Incorruptible Leathernecks

Part of the Nicaraguan Press again hailed leather-necked, two-fisted U. S. Marines as "incorruptible" last week, as they again supervised a Nicaraguan presidential election, their second.

Coffee is down. So are Nicaraguan bananas, hardwoods, sugar cane. The result was a near-record registration and a landslide victory over Conservative former President Adolfo Diaz by the Liberal candidate. Dr. Juan Bautista Sacasa. Along toward 3 a. m., when his triumph was conceded. President-elect Sacasa modestly declared. "This is a victory for Liberalism."

Exactly five years ago the U. S. State Department was denouncing Sacasa & Friends for trying to set up a "Bolshevist hegemony" menacing the Panama Canal. They were supposed to be financed by Mexico, which was also suspected of Bolshevist leanings.

Dwight Whitney Morrow cleared up the Mexican vapors. In time U. S. Marines proved to Dr. Sacasa and to all but one of his generals that in Nicaragua obedience to law & order is the best policy, and that the U. S. will not prevent orderly Nicaraguan politicos from taking their turn at the Presidency.

Last week the only one of former "Red" Sacasa's former officers who was still fighting U. S. Marines--and has fought them for five long years--was General Augusto Cesar Sandino. During the electoral campaign General Sandino, who was not officially a candidate, abruptly proclaimed his rebel camp the "Capitol of Nicaragua." Not wishing to be bombed or to feel a Marine's bayonet between his ribs. General Sandino kept secret the whereabouts of his "Capitol," well hidden in the Nicaraguan mountains near Honduras. Announced he: "I do not recognize Sacasa as the winner of election. I shall yet capture Managua [the Constitutional capital of Nicaragua] and call new elections."

In Managua the newspaper Niicva Prensa, organ of the defeated Conservative Party, heaped special praise on Admiral Clark Howell Woodward, supervisor of the election. "Admiral Woodward returns to his country with a tranquil conscience" said Nueva Prensa, "sure of having maintained . . . the honor and impartiality of the United States."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.