Parting Shots

"Every American who is proud of being an American should be proud of the American Marines in Nicaragua."

Such was a mature opinion, expressed last week by Major General John Archer Lejeune, famed "Biggest Leatherneck of All," Commandant of the U. S. Marine Corps. He had just completed a thoroughgoing personal inspection (TIME, Jan. 16) of Marine activities throughout Nicaragua. Last week as he went aboard the cruiser Rochester, at Corinto, Nicaragua, and prepared to sail for Panama, "Leatherneck" Lejeune delivered heavy parting shots as follows: "The boys are well liked by the Nicaraguans. At every place I visited, Nicaraguans greeted me cordially. I was able to visit these places and get first hand information. I appreciate conditions better and in the future will be in a better position to help the boys."

Trenchantly choosing a new group of words for repetition, General Lejeune continued: "Nicaragua is the roughest country I have ever seen. One has no idea how rough and inaccessible the country is until seen."

Throughout the week a column of 400 Marines under Major Archibald Young pressed forward into the fastness of central Nicaragua and finally occupied El Chipote, a mountain 5,000 feet high on the top of which existed, recently, one more of the war bases of General Augusto Cal- deran Sandino, now the sole Nicaraguan commander in the field against the U. S.

At Managua, Nicaraguan Capital, the most intensive scandals and squabbles brewed, last week, among all the political factions, each seeking to put itself in a favorable light with the U. S. prior to the coming Nicaraguan Presidential election which the U. S. is to supervise.