Viewing page 70 of 146

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[start newspaper cutting 1]]

[[bold]] Passing of Old-Time Cowboys Mourned in Argentina [[/bold]]

[[bold]] Modern Gaucho Phoney, Students Say, Pointing Out His Defects [[/bold]]

[[handwritten]] May 26 [[/handwritten]]

(No. 30 of a Series.)

[[bold]] By W.H. Shippen Jr., [[/bold]]
Star Staff Correspondent

  Buenos Aires - What has become of the North American cowboy? 
  Did he saddle his bronco and ride off into the blue, headed for the last round-up - or flag a Westbound express with a Hollywood contract in his pocket?
  The answet to that question might furnish the youth of the Argentine with a clue to where the Gaucho went ... the restless Gaucho, who leaned against the free wind of the pampas with such regularity hat his hat brim folded back against his forehead. 
  The Gaucho, part Spanish, part Indian, ranged far and wide - beyond the fences, the farm dwellings, the growing settlements. He had his horse, his great sheepskin saddle, his beloved silver trapping, his fine, hand-woven pancho, his knife for eating and fighting, his quirt, lasso, boleadoras and huge silver spurs. 
  He was an independent, self-sufficient man, free to follow the cattle which drifted like cloud shadows over the pampas. He was equipped to fight, frolic, race, gamble the silver coins on his belt, or banquet on the fat of the land - the cattle and sheep whose flesh he consumed with such gusto. He drank his wine and he had his fun in his day. 
        [[bold]] That Day Is Gone [[/bold]]
  But that day is gone now. the trappings of the old Gaucho are museum pieces and his successors fall short of traditions which survive only in story. Young people here read about the Gaucho and mourn his passing - even rather cynical college students, bred to the city. 
  Some of our friends, the students, were good enough, on a trip to the back country, were good enough to point out the defects of the modern, "streamlined" Gaucho - a "phoney," they called him. 
  "Look at his hat!" they said. "It has a flat brim. He never rode hard enough against the wind to fold his brim against his head! Look at his boots! His toes are inclosed in leather and he uses a modern stirrup. In the old days Gaucho boots were cut off at the toes. The Gaucho rode Indian fashion, gripping a knotted rope between his toes!
  "He fought with boleadoras and knife. Can you imagine a 1939 Gaucho challenging an enemy to a duel for his life? or roping a steer, a hore or an ostrich with his boleadoras? He has sold all his boleadoras to antique shops!"
        [[bold]] Lived in Mud Huts [[/bold]]
  The Gaucho of old spitted his meat on iron rods dug into the ground and leaned over a bed of coals. When he wasn't lying out on the pampas he lived in mud huts thatched with pampas grass. His excess baggage was transported in a covered wagon on two wheels. He stitched into his belt the coins he did not hammer into silver spurs, bridle trappings and saddle accessories. 
  His knife, with its heavy silver handle, was made of Toledo steel, or improvised from the bayonets of invading armies. The British attacked the Argentine during the Napoleonic wars, and the liberator, San Martin, fought off the legions of Ferdinand VII of Spain, sent by the mother country to subdue rebellious colonies in South America. 
  The Gaucho used his knife, among other things, to slice his own cut from the barbecued meat. The college students told us he would take a piece of meat between his teeth and chop it off with a keen blade. 
  The old Gaucho ate beef and mutton in prodigious quantities - modern Gauchos follow suit, according to a young resident of Buenos Aires who employs them on his estancia in the south. 
  "Three of those boys," said the ranch owner, "can eat a sheep at one sitting! I ought to know - they're my sheep!"
    [[bold]] Hollywood Offer Refused [[/bold]]
  One of the best selling books here is a classic treating with the life of old-time Gauchos on the pampas. The widow of the author recently refused a fabulous offer from Hollywood for the film rights on the book. Her reason was that the film directors planned to edit the book after their own ideas. She insisted that neither the letter or spirit of the book be altered. She backed her refusal with the contention that even Hollywood could not duplicate the Gauchos of old. 
  Washington Zoo Director William M. Mann is inclined to agree. A friend of his with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus asked him at the opening in Madison Square Garden to make inquiries in the Argentine about hiring some Gauchos for the Wild West Spectacle. 
  "If you can find any Gauchos who will outride and outrope our rodeo boys," the circus agent said, "please get in touch with me. I want to hire them!"
  Dr. Mann hasn't found any circus Gauchos yet. The old-timers, like the American cow punchers, have left for unknown pastures. 
  One thing more about the ancient Gaucho. He draped his lower extremities in a cloth that folded something like a baby diaper, and, believe it or not. 
  The hem of his trousers was embroidered!
  [[italics]] Next: Beefsteak economics [[/italics]]

