_Telegraphs._——Another mark of progress is the continual extension of the telegraphic system. The national, provincial, and private lines together represent to-day a length of 31,215 miles, of which 15,125 belong to the State; twenty years ago the mileage was barely half this figure.
As for telegraphic communication with the exterior, there are two foreign cable companies, one possessing the cable running to the United States _via_ Galveston, and the other that communicating with Europe _via_ Madeira. Communication between London and Buenos Ayres is now established in about forty-five minutes, while a few years ago the average was five hours.
_Telephones._——The telephone is used in the capital and the principal towns——Rosario, Córdoba, Santa Fé, Tucuman, Mendoza, etc. Buenos Ayres is connected by telephone with Montevideo (124 miles), Rosario (190 miles), and will shortly be connected with Bahia Blanca (437 miles). The two companies established in Buenos Ayres, the “Telephonic Union of the Rio de la Plata” and the “Co-operative Telephonic Company,” represent a capital, respectively, of £243,963 and £582,032.
All these data, which we merely mention in passing, go to prove that the Argentine has assimilated all the details of industrial progress, even in their most improved forms. Experiments in wireless telegraphy are now being made with a view to communicating at long distance with the steamers leaving or approaching Buenos Ayres.
_Various Industries._——At the end of 1908, according to the statistics of the official industrial census of that year, which was undertaken by the Department of Commerce in the Ministry of Agriculture, there were, in the city of Buenos Ayres, 10,349 factories or workshops, representing a capital of £23,443,144. The sales of these factories, etc., for 1908, amounted to £47,048,773. The raw material consumed was worth £25,223,681. The motive power employed in these factories was equivalent to 105,575 horse-power, and the number of workers employed was 118,315. Of the owners, 14·8 per cent. were of Argentine nationality.
If we compare these figures with those of the municipal census of 1904, we obtain the following results:——
Number of factories and workshops 8,897 10,349 Capital employed £8,733,127 £23,443,144 Sales £16,143,832 £47,048,773 Motive power consumed (H.P.) 19,458 103,575 Workmen employed 68,512 118,315 Raw material consumed —— £25,223,681 Masters or owners of Argentine } 12·35 14·81 nationality (per cent.) }