Evening Star Newspaper, October 26, 1930, Page 33

EDITORIAL SECTION he Swnday Star. Part 2—-8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. (., SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 26, 1930. PILSUDSKI MAKING TEST OF HIS HOLD ON POLAND Dictator Is Going Before Voters in N vember for Verdict Upon Drastic Regime. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. ECOND only to the German elec- tion in_interest and importance | is the Polish test of November | 16, when the present dictator of | Poland, Marshal Pilsudski, will | submit himself to the judgment of his fellow countrymen. An adverse vote would instantly place the marshal in an exceedingly awkward position and might Pproduce & complete political change. ‘This election is interesting mainly be- cause of the Pilsudski detail. It is now mearly five years since the old soldier upset the whole political machinery of his country by what amounted to a eou&d'eut. accompanied by three days of fighting in the streets of Warsaw. During all the time since May, 1926, Pilsudski has ruled Poland without pos- 8essing a majority in Parliament. Not until 1928 did he have a real govern- ment party. But even then he was able to procure the election of but a third of the Seym favorable to himself. And from that time on there has been @ long series of conflicts, culminating in the dissolution last Summer and punctuated by the vigorous and even Violent denunciations of the Legislature by the dictator. Submits Self to Vote. Now, for the first time, the marshal | has consented to submit himself as a | candidate. Hitherto he has been prime minister and occupled other offices ‘without going before the people, for under the Polish constitution it is pos- sible for a man to hold cabinet rank without belonging to Parliament. This decision has a double possibility. If the government list, headed by the marshal, {s successful, then the dicta- torship merges into the parllamentary regime. If, on the other hand, the government list is decisively beaten, then the marshal must go or rely upon force to sustain him. Moreover, not only is the marshal running for the first time, but he is the issue of the election. In another way the present campaign §s unusual. In the past Poland, like Germany, has been cursed by a multi- rllclty of parties. There were something ll:l; 30{111 th:hlfifll e’lecflun. But today, le from the racial grou that is, Jews, Ukrainians, German p:r:i ‘White Russians—there are but three parties— that of the marshal, that of the Na- tionalists and that of the Socialists, who have joined with various peasant g:ups to constitute a group known as Center Left. Backed by Business. . The ists pposed both to the dictator and the Socialists, but at a pinch they al(ht permit nl:: Pilsudski mem,m&n carry on, pl some! of Tole of the umm Bflb:’l‘l:n' y Poland is suffering along with most of the rest of the world, and . in the cam- the d, there has thirds | dictator in good stan ‘The ited as German, and no party or can- | high, and Vilna itself is a trouble point, | | disorder. didate could even vaguely suggest any compromise with Germany. Since on the whole the marshal represents the idea of strength, he will probably gain votes as a result of the German episode. | Court Is Independent. ‘The Polish dictatorship has little really in common with the Italian. Only recently the Supreme Court annulled the election of something like eight men chosen on the list of the marshal's sup- porters in 1928 because of local frauds. In doing this the court at one time dis- closed its independence of political con- trol and made it perfectly clear that| frauds in the new election would only | lead to other unseatings. | Two years ago at the last election I was in Vilna. Although feeling ran there was not the slightest suggestion of At the moment there is no | apprehension of any grave disturbance in_the coming election. | Pilsudski himself is one of the most picturesque figures in contemporary Eu- rope, but he belongs in another age. He has been essentially a conspirator and a partisan leader rather than a statesman in the parliamentary sense or a soldier of the general staff type. Al- though he is but 67, and thus a mere boy by comparison with Hindenburg, the strain of years is beginning to tell upon him. And his recent passionate denun- ciation of Parliament, together with a series of arrests of former members, has aroused a certain measure of local anxiety. Conservative Aid Given. Such news as reaches me from War- saw indicates that the more conserva- tive elements seem to hope that the marshal will win and take office, thus becoming a parliamentary ruler. He remains a national hero with a tre- mendous hold upon popular imagina- iton and with certain unmistakable claims upon national gratitude. But there is in the country no organized Fascism, no national faith in dictator- ships; and there is & manifestly grow- ing desire to get down to a normal political basis. Neither in his own camp nor in the camps of his enemies is there