It was Aniceto Menocal, a Cuban, who many years ago traced out for the future construction of a canal across Central America the route which was later recommended by the American engineers at the conclusion of their elaborate and exhaustive surveys. Two young Peruvians have become noted as aviators-Jorge Chavez and Juan Bielovucio. The former was fatally injured at Demodossola, Italy, on September 10, 1910, after having flown across the Alps. The latter flew across safely at the same point in 1913. One of the first and most famous kings of the air, Santos Dumont, is a Brazilian.

LATIN AMERICA'S POLITICAL IDEALISM

Some are inclined to ridicule the democracy of Latin America, and, in fact, it exists practically in only a few of the countries. In spite of this, however, which is due to many historical influences easily pointed out, Latin America's devotion to democracy is wonderful. For example, Mexico in spite of a century of disappointments and sad experiences, although she has suffered much, keeps to her republican ideal. The execution of Iturbide and Maximilian, who dared to suggest an empire, shows this.

The growing vision of equalitarian, fraternal, righteous commonwealths, in which the good of all shall be the quest of each, has become a passion with a considerable group of patriots. If in part it is a recrudescence of the original Spanish genius for individualism and autonomy ere yet the Spanish state was overborne by monarchical absolutism and imposed tradition, this passion is more fully explained by the resilience and creative energy of the Latin American mind itself when once it is free to follow its native élan.

This democratic idealism has only incipiently realized itself in the overthrow of imperialism and the setting up of republics. It has soaring dreams of the future. It utters its prophecies in the political ideology of statesmen, the enthusiasms of sociologists, the fervid eloquence of orators, and above all in the indigenous literature of the young democracies, both poetry and prose. From the early poetsAndrade of the Argentine, Olmedo of Ecuador, Gregorio

de Mattos of Brazil, Marti of Cuba, de Tagle of Mexicodown to the days of Santos Chocano of Peru and of Rubén Dario of Nicaragua, dean of the present modernist school, the American masters of Spanish and Portuguese verse have never ceased to sing of new hopes and alluring prospects rising out of the ruins of the shattered past.

ests.

There is much strength in that devotion to ideal political conditions, so often criticized by those whose god is the practical. Faith in grand sonorous principles, in arbitration, democracy, etc., and generous vagueness of humanitarian declarations, their people in love with the poetical in politics, inheritors of a heroic quixotism, they often invoke pure justice in a world usually governed by selfish interAt times this leads to the most heroic self-sacrifice and the accomplishment of things which the practical Saxon would have considered impossible. Thus Juaquin Nabuco points out that Princess Dona Isabela, regent of Brazil in 1888, declared voluntarily the freedom of the slaves. She thus separated herself from the conservatives, from the landlords and from slave owners and contributed directly to the elimination of the monarchy and the founding of the republic in Brazil. Devotion to a principle cost her the government of an empire. It was only an idealist like Francisco Madero that seemed capable of rousing the Mexican people to revolt against a political and economic despotism reaching back into centuries.

The French Revolutions of 1789 and 1848 both had profound influence on the Latin American, the latter movement finding echo in new parties demanding suffrage, equality before the law and other reforms. The idealism of Lamartine was everywhere shared in South America. He had written in 1848 that "Democracy is in principle the direct reign of God." So groups appeared led by such men as Vilbao and the Lastarria brothers in Chile, Antonio Guzmán in Venezuela, and in Colombia by democratic clubs, one of which, because of its appeal to Christ as the great democrat, was called Gólgotha.

The theory of democracy is more carefully thought out by Hispanic America than by us. We take it for granted, but she studies it. Latin America has made the fullest con

tribution to the elaboration of the theory of democracy made by any people. By virtue of French ideas and North American example they threw off the Spanish monarchy and set up a democracy. With no experience in self-government they were in need of a gospel of democracy to which they could hold, even though they wandered far from its ideal in practice. Some of these early writers seemed almost inspired, in the Biblical sense, so keen was their analysis of the situation.

Montalvo of Ecuador taught that "a sane and pure democracy has need of Jesus Christ." He exalted Christianity as the author of democracy and believed that democracy would be the law of the nations if some day the spirit of the Gospel were to prevail. Lastarria of Chile was one of the greatest students of political economy and defenders of democracy. In his wonderful book, "Lessons in Positivist Politics," he applied principles of Positivism to the evolution of South America and particularly Chilean history.

