José Batlle y Ordóñez

José Pablo Torcuato Batlle y Ordóñez ([ˈbaʒe] or [ˈbaʃe]; 23 May 1856 in Montevideo, Uruguay – 20 October 1929), nicknamed Don Pepe, was a prominent Uruguayan politician, who served two terms as President of Uruguay for the Colorado Party. He was the son of a former president and was widely praised for his introduction of his political system, Batllism, to South America and for his role in modernizing Uruguay through his creation of extensive welfare state reforms.

In 1898, he served as interim president for a few weeks. He was later elected to the presidency for two terms: from 1903 to 1907 and from 1911 to 1915. He remains one of the most popular Uruguayan presidents, mainly due to his role as a social reformer. Influenced by Krausist liberalism, he is known for influencing the introduction of universal suffrage and the eight-hour workday, as well as free high school education. He was one of the main promoters of Uruguayan secularization, which led to the division of the state and the Catholic Church. Education started a process of great expansion from the mid-to-late 19th century onward. It became the key to success for the middle class community. The state established free high school education and created more high schools through the country. The university was also opened to women, and educational enrollment increased throughout the country. Batlle also, in the words of one source, “revitalized the Colorado party and strengthened its liberal tradition, giving way to ideas of general and universal interest, and favoring the right of the working class to organize and put forward just demands.

Government intervention in the economy also increased during Batlle’s time in office. Montevideo’s electric power plant was nationalized; a move Batlle justified in the context of his “interest in the widest diffusion and distribution of all classes of services that are presently considered necessary for the general welfare, comfort, and hygiene.” As one study noted, Batlle intended the power plant “to be only the first of a set of state enterprises that would provide low-cost services, simultaneously saving the public money and keeping Uruguayan capital from being shipped abroad as profits by foreign companies operating in the country.” In 1911 the administration nationalized BROU, a savings and loan institution that monopolized the printing of money, while also establishing industrial institutes for geology and drilling (coal and hydrocarbon explorations), industrial chemistry, and fisheries. In 1914 the administration purchased the North Tramway and Railway Company (which later became the State Railways Administration). In agriculture, a number of government institutes were established “dedicated to technological research and development in the fields of livestock raising, dairying, horticulture, forestation, seeds, and fodder.” A protectionist policy for industry was also pursued, with the government imposing, as noted by one study, "tariffs on foreign products, favoring machinery and raw materials imports, and granting exclusive licensing privileges to those who started a new industry." Indigenous companies also emerged, although foreign capital (especially from Britain and the U.S.A), as noted by one study, "also took advantage of the legislation and came to control the meat industry. The growth of the frigorífico meat-processing industry also stimulated the interbreeding of livestock, Uruguay's main source of wealth."

These measures reflected Batlle’s belief that the state had a part to play in economic affairs, as he noted in a 1911 when urging the legislature to create government monopolies:

"Modern conditions have increased the number of industries that fall under the heading of public services ... competition has ceased to mean something invariably beneficial, monopoly is not necessarily condemnable… The modern state unhesitatingly accepts its status as an economic organization. It will enter industry when competition is not practicable, when control by private interests vests in them authority inconsistent with the welfare of the State, when a fiscal monopoly may serve as a great source of income to meet urgent tax problems, when the continued export of national wealth is considered undesirable."

Throughout his life, Batlle also expressed his opposition to social injustices in society. On one occasion, he declared that "There is great injustice in the enormous gap between the rich and the poor." In 1917, he argued that "Our population may be divided into those who have received more than they deserve and those who have received less.... But this does not mean that a man is either exploited or an exploiter. The inequality is not deliberate on the part of the most fortunate." That same year, he argued that "The gap must be narrowed-and it is the duty of the State to attempt that task." Batlle believed in the power of the State to reduce inequalities, stating on another occasion that "Modern industry must not be allowed to destroy human beings. The State must regulate it to make more happy the life of the masses."

The reforms introduced under Batlle, and continued by several of his followers, would help make Uruguay a fairer society.