Meritorious Dictator

Citizens of Caracas do not see much of their President. He dislikes public functions, spends as much of his time as possible at Maracay, 77 miles away, where, beside a lake on his great model farm, he sits in a rocking chair under a giant rubber tree and holds court. But Caracas saw him last week, when in full uniform General Juan Vicente Gomez celebrated the 25th anniversary of his seizure of the government. Ceremonies were simple. He stalked to the Casa Amarilla, the presi dential palace where he first took office, then through lines of blue-clad soldiers to Caracas Cathedral to dedicate 400,000 bolivars ($104,000) of restorations. On the sidewalks citizens yelled them selves hoarse. Was their President not El Benemerito, the Meritorious One? Had he not made a record in 25 years that no Hitler, no Mussolini could match? Venezuela had a balanced budget and a surplus of $13,00,000 in the national treasury. Her money is the soundest in the world. Not a single foreigner owns a Venezuelan government bond. There is practically no unemployment. Farmers pay no land taxes at all and may borrow up to 50% of the value of their land from a government farm bank. The country, with nearly 4,000 miles of good roads, claims the finest highway system in Latin America.

But this record dictatorship is not all due to the personal virtue and public frugalities of Meritorious Gomez. In 1917 oil began to gush in Venezuela in unbelievable quantities. Last year more oil than anywhere else outside the U. S. and Russia spouted from Venezuelan wells, and every gallon of it pays a 7% to 10 % royalty to the Government. Cheap to produce, most of this oil is drilled on the shores and in the bottom of a long arm of the sea known as Lake Maracaibo, is carried to refineries in Dutch Curagao and Aruba by a fleet of special shallow-draught "baby" tankers able to jump the treacherous sandbar at the mouth of the lake. Three great oil companies share most of this trade: Royal Dutch-Shell, Standard of New Jersey, Gulf. Before NRA, Manhattan motorists were more apt to ride on Venezuelan gasoline than not, for it is cheaper to bring it by sea from Caracas than from Oklahoma or Texas.

Though he has been a shining improvement over his predecessor of 25 years ago, the debauched Cipriano Castro, there are many things about Dictator Gomez difficult to align with Nordic ideas of civil virtue. The old General is not only the richest man in Venezuela, but for all practical purposes owns the country. It has been charged that no project, from cattle breeding to oil leases, can exist without payment of a personal tribute to El Benemerito. All attempts to overthrow his government are instantly and brutally suppressed. Venezuela's pride, her highway system, has been built largely by the labor of political prisoners.

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