any con- siderable figure. Poland, like Germany, suffers acutely from the absence of first-rate political ability. But this year the question will be for or against Pilsudski and the marshal is plainly fighting for his political life, for his position as national leader—and with the odds not .overwhelmingly in his favor. He believes that the mass of the people are with him in his fight against the recent Parliament. If he proves mistaken the results may be sur- prising. Hustling for Votes. But in any event we are now to be treated to the rather unusual spectacle of & man, denounced by all his enemies as a dictator, out hustling for votes like any mere prime minister and mak- ing himself a pretty obvious t for his litical enemies. In the friends of the marshal would see proof that he is not a dictator at all. As for the marshal, his explanation is that he is engaged in educating his fellow countrymen in democracy. Just what Mussolini or Hitler would think about the matter is still unknown, but per- haps the greatest risk the marshal runs is that of losing his union card as a ding. frs Clemenceau saw Paderewski after he became prime min- ister, recalling his former glory as & musician, he exclaimed: “Oh, how you have come down in the world!” Maybe that is what Mussolini will think if and when Pilsudski sinks to the level of a mere Baldwin, Briand or Poincare. (Copyright, 1930 Foch Memoirs Tell For Germany Was Averted by Truce PARIS.—A few weeks before the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, Marshal Foch, generalissimo of the allied armies, was preparing for & 1919 campaign, and had drawn plans, complete to the mnue;t’ dzur,‘ for opening a great drive Americans and French which was to have taken the allies well across the German frontier. Three days before the date set for the begin of the drive the armistice was sign ‘The scope of this spectacular plan, which_would have been carried out @en. Pershing and Gen. Mangin, be revealed, together with many other much-discussed episodes on the West- ern front, wh>n Marshal Foch'’s mem- oirs are made blic next January. ‘They are now be! translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott, formerly military at- tache of the American embassy at Paris, and after appearing in periodical form 'will be published in two volumes in March. Aceount Revised Many Times. Foch’s first intention was to write a history of the entire war, but after ration he abandoned this for an account of the operations in which he took part, preceded by a short ac- count of his career up to the time of the war. He wanted the work to be above all authoritative. nuscript was written by him in long- hand and worked over time and again after the sheets had been typewritten, | some pages being corrected four or five times, until the great soldier found the perfect economical expression of his thought. He says in one line what most writers would need five to express. Before his death Foch said that his work would not be published until sev- eral years after his death, and a tenta- tive date between 10 and 15 years distant was set at first by his widow. Mme. Foch, however, gave way to the tency of friends who urged that fifteen years many of the men who had known Foch best would no longer be alive, and that in justice to the marshal the memoirs should be issued now. Controversies Reviewed. While his family make no mention attacks contained in Clemen- ‘Grandeurs and Miseries of Vic- tory,” which appeared after Foch's death, their friends feel that in justice 1 his book should appear controve course of operations, giving the views of each party and the reasons for tl decision taken. ‘Although for two years of the war on active service but in | “ collapse. he | the nationalist war How Drive leader of the Sth Army, which held a central position at the battle of the Marne. In connection with this first turning point of the war, Foch’s mod- esty and sure appraisal are seen in a later remark to & friend that he him- self would not have been equal to this struggle at the time. Marshal Joffre, he held, was the only man in France who could have done what he did. Jof- fre alone of the prominent generals had political backing which enabled him to take the risk. Foch disliked politiclans, but by the time he came to the chief command politiclans had begun to learn their place. It is known that Foch was in con- tinuous 11l health toward the end of the war, but he makes no mention of his sufferings. It is perhaps not so well known that he was a very devout man, and that before every it ac- tion he would retire to a neighboring church to pray. He does not notice this either, for his memoirs are con- cerned with the World War primarily and only afterward with the marshal who led the victolous armies. | Imperial University | Has Largest Telescope The largest telescope in the Far East has two tubes, one containing the 26- inch lens, which is for photographic work, and the other a 15-inch lens for visual observation. M. Hashimoto, a | member of the Imperial