The Argentine has not entered the industrial age—She has no coal-mines in operation, no natural motive forces of any importance.

Mines.—Symptoms of the awakening of the mining industry—Numerous lodes in the Andes—The mines of La Rioja and Catamarca—Mines in other provinces and territories—Mining legislation.

Electric Industries.—Tramways; their development, their perfected equipment, and their profits—Progress of electric lighting—Telegraphs—Telephones.

Various Industries.—List of various industries established in Buenos Ayres, according to the last census, with the value of their products.

Comparison between the statistics of 1895 and those of 1904—Progress realised in 1908—Workshops and factories.

Banks—International character of Argentine banking—Evolution of banking machinery—List of the principal banks, with amount of capital and business done—Conditions peculiar to Argentine banking; the lack of movable reserves—Rates of interest on account, on deposit, and on advances—Statistics of the deposit accounts of the principal banks—Exchange operations: their decrease since the determination of a fixed monetary ratio—The Clearing House; the importance of its operations.

The Bank of the Nation.—Its history—The formation of its capital—Political interference in the nomination of its Directors—Statistics of its accounts—Rapid increase of deposits—Difficulty of realising capital—The resumption of payments.

The Bank of the Province of Buenos Ayres—Its reorganisation—Its present prosperity.

Mortgage and Loan-Banks.—History of the Banque Hypothécaire of the Province of Buenos Ayres—Bankruptcy—Arrangement between the bank and its creditors—Proposal of reorganisation—Laws relating to mortgage in the Argentine—The National Mortgage Bank; statistics of business done—Joint-stock loan companies; their capital and amount of business done.

The Stock Exchange (Bourse).—History of this institution—Its importance; its functions; amount of business done—The decrease in its transactions since the cessation of speculation in currency or the monetary ratio.

The Bourse is a private establishment—Its membership and its regulations—Statistics of business done during the last ten

years—Securities quoted on the Buenos Ayres Bourse—Decrease in the total amount of business done during the last five years—The monetary reform of 1901 as a factory of this decrease—The place occupied by the Stock Exchange in the life of the nation.

Joint-Stock Companies.—The development of joint-stock companies—Legislation affecting such companies—Abuses committed in the formation of such companies, due to speculation—Statistics of capital invested in joint-stock companies before and after the speculative crises of 1890—Revival of such companies, in a sense more consistent with the development of the country.

The financial situation—Continual increase of national expenditure—Great and rapid progress since 1891—Insufficiency of the means adopted to moderate this increase—The Budget Extraordinary and the Special Legislation Budget.

Causes of this increase of national expenditure—The increase of administrative requirements caused by an increasing population; this is the most natural cause, and that most easily justified—Increase of the public debt—The intervention of the State as the promoter or guarantor of important public undertakings—Exaggerated military expenses.

The total sum of national, provincial, and municipal expenses. The proportion per inhabitant—Comparison with other foreign countries in the matter of administrative expenses.

The national revenue—The revenue as organised by the Constitution, and its analysis—Indirect taxation—The customs the chief source of revenue—Direct taxation; its origin in the Argentine; its justification; its yield—Revenue of the industrial undertakings belonging to the State: railways, sewers, posts and telegraphs—The exploitation of the State lands.

Elasticity of the receipts, which follow the development and progress of the country—The accelerated increase of expenditure, and the resulting chronic deficit—Necessity of serious reforms.

Statistics of the public debt on the 1st January 1909—History of the public debt—The first loans.

The financial crisis—Consolidated loans—The Romero arrangement—Loan for the redemption of guarantees—The internal public debt—The total of the Argentine public debt, and its annual cost in dividends and redemption—The proportion of financial charges as compared to other budgetary expenses.

The burden of the public debt is heavy, but not unduly heavy in relation to the productive power of the country—The necessity of restraining further issues and of converting old debts—The efforts of the Argentine to improve her credit.

The persistence of the double currency—The history of paper money—The origins of the premium on gold, and its almost continual increase—The year 1890