(9) The principle of municipal autonomy with the enjoyment of suitable revenues is adopted.
(10) Constitutional reforms may be initiated by either of the Chambers, proposed amendments requiring a two-thirds vote of the total member ship of each Chamber for acceptance. The amendments shall be submitted to the succeed ing legislature; and if then approved in the same form and manner their ratification shall be considered complete. (11) All forms of worship are free in Uruguay. The State does not sustain any religion. It recognizes the proprietorship of the Catholic Church in ecclesiastical edifices already built in whole or in part by national funds, except the chapels attached to asylums, hospitals, prisons and other public establishments. Churches and other places of worship' are free from all taxation. (12) Inscription in the civil register is obliga tory; in all elections, whether of national or of municipal officers, taking place after 1 March 1919 the voting shall be secret and representa tion shall be proportional; very positive restric tions are imposed upon military and police functionaries in respect to political activity, etc. The political parties, Colorados and Blancos, after conciliatory negotiations, agreed to ac cept what has been characterized as a "modern, smooth-running, efficient mechanism of State" in place of the old constitution which, accord ing to the best opinion of the progressive ele ment and financial authorities, was unsuited to present-day conditions.
Education and Religion.— This republic is spending about $5,000,000 a year for the mainte nance and development of the educational sys tem. Primary education is compulsory, and there has been little or no occasion for inflict ing penalties for violations of the law in re gard to this matter, since applications for ad mission to the schools arc generally far in ex cess of the school accommodations. There were in 1917 1,203 elementary schools with an attend ance of 120,000 pupils, approximately, the en rolment of pupils having increased 23 per cent between 1908 and 1913 (from 60,683 to 91,746) and at a slower rate between 1913 and 1917. There are also 203 private schools with 19,768 pupils. The number of rural schools has nearly doubled since 1906, in which year the sum of $1,000,000 was appropriated for the erection and improvement of school buildings. A recent re
port of the Minister of Public Instruction con tains the statements: Mixed schools have been established "in almost all the rural districts which have a sufficient number of children of both sexes to average an attendance of not less than 30 pupils"; and "Since the permanence of pupils in rural schools never exceeds three years, a simple program has been outlined which can be developed in that short period, so that when the pupil leaves school he knows how to read and write and to perform the principal arithmetical operations; has some acquaintance with geography, history and the constitution of the republic; and [this being one of the good traditions of South American schools] has been impressed with notions of the purest morality." All schools in the republic receive frequent visits from inspectors who report directly to the minister of public instruction, and these visits are supplemented by medical inspections. A law of 1907 authorized the establishment of schools for adults, the object being to over come such illiteracy as had been the natural re sult of the scarcity of rural schools up to that time. About 50 evening schools have ac cordingly been established at different centres, and these are attended by 2,600 pupils. The department of Rocha leads in the practical teaching of agriculture, and the same depart ment has also established a higher commercial school. At Montevideo we find the university one of the modern organizations of this class, and of high distinction, with faculties of law, science, medicine, mathematics, agriculture and commerce; secondary schools; special institu tions, such as the National Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, established in 1910; and two excellent normal schools, one for boys and the other for girls. State pupils at these normal schools enjoy a pension of $15 a month as a contribution assisting them to meet the expenses of residence at the capital. The provision made for supplying textbooks or pedagogical works gratuitously, under certain conditions, may also be mentioned as another example of wise lib erality. The High School of Commerce of Uruguay, in its three-year course — which may be extended to four years— gives instruction in bookkeeping, accounts, geography, political economy, languages (particularly the English language) and stenography.