Juan Bautista Alberdi, almost unknown to us, was one of the greatest students of democracy that has ever written upon the subject. He believed that "philosophy is meant for politics, morality, industry and history, and if it does not serve them, it is a puerile and a trifling science"; while he desired a philosophy "in which are distilled the social and moral needs of our country, a clear democratic progression and popular philosophy"; he defended Protestantism as a religion peculiarly appropriate for republics on a Catholic continent.

His fellow Argentine, Sarmiento, better known, has also written some of the best treatises on government ever produced in America. He became a friend of Horace Mann, while a resident of this country, and found in the United States the larger part of his model, which he worked out later as President of Argentina. Of his more than a score of books, "El Fecundo," one of the best, has been translated into English by Mrs. Horace Mann.

If in the practical development of democracy Latin America has generally been behind North America, this is not true in one important matter, the freeing of the slaves. Simon Bolivar, himself, led in this movement by ordering the lib

eration of the several hundred slaves on his own estate. In the Central American Congress, on December 31, 1823, Father Cañas, rising from a sick-bed, made an impassioned appeal, which reminds one of Lincoln's addresses during his candidacy for the Illinois Senate, thirty-five years later. The worthy father said: "I come limping, and if I were dying I would come as my last act, to perform a noble deed for humanity. With all the energy with which a deputy should promote the interests of his country, I beg that, before anything else is done, and on this very day, our brothers who are slaves be declared free, leaving free the right of those who have legitimately secured these slaves to make their claims and the immediate creation of a fund for the indemnification of these owners. *** The whole nation has been declared free. Thus should also be the individuals who

compose it."

The very first article of the decree which the Liberator of Mexico, Don Miguel Hidalgo, issued in 1810, was "First, that all owners of slaves shall give them their liberty within ten days, the penalty of death resulting in the disobeying of this decree." Hidalgo's defeat caused the postponement of emancipation but this was fully consummated under the presidency of Guerrero in 1829.

The cultured and humane deputy, Manuel Salas, presented and with his enthusiasm carried through the Congress of Chile, on October 11, 1811, a bill which provided that all persons born in Chile should be free, and all slaves who set foot on the nation's soil should thereby become free.

Buenos Aires followed with a similar law on February 2, 1813, and other Spanish American countries followed suit. In 1838 decrees of freedom were issued in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. So it will be seen that, with the exception of Brazil, which was an empire, all the Latin American nations anticipated the Emancipation Proclamation in North America by half a century and by a lesser time the movement in England, which was consummated in 1825.

SOME GOVERNMENTAL REFORMS

Those who are interested in the great social and economic problems that are stirring the world today should watch Uru

guay. It seems heretical for anyone to entertain any doubt that the United States of America, with its president, cabinet, congress and supreme court, as now formed, represents the very last word in democratic government. But Uruguay, after trying that form for a century, has just made a radical change which is expressed in a new constitution just adopted. For some time this progressive little country has been attracting world attention on account of certain social legislation which seemed distinctly radical. Today, with her new constitution, she may be considered the social laboratory of America.

Here, in brief, is what she has done: The power of the president is greatly limited, the executive power being divided between that office and an administrative commission of nine members which is elected every six years by popular vote. This commission prepares an annual budget for the congress, to which it is accountable. Minority representation on the commission is assured by recourse to plurality of votes, as in England. Legislative powers remain in the congress, but the congress also elects the members of the supreme court of the republic, approves or rejects treaties made by the executive and has the explaining and interpreting power in questions involving the meaning of the new constitution-thus taking for the legislative body the power that has always been the peculiar strength of the Supreme Court of the United States. Congress may call on members of the cabinet for explanations of their acts, as in England and France, and the ministers have seats in the congress with power to introduce legislation. When congress is not in session it is represented by a permanent committee, after the Mexican plan, composed of members of both houses, who deal with the executive in all matters of adjustment between the two departments.

Such a comprehensive governmental reform cannot help but yield highly instructive results, and the wise application of the practices and principles revealed ought to make for progress along such lines in all the western nations. The following from one of its distinguished writers is not an overdrawn statement of Latin American intellectual life: