Evening star., 1933-08-10
Horana Is A'coiting Zero Hour
As Soldiers Parade Streets
MachodG's Departure, Through U. S.
Pressure, Held Certain-Curfe,c Rule
Eo77n,rs SLoOfiuU nf pO1ico,nou

declaration of war on the United
States
Back to Havana on the morning
plane from Miami. Fla. came Secretary
of State Orestes Ferrara to rush i'm
mediately into a conference with the
President. but ahead of him had come
dispatches from washington over his
signature advising against any action
pending his arrival
What might have been the effect Of
this request on the President was not
Immediately evident. inasmuch as
Welles had just rendered to President
Machado a plan of conciliation where
by the President was to take an in
definite leave of absence.
President Machado'S declaration OF
principle followed. and with 1t re-
quest that Welles define his status as
mediator and state his authority.
While Ferrara was landing at the
Pan American docks President Roose-
welt was preparing to make further
statement to Cuba supporting Welles
and ratifying all the steps he had taken
to date In his efforts to bring peace out
of state Of virtual anarchy IN Cuba.
So yesterday President Machado
stood in the difficult position OF the
powerful gladiator who caught the lion
by the tail and could not let go with
out obvious loss Of dignity.
Quiet-a dead. oppressive quiet. rules
the town and the police, standing with
their backs to convenient brick walls,
look out with placid faces on the un-
broken emptiness Of the white-hot
streets There are not outward signs
OF riot or revolution. The general
strike. by which labor. capital and the
fod inc
dents bayOnets, is primarily a pacifist
maneuver and is conducted without
street-corner conventions or public
harangue.
But out of the quiet, every now and
then. breaks an echo of guhshot. Three
policemen were the victims Tuesday
night, and two. in broad daylight, on
the populous wharf yesterday.
The local Police Department has sent
a rush order to the Colt Arms Co. for
500 revolvers of 38 caliber and $4,000
rounds of ammunition. All troops on
detached duty have been called in to
the barracks in the capital and in
structed to remain in readiness"
Situation Is Desolate.
The situation Is this capital, some
times described as the Paris of the
Western Hemisphere. is difficult to
describe The inbound seaplane from
Miami circles over acre after acre of
red-tiled roof. mile after mile Of un-
tenanted boulevard. grove after grove
of palm and Towering shrub, all set
down by a deep blue sea in an atmos-
phere as desolate as one might expect
in the path of a plague.
No automobiles disturb the sunlit
whiteness of the seawall boulevards.
Few pedestrians are afoot even in the
heart of the usually congested metro
politan section
One lands at the harbor front and
is admitted to a customs shed echoing
in its emptiness. He is released after
a perfunctory examination and allowed
to carry his own bags uptown through
the white heat of the MONDAY sun.
He meets little competition, for the
sidewalks here and there are back in
the gloom. Behind half-closed shutters
sit merchants and their families waiting
for something that may be better than
their lot, but none of the stores, not
even drug stores, are open. Bars. up to
and including Sloppy Joe's, are swathed
in deep shadow.
Policemen stand at their entrances
and back In their unlighted interiors.
DeSolated walters move about, ready to
serve such customers as may be dropped
in frightened and willing to leave from
one of the tourist beats that touch
here.
Children Are Suffering.
There is no ice in Cuba save that sup
piled for personal consumption by the
owners of electric ice boxes. Children