Evening star., 1935-11-10

TINE firm establishment of the
Paez dictatorship in Ecuador
mas closed an interesting,
= though disturbing, chapter in
the history of that South American
republic. Congress, which had be-
come the arbiter of Ecuador's political
destinies, has been dissolved and the
new de facto regime. supported by the
army, is studying reforms to the con-
stitution which will definitely curtail
parliamentary control of the executive
branch and prepare the way for the
setting up Of a strong central govern
ment.
Not long ago, commenting on the
congressional opposition which was
undermining the Velasco Ibarra
regime, we compared the last five
years of Ecuadorian internal politics
to something like re-enactment of
the celebrated story by DR.. Franken-
stein and his brain-child. The Ecua-
dorian Senate, revitalized and
strengthened by the executive branch
of the government, had grown too
powerful for it and had been succeed
ing in making and unmaking presi-
dents at its will. Its personnel
changed more than half a dozen times
through parliamentary opposition in
less than four years: the Ecuadorian
executive seemed to be at the mercy
of its own creation, a restless and
politically powerful Legislature.
Now that the danger is no more,
and the doors to Parliament have
been indefinitely locked-although not
before it had added the Velasco Ibarra
government to its list of victimS-it
may be timely to recall the high lights
of that period of congressional domi-
nation which has just been brought
to an end in the southern republic.
Italian Pattern Followed.
A few years ago the government of
Ecuador decided to inject new life
into the legislative body of the re-
public by adopting radical reform in
its makeup. With all eye on the
cooperative experiment of Mussolini in
Italy. the Ecuadorian leaders enthu-
siastically transformed the upper
house of their Parliament into a semi
occupational institution in which rep
resentatives of professional classes and
organized groups were given seats be-
side those OF the traditional repre-
sentatives of the sovereign people
elected by direct suffrage.
Half the membership of the Ecua-
e+i Loft fO
torial representation; that is, one
Senator for each "departamento," or
territorial division. of the republic; but
the other half was allocated to ''occu-
pational. representation, that is, Sen
ators appointed by various callings, as
follows: One representative of the
universities, one of teachers Of high
and special schools, one of teachers
of primary and normal schools, one
of the press and scientific academies
and societies. two of farmers, two of
commerce. one of industries, two of
working men. two of the rural popu-
lation and one of the national armed
forces.
. In this manner the Ecuadorian Sem
ate was converted into seml-tech-
nical entity, in which for the first
time the various professional classes
and the organizations which consti-
tute the social fabric we're given a
chance to participate in directing ma
! tional affairs.
That, at least. was the aim OF the
men in the Ecuadorian government
who brought about the reform. but
they overlooked one fact-they forgot
that those of their countrymen who
are interested in public affairs are. by
tradition. by education. by environ
ment, "politicos, above everything
else. They may be technicians, pro-
J fessionals, intellectuals, but, if they
are in public life, they are also. with
very few exceptions, ''politicos." and
that applies to the rest of the Latin
American countries. A mere electoral