User:Canaan9801/Salvador Maciá

 

Salvador Alfredo Maciá Carbó (March 17, 1855 - January 6, 1929) was a doctor and politician who served as Governor of Entre Ríos Province from 1895 to 1899. He also served as a deputy in the provincial and national Chambers of Deputies and as a senator, as well as a Minister during the administration of his predecesor Sabá Hernández.

His administracion was characterized by nepotism, with Maciá's relatives Leonidas Enchagüe and Enrique Carbó, both being involved in the government. His government spurred the development of commerce, agriculture and livestock, but was also damaged by the effects of nepotism and abuses of politics to remain in power.

Childhood and Early Life

Maciá was born in Paraná and spend all of his childhood there. His father, José Maciá, was Spanish, and his mother, Teresa Carbó, was Argentine. Maciá completed his secondary education in the Colegio de la Inmaculada in Santa Fe, Argentina. He travelled to Buenos Aires and studied in the Department of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, graduating in 1877 with a thesis about "conservative surgury". He returned to his hometown to practice medicine, where for a short time he also served as department head of philosophy at the Paraná Normal School .

Entry into Politics

Constitutional Convention of 1883

On May 1, 1883, General Eduardo Racedo took power in the city of Concepción del Uruguay, capital of the province of Entre Ríos. A few days afterwards, the governor sent a bill to the Argentine Legislature calling for a Constitutional Convention to reform the Constitution of Entre Ríos of 1860 to be suited to the interests and necessities of the new era and, primarily, to move the provincial capital to the city of Paraná. Despite the rejection and opposition that arose from various parties, the law was passed on May 11, 1883.

According to Article 2 of that law, every one of the twelve provincial departments were to choose two delegates to the convention. Therefore, Maciá represented the Nagoyá Department along with José María Crespo. He had previously been named an honorary member of the Medical Society of Buenos Aires.

Deputy, Senator, and Provincial Minister

Maciá was elected a deputy in the Legislature of Entre Rio in 1884 and was reelected two years later. He participated in the Argentine Medical Conference that took place in Buenos Aires in 1887, and distinguished himself among the attendees. He bacame a deputy in the national Chamber of Deputies, but resigned in 1891 to become the Minsiter of Government . He later became a Senator in 1893, but resigned in 1895 after being elected governor of Entre Ríos.

In 1894, Governor Hernández ordered the creation of a new police regulation, which Maciá would later develop during his term as governor as the "Decree of Provincial Regulation. This decree was aproved as law by the Legislature on December 30, 1903, during the administration of Governor Enrique Carbó and Minister of Government Alberto Méndez Casariego.. This "General Regulation of Police" replaced the previous regulation that had been created by General Pascual Echagüe in 1835.

Term as Provincial Governor (1895 - 1899)

Salvador Maciá became governor due to a movement of two factions in Entre Rios of the National Autonomist Party: the Hernandistas and the Racedistas, who united to support the ticket of Maciá and Gigena. After winning the local elections, the alliance gained the support of independents through a speech by Maciá at the at the leadership assembly, in which he expressed his political philosophy which opposed radicalism, and admitted to his nepotism, which generated later revolutions:

You all already know that I am a nepotist by tradition and by blood, but I give my word before you that once in government, I will not accept, nor recognize factions or clubs, nor will I recognize an enemy other than radicalism, which I will declare the enemy from war to death and without quarter.

Maciá became governor in January 1895, replacing Dr. Saná Zacarías Hernández. His government was charcterized by interior stability and immigration, which allowed him to support the growth of commerce, ranching, and agriculture. To do so, he promoted official colonization, and the construction of roads, schools and public buildings. However, the progress achieved by Maciá was overshadowed by the nepotism with which he governed the province and the political abuses of power, which resulted in revolts led by those who were his allies.

With Maciá's first speech, the factions that supported him saw their place in the government as guarenteed. However, the governor's nepotism became apparent with his support for his relatives Leonidas Echagüe and Enrique Carbó. Along with friends and relatives, these three controled the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the province, along with its reprentation in the National Congress. The first insurrection came from the government itself, led by Vice Governor Francisco S. Gigena, who was later impeached.

The politician Benito E. Pérez, who would later become a national deputy, critically decribed the Maciá administration to President Julio Argentino Roca:

The people see their judicial administration serving the interests of one family, the political positions occupied by members of it, their income invested in politcal tours, and their extreme debt not taken care of.

[The government is] in the hands of an uncle and three cousins of the governor, and as for Dr. [Leónidas] Echagüe and his four nephews, they have made it their estate.

[The press does not exaggerate] when it says that here a single family govers; that is, there is no government here properly understood, the government register does not contain, in Maciá's two years in power, a decree nor a law meant to govern, here what is done is to provide salaries for the members of the governing family.

