José Batlle y Ordóñez

Senate

Batlle was elected as a senator for Montevideo Department in November 1898, and rapidly became President of the Senate of Uruguay. As the President of the Senate was (at the time) the first in line to the presidency, Batlle briefly served as the acting President of Uruguay while Juan Lindolfo Cuestas stepped aside to legitimate his de facto presidency in 1899. While President of the Senate Batlle was, according to one study, "second-ranking elective official in the country, until a coalition of conservative Colorados and Blancos expelled him from the post in 1900. He continued his organizational and ideological efforts within the party, with much success. In the 1903 election, he became the President of the Republic. The country's highest post allowed him nearly full control of public policy and the opportunity to forward his broad program of social and economic reform."

At elections in 1900, however, the Colorados performed poorly, and dissident Colorado senators elected Juan Carlos Blanco Fernández as President of the Senate by one vote. Batlle would later briefly regain the position of President of the Senate in February 1903 before becoming President of the Republic. The day before he was elected President of Uruguay, Batlle stated his program which, as noted by one observer, included “peaceful coexistence of for the two major political parties, social reforms for the average citizen, and modern public-administration methods for the government.”

First presidency (1903–07)

Revolution of 1904

In 1904 Batlle's government forces successfully ended the intermittent Uruguayan Civil War which had persisted for many years, when the opposing National Party leader Aparicio Saravia was killed at the battle of Masoller. Without their leader, Saravia's followers abandoned their fight, starting a period of relative peace.

After victory over the Blancos, Batlle introduced widespread political, social, and economic reforms, such as a welfare program, government participation in many facets of the economy, and a new constitution. Between 1904 and 1916, according one study, "the triumphant sector of the Colorado Party, Batllism, emphasized social programs and what the philosopher Carlos Vaz Ferreira (1915) denominated pobrismo (focus on poverty), constructing a state that was intended to be the "shield of the weak" (Perelli 1985)." According to one historian, Batlle ratified his war victory "with the electoral victory of 1905, which led his supporters to form a majority in the legislature and dominate the Colorado Party organization throughout the country. Once his position was secured, he was ready for reforms."

Social reforms

During Batlle y Ordóñez's term in office, secularization became a major political issue. Uruguay banned crucifixes in hospitals by 1906, and eliminated references to God and the Gospel in public oaths. Divorce laws were also established during this time. A number of other projects were approved during Batlle's first presidency, such as an increase in resources allocated to teaching, the contracting of a loan of for the construction and improvement of roads, free distribution of seeds and clothing to poor farmers, the permanent sale of seeds on behalf of the State, the creation of the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Agronomy, and the creation of colonies on expropriated estates in Paysandú. According to one study, the modifications introduced to the initial proposal made the expropriation impossible. In 1904 an Education Pension Fund established in 1896 was extended to include the administrative employees of the school system. That same year, a Civil Service Pension Fund was set up that was aimed at regularizing the civil-service pension system "while expanding both coverage and benefits." The Assembly modified the retirement and civil pension system in this way:

"Public employees who have more than 10 years of service and are unable to continue due to illness, disability or advanced age; employees who, after having served the same number of years, cease due to termination of employment or exoneration, not due to omission or crime; and those with more than 30 years of service and 60 years of age. The mother, the widow and the minor and unmarried children of public employees are entitled to a pension. The Fund is integrated with the help of a monthly fee of 6,000 pesos paid by the State, (doubled later), the monthly discount of one day's salary for employees (5% later) and other lesser taxes. The funds will be invested in public debt securities. Retirement will be as many thirty-thirds of the average salary that the employee has enjoyed in the last five years, as long as the years of service rendered. The pension in favor of the relatives of the employee, will be half of the retirement, Retirements and pensions can not be seized or disposed of."

