Evening star., 1924-03-26

There is a three-sided war raging
in Honduras and threatening to in
voIve the United States. American
marines have been sent to the capital,
iTegucigalpa, for the sole purpose of
protecting the lives and property of
! lAmericans and Europeans endangered
by drunken and riotous soldiers of the
I de facto government holding the city
against the independent but stimuli
taneous attacks of two besieging
armies. The soldiers of the defending
army have already destroyed or stolen
property exceeding half million dol
lars.
! All aliens are sheltered in the
American legation, and the presence
! of the 176 marines is considered more
j than sufficient to protect the legation
Spangled Banner enrages Hondurans,
they have wholesome respect for
; our disciplined marines.
| The worst phase of the situation is
ithe famine within the city of $4,000,
! and the imminence of an epidemic OF
mot only the pent-up city, but the sur
rounding country.
4
American republic. wherein the CON
stitution is less powerful than the
machete, and the president is but a
| little less dictatorial than a dictator
would be legal
! AS the constitution forbids a presi-
dent to succeed himself without a
| term intervening, it is necessary for
him to find plant puppet to fill the
vacancy between legal terms for the
regular" president. This explains the
| present imbroglio. The t'outs' object
| to the administration candidate
while at the same time objecting to
each other.
The United States has severed dip
| lomatic relations, since there is now
no constitutional government The
term of President Gutierrez has ex-
pired, but he has declared himself die
tator ad interim, while indorsing the
candidates. Of Gen. Arias (who is
| commanding the defense of the capi-
! taD and also of former President
Polycarp Bonilla- 1t would not be
polite for the administration to give
full and open support to either Bo-
nilla or Arias, for the successful can
didate might then imagine that he
was as strong as Gutierrez himself.
Then when Gutierrez became ready to
| resume power it might be difficult to
oust the ruling regime.
! < * X x
Another factor in the situation is
the candidacy of Gen. Carias, repre-
senting the outspoken opposition to
! the Gutierrez administration. Gen.
Carias is commanding one of the at
tacking armies and Gen. Ferrero the
| other, but the latest reports indicate
that these two armies have combined.
| 1t is feared that if the attackers en-
ter the si,y they W d qhss f1 tue npoe ae
| each other. Then if Ferrero, with his
army of 1000 barefooted Indians,
finds himself the. the more hnpe,s poweTLa dicts ne
and will fight both the Arias and
| Carias factions.
| All the armies are mainly equipped
with machetes-the long knives used
| in cutting sugar cane. They have few
| rifles and pistols, and President Cool
idge has stopped the shipment of
! arms to Honduras from the United
! States.
| sylyania, with population of less
| than 600 600, of whom nfne-tenths are
1 Carib Indians. The United states IS
interested in. the republic because
| banana plantations. Half of the Hon
duran exports consist OF bananas
/ Americans own a silver mine and
| other enterprises. Italians, French
and British also have business inter-
! ests of various kinds. =
* X x I:
| Above all other considerations, the
Monroe doctrine makes the United
States the superguardian Of the
peace of this hemisphere and the pro-
tector. of the interests Of, all Euro
| pean nationals invested in any coun-
y