The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-12-11
The Growing Power of the Repub-
lie of Chile.

After the perfection of its national
independence, the Chilean government
soon passed into. the permanent control
of civilians, while the other govern
ments of the west coast remained prizes
for military chieftains. "Its present con-
stitution was framed in 1888, and though
it is only half a century old cit is the
Oldest written national constitution in
force in all the world except our own,
unless the Magma Charta of England
be included in the category" The
political history of Chile during the
fifty years of its life has been that of
well-ordered commonwealth, but one
# q most unusual and interesting sort.
Its government has never
been forcibly over-thrown, and
only one serious attempt at
revolution has been made. Chile is in
name and in an important sense a re-
public, and yet its government is an oil
garchy. Suffrage is restricted to those
male citizens who are registered, who
are twenty-five years old if unmarried
and twenty-one If married, and who can
read and write; and there is also a strin-
gent property qualification. The con-
sequence is that the privilege of voting
is confined to an aristocracy; in 1876,
the total number of ballots thrown for
president was only 46, LA in a popula-
tion of about two and quarter millions.
The president of Chile has immense
powers of nomination and appointment,
and when he is man of vigorous will
he tyrannically sways public policy, and
can almost always dictate the name of
his successor. The government
has thus become practically
vested in q comparatively small number
of leading Chilean families. There is no
such thing as "public opinion" in the
sense in which we use the phrase, and
the newspapers, though ably conducted,
do not attempt, as they do not desire, to
change the existing order of things.
History" says Mr.. Browne, "does not
furnish an example of more powerful
political machine under the title OF re-
public; nor, I am bound to say, one
which has been more ably directed so far
as concerns the aggrandizement of the
country, or more honestly admin
lstered so far as concerns pecuniary cor
ruption. The population of Chile
doubled between 1S43 and 1875; the
quantity of land brought under tillage
was quadrupled; copper mines were
discovered, and SO worked that Chile
became the chief copper-producing
country in the world; some of the sill
yer mines rivaled the Comstock lode;
more than one thousand miles of rail-
road were built; foreign export trade
of al
and two powerful iron-clads, which
were destined to play most important
part in Chilean affairs, were built in
England. Meanwhile, the constitution
was officially interpreted so as to guar
antee religious liberation, and the po-
itical power of Roman Catholic priest
hood diminished, Almost everything
good, except home manufactures and
education, fourished. The develop
ment of the nation in these years was
oh a wonderful scale for South Ameri-
can state, and the contrast between Chile
and Peru was peculiarly striking. Com
paratiye purity and strength of race,
born out Of hardship and producing po-
litical stability and honesty and person
al courage, seemed to be the prime fac
tors in the Chilean distinction. And
yet the two peoples were the descend
ants OF the same European race and of
kindred Indian races. Doubtless the
difference in climate was entirely favor
able to Chile. Apropos, one recalls
Mr.. Edward Everett Hale's rule for de-
termining in advance the length of
South American outbreak: "Multiply
the age of the president by the number
of statute miles from the equator divide
by the number of pages in the given
constitution: the result will be the
length of the outbreak in days. This
formula includes an allowance for the
heat of the climate, the zeal of the
leader, and the verbosity of the theor-
lists. July Atlantic.