The Washington herald., 1917-02-25
SEEN AND HEARD BY GEORGE MINER.
Making a Monkey Of Nicaragua
Every Resource Pawned and the Government Turned Over
to the United States for TriAng Loan Which
Promised but Don't Make . ..,
By GEORGE MINER.
the Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.

Razor that here was a chance for him to
fall in and learn something. After they
had exchanged salutations the elder one
began:
I'VE belong to the +. +. Collins bri-
gade, as you see. i am myself the VIII
lage schoolmaster, but as the national
treasury has no funds from which to pay
the teachers, and my salary, though but
sS5 q month, is now in arrears for four
months, I am by necessity forced to be-
come q jornalero, or wage Garner, at 10
cents a day, helping my friend Balaam.
The cordoba, with commodities ever 60
ing higher and higher, has scarcely more
purchasing power for US today than had
our old paper currency.
Three years ago ! could buy beans
at g. 1-2 CENTS a pound, while new I must
pay s cents a pound. The only things we
! find unchanged in value and which our
country has at all times In stock for US,
are mangos. papayas and zapotes.
What we need Is capital! Then we need
some constructive legislation to help the
coffee grower and farmer. There Is no
legal rate of interest. II one can bor-
row money at all these days in Nicaragua,
he must pay the bank 1 per cent per
month, even with the help Of the finest Of
gilt-edge securities. The notes given by
the government for large sums. with q
lien on the customs receipts, read paya-
Bile, not in cardobas, but in United States
gold. Brokers and other Shyloeks are
loaning their money at 1 Ia and 2 per
cent a month. The usual manner Of bank
ing operations In the matter OF loans is
not SO much the taking of mortgages on
the crop and the farm, but rather the
function of Q coffee buyer and the SELL
ing to the borrower exchange on New
York. where the loan will be payable In
gold.
80 you see these transactions have q
tendency to give our gold standard cor
doba a black eye. Therefore you see very
little silver anywhere nowadays in this
country. while the paper bills, which are
backed by gold and silver reserves in New
York, are measured by the uptrend OF
commodities. going the way Of their pred
ecessors.
IT am reading law" he continued, "and
when next year I am admitted to the bar
shall stand for election to the national
Congress in the ranks of the Liberal
Progressive party. II ! am elected shall
introduce q bill In favor Of a land tax
and a rural credits act which will protect
the farmer against the practice OF usury
which Is closing down the wealth-pro-
ducing industries all over the country.
MY friend Balaam, you notice, has
said nothing since YOU Joined US. He Is
a little down-spirited because he has lost
another burro. 1t died in Leon. 1t
couldn't digest tin cans and barrel hoops.
When We come down with our next pack
train loaded with coffee. We hope there
will be something more than garbage
plants on which to Craze the animals.
I'VE ought to have better roads than
you see for then We could use carts and
give the OK chance, which would great
ly help US in the transport Of cargoes.
Tell the people of the United States thai
We laboring people are anHously await
ing for the g, 10000 with which our gov
ernment will start public works. Then
we shall share in the general prosperity
You will understand that in Nicaragua,
as in other Latin-American countries
there is no tax on land. Consequently q
very small percentage OF the people, the
wealthy class, owning, some of them
10000. some a million. acres, can. un.
der this condition, shut down industrial
operations and go abroad. But 1t make.
it hard on us wage earners kept in idle
ness and dependent upon commissars
supplies. with little more than plantain
mangos and papayas for food"
Another man who spoke with the voics
Of authority was q German merchant
who has lived there for fifty years. Said
he:
Nicaragua Is truly q wonderful coun.
try. Her people, rich and poor, kind and
sympathetic always, are as good q people
as ever lived on earth. In the upper
middle-class families there is all the cul
turs and rehnelaent to be found in any
country of wealth and social progress
while in the professions one NAV find
MEN OF surprising brilliancy and impress
sivenesS.
Just now the country is In q state oi
utter political and Industrial demoraliza.
ton-a heritage of past misrule, which
has been aggravated by personal arnbi-
tions. the outs against the ins, ever sinc<
the downfall of Zelaya. It's the old story
over again. the tale of two cities, Leon
against Grenada. and they have fought
1t out. recurrently. more bitterly thar
ever did the factions which ruled and
all but destroyed the Sparta and Athen:
of DID,"
quote these opinions gathered by Mr.,
Razor for Just what they are worth. Al
any rate they give side light on condi.
tions in Nicaragua which tho State De.
partment does not furnish.