The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-02-08

M yahla in Iogwood and mahogany, and
coffee and bananas and the way the tax
poured into the palace yard would nave
! astonished you. | satisfied my con-
science 50 far as my San Francisco
mariners were concerned, by sending
Nom about one-half the amount Of
+axcs. and the rest | sold To any pur-
hasers that happened To come along.
and turned the money into rhe treasury
! Considering that | never claimed nor
took a cent OF salary the whole time L
was president. l think | was pretty mid
ding honest. | considered then, as | do
now. that my first duty was TO the PEG
RE that | ruled over. and | was satisfied
with rhe profits that | made out of my
logwood business.
There is TO denying that | did use the
combination of presidency and consul
ate to the advantage Of my San Fran
cisco firm. When | wanted any favor
from the government | used TO write Us
a private American citizen TO myself as
consul asking for it. Then | would for
ward the letter, with a strong recon-
mendation. to myself as president. and
generally | granted the request. Some
men in my place would simply have
taken possession of anything they want
ed. without any formalities: but | al
ways had a respect for law and order.
and | always endeavOred to be as hon
est as the particular situation i'll which
found myself would allow me TO be,
without seriously i~njuring myself or my
fripnGs. | hope ycS won't think | am
boasting of my extreme honesty. 10
no Tharisee. and if l am better than the
average man I'm the last one to &c
about calling attention to the fact.
l tried to improve the moral and mate
~ -.,lI+3or % +hn nntIrnS hlIt
couldn't make the least impression on
them. You can't make Il a work
when he can earn a living by lying on
his back in the shade and eating ripe
bananas. As for getting the people to
understand the benefits of education. L
might as we'll have tried to get a milk
man to understand the benefits of not
yelling his head off in the streets. There
were about a dozen men in Santa Rosa.
not counting the priests, who could read
and write, and they wanted to keep THAT
knowledge to themselves. They SAID
that if | tried to establish public schools
and to make the people attend them,
there would be revolution in good
earnest. However. | did accomplish one
great reform. When | took the presi-
dency the whole country was Swarming
with police. who stole pretty much ev-
erything they could lay their hands on,
and kept the population in a state OF
terror by their crimes. | just abolished
the entire police force. with the eXcep-
ton of two constab les whom | kept in
the palace yard. where | could keep my
eye on them. The army consisted of 90
men, under Lieut.. Gen. Mendoza, and J
gave orders that the soldiers should
shoot any man in sight whom they might
catch in the act Of committing any po-
1icn tipn TioiS vpr-y 1,na 11y mint a n
end to crime in Orizaba. You see. the
average Orizabian. providing he wasn't
a professional policeman. hadn't the en-
ergy to stead. and with the exception
that now and then there would be q
quarrel. and one man would stab an
other. there was less crime in OriZa ba
than in any community that | ever
knew anything about.
Well. not to take up too much time,
l Will just say that | ruled Orizaba for 4
year and 4 month, and III that time |
made the fortune Of my San Francisco
firm. besides doing more to develop the
trade of the country than any central
American president ever dreamed of
doing. | filled up the empty treasur!
till it contained over ST. 900. which in
the eyes of an OriZabian was Il tremOn
dous sum, ard Lieut.. Gen. Mendoza
couldn't resist the temptation to handle
it. He came to me one day, with 4
file Of J Tiers at his back, and said THAT
he was awfully sorry, but that the troops
had revolted that morning. and made
him dictator. and that unless | left for
San Francisco by that days steamer, he
yeas afraid that he couldn't restrain the
blouLthirSty instincts of the men.
I didn't reproach Mendoza, though he
knew We'll enough that | understood
just how much truth there was in his
prrtence that the soldiers had reyolted.
| told him that | would yield only TO
force, and that if he wanted me to leave
the palace he would have to carry me
out. So he ordered his men to handcutf
me and put me on board the steamer.
which they accordingly did. The steamer
WAS ore belonging to my San Francisco
firm, and though the captain was con
sideratly astonished to see me hand
cuffed, and offered to take his crew and
clean out the town, | told MIN it was
all right. And so it proved to be.
Mendoza had forgotten that | was the
United States consul, as well as the