File No. 4519/4–5.
Minister Beaupré to the Secretary of State.
Buenos Aires, May 10, 1907.
Sir: I have the honor to report that on the 8th instant the Forty-Sixth National Congress was opened by the President of the Republic, with the usual imposing ceremonies. This event should have taken place on the 1st instant, but the President has been slightly ill, sufficiently so to cause the delay.
To the joint assembly of both houses, and in the presence of the ministers of state, the diplomatic corps, judges of the supreme court, and representatives of the civil, military, and naval departments of the Government, the President personally read his message.
It is a very long document, reviewing at length the administrative efforts of the past year, and presenting the important questions upon [Page 21] which this Congress will be asked to legislate. It contains no startling proposals. Even that part relating to the increase of the Argentine navy, which the President recommended very forcibly in his last message, simply calls attention to the inefficiency of the present naval force, and says:
My Government is of the opinion that, with due regard to the exigencies of the national finances, the naval defense of the country should not be deliberately left in a position of such marked inferiority that it can not be counted upon to respond to its mission if called to defend our coasts.
Concerning foreign relations, the President reports the country at peace with all the world, and, among other things, says:
The most notable diplomatic event of the year was the visit of the Secretary of State of the United States of America to the various South American Republics, including Argentina. The eminent statesman, Mr. Root, brought a message of grateful cordiality and sympathy from the American people and from the distinguished President Roosevelt, and at every opportunity he expressed the most elevated and sincere thoughts respecting the future relations of the American countries, between themselves and with other nations. I shall always retain as one of my most pleasant recollections the visit of Mr. Root, to whose country and to whose person the Argentine Republic paid tribute, through all its organs, by the greatest and merited demonstrations of hospitality and sympathy. The journey of Mr. Root has commenced to bring positive results, for now there is greater vigor displayed in the augmentation of our commercial relations, and, to the benefit of their development, a more generous and resolute action by the public authorities of the United States of America. The European powers, on their part, have offered us frequent testimonials of their consideration and friendship. I have had the honor and pleasure of receiving autograph letters from the sovereigns of England and of Spain, elevating to the first class the rank of their diplomatic representatives in this country. * * * Considering the immense number of foreign residents in Argentina, it is satisfactory to me to add that not a single case has arisen to warrant diplomatic intervention, properly so called. The representatives of the foreign powers are rarely at the foreign office in the interests of their constituents, except in search of information.
The chapter relating to finance is the one which will be read with the most interest abroad, and it is a most satisfactory statement of the financial situation of the country. To quote:
If Providence and national labor should yield us a surplus revenue similar to that of last year, it could not be less than $43,772,000 national money. That was as a matter of fact the surplus of 1906, which was employed in covering extraordinary expenses authorized by yourselves, omitting the emission of bonds on the internal debt. Of this recourse use was made during the year only for the sum of $1,000,177 in spite of the fact that expenditure placed to account of bonds reached $27,419,540 national money on the 31st December, 1906. As the surplus of $43,772,000 did not suffice to cover these extraordinary expenses and those authorized by special laws and agreements, and the estimates for 1906 were sanctioned with a deficit of $5,000,000, it was necessary to use these resources, also extraordinary, to the extent of $11,445,026, even although the executive was empowered by the budget law to issue as much as $42,892,124 national money. Up to the 31st December last the total amount emissible in bonds at any given moment by various estimates and special laws was $53,655,140 national money. The market can not continue under the uneasiness produced by emissions not imperatively required by the national progress, and I esteem that a prudential sum should be reserved to consolidate debts incurred for unexpected contingencies or to meet urgent needs, and that the major portion of this emission should be formally renounced, which course would contribute to the firmness and better quotation of the internal credit of the nation. The internal debt now amounts to $88,243,800 national money and $3,701 gold; the treasury bills in circulation amount to $411,437 gold and $4,995,253 national money; the foreign consolidated debt is $324,333,116 gold. In the first quarter of this year the value of the imports was $54,660,885 gold and the value of [Page 22] the exports $96,946,217, each of which amounts exceeds the figures of the corresponding period of 1906.
I am sending herewith two copies, with translation, of the President’s message.a
I am, sir, etc.,
- Not printed.↩