The Dominion THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1917. ARGENTINA, THE WAR AND FOOD SUPPLIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 74, 20 December 1917, Page 6

The Dominion THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1917. ARGENTINA, THE WAR AND FOOD SUPPLIES

The news comes to-day from Buenos Aires that at an influential meeting resolutions were jiassucl urging that Argentina should declare war on Germany. Precisely what weight this counsel will carry with President Irkigoyen and his Government remains to bo seen, but it is quite clear that if she had allowed self-respect and self-interest to determine her policy, Argentina would before now have been at war with Germany, or, at all events, would have broken off diplomatic relations with that country. Germany, it is equally clear, has overy interest in avoiding a rupture with Argentina. Such a development would mean tho loss of almost her last important foothold in South Amcrica, but it is an even weightier consideration for the time being that it would bring the Allies into the closest possible touch with ono of their best available sources of food supply. It is confidently stated that tho strikes which have dono so much to dislocate trade and transportation in Argentina during the last few months are supported by German money. Throughout the war period Germany has dono a great deal by commercial manoeuvring and intrigue to hamper the flow of Argentine exports to Allied countries, and it is a fair reading of the existing situation that her agents are actively working to reduce the Republic to "a state of political chaos and tumult inimical to resolute action in tho realnr of foreign politics, and at the same time to as far as possible cut off the Allies from food supplies of which they stand _ greatly in need. For reasons which certainly do not appear on tho surface of affairs the Argontine Government has permitted extraordinary scope to these enemy activities. President Inni80YEN and his Government are either incurably pro-German or are amazingly indifferent to the interests of the country over which they havo been appointed to rule. They have refrained from action in face of the most damning revelation of German guilt and duplicity. Argentina in common with other neutral countries has been tho victim of German outrage. A number of her ships have been sunk by German submarines. Demanding redress she was assured that Germany would amend her lawless practices, and the ink in which these assurances were written was hardly dry before the American State Department made public the dispatches in which Count Luxburo, German Minister at Buenos Aires, advised his Government that Avgentine_ ships should bp sunk without leaving a trace, and incidentally declared his opinion that Argentine Ministers were a set of simpletons, who might be easily hoodwinked and deceived. It must be admitted that subsequent pvents have lent some colour to this opinion. The revelation of Germany's villainy provoked a tremendous outburst of indignation in Argentina. Resolutions were passed by both Chambers of Congress calling upon tho Government to break off relations with Germany, and in Buenos Aires these resolutions were supported by a monster demonstration, in which many thousands of persons of the well-to-do classes marched through the principal streets to the central Plaza, where prominent men delivered eloquent orations in favour of a declaration of war on Germany. Other sections of the population of the capital manifested their indignation in destructive rioting in the German colony, jln spite of the action of Parliament and continued agitation in tho country for a breach with Germany, tho President has up to the present persisted in maintaining neutrality. Germany, as a result, _ is enabled to pursue her machinations as if there had been no Luxburq exposure, and it is evident that she is making tho most of the presumably unhoped for opportunity thus afforded.

The weakness displayed by tho Government in direct dealings with Germany is paralleled by its toleration of internal disorders, only nominally industrial in origin and inspiration, which threaten to paralyse the whole trade of the Republic. The_ revolutionary strike which, as information goes, is still in progress, broke out in September. At first it affected only tho railways, but its scope has since been extended to other industries. No really comprehensive and detailed account of the upheaval is available, but in its opening stages tho railwaymen demanded heavy increases in wages, amounting in some cases to 100 per cent. Partial concessions, which the Government compelled the companies to make, have aggravated and extended the trouble. _ Tho strike has developed in a series of wild disorders, and various conflicts involving loss of life have occurred between armed strikers and the Republican troops. Thero is a considerable element in Argentina of Spanish and Italian revolutionary Socialism, and by working upon this element Germany has found a ready means of gaining her ends. The total dislocation of transport and trade is undoubtedly very serious, but the Government is apparently making no resolute attempt to restore order. What this means to Argentina and to the Allies is measured by the fact that Argentina has a foremost place among tho food-producing countries of the world. In 1916 she exported to the United States and to Great Britain close upon 4,000,000 quarters of beef and more than two million carcasses of mutton and lamb. To Great Britain alone she exported 3,650,000 quarters of beef, more than twice as much as Britain imported in the year 1916-17 from Australia. She exported to Britain in the same year 1,827,000 carcasses of mutton and lamb. Britain in 1916-17 imported considerably more than three times as much mutton and lamb from Australia and New Zealand, but even in these items tho Aiyntine contribution is important. The Republic also produces a vasfc exportable surplus of cereals—about three million tons of wheat and oats, apart from maize,

of which tho export in 1916 was 2,8(51,000 tons. Geographically, Argentina is much more conveniently placed as a source of supply for Britain and other Allied countries than Australia and New Zealand, and it, is obvious that the Germanfomented and supported strikes which are operating with ruinous cffect upon the trade and industry of the Republic are calculated also to seriously intensify the difficulties of the Allies in grappling with tho food problem, Tho interests of Argentine and those of the Allies in this matter arc identical, for if the Allies need supplies Argentina needs a market and ships to take away her produce. Only the Allies are in a position to meet her requirements, and it is so much the more likely that the Government of the Republic will be driven Co take the course which is plainly demanded by self-respect as well as on the score of commercial interest of casting off Gorman influence and firmly repressing the internal disorders it has promoted.