The New York herald., 1922-05-14


thievery because, as explained to me
by the aged but robust Prefect of Po-
lice. thirty-five years in service, to be
a thief one must have pistol, ana
there are severe penalties for carrying
weapons If the prospective thief had
pistol. But" with a giant shrug. of
course he'd sell it and retire on the
proceeds"
Time Has Come to Praise
Venezuela's New Leader
At first was amused by the per-
sistent popular misconception of this
most interesting part of South Amer
ica; later l resented the injustice not
only to a country / have learned TO
love but to that strong, unostenta-
tious personality at her helm, Gen.
Juan Vicente Gomez. who for more
than thirteen years has been guiding
her out of those troubled waters or
graft and tyranny where the notorious
Cipriano Castro had almost wrecked
her, into a harbor of astonishing pros
perity. Whatever venezuela's turbu-
lent past, bandits and uprisings are
now an anachronism in a country
where there are sufficient Government
funds in the bank to pay the entire
national debt and where Gomez's IA
vored motto, "Paz y Trabajo" (Peace
and Work.. doesn't merely adorn
arches but has been translated into
daily life.
To realize fully what Venezuela owes
Gomez one must have known his un.
scrupulous predecessor. Castro had.
it seemed, an unerring eye both for a
pretty face and an opportunity for
graft and lived only for women, drink
ing and extorting money. A small
man, he liked to regard himself as a
second Napoleon, and endeavored to
initiate his model even to the point of
only four hours sleep at night. His
favorite recreation apparently was
sending people to Jail. He by no means
confined this amiable diversion to po-
litiy al prisoners. Guests trembled. they
say. whenever, usually drunk, he
would enter a ballroom. If he did not
like the color of a mans eyes, or, more
often, if he liked his wife's eyes. the
hapless pleasuremaker might find
himself in Jail before morning. A very
stately and dignified Spanish friend of
ours in Caracas who still wore his
mustaches in the old style-waxed and
fiercely fiaring-related to me that un-
der Castro's Government he had been
sent TO prison at every hour of the
day in every known costume from
bathrobe to evening dress, including
one disastrous occasion when he was
hauled off with only one-half his face
shaved and his beloved mustachios
still tied back in their masculine curl
papers.
Diplomats Suffered Under
Despotic Habits of Castro
This belligerent personal attitude of
Castro's extended also to his foreign
relationships. Drunk-literally-with
power, he thought he had no need OF
other countries and treated with as
founding dscourtesy all members OF
the diplomatic corps. refusing to see
them half the time and sending home
on the fimsiest preteXt any who dis
pleased him. When-happily for his
country-he left in 1908 for an opera
ton in Germany not a single foreign
Power was represented in Caracas; his
own people regarded him with univer-
sal hatred, but. tired of an unsettled
Government, they submitted to his
tyrannies on the theory that Castro
is bad. but revolution Is worse
1t was agains: this background that
Gomez picked up the mantle of state
Castro had left behind. Scarcely had
the dictator's ship sailed out Of the
harbor when the crowd began clamor-
ing beneath the windows OF Gomez
and in every plaza in the capital i'm
ploring him to assume charge of the
tottering Government For three
weeks he declined to respond TO their
appeal. Then one happy day for
Venezuela a plot--instigated by Cas-
tro's intimates-to assassinate Gomez
was revealed. News of the conspiracy
reached him that same night. He
acted at once and in a thoroughly char
acteristic manner. With the courage
his worst enemy would not deny him
he personally and without aid arrested
the astonished ringleaders, disarming
with his own hands ono who attempted
TO shoot him. Then he informed the
commentaries Of the local barracks
before dawn on that day, December 10,
1908. that he had assumed charge. The
people. massed in the main plaza, ex-
ultantly offered him the Presidency.
There was really not much hope in
their hearts. Gomez had no creden-
tials beyond a gallant record as sol
der. Castro had called him from his
mountain home to put down the Matos
revolution Of 1901. the most preten-
tious OF the fifty-one revolutions of
Venezuelan history, ana ne had done