Evening star., 1932-09-18
BY GASTON NERvAL.

~ URING the last few weeks,
nearly all the 20 Latin Ameri-
can republics lying on the
- other side of the Rio Grande
have celebrated their national
birthday. Colombia, Peru, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Uruguay, the Dominican Re-
public, Brazil, Mexico and the five
Central American States had their
fourth of July" at short intervals.
In most of the cases, as I pointed
out in separate articles in these same
columns, this year their national ami
versary found those countries In most
interesting period Of their political de-
velopment- AS their respective national
emblems were raised to commemorate
their civic glories. the Brazilians were
engaged in a bitter civil war; the
Bolivians disturbed by the prospects
of an armed international conflict; the
Ecuadoreans sitting on top of politi-
cal volcano, which soon afterward
broke up with terrific violence; the
Hondurans and Nicaraguans preparing
for presidential elections.
In most of the other countries men
toned, political agitation and domestic
problems of decisive nature were also
paramount as their national holidays
came up in the calendar. Now, once
more, the case is true. and particularly
so of the Chileans. who celebrate today
the 1920 anniversary Of their existence
as an independent, sovereign republic
Chilean Conditions Unique.
AS the inhabitants Of the southern
most Latin American State pause today
to mediate upon the glories of their
War Of Independence. they will find
hA laI
unique in their republican history. The
traditional commemoration of "el die
ciOcho" Is lent particular signifca nee
this year by the political and economic
changes which in the last few months
have been made in an attempt to trans
form the social structure Of the Chilean
nation.
These changes began little over a
year ago. when an indignant ma jority
Of the Chilean people, first by passive
resistance and then with the support
of the armed forces. succeeded in over
throwing the militaristic regime of
Dictator-President Carlos Ibanez.
The Ibanez administration had been
one Of open dictatorship and suppress
sion of individual rights. A distin-
Benjamin Cohen, addressing the other
day the Williamstown Institute of
Public Affairs, described thus the Ill
fated regime Of Gen. Ibanez:
THE press is silenced, public opinion
prevented from expressing its griev-
ances Men are exiled to remote cor
ners of the republic and deported from
the country. Congress is just a COM
placent body Of men trembling at the
clicking of cavalry spurs. Radical
labor is prosecuted and brutally sup
pressed. Loans are f1oated abroad with
eager bankers and the proceeds largely
squandered in non-productive under
takings. Bureaucracy is strengthened,
given a high scale Of salaries; hun
dreds of military and civilian officials,
with fat allowances, travel abroad on
all kinds of unnecessary missions Cor
ruption, inenciency and nepotism are
rife. - = Ibanez, a well meaning auto
crat, surrounded by flattery of the
worst kind. develops into manifest
destiny egotist. He is ignorant of the
trend of affairs around him and fails
to see that the whole structure Of his
power Is built upon shifting sands
Troubles Not Ended.
1t was this regime of political alb
solutism and administrative dishon-
esty that the Chilean masses-awak-
ened by the virile rebellion of the
Santiago students, and supported by
leaders of the army and navy-over-
threw last year. adding Chile to the
long list of Latin American nations
who have changed their governments
by force since the world depression
set in.
But Chile's troubles did not come to
an end with the downfall of the die
tatorship. They had merely begun
then. The men who took over the
| reins of the administration were over
| whelmed by the task of rebuilding its
shattered financial condition. The pub
lie debt of the nation had been in
creased by almost $50 per cent. Con-
cessions had been granted to corpora
tions and individuals, with little con-
cern for the public interest. which it
| was now difficult to terminate. The
| treasury, into which foreign bankers
had poured millions of dollars. was
empty. Really, bankruptcy stalked the
/ nation.
These problems Of government. to-
gether with the political efervescence
caused by the upheaval. proved too big
| for the men who succeeded 1banez in
power. Several rapid, though orderly,
shifts were necessary in the makeup
of the temporary government, before
one Of relative stability could be estab-
lished. Finally, when following an cleo
toral contest which surprised everybody
for its orderliness and the considerable
majority accorded the conservative can
didate, Senor Juan Esteban Montero.
who was inaugurated constitutional
President of Chile, optimist observers
| thought that the storm had definitely
passed and that new days of peace, re-
organization and prosperity lay ahead
of Chile.
Social Undercurrent Present.
Subsequent events have shown that
it was an error to assume, just because
the conservative elements were clever
enough to take advantage Of the disor-
ganization and internal rivalries of their
opponents in the presidential election,
that all that the Chilean people wished
was a mere change in the persons con-
Quoting the public interests from the
"Palacio de la Moneda."
Ever since the days of Alessandri, the