Progressive Chile

by Robert E. Mansfield

The men who constitute the wealthy class in Chile contrast sharply in characteristics with the women in the same social cast. They have an agreeable, dignified manner and polite address. Intellectually keen, they are quick to grasp a theory and clever in presenting it. Super-sensitive, they are quick to take offense, but will keep a smiling countenance, a polite, unruffled exterior, and even manifest a liking for people whom they inwardly detest. They are drawn together by business and political interests and whenever their interests conflict, enmity and even hatred are the result. This is carried to such extent that in the cities the families of the managers or heads of competing commercial houses or business firms will not associate with each other, and friendship between two Chilean gentlemen engaged in opposition business is the rare exception. Political opponents are enemies so long as their interests clash.

It is generally among the hacendados that political schemes, resulting in combinations of far-reaching consequence, have their origin. When a candidate aspires to an elective office, he makes his wants known to the managers of the party to which he belongs, and assures them of his willingness to pay the required sum to carry the election. After securing the nomination the candidate puts himself in communication with the influential men of his party in the province in which he stands for election. Among these men he distributes the amount he is willing to pay for the office. These confidants distribute the fund among their friends, who in turn re-distribute it, each retaining as it passes through his hands what he believes is the value of his services. There is never any accounting, and no questions are asked. On election day, which is a general feast and field day for the peons, each candidate has friends and money representing him at the various voting places. The peons have no political faith or party, probably do not know, much less care, for what the election is being held. Their votes are for sale, either publicly or privately, to the highest bidder. Those from the same farm, district or village, usually band together, one of the number acting as spokesman. When the polls are declared open the inspectors of registration take their places behind the ballot box, and the bidding for the purchase of votes begins. The agent of one candidate approaches a group of peons and asks for their votes, the spokesman for the crowd asking in turn what is bid for their suffrages. After some bargaining an offer is made. Taking that as a basis, negotiations are then opened by a representative of the peons with the agent for another candidate. When convinced that they cannot secure more the peons close with the highest bidder, and march in single file to the voting place. One by one their names are called, and as their right to vote is admitted, the agent of the candidate making the purchase deposits the vote. After the voting is completed according to agreement, the peons receive the money in the presence of the inspectors, politicians and other voters. There is no attempt at secrecy. There is a law upon the statute books making the purchase or the sale of a vote a crime, with severe penalties attached, but it is disregarded and has become almost a dead letter. The laws of Chile also provide for a secret ballot, but it is neither secret nor sacred. The election of a president in Chile is by the electoral system, the electors being selected by popular vote, and apportioned on a basis of population.

The constitution gives to the poor of Chile the birthright of freedom, and all men are supposed to be equal under the laws of the Republic. Many of those living upon the large haciendas, however, have little freedom of action or individuality and some of them are little more than a part of the general farm equipment. They are dependent and apparently defenseless. Inquilinos almost invariably sell their labor in advance to the owners of the property on which they live. They never leave the hacienda, for conditions are everywhere the same. The rich landowners are powerful enough to force into subjugation all within their domains, and they assert their authority with the arrogance of autocrats. The inquilinos have nothing beyond a meager living; they always remain poor. They are not permitted to sow, reap or do any work for themselves until all the work of a similar character on the hacienda is finished.

The majority of these poor people are honest with their patrons. When crimes are committed it is against others and not their master. As a rule the only offense of which they are guilty is that of harboring friendly thieves in their houses on the haciendas, thereby indirectly aiding in theft committed. If an hacienda changes hands, it makes not the slightest difference with the servants, who remain, many of them spending their entire lives upon the estate where they are born. The average wage of these farm laborers is about forty centavos per day. This low compensation is not due to a surplus of farm labor, for in fact there is a scarcity.

The condition of the poor people in the farming communities has resulted in recent years in an exodus of labor to the nitrate fields and mineral districts of Atacama, Tarapaca, Copiapo and Coquimbo, where they receive good wages and are paid regularly. This inviting field for labor, within the territorial limits of the Republic, is encouraging a more independent spirit among the working classes. That, together with the resentment against oppression so long imposed upon them by the hacendados, has already produced a marked effect and is rapidly growing into a condition of open hostility between employer and employés. The laborers are already organizing themselves into unions which opens a fruitful field for the agitator and the political demagogue. This has been evidenced by organized demands for shorter hours and higher wages among the employés in many of the seaport towns within the past few years. It had its most striking and tragic illustration in the riots in Valparaiso in May, 1903, when the city was sacked and property burned by a mob of striking stevedores.

