOSELEY, Esq.,

Consul-General, U. S. A., Singapore.

SIR: With reference to our conversation of some days ago, I now furnish you with a statement setting down particulars somewhat generally of the scheme (crushing and washing ores and smelting tin, more especially the latter) which we discussed.

In the first place, I would draw your attention for a moment to the Straits Trading Company, a company whose sole business is buying and smelting tin and the only one which would have to be reckoned with. Their capital is $1,125,000 Straits currency ($541,125 gold*) and the company has always been able to pay over 20 per cent dividends to its shareholders. The smelting works are situated on Pulo Brani (Singapore) and all the ore is brought down the coast from the native states ports-Telok Anson, Klang, or Port Dickson. Of course, when one takes into consideration that coal is the chief factor in smelting, it is obvious that Singapore, situated as it is, is the place to erect works; but do away with the use of coal and the advantages lie in locating your workshop in the mining district.

*Taking the value of the Mexican (or Straits) dollar at 48.1 cents, as estimated July 1, 1899, by the Director of the United States Mint.