The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-12-18
lElIIL SEEKS INTERVENTION.
NOTHING ELSE CAN SAVE HIM
FROM REvOLUTIONIsTs.

President Of Nicaragua In Thought
20 Be F7outing tho United States
Purposcly So ~ to Avoid the Hu-
initiation Of Defeat by the Rebels.
Hk Fsalurc to Distribute Loan the
Cause Of Present Internecine
strife.
Panama. Dec.~4.-It is the opinion
OF Panamans that President Zelaya,
OF Nicaragua. Is riding for fall.
that ne 10 deliberately working to
bring about Intervention by the Uni
ted States. having chosen thar sorm
OF humiliation In preference to the
sreeter one of suffering dssea. al
-1Ae haAda Of rsvoiutlonists.
For the past sixteen years. during
which time Zslaya has been In pow
sr. according to tho statements Of
men now on the isthmus who are
convsrsant with afsairs In that re-
public. Nicaragua has been ruled by
. sroun % eight daring. clever and
.nohscisheslsss men. who have looked
upon the country - their own per-
sonal property. This group has
Grown enormously rich by q system
atissd piliass of the revenues Of the
States and Of individuals. II IL es-
timatsd that Zelaya n worth about
$3o.eoe.ooo gold. most Of which he
has invested In Brussels and Ion
don.
1t u said 70 be we'll established
that the chief cause Of the present
revelation was tho failure Of zslaya
70 distribute among his seven asso-
eiatss loan Of $4,000. 900 obtained
recently In Europe. The seven were
ssvsn . share Of the money. but not
ON the basis Of apportionment which
had governed these distributions in
ths past They demonstrated. but
Al to no purpose. Zslays refused
70 pay on on the old basis and even
threatened that II they did not sub
NIT gracefully ne would turn against
them the system which they had
Jointly organised. This system was
simple. but effective. Its modus op-
srsndi was about a. follows:
Whenever In any region of the
country . citizen was found In law
nsl possession Of q piece Of property
OF any considerable value, an agent
Of the group was sent to him to
ask the price for which he would
sell it. When the price was made
known the agent would offer to buy
R for about one-tentl Of its value.
This offer being refused, the agent
Wa then at liberty TO outline hi.
proposed retaliation. saying: IF
you do not sell we will denounce you
- conspirator. We will spread ru-
mors about your activity in behalf
Of the revolutionary faction. which
We are careful always to have stir
ring about somewhere In the coun-
Try. We will try you with our
judges. In our Court, before our
tufy and sentence you to be shot as
. traitor and have your property
confiscated. VIII you be shot or
will you sell?
Sometimes the men were shot. and
the country at large imagined that
these men were real traitors and
conspirators. and applauded the ver-
dict and their execution.
When the originators of the sys-
tom found themselves threatened
they promptly surrendered-ali save
one. This one turned revolutionist,
with the result that an army of
several thousand men was soon in
the field. and Bluefelds and the en-
tire eastern coast of Nicaragua con-
quered.
That Is the view of the situation
~ taken on the isthmus, where. TO
DO sure. there are many Nigara-
guans. naturally very strongly op-
posed to the present administration n
In their country. They are of the
opinion that zelaya sees that the
game is up and is anxious to make
MS departure In safety from tn.
Republic. He would much rather
stand In the eyes Of the world as
having been forced out by the Unit
ted States than by his own people,
however this is why he has provok-
cd reprisals by the brutal shooting
Of Cannon and Groce.
Judge Horace III. Lurton. of Ten
nessee. has been nominated by Pres
ident Taft to succeed Associate JUS