In 1903, the executive branch had to "actively attend to the seed supply service in various agricultural regions of the country", which had punished by drought and the subsequent loss of crops. Stimulated by the first successes of the distribution, it authorized the Department of Livestock and Agriculture to establish a Seed Station on the fiscal lands of Toledo. A later year, the Assembly enacted a law "authorising the Executive Branch to allow the free importation of seeds for three years". The subsequent losses of agriculture gave rise "to the Public Powers intensifying their stimulating action" with a 1906 law authorizing the government to help abandoned farmers with food and seeds. A supplementary credit of 50,000 pesos was allocated for this purpose. In 1904, the Executive Power appointed a commission in charge of drawing up a protection plan for morally and materially destitute minors. In July 1903, a resolution was sent by Defense Minister Jose Serrato to the General directorate of Public Instruction, creating night courses for adults. In 1906, departmental high schools were created.

Batlle's time in office also saw the improvement of roads, the construction of bridges and ports, the navigation of some important interior rivers, the creation of the Veterinary and Agronomy Schools, the construction of school buildings worth $1,000, 000, the improvement of many services, the start of construction of the Pereira-Rossell Children's Hospital and the inauguration of the Military Hospital. In 1905, Batlle negotiated and obtained from the Assembly the abolition of 10% and 5% reductions on salaries of less than $360 a year. A decree established the Central Board of Aid, "under whose supervision the National Charity Commission acted, in the relief and hospitalization of the wounded and sick of the civil war of 1904." A law that authorized the introduction of electric traction in the trams of La Comercial had been vetoed by the Government of Battle's predecessor Cuestas in 1902 on the grounds that the traction systems were in their infancy and that the term of 75 years was excessively long. One of the first measures of Batlle's administration consisted in the withdrawal of that veto, and thanks to this the work began immediately. The Executive Power justified this decision by arguing that the change of traction was a progress that Montevideo demanded and that it would have "effective repercussions in the improvement of the housing of the working class, due to the ease with which he will be able to transpose daily the distances that separate the habitual center of occupations from the localities where land ownership can still be obtained relatively cheaply."

Sanitation works were also carried out, while yielding to the exhortation of the Executive Power, the Charity Commission granted the "Uruguayan League against Tuberculosis" a monthly subsidy of $2,000 which the same Executive Power obtained after it was raised to $3,000, invoking the importance of the work undertaken by the League. The Conversion and Public Works Loan Law passed in 1906 earmarked $1,000,000 for school construction. That amount was reinforced with $200,000 and later with $300,000 during Battle's second administration. The university curriculum was expanded, foreign professors and technicians were brought in, and scholarships for study in Europe and the United States were set up. University expansion also took place. A decree authorized a long-needed house-to-house property reassessment of Montevideo; "the decree required land to be evaluated separately from improvements." For the first time, army and police uniforms were required to be made from Uruguayan cloth, while the government also stipulated the piece rate paid the seamstresses who sewed the uniforms. Under a law of the 27th September 1906 the name of an enterprise was changed to Usina Eléctrica de Montevideo, "with exclusive privilege of selling electric light and power in Montevideo for twenty years." The Executive was given power to fix rates, while profits "after setting aside 15 per cent for reserves, were to go to the Junta Económico-Administrativa de Montevideo. The Act's original purpose had been to enable the Usina to meet power requirements, but the law was passed on the promise of lower lighting rates and better service on the insistence of the Cámara de Representantes."

Various developments in Public Assistance also took place during Batlle's first presidency. As noted by a 1905 presidential message

"In the past year, the National Charity Commission has had to attend, apart from the ordinary services entrusted to it by law, the numerous wounded and sick from the armed forces, and provide the mobilized corps and the organized expeditions with by the Central Aid Board, the healing elements and the necessary medicines. This extraordinary attention has not prevented, however, the continuation of the expansion and improvement plan begun in previous years, among them worthy of mention the completion and fitting out of the new women's department in the Asylum for Beggars and Chronic People; the expansion of the infirmary of the Asylum for Foundlings and Orphans; the inauguration of electric lighting in the Hospital; several sanitation works in the Isolation House and other works, although of less importance, all tending to improve the hygienic conditions of the Nursing Homes and Hospices. The National Commission has also cooperated with its revenues to support the Dispensaries of the Anti-Tuberculosis League and some departmental hospitals, and has contributed, by dispensing prescriptions free of charge, to the action of Home Public Assistance and various philanthropic societies."