University Ob- servatory's staff, explained that the par- ticular advantages of the instrument | lte in the opportunity it offers for great- | er exactness in measuring the distance | | of stars and measuring the movements | of distant heavenly bodies. He sald the | | next largest telescope in the Orient is| | the one in Java, with a 25-inch lens, | which was installed last year. The Im- perial University has also erected a | tower for solar observation which will contain a 26-inch mirror telescope. That instrument has been ordered from | the same firm in Germany and is now | being adjusted at the factory prepa tory to shipment. | All Hungarian Officers s Must “Magyarize”” Names Hungary isn’t quite Hungary — yet. | Careful scanning of the army rolls by minister, Gen. Goemboes, has led to an order demand- ing that all Hungarian officers must ‘Magyarize” their names. More than 1,000 officers were found listed with names of German origin. These must be changed. In all Hun- ry, it is sald, there are about 2,000,- le (almost one-quarter of the powm) with non-Hungarlan names and un-e',h:oo, will hlvetm‘&e‘ ehnnug governmen aroun to_it. JOHN GUNTHER. Budapest, Hungary, here Is America Going? Thomas A. Edison Declares Overproduction Will Be Less Frequent, Business Recoveries Quicker. BY J. P. GLASS, ME time is not coming when overproduction in industry, with its unhappy result of un- omployment, will cease, in the opinion of Thomas A. Edison. However, this does not mean that we will not incrsase our control over the factors of economic existence. In an interview which Mr. Edison granted to the writer he gave it as his opinion: First, that periods of economic recession will not occur so often in the future as in the past. Second, when they do occur, the recoveries will be quicker. Mr. Edison thinks that man's inherent tendency to take a chance is the chief reason why he will not work out a perfect economic balance. At the same time he hes so much faith in our great and growing brain power that he believes we will devise much better methods to work and live by than we have had in the past. In other words, men have a right to hope for more stable conditions as they achieve their future. Apropos of human brain power, Mr. Edison in- terrupted the interview at one point to say: “It is very hard to think.” He got up and walked across his great study in the West Orange Edison plant. “Come here,” he said, “I want to show you something.” He pointed to a poster hanging upon the wall. It contained the epigram of Sir Joshua Reynolds. . . . “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avold the real labor of thinking.” “There is too much truth in that,” he com- mented. To have the privilege of a half hour’s visit with Thomas Edison at 83—a privilege no one else is sharing—is a benediction of good fortune. One leaves with a profoundly grateful sense of the splendor of genius allied to simplicity, of the magnificence of great talents irradiated by thoughtfulness and kindliness. I took to Mr. Edison the following Written memorandum: “Mr. Edison, there has been a great deal of discussion lately of the possibility of working out a solution of overproduction and of curing un- employment. “To many it appears that although there is a great deal in the way of obstacles to be overcome, we are better equipped now than ever before to attack these problems. Better Human Relationships. “Pirst, human relationships in industry .were never so good, due to the helpful attitude of em- THOMAS A. EDISON. It is very hard to think, says one of the world's greatest thinkers. ployers toward workers, and the understanding attitude of the workers toward the needs of capital. “Second, through the development of vast cor- porations, whose individual operations link into hundreds of thousands and even millions of per- sons, we have galned a machinery capable of grappling with industrial problems affecting the whole life of the country. “Thirdly, through the organization of all sorts of trade, manufacturing and transportation asso- clations, and through the tremendous growth and activity of the United States Department of Com- merce, we have established agencies for gathering the information and statistics which are 5o essen- tial in any attack upon overproduction and un- employment, although, of course, these agencles need to be further developed and co-ordinated. “Do you think that through the utilization of all our technical and moral resources the time is coming when we will be able to make an effort to solve overproduction with a prospect of success?"” Mr. Edison said he preferred shorter questions so he could make shorter answers. Consequently we turned to his customary form of interview, the questionnaire. It ran thus: Q. What do you think of the possibility of solv- ing periodical overproduction and resulting un- employment? Do you belleve it can be done? A. No. I think these recessions are always bound to take place, because of the very nature of man. He will 2'ways overdo everything he's got to