I set out to find a French architect and a few days later señor Dubois shows up. We agreed on a fee of 5% of the total value and he started with the blueprints to submit to the builder Locatelli & Tossi and another one. The price was set at 35,000 pesos payable in 6 monthly installments. A month had hardly gone by when I was summoned by the tribunals to return the property to Mrs Izquierdo due to falsified titles. I immediately seek advise from Dr. sanchez who was a federal judge in La Plata and he advises me to hire a lawyer, despite telling me I had nothing to fear. He gave me Dr. Luis Elizalde’s name, and after having spoken with him, he indicated I would need an attorney. He suggested one that was French and very good. Dr. Benjamin Williams, brother of the auctioneer (Guerrico) & Williams (a long time client of mine, was the judge in charge of the case. I p aid him a visit and he assured me he would deal with the matter quickly and personally. I left pleased and hopeful on account of talks that construction was going to be stopped. At last the day of the trial arrived and I found out that the problem was that the titles done by a certain señor Salvatierra in favour of the Izquierdos were forged. The judge ordered 6 black women to report to the police station for the notary to identify the old owner.
What follows in the original document regarding the trial is so confusing that it has been omitted by the translator from French to Spanish - Enrique Pablo Tarris
Lehoux, who had introduced me to Perotti, offered me 8,000 pesos in exchange for a promissory note to be deposited in the German bank which had just opened at 1800 Corrientes corner with Callao. The manager was a Frenchman who Lehoux new very well. Construction work continued very slowly without coming to a complete halt. My expenses were increasing, having to pay 2,000 pesos to the lawyer and 1,000 pesos to the attorney for court expenses, preventing me from paying the workers who threatened with stopping construction, as communicated to me by their lawyer Dr Ortiz Basualdo (whom I yet didn’t know). Remembering the ease with which I could open a bank account, I went to the “Banco Popular” founded by a client of mine (Mr Pelerano) and updated him with my problems. I needed 9,000 pesos immediately and Pelerano offered me a credit line of 10,000 pesos with my signature as sole collateral. What joy! The workers were paid immediately and the building was completed 3 months later than stipulated in the contract.
Arrival of the family in November a board the steamer “Cordillere” from Bordeaux and our move towards the end of January 1903
Upon the arrival of the family, I did not want to inhabit the old house on Moreno street, renting a small apartment at 1850 Victoria street three days later, across from the congress which was still under construction. The apartment owned by Mrs Ader de Bicker, had three rooms and a kitchen. We paid 90 pesos per month and stayed for 3 months. At last we started moving the machinery, the shelves and the lumber, having lots of work. In the meantime orders were pouring in, and more clients waited to sign contracts, wanting to quickly acquire furniture of all types. I bought two machines, hired a woodturner and applied myself to the end-to-end construction of furniture, avoiding intermediaries. Entire pages would not suffice to list the new clients; Mitre, Alvear, Roca, Benitez, Lugo, Sansinea, Cárdenas, the architects Dormal, Nordman, Lanús, Martín, etc. Soon we had our operating license for the shop. Two years later the strikes that had been absent since 1897 started again. A meeting of furniture employers was held and attended by approximately 700. Most of them were nickel and dime stores and about 40 of them had between 15 and 70 employees. Myself, having 67 workers and labourers, was elected president, position which I held for a year. But all this lower class, who it was impossible to make understand anything, enraged me and I stepped down, telling them that what was needed was a school for businessmen. The strikes continued during 1906 and 1907 and suddenly came to an end.