In a 1906 presidential message, other developments in public charity, hygiene and health were noted:

"After having fulfilled the primary duty of rendering solicitous care to the sick wounded of the last conflict, the Government has devoted its attention to the improvement of this important branch, and hopes to obtain satisfactory results. During this period, the National Council of Hygiene sponsored the project of one of its members on the creation of establishments called 'Gota de Leche,' so beneficial to the health of children and to the education of mothers because it provides them with resources and knowledge to raise their children properly. This mission was entrusted to the National Commission of Charity and efforts will be made to complete it through a law that protects newborns and prevents their mothers from abandoning them when exercising the profession of wet nurses. By continuing to apply the current international sanitary agreement, said Council planned to establish a disinfection center in the port, and by accepting said project, the Government offered to provide a credit of $32,000 to be repaid. In addition, said Council was authorized to acquire a steamer equipped with the necessary apparatus for the maritime health service. It was proposed to create the post of terrestrial health inspector whose mission will be to travel to any point in the Republic where an epidemic develops in order to adopt the appropriate measures with due authority and competence. At present, a project to reform the organic law of the Council, the formation of the 'Codex medicamentarius' and several regulations that have to complete the health service are being studied. For the rest, the sanitary state of the Republic is excellent and the municipal authorities cooperate with the National Council of Hygiene to improve all this service and ensure that the ordinances are strictly applied and that a true zeal is shown in combating contagious diseases."

Proposals for labor reform

A progressive supporter of labor rights, Batlle also presided over a number of pro-labor policies. Batlle had identified his Colorado Party with labor, stating in April 1887, regarding a demonstration that was organized in Montevideo "It is true: in the Colorado Party, the element of the people predominates, the working classes." In a speech he made during his first presidency, Batlle described his Colorado Party as one that was concerned with peoples' well-being, stating that "I cannot accompany you in supporting the motto that you carry "Down with peace", because my duty as President of the Republic is to guarantee peace and harmony, because peace means advancement, progress, the well-being of the people, which is the true motto of the Colorado Party. I declare that if I had been brought to this position to provoke the war, I would not have accepted it; but I can guarantee that in this conflict, in which the Nation has been so unjustly involved, I will preserve by all legal means the Colorado Party's stay in power, which currently means the stability of the constitutional order, making an effort at the same time to avoid bloodshed, the ruin of national wealth and all the horrors that civil content brings, as an obligatory procession. It is not enough for the Party to have power, it is necessary to govern to do good, it is necessary to govern with honor for the same." One 1913 study reflected this view, stating that (in relation to the late Nineteenth Century) "In the proximity of the '73 elections, and as always, his first act was to formulate a concise exposition of ideas that honors our party annals. This was the obsessive concern of our party, to root more and more in the field of law, freedom and social justice."

New Colorado platforms

Various Colorado Party platforms were also drafted and/or adopted during Batlle's first presidency. In September 1905 the Colorado Executive Committee and the Colorado legislators entrusted Pedro Manini Rios (the leader of the young Colorados) to draft a pre-electoral manifesto that would serve as a party program. Manini summed up Colorado accomplishments in 40 years of power and outlined a 5-point program. This included constitutional reform, concern for labor, economic self-sufficiency, increase of rural population, and reduction of taxes on consumption. According to one study however, "None of the points proposed anything specific. For example, the labor plank invoked the standard consoling fiction "It is an exaggeration to present these problems in our society in the almost dreadful terms in which they are agitated... in some European societies." In 1907 Jose Espalter was tasked with drawing up a party program that would include constitutional refor, separation of Church and State, municipal autonomy, and labor legislation. The program favored reduction of consumption taxes and the enacting of progressive taxation, not of the magnitude that would despoil private fortunes but rather "a limited and moderate progression, whose rate oscillates between certain limits." In addition, the State had a right to intervene in labor questions, but "It is a