do. He sees no limits. He is a natural-born gambler. However, periods of recession will not occur so often as in the past and there will be quicker recovery from them. Q. What makes you think so? A. Because our brains have enormous capaci- ties, and we are beginning to realize what im- mense capacities they have. We will learn to plan better. Unemployment Can Be Helped. Q. You think, then, that our combined intelli- gence in the future will work out more efficient methods of operation, so that production will be held as near requirements as is humanly possible, and that unemployment, if not eured, will be reduced, at least? A. Yes. Unemployment and the effects of un- employment can be helped, and right now they are being helped to some extent. We ought to be able to do much better in the future—to make unemployment much less destructive. Undoubt- edly we are better equipped to deal with our problems than ever before. The Department of Commerce is one of the greatest in our Govern- ment. Its efficiency was born in the brain of an engineer—Mr. Hoover. Human relationships in industry have improved greatly, too. Americans are at, the same time the most practical and the most sentimental people in the world. That's a curious combination. Mr. Edison’s closing remarks dealt with this question of human relationship. “The common people are better off,” sald he, “in & Nation that has the most millionaires. Why should people be down on a millionaire? When he makes money he has to put it out again somewhere to make it productive. About all he gets out of it is Bright's disease or diabetes. “It takes a rare man to manage a great corpo« ration today. His responsibilities are tremendous. ‘That's something to remember.” (Copyright, 1930.) How Will the Farmer Vote? Realize Hoover Must Be Left Unhampered to Lead Way Out of Depression, Senator Declares. | BY ARTHUR CAPPER, United States Senator From Kansas. The farmer is not “finished.” Neither is he “in revolt.” | Nor is 'there any tangible evidence that depressed agricultural conditions will result in a Democratic landslide in next month's elections. These conclusions are not just hap- hazard opinion. They are the result of intimate con- tacts with farmers. Farmers in Kansas. Farmers in_Oblo. Farmers in South Dakota. Farmers in Pennsylvania, | | Michigan, Oklahoma and in most of | the other States throughout the Nation | I have met and talked, face to face, with thourands of them. I “meet” them again each day in thousands of letters that come from farm homes all over the United States; letters com- menting on articles in my farm and home magazines, letters referring to fradio addresses, 1 farmers wese “finished” as & elass | —Drawn for The Sunday or in revolt, I think I would be among the first to know their situation. What the farmer thinks, how he fares, are items of importance to the men and women of the citles. The garment worker in a Seventh avenue loft in New York City has a material interest in the farmer’s welfare. If the farmer's cash income is seriously di- minished there will be less garments sold to the mail order houses, the chain stores and the Main street merchants for the country trade. And if millions of farmers are forced out of business, where will the food come from that is needed by many more millions in teem- ing cities? And what prices will food command? ! Fourth of People Farming. One-fourth of all the many millions of people gainfully employed in this Nation of ours are employed in agri- cultural pursuits. They are of and on the sofl. And there are millions more not classed as “employed” by the cen- sus, but who live on the farms and who expect to continue living there. There are still more millions in towns of 5,000 people and less who would have to go out of business if the farmers did. ‘The agricultural population is no longer in a majority. Yet, voting as a unit or voting in anything like solid party affillation, the farmer can still change the course of the Nation's affairs. Conditions on the farms are not good; they have not been good for many years. They are less favorable this year than for several years past. What will be the effect of these condi- tions on the Congress to be elected this November? ‘These questions are important from political, economic and business stand- points, because, after all, the West still holds the balance of power in national affairs. It was the dry West that k the Republican party dry in the 1928 election. It was the agricultural West that secured farm relief legislation | making a $500,000,00 draft on the Na- tional Treasury. It the West which elected Woodrow Wilson. It is the West which will either retain a Repub- lican administration during the next two years or turn Congress over to the Democrats. It is the West which re- tains its independence in_ voting and ;otu as it thinks, not as it is ordered Y, Star by Stockton Mulford. agricultural region, thinking politically on the eve of the election? To understand the answer one first must know the premises, the condi- tions