Argentina needs and is encouraging desirable immigration from Europe, although it is using its best efforts to get rid of those whose purpose is to hinder the progress of the country. [However], the national constitution declares [a] guarantee of freedom and general welfare to people from any part of the world, [while] the federal government shall not restrict or limit entrance into Argentine territory of any foreigners [purposefully seeking to] cultivate land, develop the industries, or introduce and teach arts and sciences.” -Argentinean Ambassador Dr. Tomas A. LeBreton, The Daily Review, Bisbee Arizona, October 4, 1919
According to the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, in the years prior to the outbreak of World War I Argentinean immigration was at its prime. Migration across Argentina’s border was characterized by an influx of foreign immigrants, due to Argentina’s prominence in the international trade industry and its booming cash crop economy.
This 1919 newspaper article was published in Arizona’s Bisbee Daily Review by an unidentifiable author shortly after Allied victory. Its primary emphasis targets Argentina’s distinctly open immigration policy. Since 1901, the Bisbee Daily Review was identified as a high quality democratic publication. Its liberal based views prompted notable news coverage from across the country, despite its target audience being the left-wing residents of Arizona’s small southeastern Cochise County. Although published in this small Arizona newspaper, the article itself draws its compelling information from an international news report in Washington. It prominently exposes the Argentine government’s desperate attempt to promote Argentina as a profitable and welcoming destination for immigrants.
Yet this idyllic public promotion was a clear ruse, fashioned to mask the dire economic situation Argentina faced at the close of World War I. The article reveals that in 1919, Argentina was experiencing a substantial decline of immigration as a result of the war. This loss posed a potentially devastating threat to Argentina on an economic, social, and international level. Consequently, this phenomenon critically exposes Argentina’s desperate need for immigrants, revealing the fundamental vitality of immigration in regards to Argentina’s re-entrance into the post-war progressive world.
However, the article’s claims regarding immigration are paradoxical in nature. While distinctly expressing acceptance of any and all foreigners, it simultaneously decrees that any undesirable or threatening migrant must be restricted and expelled from the country. This distinctly illuminates the structural limitations of Argentina’s relatively open migration policy. Furthermore, this declaration reveals the internally defined societal boundaries imposed on individual incoming immigrants. These societal ideologies emphasized the migration of only ‘desirable’ immigrants, who at the time were considered to be Europeans.
As a primary source, this concise article can aid in answering historical questions addressing the push and pull factors of post-World War I migration in a global perspective context, particularly in regards to European emigration and South American immigration.
-Clara T. Gorman