El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-05-15

people Of Nicaragua, victims Of so
many generations of misrule,
with l. years of Zalayaism as its eli
max. have reached that sad state where
the traveller wonders whether they or
their beasts OF burden have the better
/ lot in life. Where there is a submerged
/ in America, in Nicaragua IL is sub
/ merged nine-tenths.
( The people have no education. What
/ ever Of schools there are have been ere
ated in order that the gOYrnmnt might
4 use a lot Of high flown language about
! eduCat ton in the republic viva I'D
: ertad'-long live Hberty-is a phrase
; to cOnjure with in Nicaragua. Let
/ leader shout ii and thousands gather
J beneath his banner And yet the
+ masses know about as little OF true
/ liberty a s those Of Persia. a fair cleo
Z tiOn in Nicaragua has never been
( known. and until some one from the
! outside guarantees IL. or until the ma
ture of the NicaraZuan politician
changes. none ever will be known.
Nothing in the way Of sanitation edu-
! cation or governmental assistance mas
7 ever come 10 them They have nun
/ dred times been drafted into the armies
I OF the rival revolutionary parties. taken
away from their homes and their work,
and the effect of all this may be shown
by the one significant fact that the
population of Nicaragua has decreased
4 more than one-half in so years
Contrast with the lot OF the unfOrtu-
{ nate masses the condition of the ruling
I classes. They are, almost without eX-
ceptiOn, well to do; very often they
are rich The poor peon must work
whole day for them for less than p
cents II he is not willing 10 take the
wage the alternative IS starvation And
as hundreds of thousands are always
hungry. no strike can ever secure bet
ter wages
There has been one exception to this
prosperity OF the ruling classes. During
the endless procession Of revolutions
that have come and gone in Nicaragua,
recruiting officers have have visited ev-
cry coffee finca. sugar plantation and
mining village in the republic In search
Of men for the army II was either q
case Of take to the woods or go to the
army Under those conditions the cOf-
. fee and sugar growers and the mining
men would have paid high prices for Ia
( Dor but It was not TO be had. with the
result that coffee withered on the trees,
the sugar cane remained uncut the
mineral continued in its place and in
dustry in general was ruined. 1t is true
that all this for the time being caused
losses to the property owning, ruling
class, but future concessions always
made up for IL.
Religious and Immoral.
Perhaps the saddest fact about the
whole situation Of the masses I'm Mica
"a qua is the smiling and cheerful resig-
nation with which they have borne
their pitiable lot. Whether il has come
from never having known anything
better or from sort OF stole phllOsO-
ply, II is hard TO divine, but their
good nature under their long suffering
is a revelation in patience. They are
deeply religiOus people, and yet they
seem TO violate every principle Of
morality with which the word "relig-
ion" is associated IN the American
mind Except tn the small percentage
Of high caste families, marriage is all
but forgotten rite The church and
the state each declare that marriage
caTnn0nfaE pnInhrafnH other
not good. and the masses believe them
both Zelaya once boosted that IS per-
cent OF the children Of Nicaragua were
ilegitimate.
The people have the gambling spirit
highly developed They buy lottery
tickets every week If they can get
centavo; they have cockfights just as
orten as the supply OF cocks VIII per
nit; they play keno al all hours Of the
day and highland Nicaragua is a wide
open place from Corinto and san Juan
del Sur to Bluefields and Greytown-
Children TOpsy Turvey Class.
The children OF Nicaragua are like
TOpsy indeed. There is no pretense
OF rearing them-thsy run as wild as
the pigs and chickens. and live with
such indifference 10 dirt that one be-
gins to believe that man may become
Immune 20 all germs just as he does 70
some diseases. They grow up in ignO-
rance, live wholly a hand to mouth eX-
tStence from the cradle 10 the grave,
and ultimately are carried TO their
graves in rented collins from which
their bodies wound in nothing but
winding sheets are tumbled into their
graves.
Although as stated before. in half a
century the population Of Nicaragua
has been cut in twain. this cannot be
attributed TO race suicide II Is not
considered wrong for a man TO main
tain half a dozen domestic establish
ments- He IS criticized only II he at
tempts to maintain more homes than he
can provide for. Some time since the
son OF one Of the present candidates Tor
president was asked how many broth
ers and sisters he had he replied that I
ne did not know, explaining GU see
we have so many mamas Plenty OF I
children are born. but disease and war Z
cut their lives short.
Bitter Against Foreigners.
Notwithstanding the fact that the /
masses in Nicaragua have never re-
ceived anything from the government I
but the privilege OF paying for its main I
tenance and fighting for II or against I
II. they still are intensely patrIouc and I
equally bitter against foreigners Iney Z
have heard the ruling element IN Nlca-
aqua talk so much about the United /
states and its people that they are not
much in love with US Ihey cannot un-
derstand how any government suoulu
sympathiZe with them ana they Judge
Us as individuals By what they see Of us
in Mica ira qua And on the whole they
are justified IN the latter conclusion
The Soldiers % Fortune.
There Is certain class OF adYen-
turers who leave the United tSates Tor
their country's good. and they are al
ways IN evidence IN countries IKE TINS
Tney like war and they try to bring II
about They are soldiers OF fortune,
who would not hesitate to cause rivers
OF blood TO flow in order to bet a con-
cessIon. Just one incident illustrates i
the source Of the popular anti-Ameri- I
can feeling. The usual crowd OF people
were out for their evening OF sitting on I
the delapidated railroad freight pier
the only diversion for the people Of the 1
capital cfrv-when an American adven-
turer. drunk as a lord. took a pistol
from his pocket and began TO beat
native over the head because the lat
ter had failed to step out OF his way.
A crowd Of native men and women j
were discussing the matter moment I
later. and one OF the men remarked:
THAT Is the way the Americans feel {
toward us
There are some peculiar customs in I
official circles IN Nicaragua. The leg
fslative Dalace. which also houses all
Tho ,,,f-fs+rfas Adults on one Of the