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[[newspaper article top left of page]]
[[bold]]'Americanos Work Too Hard,
Miss Pleasure,' Says Spaniard
Argentine Resident Describes Living 
Methods to Star Correspondent[[/bold]]
^[[May 21 1939]]
(No. 26 of a Series.)
[[bold]]By W. H. Shippen, Jr.,[[/bold]]
Star Staff Correspondent.
CORDOBA, Central Argentina.--
The philosophy of Senor "Nickey" is not entirely of his own invention.
Too often I have heard the gist of it echoed in these parts--"Ah, you North Americanos, you work too hard to find pleasure from the money you make!"
Senor Nickey took time to elaborate on this theme while tooling his American auto over the pampas. The subject--I noticed with some alarm--[[image W. H. Shippen, Jr.]] was more to his interest than the dust traps and pot holes of the country road we were traversing.
"What do you North Americanos think of me? I am the loafer, yes? The laziest bones. Today I am suppose to voork at my office. I, Nickey, declare the holiday. Yesterday was a holiday also, but no matter! Today is a better one!
"I say, 'Nickey, today you do not work. You take your friends, the North Americanos, to the estancia. You and your friends will have fun, yes. You will drive in the country, row upon the lakes, look at the wild birds and fishes, drink a little wine and converse much, yes?"
"That's okay with me."
"Hokay!" shouted Nickey, "hokay!"
[[bold]]Just Around Lot of Corners[[/bold]]
Nickey took several wrong turns while we chatted. He was part owner of the great estancia we were bound for, but seemed to have neglected to notice, on previous trips, just where the land was located on the vast plain.
"Never fear, my franns"--Nickey gave the latter word a Rooseveltian pronunciation, "we will find heem, yes? He's just around a lot of corners!
"I don't worry about it! I hate worry! My boss in New York, he was such a big worryer! I work for heem, learning the mining business -- from the ground up, as you North Americanos say.
My boss, he kept worrying. 'You must get to work at 9 o'clock,' he would tell me, and then, 'What you late again? Was the subway stuck? Did you break your alarm clock?
"Finally I tell him no subway stuck and I don' have alarm clocks on my premises. I say to heem:
"I come to work at 10 o'clock because I never get up until nine!
"He don't understand. I work later than the others, but I nevair get up until nine. My boss say, 'Why take so long for lunch, why waste time dringing tea at 4 o'clock, why smoke at work against office rules'
[[bold]]Hates to Hurry.[[/bold]]
"I say to heem, 'That is my custom. I hate to work before 10 o'clock. I hate to hurry lunch. I hate to work without my tea. I cannot work without my cigarette. I can't think. My boss, he finally get the idea, maybe. He comprehend South Americanos are different. Maybe that's why his company sell much goods here, yes?"
The young Spaniard was quite positive about his dislike for the social customs he say in the States.
"The peoples I met drink too hard, they eat too fast, they talk too loud. I hate to get drunk, I hate to gulp food, I hate to shout! I love to be happy! . . . to ge gay, yes?"
"How can you manage that on the long hours your business mes spend downtown in B. A.?" I asked. "You get to the office at 9--or rather 10--you have two hours for lunch, an hour or so for tea, and then work until 7 or 8 o'clock before going to the movies or theater--after there's dinner from 9 to 10 or later, plus a night club."
"Ah, you Americanos," smiled Nickey. "You pride yourselves on getting to work with your head clear as a bell. If I come to work with my head ringing many [[??]], I say:
[[?]]uch, Nickey--oh, oh, oh! have you forgot your morning coffee? Soooo! I go out and give myself morning coffee--again! It is very good--our coffee, yes?"
[[bold]]Has Work to Do[[/bold]]
For all Nickey's talk, he had gotten up at daylight--not 9 o'clock--and driven us some 400 miles over rough pampas roads, had walked about the estancia, rowed a boat and helped the estancia tenants with the outboard engines. Getting back into the city again, we "North Americanos" were worn out. Nickey delivered us at our hotel at 10 p.m. We asked him to come for dinner.
"Oh, no!" he said. "I have voork at the office! I hate to work after dinner!"
The virtual embargo on American goods has deprived Nickey and other importers of many opportunities for toil.
