Evening star., 1915-12-13

succeeded to the presidency. and Mena
consf cred
Adolpho Diaz himsei at
Refuses to Be Run. ana onIy
power, for Mr. Diaz was a small. meek
mana typical bit OF vice presidential
timber. to all appearances To the
amazemezt of the domineerine Gen.
Mena. however. he meekly and politely
refused to be overlooked. He insisted
upon running the government himself.
This was made exceedingly difficult
by the fact that Gen. Mena was min
lister Of war and had the whole army
at his beck and call.
Diaz, however. bethought him of Gen.
Chamorro, a member of one of the
Oldest N1caraguan families. who had
political reasons. He was a great
and magnetic personality and had a
tremendous Influence with the army
Diaz sent for hirp, made him gen.
era1 and set him up as a counter in
1uence to Mena. Thereupon, the Mica
! raguan army formed itself into two
parties. occupying barracks across the
| street from each other and making life
exciting with their chickering's and riots.
The government was an absolute dead
lock. Neither side could move.
Under these circumstances. the United
lingIy. consented to interfere. Mr..
Diaz went to Mr.. Weitzell, the Ameri-
can minister. pointed out that. although
he was president. he could not move a
hand. and. like a child with broken
Mr.. .Weitzell finally informed the be-
wildered president that a new policy of
trust would be inaugurated in Nicaragua.
He accordingly went to Mena and said
that he wished that gentieman's prom
ise in writing not to cause any trou-
[ BILE. Mr. Mena said that he was will
| ing. but was sure Gen. Chamorro would
start something the moment he signed
such paper. Accordingly. Mr.. Welt
| zell obtained a similar letter from Gen.
| Chamorro. The situation once more
assumed the air of serenity.
This continued for about four hours
when Gen. Mena got restless, and Gen.
Chamorro got wind
| Gen Mena of his restlessness.
He announced to
Grows Restless. the American min
lister he was sure Mr.. Mena was going
to abandon the capital and later start
revolution, and asked permission to
arrest him. Mr.. WeitzelI refused on
tho ground that the policy OF trust
must be given a fair try-out. About
that time, Gen. Mena vindicated Gen.
Chamorro's suspicions by decamping
with about half the army. He went to
Granada, where he had great many
1 followers, including son who was in
command of the arsenal, and began
nghting his way toward Managua with
a strong army.
Incidentally, he captured railrad,
which was owned by American capital
and run by American operatives. 1t
was then that the United States ma
rines were landed to protect the
| american lives and property involved
| in this railroad. They did no actuai
aRhtins at hrst, and had no desire to
do any. but one enterprising officer of
Mena's army established himself on a
hilton and fired a volley at every train
that went by. So the United States
marines had to go up the hill and chase
him away.
war. but the marines have been there
ever since, which Is the significant
| thing. with the moral support of their
presence the country has enjoyed COM
paratIye peace and is gradually attain
| ing a DECREE of prosperity.
The labors Of the Joint commission
have been made more difficult by the
fact that the minister Of finance OBJ
| making OF payments. He says 1t Is too
much work. 30 he only signs an occa-
| ioual check for large amount, and
he American ONCE force OF the COM
| nission does all Of the detail work.
Furthermore. this commission has had