Chileans who fail to vote are black-listed as civic-duty dodgers and have to pay a 100-peso ($5) fine. Consequently, last week most of them turned out to vote in a typical South American election which picked a successor to stern, small-eyed President Arturo Alessandri Rodriguez, forbidden by law to succeed himself.
There were two candidates. Both were millionaires, both were machine-backed professional politicians who have long aspired to the presidency. Smallish but strongly built Candidate Gustavo Ross, who made his millions as a stockmarket operator and now annoys Chileans by keeping...