— B. E. Pérez to J. A. Roca, Paraná, June 3, 1896.

Officales Leonidas Echagüe and Carlos M. Zavalla denied their kinship. Echagüe denied kinship between many of the families in government, but he admitted that some affinity had come about through marriages. The second asserted that there had been no kinship between the governor or his ministers and anyone in the provincial legislature, stating that for this to be the case "it would have to be an extremely large [family]". However, one of Maciá's brothers served in the Provincial Senate, but he had been elected during the administration of Clemente Basavilbaso and reelected in 1897.

Members of the National Autonomist Party and the Independent Party that had helped Maciá become governor did not agree with his style of governing, namely, his nepotism, which did not allow them to rise to power, and decided to break relations with Maciá. This caused the creation of the Provincial Union of Entre Ríos, founded August 12, 1895 by Ramón Febre, former governor of the province and leader of the Independent Party, and other politicians. On the second night after its foundation, doorknockers and floortiles were stolen from the offices and studies of its members.

Gubernatorial Cabinet

colspan="3" style="background:lavender;" Ministers of Salvador Maciá
Minister of Government	Faustino M. Parera Torcuato Gilbert	1895-1898 1898-1899
Finance Minister	Fortunato Calderón Ramón A. Parera	1895-1898 1898-1899

Public Works

Maciá became governor during a time of serious issues. The province had a lack of credit due to irregularities in its payments, creditors were liquidating provincial assets, and the province was suffering an outbreak of cholera, which caused deaths and commercial stagnation. When Maciá became governor, the province had 292,019 inhabitants, which rose to 316,541 the next year.

In 1897 a new crisis began when a much of the harvest and livestock of the province began to thin out, which resulted in a series of decisions necessary to weather it, such as the free provision of seeds, the extension of credit and the reduction of registration taxes on some rural farm machines such as threshers. During his administration, Maciá approved a law prohibiting the seizure of seeds. This had positive consequences such as the creation of test fields and the promotion of colonization and immigration, which took place in areas that were property of the Bank of Entre Ríos. This, along with other measures, stimulated the building new settlements and resulted in the creation of settlementes such as Algarrobito and La Llave. The latter was founded in 1898 as a model agricultural community, authorized by Governor Maciá and his ministers R. A. Parera and T. Gilbert.

Due to the increasing importance of the city of Paraná and the need to export products from the province, a port became necessary and was built in the Bajada Grande zone. The work was completed by the Ferrocarril Central de Entre Rios, which also joined Paraná's train station with the port, guaranteeing the benefits brought by passenger and cargo transportation. The pier was opened on October 16, 1896 in the presence of Governor Maciá, Emilio Civit, the Minister of Public Works for President Julio A. Roca, and officers of the rail company. The new pier was 190 meters long and 8 meters wide and able to be expanded to 500 meters, which would make it a deep-sea port.

The city of Concordia required the construction of a penitenciary, so the Deliberative Council of the city accepted the donation of a plot of land in August 1895. In November of 1896, Maciá sent a card to Lt. Col. José Bóglich, political boss of the city between 1887-1906 and veteran of the Conquest of the Desert, announcing that he had tasked engineer Alberto Méndez Casariego with the construction of the prison.

The Tríptico, by Lucio Correa Morales, was opened March 6, 1898.

During the Maciá government the Tríptico monument was opened at the Colegio del Uruguay in Concepción del Uruguay. The statue features busts of Justo José de Urquiza, founder of the Colegio, and two administrators, Alberto Larroque y Jorge Clark. The work was opened in 1898 in the presence of General Julio A. Roca, Justice Ministger Luis Beláustegui and Governor Maciá.

Salvador Maciá, who felt a connection to agriculture, was an avid supporter of ranchers in Concordia, who fought for the creation of the Rural Society of Concordia, the foundation of which took place in the municipal hall of the city on October 25, 1898. Maciá attended the founding as a farmer and, when invited to speak, declared that he would support the purposes of the producers of the city. During his administration, he instisted that ranchers should unite their efforts in order to defend their ideals and improve the quality of life of the province's inhabitants.

Hernández's Revolt

The former governor Hernández did not support many of Maciá's policies, but kept his disagreements private until the national elections of April 1898. He was elected as a national deputy while the provincial government was preparing its strategy for the provincial elections. Leonidas Echagüe, who was serving as national senator, was proposed as a candidate for governor, while Maciá was proposed as candidate for national senator.

Hernández, strongly opposed to this decision, decided to form the Popular Coalition along with radical politcians, against whom Maciá had declared "war until death and without quarter." Hernández became the leader of the revolt, whose primary objective was to stop the elections of July 15, and thus inciting national intervention. Two days before the elections, the "coalicionistas" took the city of Victoria and other inland villages in the province ; however, there was resistance to the revolution in many departments despire the ex-governor's prestige.

