Daily camera., 1900-12-18
REVOLUTION NORMAL.
South and Central Americans Never
Pleased with Rulers.
A811AtOPs Flourish and Often Seis0
tAo Rsins Of Govern nment-RevO-
lutiOns Result In Scenes
Of 8utchery.

in Central and South America. The
southern republic that does not have
its uprising once year feels hat il is
losing something. 1t is notalways nee
essary that there should be just cause
for political upheayal, but only that
some general may experience banker
ing for the executive Office, or that
ONE president may wish TO become q
dictator.
In such cases the agitator gathers n
following. issues a proclamai ion and
seizes the reins Of government. if he
can. He kills as many of his enemies
as he can, in the name of the republic,
and holds sway until some other fellow
comes along and Gusts him. Or. if un-
successful after few skirmishes. fees
the country and later is found starting
q revolution in some neighboring state.
The revolutions are not joking mat
ters, however, for those engaged in
them. They mean business while they
last and are usually attended with
scenes of butchery and the utmost tyr
amy. They cause great deal Of
trouble for the United States govern
ment, too. as the mpstart revolutionist
leaders usually think il : incumbent
upon them TO tread upon Uncle Sans
coat tails at some stage of the game,
SAYS the Chicago Chronicle.
Revolutions have been so frequent in
Central and South America in recent
years that they are looked upon by Ibis
government as a matter of course The
United States consul teIegraphs the
state department that revolution has
broken ont. The secretar, of state.
with sigh of WEAKNESS. walks over 10
the navy department and asks hal a
ship be sent to the port neares, the
scene of the trouble. The navy depart
ment complies and the senior naval
officer brushes up on the Instructions
made and provided for such cases lie
know. Just what he will have To do.
for if he has been long upon the sta
tion he has been through many such
instructions.
He lands few marines and then de-
votes the rest OF his time 10 seeing TO
il that the belligerents do not ranSack
the American legations and corsu atps
and seize American merchant vessels
in their search for fleeing officials.
The weaker parties often make hr,;,k
for protection under the folds Of HE
American flag when affairs become
critical. and it requires great deai ni
watchfnlness Ia prevent the pursucrs
from violating she right of asylum.
They are not always successful in
this, for the victorious generals have
way OF shooting their victims first and
then discovering at'erward that they
have infringed the rights of neutrality.
Profuse apologies and salute 10 the
American flag and damages follow.
But that does not help the dead man.
1t has long been a study with officials
Of this government what il Is in the
makeup of the Central and South
American peoples which renoers them
so susceptible 10 the charms of the rev.
olutionist. OF course. most Of he gov
ernments are bad enough. hut there are
few instances where taking up arms
has hettered conditions among these
hery little republics. II seems to be
from natural irborn desire to fight
and 10 make trouble As soon ms the
killing is over they dwell together
again. the opposing sides in brotheriy
love until the next revolt cones along.
and likely as not the contending par
ties then swap positions and fight
against the men they fought for be-
fore.
The tendency to such disturbances
seems to be inherent in the blood Of the
Latin-American people. This is prob
ably in part due to their excitable tenn
permanent. But men who have studied
the question are inclined to think il is
to still larger degree attributable to
their race history and tradition. Their
governments are often republics in
name only
One difficulty with the South Amer
ican peoples 10 that they have under
taken to erect republics upon the civil
law Of imperial Rome and upon mon
archical traditions. They have framed
superstructures in the shape of writ
ten constitutions. modelled. in many in
stances. after the constitution of the
United States, but their political edi-
fees have failed to withstand the stress
Of time because their foundations have
been faulty.
The list of revolutions might be ex-
tended almost indefinitely The his
tory Of South America consists Of little
else. They are all of the same general
character. A so-called presi lent at
tains power, perhaps by means Of
more or less farcical election. He rules
his country as veritable monarch un-
til some military rival can gather about
him enough disaffected soldiers to war
rant him in attempting to seize the
chief executive office. Then comes the
revolution. Sometimes it is successful,
sometimes it is not. but it makes little
difference to the people of the country
who are not in the immediate following
Of one rival or the other.
Cranberry Frapps.