"But don't worry about Nickey," said a business associate. "He knows how to get what he wants down here. If he can't get it today, he's Latin enough to remember there's always tomorrow!"
[[/newspaper article left side]]
[[newspaper article right side]]
[[bold]]THE LOCAL ZOO[[/bold]]
^[[B. A. Herald April 29]]
(To The Editor).
Sir,--As a lover of animals, may I suggest that Dr. William Mann and Mr. William Shippen should go very thoroughly into the matter of how the Buenos Aires Zoo is run before leaving their valuable collection of animals in the care of the Zoo authorities.
It has been admitted by the Zoo authorities that vivisection is practised in the premise. HERALD readers must remember the article which appeared in the HERALD of November 3, 1936, when strong condemnation of vivisection was made by the late Dr. Roberto Dabenne, the well known natural scientist, who resigned his position at the Zoo after twenty years' service there as chief of the Bird Section. Dr. Adolfo Bolmberg admitted, when interviewed by a HERALD representative, that vivisection was practised at the Zoo on dogs and rabbits, but Dr. Dabenne stated that in one year one Russian boar, and Argentine ostrich and various birds had been tortured on the operating tables, and he also said that the Buenos Aires Zoo was the only one of such institutions in the World where vivisection was practised, and suggested that it was foreign for a Zoo to possess such a laboratory, since its work was contrary to the ideal of the institution itself, which should preserve life.
From various sources complaints have been made to the Sarmiento Society and the Anti-vivisection Society, stating that live dogs from the Municipal 'Perrera' are given daily to the Bears, and an Argentine couple stated to a Sarmiento Member that they actually saw a police dog and a daschund put in the Bears' cage, and said that the fear of the dogs was terrible to witness: they maintained that the dogs are given to the Bears after the Zoo closes to the public.
It is also admitted by the Zoo Authorities that the 'perrera' supplied dogs for vivisection purposed. It is to be hoped that Mr. Shippen, special feature writer of the Washington 'Evening Star' will get into touch with lovers of animals here, and find out how the 'perrera' is run by the Municipality in Buenos Aires. Dogs are stolen by the dog-catchers from their owners' gardens, in many cases, and kidnapped even when on the lead. In Suburban areas it has been known that dogs have been kept for three days in the 'perrera,' without food or drink, because the authorities had no place to keep them--so many were captured. In many cases dogs stolen by the dog-catchers have had to be destroyed because a suspected case of rabies was in the same dog-cart, and when the owners went to claim them a few hours after they were told that their cherished pets were dead.
It is suggested that both Dr. Mann and Mr. Shippen might very usefully go into the matter of animal welfare in this country, and if they are real animal lovers, let the World know what torture goes on here, and how disgracefully animals are treated. A trip to the Provinces, or even the Suburbs, would open their eyes to the cruelty which goes on, and the utterly uncivilized state of affairs as far as animals are concerned. I certainly would advocate a visit to the Mercade del Plata, in Calle Carlos Pellegrini, and other Municipal markets, where the poultry are plucked alive in full view of the public: this is a sight that should not be missed.
Here the majority of the population have no love of animals, and nothing is done in the schools to teach children to be compassionate to animals. The mother of an argentine girl of fourteen wrote the Sarmiento Society that her daughter had to visisect a pigeon, and a frog, if I remember rightly, at her secondary school, and asked the Sarmiento Society if they could do anything to stop children from seeing such sights as it upsets them very much. When such things are permitted by Argentine Education Authorities can one wonder that children have no love for animals?
Perhaps the Argentine Government might do something to help the animal welfare question if sufficient propaganda were made in America and the United States, and in Great Britain and other European Countries, regarding the inhuman and dreadful conditions prevailing here.
Let not the dust be thrown in the eyes of our visitors--the usual feasts and entertainments will be given to them, but if they want 'copy' and a knowledge of the true state of affairs they will find an abundance if they keep their ears and eyes open. Let them be very sure if it is wise to leave their valuable collection with the Buenos Aires Zoo. These animals would be much better off if re-shipped to American, and that country warned of the true state of affairs here. Our heartfelt sympathy is tendered to William and Franciso, and I am sure many animals lovers would gladly contribute towards a fund for their passage to North America.--
Yours, etc.,
STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.
[[/right side newspaper article]]

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