Maciá sent troops to recapture the city, but when they arrived the majority of the revolutionaries had already escaped onboard the steamer Posadas headed for Buenos Aires. After defearing the insurrection, the governor enacted a decree on July 16, which pardoned those involved in the revolution, including Sabá Hernández and Miguel Laurencena, who had been detained in different areas of the province. The election took place after the revolt with the pro-government ticket winning.

Later years and Death

Maciá was again elected as national senator after the end of his provincial administration in 1899, and accompanied President Roca on his visit to Brasil. He was reelected in 1907 and remained senator until 1916. One of his most important acts as senator was the expansion of the sewers of his hometown of Paraná. On January 22, 1904, the Ley N.º 1903 was passed, approving an agreement between Minister Civit and Maciá to involve the national government in the construction of sewers and drainage systems in the city and the improvement and expansion of existing works in order to provide potable water .

During his time as senator, Maciá obtained a subsidy for the construction of the General Urquizia Public Library in Colonia San José, founded by General Justo José de Urquiza.".

After the elimination of the Department of Comercial Sciences, which occured in December 1910, a great commotion took place in the National Legislature. Senators Maciá and González and Deputy Montes de Oca spoke against the elimination. In the sesion of December 22 that year, Maciá requested that the Budgetary Comission provide the reasons why they had eliminated the Faculty; Deputy Carreño responded by stating that the existence of the institution was not justified since there were already three different business colleges in the country (two in Buenos Aires and one in Rosario) that offered the same subjects, except for one that had been added. Maciá, disliking this reply, maintained his position, sustaining that the Department had created a preparatory course for accountants who would enter the Escuela Superior de Comercio in the capital, asserting that they were not the same, and that there were subjects that were not widely developed, such as financial mathematics and the study of comparative constitutional and administrative law.

Maciá admitted that if the Department were proposed to be opened that year, he would have rejected it,due to the fragle economic situation that the country was experiencing. However, he maintained that since the school currently had 200 students, it should not be closed. Deputy Carreño was firmly opposed to continuing the school, saying that it had been created by decree and that it was not authorized by the budget. Maciá responded by saying that the budget sets 300,000 pesos aside for the creation of educational institutions. Deputy Mendoza responded by stating that this fund was not set aside for educational departments. Maciá ended his speech with a sentence that defended his opinion and simultaneously represented his opposition:

A drawback of these blank authorizations is that they cause doubts on whether an establishment is authorized or not; but the fact is that this school was created with standard funds from the 1910 Budget; this is a fact.

— Senator Salvador Maciá

In 1920 he became a member of the Board of Directors of the Argentine Great Western Railway, where he would remain until his death on January 6, 1929 in Buenos Aires.

Memorials

Estación Gdor. Maciá, In the municipality of Maciá.

The municipality of Maciá, located in Tala Department, is named in Maciá's honor, due to the effort by the governor to bring in the railway. During his administration, Maciá approved the creation of theGobernador Sola - San José de Feliciano branch of The Entre Ríos Railways Company Limited, in November 1898. On October 11, 1899, Governor Echaguë and Maciá officialy inaugurated the branch, naming the station Gobernador Maciá, and the village simply Maciá.

In 1957, the Argentine Legislature named the police academy of Paraná the Escuela Superior de Oficiales "Dr. Salvador Maciá" as "posthumous recognition of Maciá's efforts to provide security to residents of Entre Riós Province and to enhance the Institution. Also in Paraná, a street carries Maciá's name.

References

Bibliography

• Bolcatto, Hipólito Guillermo (2004). "10. Las últimas revoluciones entrerrianas". Luis Bonaparte: Un forjador de ideales (in español). UNL. Retrieved 23 de diciembre de 2009. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Gómez, Elbio Roberto (N/D). Una mirada a mi pueblo (PDF) (in español). Retrieved 29 de diciembre de 2009. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |year= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
• Rodríguez Etchart, Carlos; Rodríguez Etchart, Martín (1915). A. de Martino (ed.). La educación comercial (in español). Buenos Aires: Univ. of California. Retrieved 18 de diciembre de 2009. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Saguier, Eduardo R. (N/D). Genealogía de la Tragedia Argentina (1600-1900) (PDF) (in español). Vol. V. Perversiones institucionales y fracaso de un orden nacional-republicano (Argentina, 1880-1912). Retrieved 31 de diciembre de 2009. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |year= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
• Urquiza Almandoz, Óscar F. (1999). La cuestión capital en la Provincia de Entre Ríos (in español) (Primera ed.).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

[[Category:People from Paraná, Entre Ríos]] [[Category:20th-century Argentine physicians]] [[Category:Governors of Entre Ríos Province]]