The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-06

President Alvarez my death. have IeRwrdod
board the steamer on his way to your former
country; To you have tried, to show my
see that there Is anything amusing, in this.
But my dear young man, = l exclaimed. I'm
very much Obliged 70 you for your gratitude,
make q. President out Of a foreigner" ''.N "
said sMSt endoza beg .S TfHh%s d ESc0lb, before ype sEaS%n;
when ] arrested Alvarez, / made myself Die.
tator. The first decree l issued was one making
you a citizon. Then l ordered an election for
had the usual majority. OF, $4,000 votes. your
see you are regularly elected, and I have, of
course. resigned my position as Dictator"
mean anu" to Tell teiI m nr,'t th"t ' gIo.oSo p se1a q, or rug fb sUe
abouts, voted, for me, though most of them had
never so much as heard of my existence before
~ have not said that 10000 people voted
Tor you, Don Smith" he replied. There are
election in this country. II is the business. Of
tho police TO conduct an election. and to give
the proper candidate the proper number Of
100000 majority, and wo thought it right that
you should have the same. 1 assure YOU that
everything has been done in the most regular
way, and your election is as valid as that Of tho
President of the United States"
] could have told my friend that he hadn't
hit on n. very good comparison, for the Prcsi.
dent OF tho United states at that time happened
to be Mr.. Hayes, who owed his election to the
iuSb tiiul tnt lNollSlitIlu TcluTHlllR DOHTu-h bcb
Of gamblers and thievcs-who counted the votes
OF Louisiana, sold the vote of the state to tho
BB sP%nsrS'., H ieS"sh it M iiiTIy 6elG s + to Gn thS
that little circumstance, and 1.wasn't going TO
give !.T, ny ! C, country away by mentioning it;
that i have been elected President and am n cit
lien Of orizaba, But l am still.thc American
resign my Consulate and give up my logwood
business, and,l don't mean to. do either.
Your heart is most noble, Don Smith," said
pnInv sfhnt Won In NOT n a tEnt fttlt N1n
stand the, customs of this country. The United
States will never know that you are President
not continue TO be Consult There is no reason
why a President should not carry on a great
and glorious business like yours, especially
W in the country. Beloved friend and
preseryer! Let me beg. you to accept tho Pres';
dency to. which an admiring nation has elected
you. II you do not like the position, you can
retire before you term Of office expires and ] will
'@ks . YGSs aGtaSc' and fq thSt .@h Siry b fhst | am I y "iso
promoted myself TO tho rank Of Lieutenant
General. and to tho command of the army"
and then ! took ten minutes to think the thing
over. So far as l could sec, l was at least as
work for an American Consul to do in orizaba
l didn't see that l need resign an office that
wasn't anything but n name, So. on the whole;
arm in arm with Gen. Mendoza to the palace.
| never saw more enthusiastic people in my life
than the people of Santa Rosa. They lined tho
sides of the streets and checrcd for me as If l
was Abraham Lincoln come to life again. l
was surprised at this, but Mendoza told ne that
there was a policeman with n knife standing
behind every citizen who hadn't previously OK
pressed his confidence in me, and that any nan
himself in difficulties. There is nothing so
easy as to arouse public enthusiasm" said
s Mfna tr%st t tns polisc:S$ you M sn9T nSw w to aG it W Sna
you could fairly cal n great man, but he knew
l hadn't been President three days before I
saw the tremendous advantages OF the place. l
had the best sort of food and drink and lodging
and clothes, and although ! couldn't collect a
particle of salary, owing TO tho treasury being
empty. | had all the comforts that Orizaba could
produce. l found that there weren't any taxes
he sent word to the rich men of the country that
he wanted a Government loan at 10 or. perhaps
that each man would please to send so much
mentioning the exact amount-to the palace
within twcnty-four hours. When made it
rich enough to wear shoes on my side. To raise
a revenue I imposed taxes payable in logwood
and mahogany and coffee and bananas. and the
way, the taxes poured into the palace yard
would have astonishcd YOU. ! satisfied my con-
We're concerned, by sending them about one
hnlf the amount Of taxes. and the rest l sold to
and turned the money into the treasury. Con:
sidering, that never claimed nor took n cent Of
fal MGs ' pfet Tg0, mi t5mf ! T Hona rteS'f I eon ! ae1ef
then. as l do now. that my first duty was to the
people ] ruled over. and ! was satisfied with tho
profits that l made out of my logwood business.
There is. no denying that | did use the COM
bination Of Presidency and Consulate to the ad:
wanted any favor l used to write as n private
American citizen to myself as Consul asking
for it. Then | would forward the letter, with
q strong recommendation to myself as Prcsi-
dent, and generally ] granted the request.
Some men in my place would simply have taken
any formalitics, but l always had n respect for
law and order, and ! always cndeavorcd to be as
honest as the particular situation in which I
found myself would allow me to be without
seriously iniuring myself or my friends. hope
you won't think / am boastinG of my extreme
honesty. I'm no Phariscc. and if am better
than tho average man I'm tho last one to go
about calling attention TO the fact.
i tried to improve the moral AND material
the least impression on them. You cant make
q man work when he can earn a living by "
bananas. AS for getting the people to under
stand the benefits of education, l might rs
the benefits OF not yelling lis head OFF in the
streets. There were about a dozen men in
Santa Rosa, not counting, the priests, who
the knowledge to themselves. They said that If
! tried to establish public schools and to make
luton. IN good earnest. However, i did ac-
oowplish ono. great reform. When took tho
Presidency the whole country was swarminE
with police, who stole pretty much everything
they could lay their hands on, and kent the
population in n state OF terror by their crimes.
L JuSb hDOllsHcu IIc cIillTt pOlltt lOlNC VIII II
of two constableS. whom | kept IN tho
palace yard, where i could keep my eye on
them. The army consisted of fifty men under
Lieut.. Gen. Mendoza. and ! gave orders that
the soldiers should shoot any man on sight
whom they might find in the act of committing
any police operation. This very nearly put an
end to crime in .0rizaba. fon see, the average
Orizabian, providing he wasn't n professional
had t the energy TO steal, and with
the exception that now and then there would
be n quarrel, and one man would stab another,
there was less crime In OriZaha than in any
that ! ever knew anything about.
Well. not to take up too much time. | will Just
say that l ruled Orizaba for n year and n month.
and in that time | made the fortune of my San
Francisco firm, besides doing moro to develop
the trade of the country than any Central
President over dreamed Of dong.
filed up tho empty treasury till II contained
over S17, 00O. which in the eyes of an OriHabian
was a tremendous sum. and Lieut. Gen. Men
doZa couldn't resist the temptation to handle II.
lie came to me one day with II file of soldiers
Mt his back, and said that he was awfully sorry,
but that the troops had rcvolted that morning
and made him Dictator. and that unless l left
for San Francisco by that days steamer he was
afraid that he couldn't restrain the bloodthirsty
of the men.
I didn't rcproach Mendoza, though he knew
well enough that | understood just how much
truth there was In his pretcncc that the soldiers