were appropriated by the national Congress for the different depart

From which it appears that the appropriations were $1,500,000 in excess of the revenues, for which the Government has had to make use of its credit. But these amounts were only for the ordinary expendi tures of the year. During the same time, through foreign and local loans, treasury bills, &c., the public debt of the nation has very largely increased. In the table below I give, side by side, the amounts of the national indebtedness, foreign and domestic, as it was stated to be on the 31st day of December, 1881, and at the same date, 1882:

Foreign debt of the Argentine Republic on the 31st of December, 1881 and 1882.

Interior debt of the Argentine Republic on the 31st of December, 1881 and 1882.

Now, adding the amounts of foreign and internal debt together, we find that the total was $82,017,291.50 on the 31st of December, 1881, and $102,426,627.92 on the 31st of December, 1882, or an increase of $20,409,336.42 during the year, which cannot be considered otherwise than a very surprising augmentation of the national obligations in a single twelvemonth. And these figures do not include the balance of

*For the present year, 1883, the total amount of the budget of the Argentine National Government is increased to $31,224,748.49.

the bonds for the Riochuelo port (about $2,000,000) and the city improvement works loan for about $8,000,000, which had not been put in circu lation at the date of the above statement. Indeed, the actual amount of internal debt at present in circulation, instead of being $43,439,475.92, is known to be a little over $52,000,000, thus swelling the total indebtedness of the nation to about $112,000,000. It is to be said in favor of the increase that a large portion is invested or being invested in profitable works, which it is believed will not only give ample returns, but greatly augment the production of the country. It is understood that the Government, however, will yet have to ask for additional loans before some of these public works are completed, and it may be, as I have before had occasion to fear, that the Government is lending its credit, in behalf of objects which at best had better be left to private enterprise, beyond what the present resources of the nation can conveniently bear. It must be said, however, that the credit of the Argentine Republic continues to hold a high place in the money centers of Europe. The quotations of the public debt, notwithstanding the new loans, has shown a constant tendency to rise during the past year, and long bonds are at a premium.

There is now a project before the National Congress, under the sanction of the President and his cabinet, to couvert the entire public debt of the nation into new bonds, which shall bear only 5 per cent. interest without amortization, and have twenty-five years to run. It is stated that the whole loan could be effected in London at 85 cents to the dollar. The saving of interest by this refunding would be about $4,500,000enough, as the advocates of the measure express it, "to pay the interest on a new debt of $90,000,000"; but wherein this additional increase to the bonded debt would be an advantage to the country is not so apparent. This business of generously using the credit of the Government for internal improvement purposes-albeit it is used in building railways, improving ports, populating the new territories, and developing the resources of the nation-is certainly a question of very doubtful expediency, and may ultimately place the nation under such burdens to the money-lenders as to actually retard the progress it is sought to foster. These, however, are matters of expediency rather than of vital significance, and the future of the Argentine Republic, whatever may be the temporary delays or increased stimulus which its development may receive from particular legislation, is now so well and so certainly assured that nothing less than gross and criminal disregard of public duty on the part of those who may be called on to administer its affairsa contingency which is not to be thought of-can prevent it from attaining to the high position which its natural advantages and marvelous resources have destined for it among the nations of the earth.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Buenos Ayres, September 30, 1883.

E. L. BAKER, United States Consul.

EXPORT DUTIES OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

REPORT BY CONSUL BAKER, OF BUENOS AYRES.

I am in receipt of the circular of the Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State, of the date of the 15th of February last, stating that the Department of State desires to collect in tabulated form all information accessible relative to export duties levied on the productions of foreign countries; and requesting me to contribute to this end by sending a table or schedule of all export duties levied in the Argentine Republic, accompanied by such explanatory notes as may be deemed of interest.

In reply I have to inform the Department that the law for the collection of duties on imports and exports in the Argentine Republic undergoes the ordeal of a new enactment by the National Congress every year, the operation of the tariff being limited by the act itself to the specific year named.

