The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-01-21
should now, perhaps, be called Governor,


ederation-receives salary of So, 500
per annum, and is elected for four years,
during which time, if not cut short in
his career by some more powerful rival, he
''makes hay in the sunshine of oppor-
tunity and usually amasses an immense
fortune. A common argument down here
in favor of re-electing presidents is that
they are able to steal all they want during
the first term, and afterwards may attend
to the affairs of the nation; while new
encumbent would in his turn be engros-
sed in the pursuit of wealth. There are
two vice presidents, who are generally
the speaker of the senate and the speak
er of the lower house, and either may
perform the duties of the executive in
cases of emergency. There is cabinet
of four ministers of finance; of foreign
affairs, agriculture and commerce; of
military affairs and public works; and
of justice, public instruction, and
ecclesiastical affairs. There are IA sena-
tors, two from each province, elected for
four years; and twenty four ''deputies''
or congressman, one for each 10, 900 in
habitants, elected for two years. Mem
bers of both houses receive the same sal
airy, 81. so per diem, during sessions only;
none are eligible for two successive terms,
OF as candidates for any other Office dur
ing the term of congressional service.
The clergy are debarred from civil posi-
ton of any sort His Holiness, the
bishop, could not get the office of Com
missioner of roads if he wanted it, nor
his lowest priest guard the church treas
VI in constabular capacity. Candidates
for any post of honor under the govern
ment must possess certain qualifications
of age, education and property; and all
persons accepting pensions from the gov
eminent, as well as those performing the
MED the right of suffrage or of holding
office. Nicaragua is a member of the
Universal Postal Union, and its postal
service is in excellent condition. A money
order system is in operation in all the
principal towns of the Republic. There
are about l, 800 miles of telegraph and 100
miles of telephone, and at San Juan del
Sur on the Pacific coast connection is
made with the submarine cable, by which
dispatches can be sent from any Nicara-
guam port to any telegraph Office in the
world.
The environs of Managua are very pic
turesque. On one side is the beautiful
lake, 81 miles long by 16 wide, surround
ed by volcanic cones, and on the other are
fertile slopes covered with coffee and CO.
Goa plantations yielding prodigious crops,
From opposite sides two points jut into
the lake, giving it somewhat the shape of
the figure S. In it the island peaks,
Momotombe and Momotombita, rise from
the waters edge to height of six or
seven thousand feet, sending up inter-
militant volumes of smoke or steam to
mingle with the clouds. Lake Managua
is higher than the near-b by Lake Nicara-
qua but not nearly so deep. A line of
five small steamers is now employed on
its waters to accommodate the constantly
increasing traffic between Momotombo
town, the terminus of the railroad from
capital. The country about Managua
must have been densely populated by the
aboriginal race and is full of most curious
relics of prehistoric people which the
natives regard with great veneration. If
the old saw about early to bed and
early to rise be true, the people of Mic
aragua ought to be wiser than solomon,
Weather than Crmsus and healthier than
Methuselah. By nine O'clock every light
is extinguished IN Managua, and everybody
is sleeping the sleep OF the just, behind
or hammock, or little iron bedstead; and
long before ''sun up the business of the
day is begun. But the business accom-
plished seems to be very little indeed.
The Nicaraguan takes even his pleasures
lesurely and in homeopathic doses, all
but sleeping and smoking. Every other
little town in Hispano- America has its
Casino and other places of public amuse-
ment or social gatherings; but there are
none in Managua. The entertainments
in private houses generally take the form
of early dinner parties; and if dancing is
INDUCED in, it is begun in the afternoon
and concluded about the hour such exer
cises commence elsewhere. The poems
live in the outskirts of the city, in huts of
| bamboo matched with straw, surrounded
with cacti hedges. They are very poor,
and dirty beyond degree, yet apparently
happy as the summer day is long. A
real, which is worth twelve and one half
cents in our money, will sustain whole
family for week, for they need little
more than that with which nature has
supplied them, -plantains and yams for
food, tobacco and sugar cane for luxuries,
and their own brown skins for covering
| II