The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-20
THE HUMAN PROCESSION

5 THE HUMAN PROCESSION { A slender. active, graceful man, l with small, piercing eyes, q prominent
 nose, high, intellectual forehead, closely cropped hair carefully parted | in the middle, a n1ustache and beard l that covers upper lip and chin and 1 jaws-a type of the Spanish -Ameri-
 can intellectual" grave, soft-spoken. | unaffected, observant, quiet, well l dressed, frank and earnest,-such is General Mario G. Menoca1, who will l today succeed Jose M. Gomez as presi- l dent of Cuba. Today the young schol- ar and statesman, elected by the Gen. 1 servatices to the highest office in the island, republic, will take up his resi- l dence in the ancient palace where 1 Spanish governors general one ruled | in the state-the palace from which came Butcher Weyler's orders to | imprison and kill. Gen. Menoca1 is admittedly man of great ability, and | he will need all his statecraft and cum l ming in dealing with the crafty poli- t1cians of Cuba, and withholding them
 from acts that might lead to al final | and definite intervention by the United Estates.
 The new President was educated in the United States, at Cornell, and speaks English as perfectly as the Spanish tongue of his native land. As l an engineer he was employed for some time on the Nicaragua canal. He was one of the most devoted and able officers of the Cuban army in the war for freedom, and thus acquired his title of general. After the war he be- came the manager of the tremendous Chaparra, estates, including vast cane fields and sugar mills, of the Iarg-
 est enterprises of it's kind in the world Over the thousands of fOrkmen he ruled as a benevolent despot, keeping order with iron hand, with the re- suit that the property became fTn-
 nensely profitable. He is expected to l adopt the same methods in his man agement of the affairs of the govern
 ment. Revolt is going to be sterE1y
 surpassed during the Menoca1- regime, say the admirers of the newe execu-
 tive. Another Diaz. plus a higher or der of intellect and education and a broader sympathy" MenocaI has been
 described The Menoca1 policy is to support everything that will tend to- ward the stability, prosperity and pro gress of Cuba-but, of course, a pros- pectus is one thing, accomplishment rnother.
 Gen. Menocal begins his adrninistra-
 ton with very slim majority in Con- gress, and that majority depends up- on the continued support of the As bertistas. who joined with the Con- servatives in electing Menoca1. A d. has been overcome for the time be- ing, at least, and Dr. Jose Gonzalez Lunaza, who was leader of the Con- servative minority under the Liberal
 regime, has been elected speaker of the House. If the Asbertistas vote with the Conservatives, the latter will have forty-seven. votes to the Liberal party's forty-fouP.
 Gen. Menocal is a young man, still on the sunny side of fifty. while his vice president, E.. J. de Verona, is nearing ree-score-and-ten. The re- tiring president, Gen. Jose Gomez, is an able politician, and will remain at the helm of the Liberal party. deyot- ing his attention to healing the split in the Liberal ranks, and restoring 1t to a united party.
 berg, of Castle F'reke, Cork, Ireland, will celebrate his twenty-frst birth day today and it has been planned to comm emorate the occasion by a great family gathering at the castle. The desceidants of the young Irish baron settled in Ireland in the sixteenth cen tury. Lord Carbery succeeded to the title at the age of six. He has lately been serving with the army, in British East Africa. The first actor to win fame by in1- presentations of negro characters was Thomas D. Rice. who was born in New York 105 years ago today. Rice was the highest paid actor of his time, and his success was such that he soon had host of initators, and thus be- came the founder of negro minstreisy, long a favorite form of amusement on both sides of the Atlantic. Rice made his first appearance in a black face role while playing small parts in a Louisville theatre. His imitation of an aged and comica1 negro slave, call ed ''Jinn Crow scored a. hit, and the
 character was adapted to 8 farce in
 which Rice played before enthusiastic
 audiences throughout the United States, Canada. and England. In the latter country he was the theatrical sensation of the period, and Englan nd's greatest actors. including Macready
 played to small houses during Rfce's stay in London. Rice married an Eng fish girl, the daughter of MT. Glad stone, a theatrical manager. From
 about 1880, when Rice inaugure ted
 negro minstrelsy, until 1860, when he
 died, constituted the popular period of
 that type of amusement, and since
 then it has gradually declined.
 MASONIC NOTES