This independent movement, this breaking away from former conditions had its origin in the revolution of 1891, which inaugurated new and worse relations between capital and labor. The uprising gave the Roto Chileno an opportunity to unmask and to manifest his natural characteristics. Not at first upon a strike plan, but in secret combination against those who employ labor; to shield each other in infractions of the law; to organize a class into a union of criminals that includes in its depredations every act in the category of crime. An undeclared war is waged, unexpressed antagonism, and unspoken enmity have been inducted into being. The policy of weak submission, in which they so long acquiesced, is gradually but surely changing to one of open defiance. Generations of smoldering hatred burst forth in the flame of strife and revolution, and the growth and menacing hostile attitude of labor and capital to-day is the outgrowth of that movement.

These labor troubles, felt first in the populous centers, are gradually finding their way to the farms and haciendas, and it is easy to predict the changed condition that will result within a few years; conditions that will reach the other extreme. There is no class of people so tyrannical, so unreasonable and dictatorial, as the ignorant, the poor and oppressed, when once they hold the balance of power. The Roto Chilenos, as an organized force, would be a desperate, dangerous class, a menace to society and good government. Let us hope that the distance between these extremes will be narrowed, that capital will be given the protection and encouragement to which it is entitled, and upon which its existence depends, and at the same time labor will be given the best remuneration, the broadest field and the amplest opportunity possible. This is a problem that should concern the politicians and statesmen of Chile. The time has passed when the working class will submit to intolerance and oppression, and the fact that conditions are changing, even in a country where the common people cling tenaciously to tradition and usage, must be recognized. The sons and daughters of farmers go to the cities and take service with foreigners. When they return to their country homes they take with them manners and ideas acquired from a different people—transplanted customs from another world. And so, slowly, backward and forward among the people passes the shuttle of changing methods, weaving into the fabric of life new and strange conditions. These influences are making themselves felt in many ways. In the typical Chilean village one sometimes sees among the thatched roof adobe huts, a house with some pretensions to ornamentation. Instead of an earthen floor, and the patio occupied by fowls and animals, there is a brick or tile floor, and the walls are ornamented with pictures. The poncho, which was formerly universally worn by the men, has been almost entirely discarded in the cities, and generally so in the villages. The mantilla, that most unsanitary of articles, with which all the women of Chile formerly draped their heads and faces, and which had also the objectionable feature of giving them a common and unattractive appearance, is fast growing into disuse, and is being supplanted by more modern feminine headdress. The country people are beginning to discard sandals for shoes, and in many ways manifest a more progressive spirit.

A Chileno may appear upon the streets of a city in personal attire the same as that prescribed for gentlemen in any country, but custom in the country prescribes a different standard. A gentleman huaso, well mounted and properly equipped, will have several hundred dollars represented in his personal adornment and caparison, for he must appear “a la moda del campo” (in the costume of the country). The cost of the outfit of the average well-mounted Chilean gentleman farmer may be calculated as follows: Horse, three hundred pesos; silver mounted bridle and reins, seventy-five; silver mounted saddle, two hundred; inlaid silver belt and knife, fifty; silver spurs, seventy-five; poncho, fifty; hat, twenty; special riding suit, one hundred; embroidered leggins, seventy-five; boots, twenty-five; watch and other extras, two hundred; total, one thousand one hundred and seventy pesos, equal to four hundred dollars United States currency.

RODEO.

One of the most exciting of the many peculiar practices indulged in by the country people, and one which requires great skill and courage, is the “rodeo” (method of managing wild bullocks in a corral, by men on horseback). It is the Chilean Corrida, taking the place of the Spanish bull fight, and is an inoffensive sport. A rodeo is an event of much general interest, and is usually attended by large crowds of people, friends and invited guests of the owner of the hacienda where it takes place. Special and elaborate preparations are made, and the rodeo is looked forward to with much interest, not only by those who take part in the dangerous proceedings, but also by everyone favored with an invitation or an opportunity to attend. The company first assembles at the residence of the gentleman giving the function, where all the specially invited guests and personal friends are entertained.