AMERICAS OF THE SOUTH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20316, 26 January 1928, Page 16

AMERICAS OF THE SOUTH.

CAN BRAZIL HOLD TOGETHER? TEST AT ELECTION OF NEXT PRESIDENT. The growth in South America of the Labour Partv —variously labelled Socialists or Syndicalists, with Bolshevists and Anarchists thrown in as lively makeweights—into a very powerful feature in the national life, is to bp carefully noted, and especially in Argentina and Uruguay. In Buenos Aires the Socialist members are very strong on the municipal governing body; and their influence on the conditions of and limitations on the concessions or (in the North American sense) franchises granted to private concerns for public services, is particularly known to financiers in both London and New York. In Uruguay Syndicalism is a power, though it was strained to breaking point last spring, when it suddenly declared a general strike at the very beginning of tourist week, as a protest against _ the Governor’s dealings with the trade unions. It started one Friday and was over ay the next, the first breakaway—strange as it may sound to English readers—being, what can be termed the Newsboys Union, ■which could not bear being shut out from the profits promised by the eagerly-ex-pected result of a football match in North America between Uruguayan and “ Yankee ” teams. LABOUR LEGISLATION. In all three countries visited the Labour influence is great, and Labour legislation has had results of a far-reaching and even sweeping kind. Uruguay, the smallest of all South American republics, has actively intervened in both wages and hours. Seven years ago the National Administrative Council (a body which, with the President, virtually governs the country, though there exist both a Senate and a Chamber of Representatives) issued a decree establishing an eight-hour working day, for labourers and artisans alike. Three years later a minimum monthly wage for agricultural labourers, coupled with the provision of food and lodgings, with Sunday holidays attached, was enacted. The eight hours day likewise has been established in the other republics, and compulsory weekly as well as annual hoiidays have been provided for. More drastic enactments in favour of the worker may be looked for unless reaction comes as a consequence of organised outrage m freedom’s name. PRESIDENT’S POWER.

The mixture of legislative enactment and administrative decree here noted reveals a phase which once more proves that, however perfect a constitution on paper, it is its practical working rather than its theoretical perfection which proves its worth. , „ Modelled in many ways on the Constitution of the United States, nothing more democratic than the South American governing system can be wished, in enect, the real power lies in the President and those immediately surrounding him. In each of the Parliaments there are parties, and in these homes of orators are heard a multitude of speeches. But the freezing out of a too zealous critic is carried to a fine art in some of these countries; and, quite as truly ae Louie XIV, a strong President can exclaim: “ L’etat, c’est moi! ” BERNARDES’ EXIT.

Yet the great limitation remains that the French ruler had a life tenure; the South American is bounded by a four years’ limit. What this means has been strikingly illustrated in Brazil within the past 12 months. Senor Bernardes, who was President until a year ago, ruled with an iron fist; and he put down the Sao Paulo rising of three or four years since with a ruthlessness which begat a blood feud. After his passing from power at the beginning of this year, President Washington Luiz, his successor, secured for him a seat in the Senate; and a hint was given that for safety sake he had better quit the country. I saw him last May come to the Senate to take the oath; and the streets of Rio de Janeiro surrounding the Congress Hall were thronged with angry men, shouting murderous threats, and held from personal violence only by a strong police and military force.

Early the next morning, despite the threats of the “Paulistas" that the exPresident should not leave Brazil alive, he sailed secretly at dawn and proceeded to Europe. There he is understood to be studying the intricacies of French finance, a subject in which he is said to claim to have been long interested. These untoward happenings to Senor Bernardes illustrate not only the unforseen consequences of an apparently limited Presidential power, but the fissiparous tendencies which may yet rend Brazil, not in twain, but in three parts, having Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and some northern city as the respective capitals. The country is so vast —the progressive and increasingly prosperous State of Sao Paulo alone is almost as large as France —as to threaten to fall asunder of its own weight, unless always held together by a strong, though not necessarily a ruthless hand.

in Dr Washington Luiz, who showed splendid capacity as Governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil has to-day a President who —save from some currency heresies whicn temporarily have worked his country much financial harm—has done well. But the choice of a successor will prove an acid test.

Each of the three divisions already named into which the country almost naturally falls, will put in a claim for its own " favourite son.” And, unless one of them can produce another Washington Luiz, it is to be wondered what will result. PRISON REFORM. Yet, amid much that may make for unrest, 'here‘is a deal that promises hope. While, as has been shown, education, speaking generally, is progressing, and especially in Uruguay and’ Argentina, marked movements are afoot for social reform. The most striking example in the direction of the more humane treatment of prisoners I have ever seen—and I have visited a number of penal establishments in this country, convict and county prisons alike—is the great Penitenciario, the State of Sao Paulo’s contribution to the solution of the convict problem.