The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

HIS EXCELLENCY DR. AUGUSTO B. LEGUIA, ELECTED PRESIDENT OF PERU 1908–1912, TO BE INAUGURATED SEPTEMBER 24, 1908.

The national constitution of Peru declares the form of government to be republican, democratic, and representative, based on the unity of the three governing bodies, the executive, legislative, and judicial, each independent of the other in exercise of its authority. The executive power is charged with the duty of guarding the general interests of the nation, by carrying out the purposes of the constitution through a correct and capable administration of public affairs, the president of the republic being the chief executive, assisted by six ministers of State, who direct the departments of Foreign Affairs; Government and Home Affairs; Justice, Worship and Public Instruction; War and Marine; Finance and Commerce; and Public Works and Promotion. The first and second vice-presidents, who are called upon to perform the duties of president under circumstances set forth in the constitution, are elected simultaneously with the president and in the same form, their official term covering four years, as does that of the president. The qualifications necessary to entitle a citizen to become president are, that he shall be a Peruvian by birth, not less than thirty-five years of age, and have resided at least ten years in the country. As stated elsewhere he cannot be reëlected president, nor can he be elected vice-president, until the expiration of an intervening term.

DR. EUGENIO LARRABURE Y UNÁNUE, ELECTED VICE-PRESIDENT FOR THE TERM 1908–1912.

The legislative power is exercised by Congress, composed of two chambers, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Senators are elected by the departments (the largest and most important of the territorial divisions), each department being entitled to from one to four senatorial representatives, according to the number of its provinces. In order to be eligible for the Senate, a candidate must be over thirty-five years of age. The Chamber of Deputies consists of as many representatives as there are provinces or territories of from fifteen thousand to thirty thousand inhabitants. Both senators and deputies are elected for a term of six years by direct vote, both must be Peruvian citizens, born in Peru; and a deputy must be at least twenty-five years of age. The president of the republic, vice-presidents, ministers of state, prefects and sub-prefects of departments and the governors of provinces are ineligible to membership in the legislature until two months after leaving their executive offices; the same applies to the judiciary and to all public employés under the direct authority of the executive; ecclesiastics cannot represent the departments or provinces of their diocese. The regular sessions of Congress are opened on the 28th of July each year, the term lasting for ninety days; extraordinary sessions may be convoked by the executive, with no stated period of duration, though they cannot be continued over a term of more than forty-five days.

The judicial power of the government is administered by a Supreme Court, established in Lima, and nine superior courts, which are installed in Lima, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Huaraz, Trujillo, Piura, and Iquitos; each of these courts has jurisdiction over one or more departments. The court of Tacna, which performed its labors until the period of the war of the Pacific, is still in recess, and judicial questions arising in the section subject to Peruvian authority are brought before the court of Arequipa. In almost all the provinces there are judges of the first instance, and in all districts are justices of the peace.

THE MILITARY SCHOOL, CHORILLOS.

In accordance with the national constitution, the local government of the republic is under the direction of departmental and municipal boards. The departmental board has its headquarters in the capital of the Departamento, as this division is named in Peru; its duties are to attend to the service of public works, public instruction, and works of the benevolent societies, and to revise the acts of the municipal boards. The members of the departmental boards are delegates elected by the provincial councils, as the municipal boards of provinces are called; the municipal boards of the districts into which the provinces are subdivided are known as district councils. The provincial council is composed of citizens elected by the people, foreigners having the right to vote and being eligible for election; from among its members are chosen the mayor, vice-mayor, two recorders who administer the finances of the municipality, and a number of inspectors who superintend its various branches of public service. All these posts are unsalaried. The district council is composed of the mayor, or alcalde, two aldermen elected by the people, and two recorders appointed by the provincial council. The duties of both the provincial and district councils are to govern the towns of their jurisdiction as regards sanitation, hygiene, the supply of water and lighting, the superintendence of public roads, markets, street cars and other conveyances, public amusements, etc.; they also have charge of the civil register and statistics. Primary instruction and the police service are not under the direction of the municipal boards, but under the supreme government. The revenues of provincial and district councils are derived from municipal properties, and chiefly from local taxes called arbitrios, which are imposed with the approval of the supreme government. The proceedings of the district councils are revised by the provincial councils, whose acts are, in turn, subject to revision by the departmental boards.