Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-09-26
FACTS ABOUT COLOMBIA
Liberal Party Sympathizer Dis
cusses His Countrymen.
NOT EAGER FOR REVOLUTIONS.

Senior Perez Says Chief Bone of Con-
tention Between the Two Parties
For Many Years Hns Been the
Question of Embracing Advancing
Civilization.
ut is unfortunate that the people of
the United States do not better under
stand the South Americans" said
Senor Perez an active sympathiZcr
with the Liberal party in the republic
( of Colombia, the other day to a re-
porter of the New York Tribune. you
think that we are anxious to fight, to
engage in constant revolutions. This
/ is not so. We simply struggle against
1 the Clerical party to obtain freedom Of
/ thought and action. We should rather
die than endure physical and moral
slavery. Colombia is a large and rich
| country. 1t consists of nine states,
. and is more than double the size of
/ Spain and Portugal On the Atlantic
ocean it has a coast line of over 1000
miles. The national government IS re-
publican, the main basis of the con-
! stitution being 4 scheme drawn up III
1858 after the m2del Of the United
States of America. The executive
| power is exercised by the president and
! four ministers or secretaries. In 1911
the war of independence began, and a
struggle was begun with Spain which
lasted until 1897 In 1919 Bolivar ef-
fected n union between Ecuador, Venc-
zuela and Colombia, but this federation
lasted only II years 1t was in 1927
! that the two parties which now exist
had their origin. We first believed in
the Spanish method of government, or,
rather, in the dcSpotic power of the
church. This party, the Conservatives,
was composed chiefly of the Jesuits,
but was supported by priests of all de-
nominations. The other party was the
Liberal organization. These men be-
lievcd in free institutions, progress in
every respect-railroads, telegraphs,
free and compulsory education, and SO
on"
"Whcthcr or not Colombia should en-
brace advancing civilization" he con-
tinued, has been the principal bone Of
the last 70 years, not only in Colombia,
but In Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Bo-
livia and elsewhere in South America.
In the Argentine Repdblic and in Mex
leo the clerical element has been over
come sufficiently to admit of enlight-
eued advancement in those countries,
but in Colombia and Venezuela the
I,, n1,l liGh Of
free institutions. They know that IL
education becomes general the people
will not pay their tithes and contribu-
tions to the church. They want the
masses to be kept in an ignorant state
in order that they may exploit them.
We simply cannot endure their tyran-
ny and so we fight. We have hoped
for a better state of things, but we
have been forced to resort to arms to
protect our lives and property.
There is a no more peaceful people
in the world than the Colombians, but
we are now desperate and would rather
die than submit to the caprices and
cruelties of the Clercals. The Venezu-
clans are not naturally so peaceful as
the ColombianS. Twenty years ago the
Liberals, who had been in power for "A
years, lost control of the government.
This would never have happened but
for the treachery of our president, who
sold himself to the Conservatives, or
Clericals, in order to make sure his own
succession. He pledged himself to look
after their interests if they would sup
,,t,if ION
with which to kill his former adher-
ents.
"The head of the Conservatives is the
pope. We have no regular leader, be-
cause our best men are constantly be-
ing killed in battle. Our old leader
was General Vargas Santos, who is
now 50 years Old and so intirm that he
can no longer take to the field. Cen
eral Tribe Uribe is now commander in
chief Of our armies He has fought
steadily at the head of our troops since
the present revolution began two years
ago. Last April he issued a peace
manifesto, when the fighting ceased
temporarily. We asked Mt that time
that the Liberals simply be allowed to
exist, but the Clericals continued to
shoot and imprison our leaders aud
sympathizers. Because of this tyranny
we were forced to continue our fight
ing.
Il do not know the present strength
of the Conservative or government
army. | should say it numbers about
$4,000 men. In order to fully under
stand the recent operations it is neces-
sary to know that there is Il Liberal
party in Ecuador, Venezuela and Co
lomba and an opposing Conservative
or Clerical party in the same coun-
tries This is natural, because 70 years
ago the three countries were one. Thus
the Liberal party of one country helps
It's sympathizers in another. SO it is
with the Conservatives When the
large number of Clericals. or govern
ment sympathizeTs, entered Venezuela
on July %, they were attacked and
completely routed by the combined
Venezuelan and Colombian Liberal
armies, who had concentrated their
forces in "A border state in Venezuela.
OF course General Tribe Uribe had a
share in the victory over the Clericals,
although he was not present at the bat
tie. This conflict ends the revolution
in Venezuela"
Expensive Canal.
TO finish the Panama canal a tunnel
a miles long, 100 feet wide and 100 !
foot Iirl, ,v.iIl Ia. ,,a.,.ggr,- II win COST |