the whole nation. It was evident that the success of the legislation which was bound to follow was already assured. It was in fact but the first step towards the introduction of a bill for the reform of the whole electoral system, which was destined to effect a sweeping political change. It soon became manifest that Roque Saenz Pena was no dreamer, but that he fully intended to carry his schemes into effect. The obvious inference to be drawn from his conduct was that he felt, above all, anxious to prevent corruption in the elections, to guarantee the purity of the ballot and the free exercise of the vote, in order that the candidates elected should be the true representatives of the people.

In January 1912 he laid before Parliament his Electoral Reform Bill, which at once met with keen, though not unexpected opposition; many members, elected under the old régime, perceived the risk of losing their seats under the proposed new system. The moral value of the Bill, however, was recognised, and the majority of members, though not pinning much faith to its working in actual practice, gave it their support; it seemed, on the face of it at any rate, a step in the right direction.. Saenz Pena, strange as it may seem, found public opinion inclined the same way, both before and after the passing of the Bill. Though favourably disposed towards it, people were somewhat sceptical. They believed that it would be inoperative owing to the attitude of the politicians of the old school, who would probably find some means of evading the new law; they were afraid that corruption would still triumph, that the masses would vote no more freely than before; and they looked upon the whole thing as an impracticable Utopia. After a brilliant defence by the Minister of the Interior, M. Indalecio Gomez, the measure, despite all opposition, passed through the Lower House to the Senate and shortly afterwards became law.

The new statute established compulsory voting and the secret ballot, and provided for representation of the minority. The elector now no longer holds a civil certificate, as formerly, but a military one, which contains his signature, his photograph and his finger-prints; and the register used in the elections is compiled by the officials of the War Office. This arrangement not only

acts as a great check upon impersonation, but has the advantage also of doing away with the old method of the census; the register is now not only a list of all citizens, but a list also of all those citizens fit for mulitary service. The register, after being drawn up by the War Office, is revised by the federal judges, to ensure its accuracy. Any person on the list, who refuses to vote, is liable to a penalty of ten piastres or two days' imprisonment, while public servants are prohibited from taking any active part in the elections and from becoming candidates, without having previously handed in their resignations.

In order to record his vote, the elector has to present himself at one of the polling booths of his parish and take his military certificate with him. The officer in charge, after identifying him, hands him a special envelope and allows him to pass into the voting-room, where he finds the voting papers of each candidate. There the voter exercises his choice and places the paper in the envelope, which he then seals and slip into the box as he goes out, in the presence of the presiding official. The counting takes place in public, and the validity of the voting papers is secured by a committee composed of the President of the Court of Appeal, the President of the Municipal Council, and one of the federal judges. As formerly, Congress is the suprem tribunal for all questions concerning the validity of elections.

On April 7, 1912, the election of sixty deputies-to take the place of the half about to resign-gave the people their first opportunity of testing the new law and verifying the promises of strict impartiality that had been so freely given. The result showed that the President had been right; it confirmed his faith in public opinion and confounded the adversaries of the new system. It was a complete success. Out of an electorate of 934,401 persons, 840,852 voted at the 4,650 polling booths, whereas formerly scarcely 25 per cent. recorded their votes. The Radical Party, which for the past twenty years had taken no active part in any of the elections; the Civic Union, which in the end came near following the example of the Radicals the Socialist Party, which had struggled in vain for eight years; the National Union, which under various diferent names

had triumphed at many successive elections, and several other parties of minor importance,-all took part in the contest. Corruption was not entirely absent, but it frequently rebounded against those who resorted to it. The voter open to bribery accepted bribes, but, owing to the secrecy of the ballot, was able to cheat the giver and drop his voting paper into the box of the party of his choice. Detection was impossible. Unscrupulous persons were thus enabled to gratify at once their greed, their sense of humour, and their consciences, at any rate so far as their politics were concerned. It no longer amounted to a fraud on the public; it was a mere private imposture.

The elections, which all took place on the same day, passed off peaceably and without any exercise of official pressure. The suffrage had been made free; the President had kept his word.. The results were all declared together, some few weeks later. They formed a complete vindication of the new system and indicated the real views of the people, while showing up in their true colours the fictitious triumphs of past elections. Thus in Buenos Ayres the Radicals, who had not been able to enter the Chamber for twenty years, gained eight seats in the Lower House and one in the Upper; the Socialists won two seats, and the Civic Union one; while the National Union, which had formerly swamped every other party, kept only one, and that solely on account of the personal qualifications of the candidate.

