November 16, 2005
Argentina in 1933
I purchased a copy of a National Geographic from October, 1933, to read an article titled, "Life on the Argentine Pampa, with 41 Illustrations, by Fredercik Simpich." Some interesting quotes:
- There is a photo of a device used to prevent "Acting the Pig." When food is served on a farm to the pigs, all the pigs fight for it simultaneously--even crowding out the little piglets, who then starve. So the Argentines put the food for pigs around a sandbox, with a fence around it where the horizontal planks are spaced apart enough so the small pigs can get inside (and thus eat the food spread around it in comfort) while the adult pigs fight for it outside.
- Quote:
Once the prairie-dog-like viscacha was numerous. It lived in colonies, digging tunnels and chambers for its home, which it shared with owls. Looked on as a pest by the farmers, this prairie dog has now been largely destroyed. Many an Irish and other immigrant got his first job here poisoning viscachas.
I saw viscachas myself, while camping there, and for years have been wondering if what the translation is into English but I guess there is none. We sould see their eyes shining at us at night, so it makes sense that they live with the owls. 70 years after this article was written, the viscacha was anything but less numerous--so things that are about to die off, just don't. (Or this is evidence of Argentina's worsening quality of life?). Also interesting how Irish immigrants used to poison them.
- Quote:
More than ever the Midwest American feels at home here when he looks at the familiar farm implements. So many are "made in Chicago." You see whole rows of tractors, disk plows, cultivators, seeders, and many harvesting outfits, as well as wagons, trucks, scrapers and an endless list of small tools and implements, all made in the U.S.A. Moreover, thousands of these machines are now made by local manufacturers.
We know about the "Made in the USA" tag but it is interesting how, 70 years ago, there were significant regional differentiators in this regard: "Made in Chicago" meant something! And what was made in Chicago is consistent with the stereotype of the city today--the industrial center of the "rust belt." Today, the farms of the Pampas are a world away from those of Argentina, it's important to remember that, at one point, the comparison could be made in all earnestness (although the author was probably being hyperbolic even then, trying to hype up Argentina).
- In a section discussing the splendor of the "palatial homes" and summer estates in the Pampas (including a mention of the stereotype of the Argentines as big tippers in Paris!!), the author mentions:
With every facility from harness shop to hospital, these huge estates are self-contained units, baronial in scope. Many are owned by English and Irish families whose bilingual sons are famous in the annals of Argentine sport, especially polo. One big estate vies with another in exhibiting prize animals at the annual Live Stock Show in Buenos Aires, and love of horse racing is above every other emotion. Even in the small, drab pampa towns, on any Sunday, ranch hands from far and near race their horses down the dusty main street. Betting is exciting, noisy, and universal.
Funny how the children of the successful hard-workers spend their lives obsessing over sports and other non-business matters--some things never change--more evidence of John Adam's foresight. The prevalence of betting is also noteworthy: either the Church wasn't that opposed to gambling, or most people ignored the Church then as much as they do today.
- "In 1895 Argentina had fewer than 4,000,000 people. In ten years this number more than doubled." Doubling in ten years? I knew the population grew quickly, but I never realized that quickly! With 4 million people, before 1895, the whole country was mostly empty.
- Quote:
Along immigrant trails into the pampa a scattered fringe of European grass, weeds, vegetables and berries first grew up, where fodder, camp refuse, and seeds were dropped, just as along the Santa Fe and Oregon trails out covered-wagon trains introduced many berries, plants, and fruit trees from farther east.
When I read this, the first thing I thought of was the children's video game--if it can be called that, it was in green-and-black on perhaps the Apple IIE?--of Oregon Trail. Perhaps because of my yeshiva years, some elementary knowledge I know only through games. Video games, therefore, can successfully teach us about history!
Posted by Morgan at 01:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
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