Revoluting Brazil

The heavy hand of the censor having fallen upon Brazil (see THE PRESS), news from that "revoluting" country was a tangled mass of conflicting rumors, in which the truth was all but inextricable.

The communiques issued by the Brazilian Government stated that victory was in sight: that a great battle was raging in which the defeat of the rebels was momentarily expected; that the rebel cause was doomed; that strong reinforcements had been sent to the Sao Paulo front and a decisive engagement planned; that the great assault was certain to crush the rebels; that the attack was about to begin.

Rumors from the rebel side were based upon the usual journalistic "trustworthy information." This information was exclusively to the effect that the rebels were gaining; that they were stronger than was supposed; that they awaited the Federal's attack with serene contempt; that they were entirely confident that they could hold the city of Sao Paulo against their enemy until further orders; and much more of this kind of news.

...

It seems pretty well established that the cause of the revolt is ancient. The State of Sao Paulo is the home of the rich coffee planters, known as the "Yankees of Brazil," because of their enterprise and wealth. This State has an area of 112,312 square miles and is therefore larger than all the New England States with Pennsylvania added.

Away back in 1889 Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, reformer and pacifist, lost his throne by decreeing the release of hundreds of thousands of slaves belonging to the coffee planters without compensation. At the same time his pacifism alienated the militarists and his refusal to grant them the rights they demanded caused them to join the planters; since that time the two (planters and militarists) groups have remained together.

The situation leading up to the present revolt is similar. President Artur da Silva Bernardes is a reformer. To improve the nation's finances, he cut the Army appropriations, and, unheard-of thing, he introduced the income tax to Brazil. A section of the Army became peeved at the cut in their appropriations, and the rich planters, who suffered most from the hated income tax, became the President's intractable enemies, the more so since he was also a vigorous opponent of peonage (system of quasi-feudalism) which they were anxious to have recognized.

Thus, after much hostility, embittered by personal feelings and actions, the revolt broke out in Sao Paulo, richest State of Brazil, and battle is now being waged between "liberalism" in power and "reactionism" out of power.