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Commerce and Industry in Nineteenth Century Paraguay: The Example of Yerba Mate*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Vera Blinn Reber
Vera Blinn Reber*
Affiliation:
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
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Extract

Yerba mate, a primitive forest industry, demonstrates the interaction of private and state enterprise in nineteenth century Paraguay. A low capital investment industry based upon utilizing seasonal and unskilled labor, yerba mate was financed, collected, and sold by the private entrepreneur and the state. Demand for yerba in both internal and external markets assured satisfactory profits for businessmen, above average wages for laborers, and necessary revenues for government. As a major export of Paraguay from the end of the seventeenth century until the War of the Triple Alliance, The Great War of 1864-1870, yerba mate provides insight into government regulations, taxation, price controls, and foreign trade policies. Because of the significance of yerba mate for the Paraguayan economy, the state was involved in both production and trade, although government interest primarily assured revenues rather than state control. A description of the organization of the yerba mate industry and an analysis of government policies supports revisionist studies that the governments of José Gaspar de Francia, 1811-1840, Carlos Antonio López, 1844-1862, and Francisco Solano López, 1862-1870 were pragmatic and rational rather than dictatorial and monopolistic.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , July 1985 , pp. 29 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1985

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Footnotes

*

The author wishes to thank the Tinker Foundation, which made possible research in Brasília, Corrientes, and Asunción, Shirley Mellinger for typing and aid in statistical analysis and Daniel Papiernik and the Media Service of Shippensburg University for preparation of the map.

References

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4 The map was based on the following sources: Demersay, Étude economique sur la maté; Du Graty, Alfredo, La República del Paraguay, trans, from the French by Carlos Calvo (Besanzon, 1862), pp. 143–154 Google Scholar; Mulhall, M. G., Handbook, 1875, p. 385 Google Scholar; Peña Villamil, Manuel, “Breve Historia de la Granaderia Paraguaya,” Historia Paraguaya, 13 (1969–80), 83–97 Google Scholar; Silva, Raul de Andrada e, Ensato sobre a Ditadura do Paraguai, 1814–1840 (São Paulo, 1978), pp. 57 Google Scholar, 207, 209. de Arad, Irene Szumsztjn, “La Granaderia en el Paraguay: Período 1870–1900,” Revista Paraguaya de Sociologia, 10, no. 28 (Sept.-Dec. 1973), 187 Google Scholar; AMAE, ccc B.A. 3, 30 April 1853; Mapa de la República del Paraguay, 1860 by Coronel D. Alfredo Du Graty. For a visual image of the economy of Paraguay during the Francia years simply contrast the agricultural area, and decrease the cattle area particularly in the north.

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9 ANA, NE 829 Autorizaciones otorgades para beneficio de yerba, 1862; Public Record Office, London (hereafter PRO), Foreign Office Section (hereafter FO) 6/135, 18 Feb. 1847 Joseph Graham to Felipe Arana.

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11 Du Graty, La República p. 41. The exchange rate was approximately one peso to five francs.

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17 AMB, Aguirre Papers 031-6-9 no. 1, Cuenta, 18 Sept. 1813. The Robertson Brothers in partnership with an Argentine merchant report a profit of 3,000 percent on one speculation in 1818. This profit was far higher than those indicated for the colonial era. This was extremely unusual, most likely exaggerated as the Robertson Brothers tended to figure their profits without clearly indicating their expenses and at best a one time occurrence. See Robertson, , Francia’s Reign of Terror, 2, 57–91.Google Scholar

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34 ANA, NE 648; ANA, NE 2679 Cuaderno de conocimientos de las rentos de yerba 1848; ANA, NE 1374, Libro Registro de Patentes, 1844.

35 ANA, NE 1693, Registro de Libranzas de yerba, 1864.

36 ANA, NE 2708, Razon de la yerba entregó en el Puerto de la Capital para su venta al Estado, 31 August 1852; AMAE, ccc, Vol. 3, Β.A. 30 April 1853, St. Georges to Drouyn de Lhuys.

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38 ANA, NE 1110, Registro de guias otorgades 1850; ANA, NE 2023, Registro de guia 1851; ANA, NE 1488, Registro de guia 1851; ANA, NE 2579, Secundo cuaderno de conocimientos de las rentas de yerba, 1848.

39 There is some disagreement between the sources PRO, FO 6/13, Asunción 15 January 1855 Henderson to Earl of Clarendon, “Report on the Commerce, Agriculture, and Industry of the Republic of Paraguay,” p. 22 and the tax records. Arquivo Histórico do Ministerio de Relações Exteriores, Itamaratí, Rio de Janeiro (hereafter AHI), Repartiçoes Consulares Brasileiras (hereafter CB), 238.3.2, Asunción 23 January 1859, Amaro José dos Santos Barbosa to José María de Silva Parantes. ANA, NE 2057, Pasaporte otorgadas para el interno 1854: the latter clearly shows that private individuals continue to export on their own account.

40 PRO, FO 59/113, Asunción 15 January 1855 Henderson to Earl of Clarendon, “Report on the Commerce, Agriculture, and Industry of the Republic of Paraguay,” p. 22, suggests that the annual export in former years was 320,000 arrobas and was reduced to 80,000 arrobas. This amount is somewhat exaggerated for the “former” years, but still supports the downward decline of exports. However, profits of private entrepreneurs seemed reasonable even with complaints that government regulation discouraged incentive.

41 AMAE, ccc Asunción, vol. 1, 10 June 1855 Cte Lucien de Brayer to Drouyn de Lhuys.

42 Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (hereafter BN), Coleção Visconde do Rio Branco (hereafter CRB), 1–30,30,23, no. 2, “President López and the Policy of Paraguay,” clipping from Daily News, 7 Sept. 1857.

43 AHI, 238.3.2, Asunción 12 Jan. 1860, Amaro José Santos Barbaro to José Luis Viera Cassnasancas de Liminbu.

44 AMAE, ccc, Asunción 10 June 1855, Lucien de Brayer to Drouyn de Lhuys, p. 32.

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56 This is based on a total export of 216,000 arrobas; see Table 5.

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59 BN, CRB, 1–30,3,70, Berlin 5 October 1864 Alfred Du Graty to José Berges; Ibid., Brussels 31 October 1864.

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62 BN, CRB, 1–30,11,44.

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64 PRO,FO 6/285, 8 October 1869 Stuart to Earl of Clarendon.

65 The best discussion on the problems of forming a government after the Great War and Argentine and Brazilian efforts to control Paraguay can be found in H. G. Warren, Paraguay and the Triple Alliance.