to compulsion if persuasion
failed. The Liberals attempted to reply with a countermanifesto
protesting against his action as a usurpation of congressional
authority, declaring their opposition to the making of the proposed
loan, and pretending that it would be illegal to hold the special
session which he had called for October.

The President exercised patience and waited until November 2, when the
regular session of Congress opened, and the Liberals took their seats.
At this time the Liberals practically stultified themselves by agreeing
to discuss and finally to approve the loan project which they had
formerly opposed. After transacting this and some other business,
Congress adjourned in December.

Among the reforms which President Menocal promptly undertook to effect
was the abolition of the national lottery which had been established
during the Gomez administration. In his messages and through the
influence of all legitimate presidential influence he strove to abolish
this form of legalized gambling. His arguments were that the low price
of the tickets, only 25c, and the appeal which was thus made to the poor
and ignorant, to servants and working women as well as to men, had
caused great injury and had brought about a certain degree of moral
decline among the masses of the people. It had induced many individuals
to borrow money and even to steal in order to purchase lottery tickets,
in the delusive hope of winning one of the large prizes, which ran up to
$100,000, and thus exempting themselves from the necessity of work for
the rest of their lives. The lottery, it is true, yielded a considerable
revenue each year for the government, but General Menocal regarded this
as far more than counter-balanced by the social and moral evil which it
wrought, and by the reproach which it brought upon the good name of the
Republic. He was unable, however, to persuade Congress to abolish it,
partly because of the popular love of gambling which so largely pervades
Latin American countries, and partly--perhaps chiefly--because the
privilege of selling tickets at wholesale, at a handsome profit, was
farmed out to many members of Congress.

At the beginning of his administration, President Menocal found all the
Government offices crowded with the appointees of the former
administration. A great many of them were entirely superfluous and a
great many of them were also entirely incompetent to fill their places.
There was, therefore,