Uruguayan gold for encouraging immigration. While only 262 immigrants arrived in 1908, the number reached 2,455 in 191 and 5,358 in 1913, a tribute to the continued stability and pros- perity of the country.
In May 1910 ratifications were exchanged of the boundary treaty concluded in Oct. 1909 between Uruguay and 'Brazil; this settled several minor but long-pending questions in a sat- isfactory manner. A subsequent treaty of May 7 1913, since carried out, provided for delimiting and marking the bound- ary. Brazil ceded to Uruguay " the waters and navigation " of Lake Mirim and the Yaguaron river, and the contracting parties agreed not to fortify their new frontiers.
Uruguay continued to prosper under her next president, Feliciano Vieira (1915-9), who surrounded himself with able advisers of the young and progressive group which continued to dominate Uruguayan affairs. Most of them had Studied or travelled abroad. Baltasar Brum, Vieira's successor in the presidency, had been Minister of Foreign Affairs in the latter part of Vieira's administration, when the growing pro-Allied sympathies of Uruguay were crystallized by the entry of the United States into the World War.
The Uruguayan Government, which had been pro-Ally, did not hesitate to express its sympathy with the action of the United States in declaring war, acting on the principle that " any act perpetrated against one of the countries of America in violation of the precepts of international kw as universally recognized shall constitute an offence against all of them and consequently cause a common reaction in all," a statement largely inspired by dislike of Germany's submarine policy. On June 19 1917 President Vieira issued a proclamation stating that Uruguay would not regard as subject to the restrictions applicable to a belligerent any American nation which, in defence of its own rights, finds itself at war with nations of other continents. A month later a U.S. squadron under Adml. Caperton visited Montevideo and was received with great popular enthusiasm and pro-Ally demonstrations; while the Luxburg disclosures and the Argentine Congress's vote in Sept. (see ARGENTINA) for a rupture of diplomatic relations with Germany further stirred Uruguay. Finally, on Oct. 6 1917 President Vieira for- mally broke diplomatic relations with Germany, having been authorized to do so by a Congressional vote of 74 to 23, and on Oct. 15 a presidential decree stated that the rules of neutrality would not be applied to the Entente Allies. July 4 and 14 were proclaimed national holidays, in recognition of the national holidays in the United States and in France, and although no military or naval aid was sent to the Allies, Uruguay's sympa- thies continued with them until the end of the war. On Nov. 9 1917 the eight German merchant vessels in Montevideo harbour were seized by the Uruguayan Government and were chartered by the U.S. Emergency Fleet Corp. A credit of 15,- 000,000 pesos (approximately 3,000,000 at normal exchange) was advanced to England by the Uruguayan Government at 5 %, to be used for the purchase of supplies in Uruguay, and a visiting British warship was most cordially welcomed. No less than five new branches of foreign banks were opened at Montevideo between 1915 and 1921, one of them from the United States and one from Canada. Uruguayan trade with the United States greatly increased during this period.
For some time Battle y Ordonez and his followers had been urging a new constitution to replace that promulgated on July 18 1830, and in 1916 a Constitutional Convention met to discuss one which had largely been composed and influenced by Battle himself. The convention concluded its task in Oct. 1917, and the new constitution came into effect March i 1919. The most important change in it was the definite separation of Church and State, making all religions free. The Roman Catholic Church, though no longer recognized as the state religion, was given control of such places of worship as had been already wholly or partly constructed by funds from the national treasury. Mem- bers of the clergy may be chosen as representatives or senators. Decentralization of the formerly strongly centralized Federal Government was brought about by the installation of popularly
elected assemblies and autonomous councils of administration to regulate the local affairs of the departments, with control over the municipalities. The chief-of-police in each department, however, is paid by the national treasury and is directly subor- dinate to the president of the republic, who appoints and removes him. For the first time in the history of American constitutions the executive power is divided. It is shared between the presi- dent (elected by direct vote for four years) and an administra- tive board composed of nine members elected by a popular vote for a six-year term, one-third of its members retiring every two years. The president cooperates with this board, which directs the affairs of the departments of Finance, Public Instruction and Public Works, the president controlling those of the Interior, Foreign Relations, War and Marine. Minority representation is protected by a system of plural voting, and for the first time in S. American constitutions the adoption of woman suffrage is sanctioned for national or local elections, but a two-thirds majority of all the members in each chamber of the Legislature is required for its adoption. The General Assembly, composed of two Houses, is charged with the interpretation of the constitution, and also elects the justices of the Supreme Court. Perhaps the fact that Uruguay spends more money on education than on her combined army and navy (in 1915 there was one school in Uruguay for every 900 inhabitants, 63 % of the children of school age attending school), best illustrates her prospects of progress under this new and liberal constitution.
Uruguay's youngest president, Baltasar Brum, took office on March i 1919, shortly after travelling, while Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the United States and throughout S. America. He had developed a strongly pro-Ally and pan-American policy while Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he surrounded himself with an able and progressive cabinet. The visit of Mr. Bain- bridge Colby, U.S. Secretary of State, to Montevideo in Dec. 1920, to return President Brum's visit to the United States two years before, caused renewed expressions of pan-American solidarity, which were intensified by the continued numbers of young men and women sent to the United States to study and the reduction of the average passenger voyage from New York to Montevideo from 24 to 17 days. Uruguay ratified the Peace of Versailles in 1919, and also concluded obligatory arbitration treaties with Great Britain and Italy in that year.
Economics. The public debt of Uruguay was $129,774,119 in 1900 and $154,733,367 in 1916, which shows a very small relative increase. Agricultural development favoured the increase of small holdings and of peasant proprietors. In 1908 there were 43,874 rural holdings and in 1916 57,974. In 1916 there were 11,472,852 sheep, 7,802,442 meat cattle, 567,154 horses, 303,958 swine, 16,663 mules and asses, and 12,218 goats. The accompanying table, given in U.S. dollars, contains the latest available statistics of foreign commerce :
Imports into, and Exports from, Uruguay.
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From or to
Imports
Exports
1907
1917
1907
1917
United States Great Britain (United Kingdom) Argentina . Brazil . France
$3-556,336
11,965,605 2,650,335 1,813,018 4,057,487
$11,009,259
6,054,393 8,421,124 6,677,020 1,429,274
$2,415,632
3-089,343 8,419,392
6,346,753 7,961,725
$26,218,746
19,358,161 12,376,146 1,299,622 16,180,680
The trade with Spain was not important. In 1907 Germany stood second among the countries supplying Uruguay's imports. In 1917 she only supplied Uruguay with $106,733 worth of merchandise. (C. L. C.)
UTAH (see 27.813). The pop. of Utah in 1920 was 449,396, an increase over 1910 of 76,045 or 20-4%, a rate of increase 5-5% greater than that of the United States as a whole. The density of pop. increased from 4-5 persons per sq. m. in 1910 to 5-5 in 1920. The urban pop. increased from 46-3% in 1910 to 48% in 1920.
Before 1891 the two political organizations in the state were known as People's party and Liberal party, closely corresponding to Mormon and anti-Mormon. These old names ceased to be used in the decade 1910-20; there was an evident desire to