which exist in the great middle section of the country, extending from | the Alleghenies to the Rockies. Place to Learn Facts One doesn’t become well acquainted with agricultural conditions by staying in Eastern cities. The talk in Pullman smoking compartments is of sales quotas, pig iron production and bond prices. There is little or no compre- hension by the typical “Easterner” of the problems, the difficulties or the spirit of the West. On my last- trip East a little incident brought this fact home to me. I was lunching with an Eastern newspaper editor on the roof of a Washington hotel. Perhaps the height of the din- | ing room had something to do with the | height of the food prices. In any event, | the editor pointed to the menu, whege lima beans were listed at 60 cents an order, lamb chops at $1.10 and chicken salad at $1.25; and he sald, rather vin- dictively, “I suppose this is the price we have to pay in the cities for farm relief.” I explained to him, as well as T could, that the prices city people pay for food apparently have no more rela- tion to what the farmer receives for his products than the relation between the | blowing of a factory whistle and the | setting of the sun. The farmer may be and is getting half as much for his wheat as he was a year or so ago; yet in many places the city dweller pays as much or more for his bread. Beef on the hoof may sell for 15 cents a pound in Kansas and $3 a pound on Broadway. Potatoes may be so little in demand along the Kaw River, where they grow, that they will not pay for the labor of digging them; yet an order of French fried in Phila- delphia will cost more than a 60-pound sack in Kansas City. It is part of the farm problem—a big part of it—to give the East an understanding, a fair comprehension, of what the West wants and needs, not for its own benefit alone but for the benefit of the entire nation. ‘The West has been patient and long .ul':)g‘n' 1t supj Hoover and the w] ublican slate throughout the Western tWo years ago, | .-l e face of promises by the Democrats to give the farmers the whole world, the moon, the sun and the stars. Farm conditions improved in 1929; not much, it is true, but nevertheless farm income increased $110,000,000, as compared with the year before. Many Crop Failures. This year farm conditions have been little less than disastrous in many local- ities. There was crop failure in many sections, because of lack of rain—for which not even the most rabid Demo- crats blame Mr. Hoover. There was overproduction in many other sections —throughout the world, in fact, so far as wheay is concerned. And wheat is in politits. . The Democrats have put it there a intend to keep it there until after election, at least. Perhaps if they managed to attain control of both houses of Congress they would not be so anxious to keep wheat in politics. The t find it more convenient to | Presia on Fourth Paged Presidenti BY E. BRUQUIERE, Pirst Lieutenant of Guardia Na- | Pormerty cional and Commandant of Police. banner of Nicaragua over the housetops and doorways of Leon, Nicaragua's largest city and | Liberalism's stronghold. In Granada, Conservative center, on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, will appear flags of | green. The event: Nicaragua's election of 8 of 24 Senators snd 21 St 35 Depu- | ties, whicn will take place November 2 | under United States supervision. | For every 15,000 inhabitants there is one Deputy, and one Senator for every two Deputies. The coming congressional | election will be one strongly contested, | because at present the two parties are | equally divided in the "Senate, and in | the Chamber of Deputies the Conserva- | tives have a majority of only one, Bar- ring the ibility of a split in one party or tl other, these elections will indicate the probable outcome of the presidential elections of November, 1932. | In the present elections the national electoral board and the electoral boards of the cantons or polls will be made up of three suplentes or members, one from each party and the chairman a member | of the United States forces in Nicaragua. | The ballots, besides the usual printed matter, bear red and green circles, re- spectively the Liberal and Conservative colors, for the benefit of the illiterates, | 50 per cent of the republic’s population. | As each man casts his vote the thumb and forefinger of his left hand will be | dipped in an indelible fluld resembling mk‘ to prevent him repeating his Guards for Election. At each canton there will be at least one Guardia soldler and one United States Marine or sailor. The Guardia soldier is not permitted to enter the canton, a precaution to prevent recrimi- nation or intimidation. Just before election the sale of aguardiente is lim- ited, and on election day its sale, to- | gether with that of other strong liquors, is prohibited. Aguardiente is & government-monop- olized sugar-rum, sold at 45 per cen! alcoholic content and commonly known as “guaro.” Its use by politicians to buy votes was largely responsible for