Evening star., 1927-05-08

DR.. Senor Xavier Figueroa Larrain,
who refused to resign that office. He
has constrained the president of the
republic, Senior Emiliano Figueroa
Lorrain, to take a two months"
leave, so that the cabinet may be
free to deal with the case of his
brother and "reorganize the judiciary"
He has adjourned Parliament and
has eXiled many notables.
He declares that his main object in
assuming control is to rescue the
country from Communism. But com.
petent foreign observers declare that
the menace of Communism in Chile
is not serious. They find anti
parliamentarism his governing motive.
He declares himself 'the enemy of
any move indicating a fatal intent to
return to the parliamentary system.
1t is not quite clear, but apparently
he would not abolish Parliament. but
would make it as innocuous as the
Italian Parliament.
For some time past. Chile has been
in a state of unrest whereof the chief
causes are generally stated to be the
Tacna-Arica business, results from
stabilization of the peso and depres-
sion in thee nitrate industry.
The army is said to be solidly be-
hind Gen. Ibanez.
x X X X
United States.--Within the week
vast areas in northeast and south
central Louisiana have been inundated
through overflow of the Arkansas,
Ouachita and Red Rivers, and through
punching by the flood waters of the
Mississippi of some six creVaSSeS III
the Louisiana leVees between DUCK
port, Just north of Vicksburg, and the
junction of the Red and Mississippi
Rivers Three hundred and fifty thou
sand is a minimum figure Tor the
total of refugees under Red cross
care; no doubt the ultimate total VIII
considerably exceed that. Thanks to
admirable prophylactic and sanitary
arrangements, there has been no
notable development of diseases. and
thanks to the magnificent energy or
the rescuers. there have been scarcely
anv additional deaths within the week
(the total of known dead is about lIul.
The President appealed Tor popular
contribution of second f1Ve mlillon'
and the total popular contribution IS
now over seven millions. The artlflcal
crevasse at Poydras below New
Orleans has lowered the river ieVei
at New Orleans by only few lnches'
instead of the three feeet eXpecleu' u
but, Of course, New Orleans VIII De
saved. if necessary by blasting other
crevaSSes. -,
Gen. Wood reports that more than
a Thousand lepers have been dis
charged as cured from the leper
colony at Culion in the Philippines.
It is estimated that there are still
II 900 lepers in the Philippines and
- 600 900 in the world. More than
so per cent of the cases at Cunon
show improvement under the chaul-
moogra oil treatment in its latest
adaptation. The cost of the work at
Culion is high and the American peo-
pie are being asked for a special con-
tribution of $2,000,000 toward 1t
through a committee of which Gen.
Harbord is president. There can be
little doubt that the amount asked
for will be quickly subscribed. There
could be no more praiseworthy work
than that at Culion, no lives more
noble than those of the American
physicians, French and Belgian sis
ters and American nurses engaged
in it.
Hudson Maxim, the inventor. is
dead at the age of IA. He achieved
very high distinction in the field of
smokeless powders and high ex-
plosives. The famous "Maximite" is
his invention. He was a brother of
Sir Hiram Maxim, inventor of the
Maxim machine gun. who renounced
his citizenship of birth to become a
British subject.
X * \
Miscellane0us.--Nor is cele-
brating the 150th anniversary of the
creation of Camembert cheese by a