Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-12-09

successful revolutionary leaders, the
presidential chair
There is an old saying in Central
with your interiors you must hold
out piece of bread to them in one
hand while you grasp club in the
other. This is very much the principle
upon which Zelaya has maintained his
rule in Nicaragua He offers his people
bread with one hand, and when they
are not satisfied they get the club.
When one sees the characterization
soldiers of these Central American
armies for the first time not ohl, ~
he inclined to laugh, but he entertains
grave doubts of their eff ficiency as sol
diers, yet 1t is only with such soldiers
as these that the satrap maintains his
despotism. Strange to say that the
men who make up the rank and file of
these armies are not warlike.
They are usually harmless, peace
able fellows, If let alone, and their
greatest desire is to be let alone But
they are not let alone. They are SIM
ply picked up, corralled or captured as
the case may be, and given to under
stand that they have got to obey, and
it is this understanding that makes
them good soldiers.
They are not supposed to know, and
do not know, anything about politics,
or if called upon to fight, what they
are to fight for. They know who their
chiefs or officers are-who the presi-
dent is. and as long as this president
is alive, and the officers who command
them stay with them, they will fight
to the end, and il is this military
strength that keeps the despot in pow
er in face of all the hatred and opposi-
tion which may be brought against
him.
Zelaya learned the power of this
stupid military force as an officer in
the army of Guatemala under Barrios,
and he has made good use of it, al
though he has not succeeded in per-
fecting its use so thoroughly as old
man Barrios did, for he has had many
revolutions to contend with and put
down during his 16 years of power.
Some say that this is because Zela-
va is neither as strong man or as
clever man as Barrios. Barrios be-
gan his rule by having dozen dis
turbers of the public peace and Sc
curity taken out in the public plaza
and shot. That ended the matter
There were no more disturbers of the
public peace and security, and there
were no more public executions. But
Zelaya, it seems, has had to keep up
the execution of his fellow-citizens all
along throughout his IS years of occu-
patton of the presidential chair.
AS to his having converted the Mo-
hammed's Paradise into a country Of
comparative activity there can he no
doubt In this respect he has done
precisely what Barrios did in Guate-
mala.
He has shaken the Indian out of his
lethargic state and made him work or
go into the army, or both. With his
labor he has strung telegraph lines all
over the country, herded cattle and
planted coffee, and whenever his army
needed strengthening or there was a
revolution on hand he has had him
uLOuSHl III DIS d NoluHIeel Solulei Vi
recruit and put in the army.
| On the other hand the merchants,
planters and business men of the
country have had TO increase their
earnings as best they could and pay
him oftimes arbitrary tribute or tax
alton
AS an example of his methods in
this respect. during an invasion of the
country by large force of revolution
lists from Costa Rica, he kept a care
full account OF all expenditures in put
ting down the revolution, at the same