Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1889 — ITALIANS IN ARGENTINA. [ARTICLE]

ITALIANS IN ARGENTINA.

Over a Million Have Settled There in Thirty-Three Years. During the last thirty-five years about 1,500,000 immigrants have reached the Argentine provinces, says the London Spectator. Of these 65.25 per cent are officially set down as Italians. The figures, however, do not sufficient'lydiuijjiaii&rthftffrreal preponderance.— In the first place, a Wurth of the total immigrants are not classified except as entering the state by way of Montevideo, where it is very common for transshipments of passengers from Europe to take place. Probably if the Montevideo returns were ah* alyzed the percentage of Italians would work out as not less than 75 per cent of the whole. But there is another and still morel important fact to be borne in mind. The Italians in South America increase with remarkable rapidity, the marriages made between them and the natives proving peculiarly fruitful —a circumstance not observed in such a high degree among the other immigrants. In 1885 the Italian chamber of commcrce of Buenos Ay res calculated that the inhabitants of Italian birth aud parentage then residing in the republic numbered over 1.000,000, while at the present moment it is estimated that persons in whom Italian blood or Italian race influence predominates constitute more than half the existing population, now reckoned tb be over 8,500,000. Under such circumstances can it be doubted that in a very few years the Italianization of the valley of the Plate will be complete? The only fact that tells against such a supposition is the newly-adopted immigration policy of the Argentine government, which has lately instructed its agents jn Europe to do all in their power to attract immigration from among the northern races. The danger of being swamped by the most vigorous of the Latin peoples is fully realized at Buenos Ayres, and considerable numbers jof Belgians, Hollanders, North Germans, and Swedes havo already been attracted by almost free passages and generous grants of land. We doubt, however, the continued success of such a policy. Emigration flows with difficulty in new channels. '