The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-04-10
At The National Capitol
DAILY WASHINGTON LETTER
A Digest of Who's Who and What's What
 By RODNEY BUTCHER

w h ington = The earthquake struck Nicaragua as she was striv-
 ing to rehabilitate herself years of
 unrest and revolt, engaging in a struggle rendered all the more bitter
 by the recent worldwide depression which gripped her principal indus tries.
 Anyone who has travelled through Latin America. where national af- fairs. national life and national de- velopments are nearly always prim- tals, realizes the likely effect on the entire republic of the disaster which
 befell Managua.
 Proportionately. the calamity is
 not so great when one recalls that
 Nicaragua's population of 638.000 is
 not equal to that of various Ameri- can cities. And that Managua is not as large as many Of our cities of which the average American hardly ever, has heard.
 U. s. Ran Election. But the little Central American republic has been very large in our foreign affairs. American marines have been in Managua often and for longer periods than in any other foreign capital. This country stopped Nicaragua's last revolution and en- forced the free and fair election which gave her the government which instituted her recent program of national reconstruction. We
 maintained the stability of the gov- ernment and gave our blessing to
 the program.
 Now, after the sudden double af- fiction of earthquake and Are, 1t is the United States which has rushed to the rescue. And We still look Co Nicaragua as the country through
 which we probably some day will build another canal from the Atlan- tic to the Pacific.
 More than a century of recurrent l disorder preceded Nicaragua's last three years of comparative peace and progress. Warfare was both
 internal and external. About 20 years ago, New York bankers took over the country's tangled financial affairs and in 1912 the United States | made it's first large scale interveE-
 ton. sending 2,000 marines. When the main body of marines withdrew
 we left legation guard which Nicaraguan revolution of recent l memory is that which followed the | coup d'etat of General Emilianc Chamorro in 1926.
 President Fled.
 The elected president fled the country and Vice-President Juan E. Sacasa, now minister to the United States, undertook to capture Mana
 qua with an army commanded by
 General Jose Moncada.
 After warfare causing consider
 able property destruction and in- l terference with the national eco- | ..n,..In ItSn fLo Tynf4na ctntn, .o.t Henry l.. Stimson to demand that
 both the advancing liberals and the conservatives lay down their arms
 and hold an election under marine
 supervision. All agreed except ram bunctious General Sandino, who has since given some trouble, and Mon- cada was elected. He promptly
 began vigorous effort to put the | country on It's feet.
 Conditions have not been any
 too good. Some guerilla warfare antly, the slump which has hit agriculture all over the world deali
 heavy blows to Nicaragua's coffee
 banana, sugar and cattle industries But the Moncada government
 seemed to be making q remarkable amount of what is called progress l in such backward countries. Public
 works were being pushed forward on a large scale.
 Government Isegains Control. The government had regained control of it's bank and railroad and | a new mortgage bank had beer opened up for the aid of agriculture and industry. La Loma, the fort. ress overlooking Managua whicf was always the first goal of revolu. tionary movements because 1t st ! completely dominated. the city. wal razed and a splendid presidentia palace erected on its site.
 This country had erected q hnt
 new legation and commercial con cerns had gone ahead rapidly witt improvements after the promise ol \ continued peace had given then lconfidence. A road was begun tt lead from Managua to the Atlantic coast. through territory now virtual iy impossible, along with severd other important new roads. Rail roads extensions were begun ant Idams here and there in the countr. for power and light systems. Al this required strict economies II other ways and both determination
 and sacrifice on the part of Nicara qua.
 The full efrect of the destruction ] of Managua on the countFy'a i'm