the 150 deaths which occurred in the 1924 election riots in the city of Leon alone. It is the only liquor within the means of the mozo or laborer. | To comprehend Nicaraguan politics it i" necessary to understand that the | words ‘“‘conservative” and “liberal” as applied are meaningless in themselves. ‘Though these are the only parties of importance in Nicaragua, plat- forms are of secondary importance to their geographical positions. man's glrty is generally determined that of is family; his' family’s by place they live. ‘The Conservative element controls the heart of the coffee areas. Because coffee constitutes 35 to 45 per cent of the country’s export, the Conservatives may he considered the capitalistic par- ty. The Liberal area, low-lying, ngc territory, is suitable for the culture df corn and sugar, Practically no corn is exported, and of sugar only about 15 per cent of the total exports. Most of | those not employed in gugar growing own and operate small flfl::u or farms. Liberalism is more s people’s party. (Its red banner has no Communistic significance.) Feeling Runs High. ‘Throughout Nicaraguan history, at election times the people lose their nat- urally strong national patriotism. The country divides itself into the uyx:{s of the Liberals and Conservatives. e northwestern areas are decidedly Lib- the southwestern decidedly Con- servative, while the central section, where the capital, Managua, is situated, is about equally divided, varying only slightly from time to time. The east coast has ill-defined political borders and is much less important politically than the more densely populated west coast. In the west party patriotism is deep seated and antagonism against the op] te faction bitter and often violent. e coming elections will be super- vised by the United States Electoral Mission, headed by Capt. Alfred W. Johnson, U. S. N. and composed of more than 350 United States Marines and sailors. Until April 1, 1930, Capt. Johnson was director of naval intelli~ gence in Washington. This will be the third time that the United States has supervised Nicara- fuln elections. The first attempt was n 1924. After Dr. H. W. Dodds, rec- ommended to Nicaragua by our State Department, drafted the Dobbs electoral law, ed in 1923, four Marines were detailed to assist in an unofficial c pacity in the 1924 registration. The tempt failed, naturally, as lack of pe sonnel and unofficial standing of all parties made success impossible, Opposition to Policy. Opposition toward the United States supervision has been pressed by the Chamorro faction and others. The first transitory electoral law, drafted in 1927 to allow supervision under the Stimson agreement (Tipitapa treaty) was passed by Nicaragua's Senate in January, 1928. ‘The Chamorro section of the Chamber of Deputies opposed it as being uncon- stitutional. The substitute law passed by the Deputies was not satisfactory to the United States, which declared the Sen- ate law entirely unconstitutional. So the Senate amended their law and passed it by a vote of 16 to 8. In March the Deputies defeated it by 24 to 18. This not only created much delay but was arousing an antagonistic attitude among the people. So Adolfe Diaz paved the way for supervision by presi- dential decree. ‘The second United States mission was headed by Brig. Gen. (now Maj. Gen.) Frank McCoy. That supervision was this time successful is shown by the fact that in 1924 of the 115,000 who registered cnly 84,000 voted, with consequent destruction of life and prop- erty. In a small village in the northern province of Nueva Segovia I once ex- amined a number of names left behind by officials fleeing before Gen. San- dino’s advance. They showed that some of the registrants for 1924 had died as early as 1916. Strange to say, they had not only registered but had voted. In ‘1928 of the 150,000 registrants, 133,000 voted in complete order. And at this time the male population was considerably depleted by the recent civil war. Calm Election Expected. ‘There is little undue excitement ex- pected in Nicaragua over the elections on November 2. In the Departments of Chinandega and Leon the victory will very likely be Liberal. In the De- partments of Granada, Massaya and Carazo it will probably be Conserva- ‘What is perhaps mof is whether or not the ni the point of President Jose Maria Monoads. Since 's inan ED flags will temporarily displace the national blue-white barred | tive. The Department of Managua is an _indeterminate s_gy do NICARAGUA, WITH U. S. AID, EXPECTS QUIET ELECTION Voting Next Sunday, Senators and Depu- ties May Foreshadow 1932 al Winner civic improvements. Building of rosds all over the country has progressed rapidly and effort is being made to eo- operate with the International Highway Commission. A railroad is under com- struction between Leon, where it joins the present line from Corinto to Gra- | nada, and Diriaamba and El Sauce. It is planned to continue the line northe ward to Ocotal and thence into Hoam- duras. Being an excallest milvary stra