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Show . . EN OF WEIGHT IN THE NATIONS BELOW THE LINE In die assassination of rrosident imluv. Ci'i-ro, "I.ittlo Colonel of ?ru," the world witnessed t tic exit ' another Intensely dramatic charter char-ter frimi the polltical amphitheater J South America. ' Of all the soldiers and dictators ho have strutted their brief mo-ent mo-ent In that changing pageant, none ns more colorful in temperament nnd f ickgrouml than the fallen President. ' short, swart soldier and leader of irlorn hopes, he carried In his veins le blood of both the Inca race that jilt n mighty empire while Europe as still struggling through the Middle Mid-dle ages, and tlie daring conqulsta-res conqulsta-res who looted, then toppled that aipire Into the dust, nis accession to the presidency In i WO was a double victory. It lifted 1 i power not only a repressed polltl-Jil polltl-Jil party but a representative of the ice which white conquerors had oomed to centuries-long obscurity. No South American title, however, iceeds In charm and implication Sat of Junn Vicente Gomez, venerable vener-able President of Venezuela, widely ' nown as "The Happy Dictator." But 'lat's only one of his sobriquets. He JJJl also "The Patriarch" and "The Veil-Deserving." One of the outstanding Gomez ae-jjomplishments ae-jjomplishments consisted of shatter-4ig shatter-4ig an odd tradition that all battles mst be fought on Tuesday, the Day )Rf Mars. As a military lender he sent is troops into battle on whatever itkay seemed propitious which to "nemy troops, disturbed at their uestas, seemed as unsportsmanlike "s it proved disastrous. The Happy Dictator is not only o i, statesman and a warrior, but a movie '"'an as well. He likes to grin at -lpostles of the Merry Heart. He also : tikes progress. "Blood and Iron" eems to him an outmoded slogan, instead he has given Venezuela the "Kootto "Peace and Work" a philoso hy of government which might be adopted with profit by many nation? n"n both the Old world and the New. '.j-Philadelphia Public Ledger, u |
