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An early 19th-century scene of cattle branding on an Argentine estancia, or cattle ranch, in
Corrientes Province. The workforce on such ranches was made up of gauchos and indigenous
laborers, both of whom are shown here. (Alcide d'Orbigny, 1827, courtesy of Emece Editores)
ging ditches to protect orchards and gardens from grazing cattle. Irish
and English immigrants worked for British sheep ranchers. English
immigrants became adept at digging wells and constructing watering
holes for cattle. Often they charged—and received—more than the land-
owners wanted to pay. Employers favored foreigners, especially literate
Spaniards, as pulperos, operators of country stores. They were thought
to be able to prevent the natives from running up their bills and to be
immune to the latter's “weakness” for liquor and gambling. Immigrants
had opportunities to save money and acquire property by first working
as artisans and farmers. “I have often known poor [immigrant] men
to make one hundred pounds a year each, in making ditches alone,”
remarked a foreign traveler. “In a country like this, where there are no
stones [for fences], a large number of labourers must find employment
at work of this kind . . .” (MacCann 1853, I:227-228).
Public authorities enacted vagrancy laws intended to discipline
workers by requiring that rural residents carry employment papers
signed by their bosses. Rural constables could stop passersby to inspect
their papers. Those without papers could be considered vagrants and
forced into public works or the armed services. Despite the increasing
labor demands, the militia recruitments, and the vagrancy laws of the
first half of the 19th century, adult males working as hired hands may
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