Manuel Marraco Ramón was born on 16 June 1870 in Zaragoza. He attended the Escuelas Pías for his secondary education, then obtained a degree in Law from the University of Zaragoza. He obtained his Doctorate in Law in Madrid. After leaving school he and his brother Mariano, while expecting to emigrate to Canada, put their energy into the family businesses. For many years Marraco was manager of the Azucarera Agrícola del Pilar, part of the sugar beet industry at a period of growth in Aragon. In 1914 he became vice-president of the Official Zaragoza Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and he was also linked to management of the Mutualidad Mercantil, S.A. In the 1930 he became president of the Alcoholera Agrícola del Pilar while his son replaced him as manager. The company was closely associated with the Asociación de Labradores de Zaragoza, in which Marraco also played a management role.
Early political involvement
Marraco had republican views from an early age. In June 1914 he was one of the fourteen signatories to the "Manifesto of the Republicans of Aragon", which in October 1914 led to the constitution of the Autonomous Republican Party of Aragon. He was elected deputy for Zaragoza as a Republican on 24 February 1918 and held office until 2 May 1919. In November 1918 he joined the leadership of Alejandro Lerroux's new Republican Federation. Marracó was sympathetic to Catalan demands for independence. On 15 September 1918 in a speech at the Teatro Goya in Barcelona Marraco said, "I am not afraid of the independence of Catalonia, because in it I also see that of Aragon and the other regions that would join in a future bond to form the great Iberia, respecting each other's characters and achieving a real enlargement." In November 1920 he participated in the Congress of Republican Democracy in Madrid, organized by Lerroux.
Second Spanish Republic
Marraco was elected deputy for Zaragoza as a Radical Republican on 26 June 1931, holding office until 9 October 1933. He was vice-president of the Constituent Cortes. He was president of the Zaragoza Provincial Committee of the Radical Republican Party, and leading member of the Aragon Regional Committee of the party, created in 1933. In 1931 he was appointed director of the Local Credit Bank of Spain. He actively opposed the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1932. In September 1933 he was appointed governor of the Bank of Spain in place of Julio Carabias Salcedo. He held office until 3 March 1934. Marraco believed in regionalism based on river basins as a geographical unit. In 1934 he managed to get the Ebro River Hydrographic Confederation restored, covering a wider area than traditional Aragon, but it was dissolved during a crisis in 1935. He believed in Georgism as popularized in Spain by the engineer Antonio Albendin, the promoter of the Spanish League for a Single Tax. This philosophy held that people should own the value they produce themselves, but the value of natural resources should be shared among all members of society. Marraco was Minister of Finance from 3 March 1934 to 3 April 1935. He was appointed by Alejandro Lerroux after the radical Antonio Lara had resigned from the Finance Ministry. Both Lara and Marraco complied with requests from Lerroux to treat the businessman Horacio Echevarrieta favorably in his dealings with the state. Ricardo Samper replaced Lerroux as prime minister on 28 April 1934, and headed the government until October 1934. His government had to deal with growing workers unrest in the large cities and on among land-workers, and a challenge to central authority in the Generalitat de Catalunya. Marraco approved a new statute on wines and banned collection of local taxes or duties on import, distribution, inspection and consumption of Spanish wines. These measures drew protests from Basque town and city councils since they seemed inconsistent with the Concierto Económico, which defined historic taxation rights in Basque country. Marraco was Minister of Industry and Commerce from 3 April 1935 to 6 May 1935. He was appointed to this position by Lerroux, who had formed a government that included radicals and independents, and that was not expected to last long. The cabinet was reshuffled the next month. Marraco was Minister of Public Works from 6 May 1935 to 25 September 1935.