The general features, however, of all these annual import laws are the same. The duties, with a few exceptions, are based on the value of each article of merchandise as officially fixed and promulgated by the National Executive, each year, in a blue book which is called the "Fiscal Regulations of the Argentine Republic."*

The present tariff, which continues in force during the year 1883, is embodied in fourteen articles or sections, of which only the following, which I translate from the law, have any reference to articles exported from the country:

ART. III. All classes of products or manufactures shall be free of duty except the following, which shall pay a duty of 6 per cent. on their value, to wit: Animal oils, horns, and horn-peths, preserved meats, bone-ash, hair, hide-cuttings, grease, bones, wool, washed or unwashed, pelts, sheep-skins, washed or unwashed, ostrich feathers, and tallow.

ART. IV. All exemption from duties on imports and exports not specified in the present law is prohibited except in cases of concession by special law or contracts proceeding from laws made by Congress.

*

ART. V. All duties shall be liquidated according to a tariff of valuations formed on the basis of the true value of the articles in deposit, in regard to those imported; and on the prices, in the market prepared for export, of those to be exported.

ART. VI. The custom-houses have power to retain, after the period of forty-eight hours counting from the official inspection, for account of the public treasury, all merchandise whose value thus declared shall be considered too low, paying immediately to those interested the amount of the value declared by them, with an increase of ten per cent. in custom-house bills at ninety days' sight.

ART. VII. Duties on exports shall be paid at the first point of embarkation where they shall be dispatched directly for their destination; and no article of export shall be permitted to pass by water from one point to another of the republic, except such as have paid or secured the duties.

ART. IX. The executive shall designate and fix the value of the merchandise and products to be included in tariff referred to in Article V.

ART.X. Export duties shall be paid in cash, before the sailing of the exporting vessel. ART. XI. The payment of duties due to custom-houses must be made in money which is legal tender or its equivalent.

ART. XIV. The present law shall be in force during the year 1883.

I would state that, by a supplemental law, there is a duty of one per cent. additional to the rates above specified levied on all articles of import and export.

"Disposiciones Fiscales de la Republica Argentina publicacion oficial.”

From the tariff of valuations, made in pursuance of the ninth article of the preceding law, I translate the following extract, which has reference to the official value of the different articles of export, to wit:

In accordance with the terms of the law, all articles except those named in the above list can be exported free of any custom-house duty. It is true, however, that the above list comprises a very large propor tion of the entire exports from the Argentine Republic. The following table, which I have compiled from official sources, will show the relative values of articles exported from the Argentine Republic, subject to duty, compared with that of exports not subject to duty, from the year 1870 to 1881, inclusive, to wit:*

* Memorias del Departamento de Hacienda de la República Argentina-1870 hasta 1881.

Comparative table of exports subject to duty and exports free from the Argentine Republic from 1870 to 1881.

The official figures of exports for 1882 have not yet been published. The following table, which I have also compiled from official sources, shows the rate per cent. which has been levied by the Argentine tariff on exports from the country, together with the additional rate levied by special law to meet deficiencies in the national revenues, from the year 1863 to 1883, inclusive, to wit:

Rate of export duties in the Argentine Republic from 1863 to 1883.

It will be seen from the above tables that the average rate of export duty for the last twenty-one years has been about 7 per cent., and that this duty is levied on nearly nine-tenths of all the exports from the country.

There are no other charges against cargoes exported than those mentioned above, though it may not be out of place to state, that on all vessels clearing for foreign ports there is a charge of $20 for opening and closing the register, a port pilotage of $14, and an outward pilotage of about $40; besides, 10 cents per ton for light dues and 6 cents per ton for sanitary dues. Steamers have what is called "packet privileges," whereby they are allowed immediately after loading, while sailing vessels are detained until the export duties on the cargo shipped are liquidated. They have furthermore a reduction of two cents per ton on their light and sanitary dues.

For this privilege they pay the gross sum of $1.25 per annum.

I believe I have responded fully to the circular of the Department, though if I have omitted anything about which information is desired it will at once be furnished upon request.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Buenos Ayres, May 4, 1883.

C. L. BAKER,

Consul.

* Cuadro general del Comercio exterior.