Evening star., 1921-12-25
BY JOHN DUNCAN PAGE.

February /, 1922, is not likely TO
! founder on the shoals of a dictator
| ship as so many similar craft OF
| Latin American construction and
registry have done.
Examination of the constitution OF
the federation discloses the fact that
these who wrote it guarded caretuliy
i against any such misfortune by vest
! in, the executive power in 1ederal
| council much like that of switzerland.
| To this body, otherwise known as the
executive power" is delegated sucn
F., functions as ordinarily are performed
| by the president OF republlc' Inc
| president of the Central American
| Federation will be such in name only;
he will act by the consent and in the
name of the federal council. his op-
| portunities for the seizure OF addl-
| tiuhal power will be almost nom
| eXistant; under the constitution no
| man can govern the country a1ter
the manner of Carrera or Guatemaia'
| or Porfirio DiaZ of Mexico.
The delegates to the federal council
! will be three in number. In Switzer-
| land they are seven. In the SWISS
| federation the members of the fed
! sral council, in practice, are always
elected from the two legislative
i bodies-the council of states and the
national council. The Central Ameri-
cans will elect the delegates to their
| council by popular vote, and congress-
men are ineligible for election as del
egate during the term for which they
were elected to Congress. In the
Swiss republic members of the fed
eral council hold office for terms of
three years each, but commonly are
they wish to serve. There have been
but two exceptions to this rule since
1S4S.
Central Americans regard such
practice with misgiving. Their dele
gates will serve five-year terms and
be ineligible to succeed themselves,
even though they do not control the
election machinery. The president
will be elected by the three delegates
from among their own number and
will serve for one year, when another
delegate must be elected. 1t is eX-
pected to work out so that the three
members of the council will rotate in
the presidency, but it would be pos
sible for two of them to combine and
alternate in the office, thus keeping
the third man out. There seems little
fear that this will be done, as the
president is given SO little power
that it hardly would be worth while.
x X * X
THE federation at present is COM
prised of three states-Guate-
mala, Ell Salvador and Honduras, each
having one delegate to the federal
council. They are DR.. Julio Bianchi,
the minister from Guatemala now
stationed in Washington and who will
sail on January 7, 1922. for his new
post; DIR. F. Martinez Suarez of FL
Salvador, and DR.. Policarpo Bonilla
formerly president of Honduras. One
of these three will be the first presi-
dent of the federation. Nicaragua
and Costa Rica have standing invi-
tations to join, and the latter is ex-
pected to accept membership when
| her congress next meets. Nicaragua
desiring a greater freedom of action
than individual states within the fed
GRAFTON are allowed. In the event
these states join, the federal council
will be increased by one delegate from
| each, and will number five. One rea-
! ha of off for
! delegates at five years is so that,
when the five Central American re-
publics all have become members of
the federation, the presidency can fall
once to each state during the same
term, thus forestalIing jealousies.
! At each election of delegates there
! are two elected from each state, a
| proprietary and an alternate. The
| proprietary will take part in the de-
| liberations of the council when pos
! sible. and vote. The alternate will
! deliberate but not vote, except in the
| absence of his proprietary. Addi-
! tionally, the federal congress will
| elect designates, one for each state,
| who will serve in case of the death
| or incapacity of both proprietary and
alternate. 1t will be observed that.
while the proprietaries and alter
mates are to be elected by popular
| vote. the designates. less likely to
serve, will not be SO elected.
The federal congress will be COM
posed of two houses, the senate and
chamber of deputies. patterned rather
olo Of he fn nd
of Representatives of the United
States. Each state is given three
senators, who serve for six years, and
the term of one senator expires every
second year. Proprietaries and al
ternates are elected, as in the case
of delegates, but by the legislatures
of the states, instead of by popular
vote.
The lower house is the chamber Of
deputies, or representatives. as they
are referred to at least once in the
constitution. They are elected in the
proportion of one for each 100000 in
habitants or fraction of more than
| O,OOO. and by popular vote. Pro-
prietary deputies also are provided
with alternates, who vote in the alb
sence of their respective proprietaries.
X X X X
THE federal district (Tegucigalpa,
L Honduras), which corresponds to
the District Of Columbia, is given
membership in both chambers of the
congress, with the provision that it
shall be entitled to at least one