President Moncado realizes the ime portance of communication and rapid transportation. He is rebuilding com- muncation lines destroyed during the last revolution and erecting new ones. | Preliminary surveys have been com- | pleted for ‘the establishment of a sea~ | port on the Gulf of Fonseca, a large, | sheltered body of water shoring on | Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. | He has also made beneficial changes in many of the laws of the country. Depression Is Factor. On the other hand, the world depres- sion of coffee and sugar markets has | had the same il effects in Nicagigua as in other Latin American countries. The administration is made the butt of | much criticism that it does not deserve, on this account. | Gen. Moncada has been one of the most_dictatorial Presidents in Central | America during recent years. Shortly after taking office he arrested more | than 50 political offenders. They | confined in the national penitentiary, | deported or exiled. The freedom of the | press also suffered in the suppression of several opposition papers. When in Lecn, Moncada's choice for mayor was defeated by another | but a commoner; the Jefe Politico or | governor of the department, Senor Bal- lardares Torres, was immediately re- moved from office. Gen. A. Castro- ‘Wassmer, the mayor of Leon leaving office, was called to Managus for a con- ference with Moncada. Returning from Managua he told me that Moncada had been furious that he, Castro-Wassmer, had devoted his newspaper, El Eco Nacional, to the Liberal cause as a whole, leaving the choice of the man himself to the people. The President considered that El Eco Nac! should have supported his choice. Senor Castro-Wassme) strong y influ- ence has been lessened by appoint- ment in August to the consul generalcy in London by Moncada. When a like thing occurred in Ma- nagua, the city was declared a federal district and the necessity of a mayor | was obviated altogether. Military Law Upheld. ‘The placing of five northern inces under state of seige was cril in many quarters. But in s country el E" u) the bandit forces of o) ) monu'm& mm. mili- serving as “commandante de policia” in Leon City during the 1928 registra- tions I arrested several men who had ted and isted the ho were telll citizens to fall in at :hzo end of dum'um instead of at its head. The following day scathing and lurid articles appeared in the papers of both parties that their adherents were being maliciously arrested to prevent their registering and that they had been driven from the polls by armed Guar- dias. Both charges were ridiculous. But identical charges were made throughout the country. No Libel Laws. It is impossible to obtain & clear view of the situation at election time through the ultra-sensational Nicara- guan press. Each newspaper digs far into the past for evidence against the opposite party, dramatizing it with the true Latin hand. Politicians are up- braided and accused of almost every imaginable crime. As there are mo libel laws in the country, reprisals takes place only if the offended one comes to power or decides to settle the matter by “personal justice.” ~As a rule he answers the charge with another more blasting. The hacienda, or ranch owners, will control as powerful a vote as most of the smaller politicians. Owners of larger business houses also are influen- tial. In order to keep their jobs em- ployes are escorted to the cantons by the employer or his trusted ald to in- sure this. In most cases one Gui or more is assigned to escort the voters, so that they will not be confused by | authorities with an illegal ntherl.nt | Various reforms in the electoral laws | were approved by the government. .in | August. Most important among them are the recognition of certain independ- ent candidates and the right of s voter to register after one month's resi- dence. Gen. Augustino Sandino, outlawed rebel, will have no influence upon the coming elections. Although it was re- cently reported by Dr. Pedro Zapeds, Sandinista agent in Mexico, that San- dino had been wounded in a battle in Nicaragua, officials of the Guardia do not believe that Sandino has been in the country during the last two years. General opinion is that he is in the lawless disputed territory between Home duras and Nicaragua, north of the Coco River bounds. . Man Called As Judge Thought Self Accused In Germany the common courts are composed of three professional and two “lay” judges chosen like jurors. At s court in Berlin recently the judge noted the uneasy demeanor one of the lay magistrates. During the proceedings this man sat without apy show of interest, lcoking miserable and casting appealing looks at the state’ court room, the president heard the un< paid magistrate speaking to the police sergeant. He approached and his _greatest astonishment, “I g0 _home, sergeant. I d wife, who is {ll in bed, that I ha found guilty. I have never court before; I have all my testimonials with me; I was never i will Be favorable to the administration |la; ent Moncada’ on he