The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-23
Castre.s p,e..r.nhx.

t.
 Cyprianos Castro is e man of humble origin. His father wes a stock rai4er near the Colombia border. ;. He is swarthy of complexion. light. in statue, of wiry strength and has a piercing
 black eye. He shows his Indian ex-
 traction: Like most veneznelan Presi- dents, Castro went into pfice at the head of successful revolution. He drove out Preeident Andrade and en-
 tered Caracas Oct. 24. 1889.
 Much has. been said of President Cas- tro that lacks the confirmation Of un- biased observers. He han been freely
 maligned by his many enemies and there has been. few to take up tn c cudgels in his behalf with conviction. Consequently. he has been given . reputation worse than he deserves. He has shown remarkable courage. de- terminAtionssper and political skill in conducting VeneyuSla through nine years of stormy life. He has had to- contend with powerful Revolution ary movements at home and at times withst the combined action against him by sea of Germany. Crest Britain and Italy. This, occurred in 1902, and was for the purpose of making Venezuela ful1ll It's obligations to the powers Castro's quArrels with the. powers have resultediin the severance of dip. lomatic relations between venezueia and sHoTiand, France. the United States, Colombia, etc. and as long as Castro was in power, there was apparently
 little hope Of reaching any settlement of these various smissinderstandfngs There have been several revolution ary.t uprfsings against Castro during his tenure of sof1ce. The most notable
 was the Matos movenent in 1909, backed by powerful interests outside of sVenezuela. This Castro succeeded tr crushing by defeating the force of the 18th and with great slaughser at a place called victoria.
 castro's strong. revengefnl hand made him the most hated of recent Venezuelan Presidents and under his control the commercial' intefests Of WeneEueia have suff6red notably. It 10 sad of him that she did not loot the Government treasury as has been xhe custom with hls pFedesessers. but that he aeauired the wealth which he is paid e ! ave Nsnt e surope before. by taking tato his own hands and shutting out all compe titf0n. some of the most profitable sindustries in the country. He governed hard and for the beneft of the clique at CAfaeas. who were his favorites
 Castro is- known to have ,heen i'll for several years, bat just what was the matter with him never has developed. It IS believed he has some malady of the kidneys. He has at times been so Ill that his life was despaireds of. His going to Europe for medical treat ment was absolutely unexpected. He made the announcement .cf his depart ure only four hours before he left CaracaS. Ts has been said that th idea of q medical attendant was blind, and that an iIl-wind was blowing in Venezuela, and he determined to get away safely while there was still time. Upon reaching France, there wasg a question as to how the French Govern rnent would receive Castro. inasmuch as dipionpatic relatlons between Franco and Venezuela were non existent France finally allowed him to land as a private citizen seeking the restora- tion of his health. He stayed but day in Paris. proceeding at once to Berlin. s,.x .ag,5 s.{ ls.s.s. s
 There is no -estrangeTnel1t between the Government of Germany and vere- zuela :. In Berlin, Castro took accotn- nodations at one of the leading hotels and lived exfrayhgantiy until he moved to private sanitarlum. .wh ere he is being observed by..a famous Berlin specialist.
 The first outbreak of the populace ] -