The San Francisco call., 1896-01-23


doctrine. He said:
THE extraordinary message of the Pres
ident of the United States, having refer
ence to a dispute exclusively between
Great Britain and Venezuela, both friendly
powers, was practically indorsed by both
houses of Congress. The responsibilities,
therefore, which his action may have en-
tailed rest as well upon the legislative as
the executive departments of the Govern
ment, and are equally shared by political
parties The recommendations of the
President that commission be appointed
to inquire into the points of difference be-
tween the two governments concerned
and to enighten this country as to the
true divisional line separating Venezuela
and British Guiana were followed by Con-
gress, and that commission, eminent in
ability and lacking only the joint sane
ton OF the parties in interest, which sane
ton alone can give it vitality or useful
ness, has duly qualified.
Under the circumstances it would ordi-
narily seem to be the part of wisdom to
refrain from further public comment on a
subject of so sensitive and delicate a char
acter until some decisive step had been
taken or some obstacle had been encoun-
tered calling for legislative influence.
And neither the fact that illness prevented
my presence in this body, while the mes
sage was laid before the Senate, nor the
sporadic utterances on the subject which
have recently been heard here would serve
to induce me TO embarrass the existing
situation by further discussion.
The resolutions, however, which the
Committee on Foreign Relations has re-
ported to this body, the effect of which
may be, in my opinion, most far-reaching
as affecting our policy and relations
toward other and friendly governments,
require some discussion and careful inves-
tigation before we commit ourselves to
their declarations; and led me to partici-
pate in this debate.
Continuing Wolcott contended that the
so-called Monroe doctrine has been misap-
piled in the pending controversy; that so
much of President Monroe's message as
referred to the colonization of portions of
America by European powers could have
10 applicability to any boundary dispute
now existing in South America; that the
hostility to the extension by European
powers OF their systems to any portion of
this hemisphere, as expressed In that
message, had especial reference to the
systems of government which were based
on the divine rights of kings and which
were directed to the overthrow of all re-
publics wherever existing; that the Mon
roe doctrine was in no wise intended as
insisting upon republican forms of gov
eTnment in this hemisphere, or as COM
mitting this Government to maintain the
doctrine outside its own borders or except
as its own integrity might be affected ;
that this country is embarking upon a
new and different policy from the one laid
down by our fathers, and that from 1921
until now Congress has uniformly de-
cllned to contine the so-called Monroe
doctrine or to adopt it as a rule of action.
He said existing conditions made it diff
cult to dispassionatelY discuss the Monroe
doctrine at this time. 1t was not an easy
or a gracious task to take position which
apparently involved in the slightest degree
the abandonment of that patriotic fervor
which animated the breast of every citizen
when our Nations pride or our country's
honor was in question. There had been
much tension for the past few weeks. The
letter of the Secretary of State to Mr.
Bayard was, from diplomatic point of
view, almost incendiary. The President S
message glowed with the possibilities of
war. Members of both houses of Con-
gress, not to be outdone, followed the
Presidents suggestion as to the appoint
ment of a commission with feverish haste.
Just what the commission was to do or
how il was to do it, Mr. Wolcott added,
nobody knew, but it had been created and
it now stood more menace than a guar
anty of peace.
The efforts of the Government to fire the
National heart Lad not been unavailing
nor was the work difficult. This country,
he said, had but two wars except our own
civil, and war conquest with the weak
Government of Mexico. Both of them
were with Great Britain and while the
past eighty years bad seen an entire re-
adjustment which ought to make future
war with her out of the question, there
was still lurking some traces of the tradi-
tional resentment. There is discomfort,
too, with existing conditions in many sec
tions of the country, and men felt bat any
change, even war with foreign country,
could not make matters worse and might
bring improvement.
Wolcott then referred to the discomfort
prevailing over the West and South, where
men who work on farms find the grain
they raise little more valuable for food
than as fuel, who know that the railroads
which charge them for the transportation
OF their produce are largely owned in
Great Britain and are either prosperous
or, if insolvent, are fostered and protected
and managed by Federal courts. They
also view with distrust the close financial
relations existing between the bankers ot
the East and those of London, and they
would welcome any event, even war, that
would result, as they believe war would
result, in destroying those relations and
leading us to rely upon our own resources
and to embrace economic politics, which
would not be dependent upon those Of
foreign countries.
Thoughtless and weak and ignorant
though these views might be they existed
1t was easier, he said, to drift with such q
condition than to antagonize it, but he
proceeded to condemn the whole contro-
versy so far as it was based on the Monroe
doctrine. He said there never had been a
doctrine more misunderstood or mis-
applied than the So called Monroe