The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-22
CASTRO LEAVES RUIN
AND DEsTITUTION BEHIND HIM.
 INDUSTRY ALMOST DEAD.
People starvtpg as Result of Venenu- elan Presidents Effort to Monop- .olixe the Busincss and Re-
 sowrces of the Country.

Has President Castro abdicated? Few south American despots die in harness and none resign--if he can help it! Castro's .resignation." therefore, looks to those, who are thoroughly familiar with the situation in Venezuela, like a graceful attempt to side-step the storm that his policies have brought upon his head If local and interna- tionaI complications quiet down. Cas- fro will probably attempt to return to mower. Otherwise, the world has seen the last of one of the most adept trou- ble-mak kers that ever appeared on the international stage.
 With three revolutionary movements on foot against him, with the larger part of his people cursing him for the suffering he has brought upon them. and with one foreign power ready to exact satisfaction for wrongs suffered A his hands. there Is no cause to won der why Castro has gone into at least temporary retirement.
 Under Castro's rule Venezuela has become a verftable Land of Graft. Half the population Is in dire want, many starving and hundreds naked; industry is paraIyzed, and all this Is the result of the deliberate attempt of Castro to monopolize for himself and his friends all the profitable business and natural resources of the country.
 There Is nothing from matches to steamship companies that Castro has not worked for his own pocket all ths time. Guesses as to the amount of way up to s1S.000.00o. a substantial part of which is on deposit In New York. Paris and London banks. This is an old story. and in providing for a stormy future Castro Is only fol- lowing the footsteps of all far-sighted South American potentates. It is in the extent of the ruin his rapacity has worked that Castro stands out head and shoulders above the ranks of republic wreckers.
 Tn Maracaibo, venezuela's second city, naked women and children beg gfng in the streets are not an unu- sua1 sight Impoverished people of the better class keep to their homes. and many tragedy of want goes on be- hind the drawn blinds of the city houses. The peon of the country dis tricts is also destitute. but he gets along better than the poor of the city. The greatest and most abject suffer- ing is seen among the poor O. caracas, where gaunt, pinched faces tell the story of widespread want.
 There is little demand for labor, while at the same time food prices are abnormaily high. Salt fish, for in stance, WHICH IOTInS d blB iltIU III tHo menu of the poor, normally sells for five cents a pound. Now salt fish cost Is cents a pound because Castro's salt monopoly has smore than doubled the price of that article.
 The cattle industry has gone to ruin because a monopoly of the export trade Is in the hands of vice-President Go mex, Castro's temporary successor. Cat tie raisers are compelled to take any n..s- ~ nA is usually so low as to leave no profit whatever for the cattle raiser. most of them have abandoned the business altogether This has impoverished large localities that formerly prosper ed on the cattle trade.
 This sort of grating has been over done; 1t has been carried so far as to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. There is no use In having an export. monopoly unless the exports keep up. The export trade in Venezu- ella is so dead that the Hamburg American line has wired its La Guayra agent that it's sailings in April and May will not touch at Venezuela ports. because there are not sufficient car goes to warrant landing.
 Another harbinser of trouble is the disappearance oI gold coin and the de- cline in the value of silver with which the government is flooding the coun- try. "Printingpress money" was proph- esied as Castro's next move unless ne was successful in raising a loan in the United States. Germany. Italy. England and France have refused to loan him money, but he clings to the idea that some power will help him out.
 Real estate values have greatly de- creased everywhere In Venezuela, and the population of Caracas has dwin- dld from S0,000 to 50,000. In the face of these facts and the diminished trade of the country nobody but Castro ex- poets that a loan could be floated. and two of his underlings declined the task of raising money abroad.
 If the graft derived from the Orinoco steamship company. the Caracas gas works, the match, rum, cigarette. cattle, salt, postage-stamp, gambling house and other monopolies had gone into the Venezuelan treasury, Castro would not have been looking for foreign loan. All these monopolies have been immensely profitable, but the graft has emptisd into the presidents pock- ct or the private exchequers of his relatives and friends.
 This Is the way In which Castro's policy affects the people: There used to be scores of cigarette factories large and small, employing hundreds of mon, women, boys and girls. Lithograpn plants and box factories supported by the cigarette makers also gave em- ployment to many. Most of these peo- ple were thrown out of work when the Castro syndicate took over the ci- garette business and tho same story Is told of other industries.
 Castro talked of going into the ma rine cable business. having eliminated the French company from the field by the simple process of closing up Its stations and banishing its employees. If he finds this undertaking as profit able as the asphalt industry 1t will add greatly to his income. A conservative estimate of his rake-on on the asphalt lake seized from its American owners places his profits at s300.000 up to January l. And shipments have been kept up regularly notwithstanding the efforts of the New York and Bermu- deg Company to induce Castro to ar bitrate the dispute over the lake.
 Castro has known for some time that he was approaching a crisis. There has been unusual military activity around Caracas; several new regi- ments have been drafted and drilled. but they know nothing about handling their guns. Indians from the interior were the recruits preferred because they have suffered less from Castro's