Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-10-09
a SORRY GOVERNMENT.
The Argentine Republic Which Is Not a
RepubIic

w
Republic.
. Theodore Child, in Harper's Weekly.
says the Argentine is a republic in name
only; in reality It is an oligarchy composed
of men who make of politics a commerce.
In the old days the sole object of the con,
quistadores was to acquire wealth rapidly
and such remains the ideal of the Argen-
tines of to-day. In the colonial days the
Spanish or creole population of the towns
lived as functionaries and parasites, profit
ing by the labor of slaves and subdued
Indian tribes. and their aim was wealth,
and never civilization. Hence we look in
vain in the old provincial capitals for
traces of past splendor or for monuments
such as testify to the collective civic care of
the common veal. In the provincial
capitals we find the officers of the repre-
sentatives of the authority of Spain and a
church on which no superfluous adorn-
ment has been wasted, but we see no
benefcent or educational foundations and
no evidence of unselfsh social sentiments
After the declaration of independence the
intestine strife which for years agitated
the country had rarely other than motives
of selfish ambition, for to hold power in
Spanish America has always signifed to
possess the means of rapidly acquiring
wealth.
After the cessation OF the wars of fed
eralists and unitarians and the formation
of the actual republic, with its coustitu-
ton soi-disant on the model of that of the
United States, the race for wealth became
all the more furious as the development of
the commercial relations of the country
helped to create the great fortunes of the
creole ostancieros, or cattle Pin
ned by jealosy, other creoles threw them
selves into politics and became venal
functionaries, the aim being almost per-
sonal enrichment at the expense of the ma
ton. Nowadays the Argentine political
men, with very few notable ex ;eptions
that might be counted on the fingers of
one hand, from the president down to the
humblest local leader, are venal without
shame They are rapacious parasites,
like the comquistadores, like the colonial
functionaries, and like the ambitious
adventures who furnished the directors
and tyrants of the first half of the present
century. Only at rare intervals does a
good, patriotic man spring up and do
something for the country, which in the
normal and iniquitous state of things
pIospers not on account of its government,
but in spite of it. The citizens, as we
have seen, are always crying out against
their rulers. but take no means to change
their condition. Why do they not act in
stead of talking? This question is natur-
al. The answer is not easy to give in a
few words. Briefly, we may say that the
citizens do nothing and can do nothing
against their parasitical rulers, because
they are not organized and not prepared
or educated for republican institutions.
In the political struggles there are rarely
questions of principles. but always ques-
lions of persons. President succeeds presi-
dent, but the aim of all is equally selfish,
and even if the opposition were transform
ed into the government the whole result
would be that one set of parasites would
take the place Of another. In the FIVE
South American republics that [ have
just visited-the Argentine, Crugury,
Paraguay, Chill, and Peru-the political
conditions are more or less the same; they
are ruled by presidents who are as absolute
autocrats as the car of Russia, and even
more so, because they are safe from the
infusion Or influence of European criticism.
The president of the Argentine Republic
or president of Chill is master of the whole
administrative organization of the country
80 completely that no legal and constitu,
tional means can be brought to bear eff
caciously against his personal will or
caprice. He not only dispises the arm
ed force of the country, but the entire
administrative personnel is his creature
and at his devotion. Thus the manipula-
ton of the whole electoral machinery is
under his control, and the citizens enjoy
in consequence right of voting that is
purely platonic. They may vote, it is
true in many cases, as much as they please,
but no account is taken of their SURFACES.
The whole apparatus of reprbiicanism in
these countries is farce, and in spite of
the sonorous speeches of after-dinner
orators they have not yet begun to enjoy
even the most elementary political liberty.