The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-09-05
CASTRO BIDS FOR WAR.
President of Venezuela Determined to
Provoke Rupture With Colombia

Washington, Sept. 3.--lt is feared
here that it may not be possible to
prevent hostilities between Venezuela
and Colombia. The action of presi
dent Castro in withdrawing the exc
quaturs of all the Colombian con
suls in Venezuela can be interpreted
i'll only one way--that he is deter,
mined to force the two countries
knto war.
I !! At the Colombian legation no Off
cial information concerning the press
dispatches has yet been received, and
1T is hoped that President Castro has
not taken step which will almost
inevitably lead to war. Minister
Silva sent a cablegram to his govern
ment tonight asking for information
as to the present situation. Colon
bia does not want war. They hold
only one man responsible for the
present strained relations between
the two republics, and that man is
President Castro. They believe that
he realizes the movement against
him in his own country is gaining
strength daily and that he hopes to
counterfeit this and unite the Nene7
zuelans by plunging them into for
| eign war.
On no other hypothesis can his re-
cent course be explained. Taking
advantage OF the undoubted fact that
some of the Venezuelan insurgents
started on the Colombian side OF
the frontier and then crossed ove1
! into Venezuela, accompanied by such
| Colombian Adventures as they coulG
induce to join them, Castro issued
| inhammatory proclamations assert,
ing that Venezuela had been invaded
by Colombia.
With the meager facilities for
learning the truth which the people
| of Venezuela have, in view of the
rigorous telegraphic and press cen.
sorship, these proclamations would
only have the effect of arousing pop
ular feeling against Colombia. Cas-
| t,o has now followed this up by a
withdrawal of the exequatur of the
Colombian consuls, which will tend
still further to impress the Venezue7
lans with the idea that Colombia il
n hostile nation.
| Thus far Colombia has not retail.
Ated, though as a precautionary
measure troops have been concen-
trated at points along the Venezue:
Ian frontier Senior Puildo, the Ven
ekuelan charge d'affaires, said this
evening that he had not received any
confirmation of the press dispatches
announcing the withdrawal of the
exequaturs of the Colombian consuls,
and did not believe that they We're
accurate.
s'It is possible" said he. chat this
action may have been taken in re-
gard to one or two of the consuls,
Some of the Colombian consuls in
Venezuela are Venezuelans, and it
may be that they have been aiding
the insurgents in Venezuela"
England to stand Pat.
Cape Town, Aug. 2S.-Lord Miner,
the British high commissioner in
South Africa, replying to an address
of welcome, said there was no doubt
Whatsoever of the unsuitable deter
mination of the people and govern
ment of Great Britain to adhere to
their South African policy.
A little girl read a composition be-
fore the minister. The subject was
"A Cow" She wove in this compli-
mentary sentences: IA COW is the
most useful animal in the world, ex-
cept religion
| There is consent in smile, while
| a laugh is often refusal.
A>Baltimore engraver, II. A. Hou-
seal, has performed wonderful feat.
On the head of pin, one-sixteentb
of an inch in diameter, he has en-
gravtd all the letters of the alphabet.
They are arranged in two circles
with the character 6 in the center.
All the letters are capitals.
The sum of $3.50 in roll of bills,
held by a stout elastic band, was ac-
,identaliy dropped from the pocket
sof Elwyn Phil ps, in Southampton,
y. y A few days later his horse,
had a coughing fit and copghed III
he roll intact II is supposed
'orse Picked up and swallowed
ash.