The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-08-24

masses are almost similar to the Chinese
in their sublime ignorance of the outside
world, and IL was over these poor crea-
lures, who are ever restless and warlike,
that EZeta presided for awhile.
The town of La Libertad, where An
tonic Ezeta made his last stand and fed in
terror to join the Bennington. is situated
on the seacoast of San Salvador, about
forty miles from the capital.
Scarcely anything of the place is visible
from the anchorage-an open roadslead-
but long steel pier, Quartet or barracks.
and the cable station of the Central and
South American Cable Company.
A long oDe-story adobe structure serves
as u custOm-hous 1t is this institution,
according to the charges. that has been
robbed by the levanting Antonio and his
brother Carlos.
over the long pier and into the homelv
custOm-hOuse moves daily nine tenths of
the commerce or the republic. Long lines
OF ox-carts. driven by surly- lookiug poems,
stand near the bulkhead of the pier ready
to transport the Inbound merchandise
over the mountains to the city of San Sal
vador. The road is rocky and full of ruts,
but traverses a magnificent country, which
never turns brown nor dry, but is always
green with verdure and gracefully fes-
TONED with tall palms. waving banana
trees and creeping vines.
The "ox-rairoad'' from the principal
port TO the capital city gives some idea of
the drowsy Incidence and lack of energy
of the people OF the country.
1t is not surprising that Antonio Ezeta
managed to put long distance between
himself aud the insurgent army wIron he
made all haste for La I.ibertad and the
seacoast.
To return again to the custom house.
the establishment used TO in prosperous
times return a revenue to the Government
of several millions of dollars monthly.
What the Government did with all the
money no one knows
Public schools are unknown. The army,
consisting of about IL, 600 hoys and men, is
alleged to have c0nsuessd large portion
of the national taxes. but as a common
soldier is only paid about SIS n: onth in
silver. is fed on tortilIas aud coffee, and
seldom draws his salary, except in worth
less paper currency. it is hard 10 calculate
how much of the immense revenue of the
republic it drew upon for support.
lH6Ec WAS pEaCtlcdlly nothing 0atl0nal
that the public funds Of San Salvador
were expended upon. The presidential
mansion had to be provided with the best
in the land, of course. but the expen &c
was merely trifie compared with the
sums presumed TO have been secured by
wholesale and indiseriminate taxation.
Business got dull all over the world, aud
San Salvador also felt the depression.
The price of silver, the poor mans coin in
that country, fell down to almost nothing.
and then the Government. in stead Of doing
| what it could TO help the poor people in
their distress, declared that all export and
import duties should be paid in gold. thus
nearly doubling the rates of revenue
named in the tariff.
Immediately the price of provisions.
clothing. in fact everything advanced to
such an extent that the great bulk of the
! couniry's population was bankruptsd and
had to fall back on nature for food and
clothing. What little advance the country
was making was stopped short
! In the midst of this crisis in financial
affairs and the gradual decline OF the re-
public. champagne corks poppedat the CAPT
tai Pompous officers. generals, colonies
and tie like, who didn't know any more
about military tactics than a farmer.
] strutied about and drew big sums of