"War"

With the State Department's approval, Secretary Wilbur of the Navy last week ordered 1.400 U. S. Marines to join their 1,415 companions already in Nicaragua. Instead of troopships. Secretary Wilbur assigned a minelayer, a submarine tender and three cruisers to transport the men; an oiler and an ammunition ship to carry their supplies.*

Secretary Wilbur then announced: "Major Gen. Lejeune, Commandant of the Marine Corps, will make an inspection of the Marines stationed in Nicaragua.... He will sail on Jan. 9."

Citizens were startled. Was the Nicaraguan affair so grave that the grim-jawed top Marine of all must take command? An "official" report was published that General Lejeune's departure had been precipitated by a dark thing in the Marine Corps. Two Marine deserters, said the story, were teaching tricks of their trade to the rebel, Sandino (see p. 16).

General Lejeune, Secretary Wilbur and the State Department denied the substance of this report. The nature and purpose of General Lejeune's "inspection" remained a mystery. "I don't know what I will do until I get there," he said.

Like almost everything he does, Secretary Wilbur's ordering of Marines last week aroused criticism. Why had adequate reinforcements not been kept ready somewhere near Nicaragua? Of the 1,400 men embarking, 500 were at San Diego, Calif.; the rest had to be collected from Charleston, S. C., Hampton Roads, Va., Philadelphia and even Brooklyn. Congressmen agitated the broader question of whether or not "war" existed and was justified in Nicaragua. Defenders of the Administration sidetracked embarrassing resolutions (see THE CONGRESS). But Congress could not silence embarrassing remarks by citizens such as one Harold Leavey of Brooklyn, N. Y., father of one of the embarking Marines. Said Mr. Leavey: "The boys are being sent to fight for the Wall Street brokers, not Uncle Sam. I'm only a poor milkman and I need my boy more than they do."

*Four 17. S. warships were already in or near Nicaraguan waters: The Special Service Squadron, composed of the cruisers Rochester, Denver, Galveston, Tulsa.