Arizona republican., 1909-11-27
PHoENX ARIZONA. NOV. 27. 1909
The Case of eroee and Cannon.

ine NdSe oI SFoCc ana Sannon.
 So far. the people of the United States have declined to get excited over the case of Leonard Groce and Leroy Cannon, the Americans who were executed by order of President Zelaya of Nicaragua, and the facts developed to this date do not appear to warrant excitement
 Everybody admits that it is desir- able that Uncle Sam should lay a quieting hand on Nicaragua. and pos sibly the Groce and Cannon case, with others, may furnish our govern ment a sufficient pretext-and if so, well and good. But American com mon sense is against the proposition that We should violently bestir our selves because Americans .have been caught and punished for joining an armed rebellion.
 Any citizen of this country can readily bring the abstract question home to himself by considering how he would feel about it were foreign CTS to join in an armed insurrection against the president of the United States. and were these foreigners cap- tured and subjected to punishment. He would at once say that this gov ernment had the right to inflict ex- treme punishment, and he would not stop to ascertain whether such for eigners came from a powerful foreign land.
 As to whether the rebellion against Zelaya is justifiable, that is another matter, and it is question upon which there does not seem to be a divided opinion among civilized peo- pie. Zelaya is another Castro which is to say that he is a typical Latin American tyrant Exploiting his un- happy country for his own personal benefit. he for years has had Nica- ragua under his feet. He is pompous, petty. and vain. and brutally cruel In taking up arms with Estrada, who seeks to overthrow Zelaya. the unfor- tunate Anne jeans were impelled by the best of motives. we may well be- lieve. That they were excellent young | men. and deserved d better fate. we cannot doubt But in engaging in an l armed rebellion against the tyrant. | Groce and Cannon took the long chance that is taken by all who would l try to put powerful tyrsnts down they incurred the risk of death if ! they were caught. and they were | caught
 The Monroe doctrine imposes upon the United States the moral obliga- ton of preserving order in the Latin American countries-at least to the extent of seeing to it that foreigners therein are protected in life and property. But all foreigners must bear in mind that they violate the peace at their own peril Zelaya ought to be put out of business. and our government will have added another
  big mark to its credit in international affairs if it shall succeed in driving the dictator from power and in re- storing tranquility in Nicaragua. Meanwhile however. the individual American takes his life in his own hands. if he undertakes to reform by force the conditions in the countries to the south of us. And however noble and high minded his impulses may be, the American who fails in the laudsbe work of reform must pay the penalties that are imposed in the game as it's played.
 The one feature of the Groce- Can non case which may afford our gov ernmen: an advantage is the possi- bility that the young men. being in the uniform of the insurgent forces, were entitled to the rights of prison- CTS of war But apparently it has not been established yet that the re- bellion had progressed to the point, when the two Americans were cap tured, which would entitle the rebels to belligerents' rights
 It has been suggested that the name