Servando Bayo (October 27, 1822 – May 18, 1884) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...

politician who served as the

National Autonomist Party The National Autonomist Party ( es, Partido Autonomista Nacional; PAN) was the ruling political party of Argentina from 1874 to 1916. In 1880, Julio Argentino Roca assumed the presidency under the motto "peace and administration". History The ...

governor of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of Santa Fe from April 7, 1874, to April 7, 1878. A native of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most po ...

, Bayo attended a military training institution and took part in the Battle of Cepeda with the rank of captain. As a politician, he was Rosario's Political Chief (comparable to a non-elected mayor), a senator, and governor of the province (with Juan Manuel Zavalla as his vice-governor).

Governership

Bayo is regarded as a dynamic ruler who supported progressive measures. During his governorship, he sponsored the creation of the Santa Fe Provincial Bank, with the goal of increasing access to credit for the business and productive sector, while breaking the financial

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

of the

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, which the governor also deprived of the authorization to emit currency. The Bank of London retaliated against the newly created Provincial Bank by inducing

bank run A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may cease to function in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks no ...

s in order to weaken it. In response, governor Bayo ordered the liquidation of the Rosario branch of the Bank of London as harmful to the interests of the province, and arrested its manager. Following orders of the British consul in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

, a British ship was dispatched from

Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern ...

up the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

to threaten the use of force against this harm to the kingdom's commercial interests. The conflict was solved in September 1876, after six months, with the mediation of the Argentine chancellor

Bernardo de Irigoyen Bernardo de Irigoyen (December 18, 1822 – December 27, 1906) was an Argentine lawyer, diplomat and politician. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Irigoyen enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires and earned a ''juris doctor'' in 1843. He was ...

. In the ultimate outcome, the Bank of London accepted the conditions imposed by Santa Fe's government. Bayo served in the

Argentine Senate The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation ( es, Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina) is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina. Overview The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 18 ...

from 1881 until his death in 1884, replacing as senator for Santa Fe.

Influence

Governor Bayo also created the office of the General Inspector of Schools, which was the basis for today's provincial Ministry of Education, and passed a law that made elementary education compulsory for all children. A biography of Servando Bayo, ''Santa Fe. Una Época. Un Gobernador. Servando Bayo'', was published in 2006 by Jorge Campana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayo, Servando 1822 births 1884 deaths Mayors of Rosario, Santa Fe Governors of Santa Fe Province People from Rosario, Santa Fe Members of the Argentine Senate for Santa Fe