THE CABINET: Permission’

Liberal publicists were splenetic last fortnight over the presence in Washington of the Nicaraguan generalissimo, Emiliano Chamorro. A presidential election impends in Nicaragua. General Chamorro wanted to find out how the U. S. Department of State would view his candidacy. U. S. citizens who regard U. S. intervention in Latin-American affairs as arrant presumption, were enraged to think that an honest young republic like Nicaragua could not elect whom it wished without “permission” from U. S. Secretary of State Kellogg.

Last week Secretary Kellogg gave his Liberal critics cause for redoubled vituperation. He notified General Chamorro that, inasmuch as the Nicaraguan constitution provides that no man may be president of Nicaragua in two successive terms, and inasmuch as General Chamorro, by his success in the revolution of 1925, “unquestionably held the office of President de facto from Jan. 17 to Oct. 30, 1926,” and inasmuch as the U. S. sponsored a treaty wherein the Central-American nations agreed to deny recognition to unconstitutional governments, therefore the U. S. could not recognize any administration headed by General Chamorro that might come to power on Jan. 1, 1929.

The next candidate for “permission” to run for President of Nicaragua was José M. Moncada, generalissimo of the Liberal army which fought Conservative General Chamorro.