Panama to Patagonia

by Charles M. Pepper

Under the Peruvian Constitution a first and a second vice-president are chosen, but the vice-president has not exactly similar functions to that official in the United States. The first vice-president, in the absence of the president or his temporary retirement from official cares, discharges the responsibilities of the executive office, and in the absence or disability of the first vice-president the second one acts. But in the event of the death of the Executive, the vice-president fills the office only until an election can be called and a successor chosen. It happened in 1903 that Señor Acorta, who was chosen first vice-president, died before the inauguration. On the death of President Candamo, Señor Serapio Calderon, the second vice-president, discharged the executive functions and issued the call for the election of a new chief magistrate. If the emergency had been pressing, he could have called the Congress in extra session.

The administration between the death of President Candamo and the inauguration of his elected successor was in essence a provisional one. Judge Alberto Elmore was called from the Supreme Bench to become Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of the Council of State. By Peruvian law the nation can have the services of its jurists in political positions temporarily without the necessity of their leaving the bench permanently. I had known and esteemed Judge Elmore as a colleague in the Pan-American Conference in Mexico, and in common with other friends of Peru was reassured on reading the news that he would be at the head of the cabinet during the period of uncertainty that was to ensue. His firmness and equipoise were a pledge of public order, if not of complete tranquillity. Mr. Manuel Alvarez Calderon, the Peruvian minister in Washington, in announcing that the death of President Candamo would cause no halt in the progress of Peru, had spoken with the voice of authority.

After some delay nominations were made by the opposing political parties. The Civilistas united on Señor José Pardo as their choice, and the Constitutionalists endorsed him, he becoming the candidate of this coalition. The Popular Democrats and a political group known as the Liberals named General Nicolas de Pierola, the former President, as their candidate. His career in the stormy periods of Peruvian history for forty years had made him a leading character and he had strong influence with the masses. On his retirement from the presidency he had become the head of a business enterprise in Lima. His old opponent, General Caceres, one of the Constitutionalists, supported Señor Pardo.

Portrait of José Pardo, President of Peru

José Pardo is a member of a distinguished family, one of several brothers influential in the business and politics of the country, sons of the President who founded the Civil party in 1872. He was educated for the law, and had been in the diplomatic service in Europe, but had returned to Peru and was occupied as a sugar-planter when Miguel Candamo was chosen President. He was one of Señor Candamo’s active supporters, and entered the latter’s cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was generally recognized as the coming leader of the Civilistas, and was surrounded by a group of young men who were aggressive in their advocacy of civilian policies. His speech in accepting his party’s nomination was singularly free from the generalities and the apostrophes to Liberty with which presidential candidates and dictators in the Spanish-American Republics are accustomed to season their discourses. Instead it was a plea for a school system, internal improvements, railways, irrigation, harbor works, fiscal reforms, and economical administration.

General Pierola also made industrial measures the leading feature of his programme.

The campaign caused anxiety, though the tension clearly was less than in the previous year in the period between Señor Candamo’s election and his inauguration. Demonstrations by the rival political groups resulted in bad blood, there were collisions with the police in which several persons were killed or injured, and election riots after the manner of some sections of the United States. But these incidents were not numerous enough to show the existence of a revolutionary spirit, and they were dismissed with the euphemistic designation of “electoral effervescences.”

Meanwhile the real electoral contest was going on in the newspapers, in meetings, and by manifestoes and addresses to the public. It soon became evident that the Civil party with Señor Pardo as its leader would triumph. The Pierolistas asked the government for a postponement of the election. This was refused on the ground that under the laws and the Constitution no authority existed for such postponement. Then the Pierola ticket was withdrawn by the Popular Democrats and the Liberals, and their followers were advised not to vote. This action was a resort to the minority method practised in Spain and her offshoot countries in America. It is an admission in advance that the other party will win.

After General Pierola’s withdrawal the Civilistas and their allies exerted themselves against what in the United States is called apathy. To comply with the law and make the election valid, it was necessary to have one-third of the registered vote cast. The proportion of the ballots was much larger than that. Señor Pardo was elected in August and inaugurated in September. He formed his cabinet with young blood tempered by experience. Señor Leguia, who as his colleague in President Candamo’s cabinet had been Secretary of the Treasury and had been the warm advocate of the new industrial policy, was called to the Treasury again and became president of the cabinet. Other members of the cabinet selected also had the confidence of the public. The continuance of civil administration and the dominance of civilian measures were reaffirmed, and it was shown that Peru had taken another stride toward stability by the acquiescence of the defeated party. The opposition made no effort to question the election.