The result came as a surprise, and produced the gr.atest satisfaction; it was practically a deliverance, a complete and thorough cleansing of politics; it was as though some foul thing had been swept from their milst, and a new vista of light and purity opened up before the eager eyes of the people. It is difficult to ex

ss in mere words the feeling of absolute satisfaction, n, unmixed with a certain sense of pride, which was used in all classes of the community by this sudden rvival of their civil rights and liberties, so long delayed.

The compulsory vote has finally roused the people From the state of indifference into which they had drifted. It is no longer useless for them to record their votes, no longer excusable to hold themselves aloof from the affairs of the nation. Those who were formerly

completely estranged from politics, regarding it as a profession monopolised entirely by their unconquerable enemies, see it now suddenly freed, expanded, elevated and brought within reach of even the humblest members of the community. The new system, if it has not completely done away with corruption, has at any rate set a great check upon it. The compulsory vote has made the electors so numerous that it is impossible now for any candidate to purchase a majority; while no bribe, as the elections of April 7 clearly proved, affords sufficient guarantee for any party to try again an experiment at once so costly and so meagre in its results.

The natural opponents of this great social reform, that is to say the professional politicians, who are still both numerous and powerful in the provinces, put forward in defence of the old system, and by way of attack upon the new, an argument that is as childish as it is paradoxical. By our methods,' they say,' we keep all power in the hands of a few tried and capable men, experienced in the management of affairs. That is surely better than the granting of universal suffrage to a nation still totally unfitted for democratic government. We are far better able to choose the governing body than are the masses; there is no telling what sort of men will get into Parliament if the people are allowed to vote as they will.'

Here we meet with the most deeply rooted vice of all political oligarchies; they believe themselves to be indispensable, they pretend that they alone have any right to power, and imagine that it is their duty, not only to restrain all freedom, but even to infringe the written law, to the end that they may preserve in its entirety a supremacy which they regard as essential to the safety and welfare of the nation. For twenty years the country was ruled by the same group of men, who eventually came to believe that, outside their own number, there was no one capable of taking even the smallest part in the government of the country. They pretended that they were the preservers of all the best traditions of the nation. When they felt themselves growing feeble, they extracted a philosophy therefrom, making of their very feebleness a political doctrine. If one examines closely this experience in public affairs,' of which they

boast so much, one soon realises that the term in fact signifies experience in political wire-pulling,' which is a very different matter. It is, besides, by no means true that the new law enables men of inferior abilities to rise to power. The candidates for election are decided upon by the leaders of each party at private meetings, and it is for those candidates that their partisans will vote; they affect to ignore all others. And it follows, as might be supposed, that each party selects those men who are best known, most capable, most influential, and at the same time best able to look after its own interests. The method of selection by caucus' is open to objection, but it is at least superior to selection by the government in power. In either case the choice of the electorate is limited; but, while the one method is legitimate and democratic, the other is arbitrary and unjust.

It is a splendid thing for the country that this spirit of justice and fair play has found its way into politics, for there was ample need of it. When Parliament, only half of which has, so far, been affected by the new conditions, is filled with members possessed of a due sense of political honesty, it will have at last secured its rightful supremacy; and, if at any later date a less scrupulous or less disinterested President should be elected, he will be unable to destroy the fabric so patiently woven together, without incurring the very gravest risk.

The reform, in spite of its youth, has already shown the most excellent results. While bringing politics, so to speak, to the very doors of the people and ensuring at any rate the elements of the true representation of the masses, it has at the same time had the effect of putting a complete check upon the activity of those professional politicians of the capital, who formerly lived solely by this manipulation of the votes at elections. The old system has been destroyed ike an anthill struck by a shell. The problem now for thè ants is how to reconstruct their house in the presence of a powerful enemy, ever present, ever on the alert. The motto of these professional politicians is that every man has a right to hold whatever position he can take; but the new order of things has degraded them to positions so insignificant that their maxim, so far as Vol. 225.-No. 446.

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