Again, Butler

Secretary of the Navy Adams last week called upon Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, U. S. M. C., for a written explanation of a speech he made in Pittsburgh last fortnight. Comparing Nicaraguan elections with Philadelphian, General Butler was reported to have said: "We Marines took charge of two elections in Nicaragua. The fellow we had in there nobody liked, 'but he was a useful fellow-- to us ... so we declared the opposition candidates bandits. Then 400 natives were found who would vote for the proper candidate. Notice was given of opening the polls five minutes beforehand. The 400 voters were assembled in a line and when they had voted . . . polls were closed." Hot-collared Novelist Sinclair Lewis, charging General Butler with "conspiracy to murder the men unjustly declared bandits," wrote a loud letter to Senator Borah of the Foreign Relations Committee, demanding an inquiry. General Butler blandly replied to Novelist Lewis that he had told the committee all that "and a great deal more."

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