Montt
Montt names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Montt PEDRO, President of Chile
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
PEDRO, President of Chile, born in 1846. When 26 he was elected deputy, and continued to hold his seat in the Chamber till after 1900, acting sometimes as speaker, and occasionally with a seat in the Cabinet. In 1886 he was Minister of Justice and Public Instruction, and after that Minister of Industry. Following the deposition of President Balmaceda he was sent to Washington to represent Chile, and on his return became Minister of the Interior. In 1906, after a previous unsuccessful candidacy, he was elected President. He reorganized the finances of the country, remodeled the army and navy, extended railroads, improved the educational system, and gave his support to the principle of arbitration in international disputes. He died in Bremen, Germany, in 1910, whither he had gone for medical treatment.
Montt JORGE, former President of Chile
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JORGE, former President of Chile; born in 1846. Trained in the navy, he led the fleet under his command to the support of Congress when a break came between it and President Balmaceda at the end of 1890, carrying its members to Iquique, where a new government was created. When in the hostilities which ensued President Balmaceda and his army were defeated in the vicinity of Valparaiso, Señor Montt was chosen as the new president. His régime showed his sincerity as an adherent of constitutional government, and after initiating numerous reforms, including the establishment of the currency on a gold basis and the extension of the powers of local councils, he gave way in 1896 to Señor F. Errazuriz, who had been elected as his presidential successor.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's wrote about Jorge Montt in 1921 as a living former president; he died in Santiago on 8 October 1922, the year after. The larger change is in emphasis: Collier's credits Pedro Montt with reorganizing finances, remodeling the army and extending railroads, but says nothing of the December 1907 massacre of striking nitrate workers and their families at the Santa Maria school in Iquique, which occurred under his presidency and is now the event Chileans most associate with his name — memorialized in Luis Advis's 1969 "Cantata Santa Maria de Iquique." Jorge Montt's 1891 victory over Balmaceda is likewise now read less as a triumph of "constitutional government" than as the start of the Parliamentary Republic, a period of congressional dominance and elite politics that ended with the military intervention of 1924 and the presidential constitution of 1925. The gold standard Jorge Montt established in 1895 was abandoned within a few years.
Written for this edition, 2026.