Evening star., 1927-08-21
CHILEAN RADICALS
EX|LED ON ISLAND
Colony of UndesirabIes Is
Permitted to Have Own
Government.
correspondence of The Star and Mort
American Newspaper Alliance.

|
| American Newspaper Alliance.
| SANTIAGO, Chile. August l.
Chile's new government has a capital
plan for muffling explosive radicals.
1t sticks 'em on an island 500 miles at
sea and points out that it's long
swim back.
That's all there is to 1t. The idea
has the simplicity of genius. They've
got their own little island. and may
evolve any system of organization
they please and do about as they will.
Only they mustn't kill any guards.
Murders must be confined to the
family.
One suspects a sense of humor in
Chile's new administrator. President
| Ibanez, when he says of these Robin
son Crusoe radicals: They were so
| energetic in their denunciations of
| the society which fed them that l do
| not doubt they will display the same
energy in providing themselves with
homes and food"
That was the Presidents succinct
reply TO the labor unions when they
demanded to he told what measures
were to be adopted for the mainte
nance of the deportees.
Not only has Chile deported these
disturbers of its equanimity; it seems
to have made them like it. The radi-
calls got to work as soon as they
landed to plot land for cultivation.
Volunteer for Exile.
1t may be they will found a COM
munistic state, where radicals from
all over the world can establish them
selves far from that capitalistic So
ciety they so revile. Already many
Chilean radicals overlooked in the first
shipload have expressed a desire to
join the exiles voluntarily.
Those now on the island, which is
called Mas Afuera and Is the most
distant of the Juan Fernandez group,
were leaders in the faction which so
harassed the former President, D'Ales-
sandri, and finally brought about his
fall. When President Ibanez stepped
in he found the hornets buzzing about
him.
II can't be annoyed" he said, and
the exile was immediate.
His government rounded up a large
number of the most active commu.
nists and labor agitators and invited
them most urgently to go for a nice,
long sail. The group was made up of
L. w. w. leaders who had organized
| movements against the landlords, an.
archists Of the type of Amador Tire.
vino Traslavina, writer's Of the parlor
radical variety and trade union ex.
tremists.
These gentry were on their intense
ly unwilling way to Mas Afuera before
their friends and supporters had a
chance to go to their aid. And there
wasn't round-trip ticket on the ship.
The island has only one spot where
colony can be started. This Is near
the mouth of stream, and a few
buildings were erected there years ago
for coast and customs guards. Mas
Afuera has a temperate climate and
abundant rainfall facilitates agricul.
ture. The island, which has thick for
ests, has not been completely explored
yet.
Guarded Against Escape.
The Chilean government has pledged
itself to see that the deportees will
not suffer privation. They will re-
ceive help until they are able to es-
tablish themselves on a selfsustain-
ing basis. The government has pro-
vided a sanitary expert, physician
and an agronomical engineer. and at
the same time it has taken thorough
precautions against escape by the
eXiles.
Alone Of the Juan Fernandez group.
which embraces the island made IA
nous by Defoe in Robinson Crvsoe,"
Mas Afuera Is without legend Until
now 1t has remained in almost entire
solitude. Even the seagulls have
seemed to scorn its green forests and
gray rocks.
Mas Afuera today has become a
laboratory in the hands of men dis
contented with the present state of
things. Resting with these men is in
certain way the future Of their doc
trines.
IT they are successful, If they are
able to raise utopian community
300 miles away from capitalistic
republic. their partisans throughout
the world may profit by their example.
But If, through their own fault.
they fail in their experiment; If they
show that while able to criticize they
are unable to construct, then all the
Chllean government expects from
them is that they shall keep their
mouths shut and refrain from inter-
fering with those who can and do
construct.
copyright. 1927. in all countries by North
American Newspaper Alliance)