The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-14
rs CASTRO AN IMITATORY

WASHINGTON, April 13.-From the Wash
ington point Of view it is much too early
to see or even to guess jus. what is meant
by the latest move Of Cipriano Castro. 1t
would be little short Of absurd to declare
that he Is out Of politics or to predict that
he will go out. The veins Of this very in
teresting little man carry nc drop Of the
Cincinnatus blood. Never will he bid a
long farewell to all his greatness, say good
by to his beloved and loyal people, and
return to the little m~ountainside bodeDd
Of which he was the proprietor scarcely
more than ten years ~ Never will he
join the noble order OF has beens." But
there is that in his career which suggests
that he is in some ways an imitator Of his
predecessor, Don Guzman Blanco.
From 1870 until 1886 Guzman Blanco
ruled Venezuela with an aver stronger
hand than that Of Cipriano Castro. 1t
suited him from time to time to make a
show of getting out and to talk about per-
manent withdrawal il his dearly loved land
would be served by his retirement, but for
sixteen years he never got 30 far away that
he could not get back when he saw fit.
Very much as Don Cipriano has had his
row with France, so did Don Guzman get
into a tangle with England. When Eng
land in 1887 laid claim to the territory west
of the ~Essequibo River, Mr.. Blanco stub
bornly insisted upon arbitration OF the
matter, and when this was refused by the
British Government Don Guzman sent the
British Minister, Mr., st. John, his passports,
very much as Don Cipriano severed diplo-
matte relations with NJ. Taigny last fall.
Rlanon nnH Taatrn y alba in that
both sought readjustment of the national
finances, while neither plunged into foreign
debt. 1t lie widely believed that Blanco
made millions out Of his official position.
and that he vent to Paris as the best place
to spend them. An official statement of
the national finances from 1872 to 1885 sho ws
total receipts as about Se5, 600 900 and total
expenditures as about S58 ,000, 900. In
quiring patriots have wondered what be-
came Of the balance and of sundry other
moneys supposed to have been received by
Mr.. Blanco. There are unoharitable souls
who profess to believe that Mr.. Castro has
feathered his nest in a similar manner, and
that he will some day emulate the example
of his predecessor by going to Paris to cut
a wide swath in Partisan society with a
soythe made from Venezuelan dollars.
Like Blanco, Castro has don not a little
for the establishment of Venezuelan cities,
has lone something in the way OF public
works, and has sti1ed industrial progress
by burde nsome taxation. Castro is, as
Blanco was, a strong man and a fighting
man. He has quelled insurrection as Blanco
did. Both acquired supremacy through
revolution, and both made themselves
first provisional President and then con-
stitutional President. The rule of Blanco
was brought to an end by civil war. The
rule of Castro is not yet over. He may
submerge himself for a time, and may wen
announce his permanent abdication, but
we may still look to see his restless soul
bob up in the seething kettle of Venezuelan
affairs. Don't believe him politically dead
until you read his obituary.