[[end newspaper cutting 1]]

[[start newspaper cutting 2]]

[[bold]] Poorest Argentine Laborer Enjoys Better Meat than Average U.S. Housewife Gets [[bold]]

[[bold]] Steak So Tender It Cuts With Butter Knife is 23 Cents [[/bold]]

(No. 31 of a Series)
[[bold]] By W. H. Shippen, Jr., [[/bold]]
Star Staff Correspondent

  Buenos Aires. - People who dislike beefsteak had best wave this aside. 
  Their interest would be purely academic in the question: "Why can't the American family of modest means afford to sit down oftener to a tender, tasty steak?"
  Why can the poorest Argentine laborer buy better meats for his wife and children than American executives, skilled tradesmen or salary and wage earners in the higher brackets?
  At the best hotels here a peso (now about 23 cents) will provide a choice cut of grilled steak 2 inches thick, very sweet, and tender enough to be cut with a butter knife, a steak which might (but probably couldn't) be duplicated in the states for $3 - enough to buy half a beef in the Argentine. 
  The answer to this question is an involved one. Experts disagree and economists debate the issue. Lush grazing lands of the Argentine fatten cattle 12 months a year; stall feeding is a luxury rather than a necessity, and labor costs are lower all down the line - from gaucho to packing plant employee.
  [[bold]] Britain Likes Argentine Beef [[/bold]]
  The possibility of importing the foot and mouth disease to the States seems strong enough, from one viewpoint, to continue the embargo on Argentine meats indefinitely. It cost California and the Federal Government millions to eradicate the contagion on the West coast 15 years or so ago. The epidemic, it was said, started from a shipment of meat to San Francisco from the Argentine. Even wild deer in public parks were rounded up and slaughtered to stop the spread of illness to hooved stock. 
  On the other hand, England imports great quantities of local meat without spreading the disease, said to be common there in a mild form. Our English cousins buy large amounts of meat, wheat and corn - and do not hesitate to point out, when they come in competition with American-made goods, that they accept a product that the United States has sought to stigmatize. 
  The Argentines are intensely proud of their beef. The people here (it's astonishing how many are interested in the subject) say President Roosevelt promised them he would do his best to break the trade blockade between the two nations. The fate of a bill in Congres to ratify a sanitary agreement between Argentine and the United States is front-page news in Buenos Aires almost daily. 
  The agreement was worked out by experts to permit a limited exchange of meat products between the two counties under a rigid inspection system. The United States was to send inspectors here to certify the quality of the exports. Another front page news story has been the controversy in America over the purchase for the Navy of Argentine tinned beef. Statements of degislators in the States are quoted here at length, pro and con. 
[[bold]] Ban on U.S. Good Continues [[/bold]]
  Meanwhile a virtual embargo on American goods continues. Importers ore closing shop or loafing around their offices with nothing to do but hope for the future. However, the Argentines still buy American motor cars, farm machinery and lumber, despite high duties and government restrictions on import permits.
  The typical Argentine likes a big, roomy, powerful car. The tiny, economical machines of British and German manufacturer cramp this style. Therefore he buys 94 per cent of his automobiles from the states, although they cost about twice the Detroit quotation. Too, the farm machinery developed for the prairies of the states is better suited to local needs than anything England or Germany can supply. The Argentines buy lumber from the states out of necessity. 
[[Photo--Man in row boat on river surrounded by banks with trees and vegetation]]
[[bold]] AN ARGENTINE HUCKSTER [[/bold]]
-In a picturesque setting, the Argentine grocer in the Delta country makes his rounds in a rowboat delivering bread and fresh meat, which he hangs on trees at the landings.  This photograph was made by Correspondent Shippen from the launch Ceres.
[[break]]
reduction on express train supplementary charge.
2. A National Exposition abonnement, available for 16 days, at the price of 45 francs, third class; 60 francs, second class, and 75 francs, first class.  Within its validity this ticket entitles the holder to four days of unlimited travel over the Swiss lines indicated on the abonnement, the days to be chosen by himself.  On the remaining 12 days the ticket will enable its owner to buy 20 single or return trip Swiss tickets at a reduction of 50 per cent.  The abonnement is furthermore good for one free admission to the exposition.  For a modest additional fee it gives the privilege of a 7-day extension of the validity.