Bridgeton pioneer., 1902-12-18
The Venezuelan situation.

That the necessity should arise for
European powers to make u hostile
demonstration against a sovereign state
ON this hemisphere. as to whose polit-
ical destinies the United States has in
the PRONUNCIATION of the Monroe doc
trine assumed to have certain over
sight. is Il matter OF no small concern
TO this nation. 1t has been repeatedly
declared BY this government that it did
not propose IN shelter under the Mon
roe doctrine South American and Cen
trail American nations from the just
effects of their own miSdeeds or fail
ures to fulfill international obligations.
This was reafiirmed by President
Roosevelt in his late message in these
words: 1T behooves each one to main
tain order within its own borders and
to discharge its just obligations to for
cignerS Still the situation in Nenezu-
ella where Great Britain and Germany
seek by combined force of arms to col
lect apparently just debts, is one to
excite apprehension and call for the ex-
hibition of wise craftsmanship and di-
pIomacy on the part of our state de
partment
The English and German claims are
based partly on the destruction of prop
erty belonging to citizens of Germany
and Great Britain and partly on the
failure of Venezuela 10 make proper
provision for the payment of its nation
al debts
The liabilities of Venezuela, incurred
under the influence of President Cas-
tro. are stated by the London Mail
with greater specification than we have
seen elsewhere The chief battle
horse seems to be 4 loan of $4,000.
00o negotiated in 1896 and bearing in
terest at ) per cent This is apparent
ly a strictly public and government OBJ
liganon, with no question about guar
antee" Two-thirds of this loan is due
to Germans. the rest TO Britons and
Frenchmen. The interest is four years
in arrears. Then there is a German
railway built at cost" of S15,00O,0 900,
or at least that is what the Germans
charged and the Venezuelans agreed
to pay, of which the London Times
says that the railway built with it has
received much the same treatment
with Tho E,,c.T5vb r,ros,
Apparently the only way in which
the Germans and Britons thought that
they could collect these claims was
the seizure and retention of the Gus
toms receipts of the port of La Quay
ra. which President Castro resisted
with such force as was within his pow
er, As the customs receipts of Ii
Guayra for the last six months hay
averaged only about Goo 80 bolivars,
worth 20 cents each =, our money, it
will take the credit rather long
time to recover = full amount of
their claim. It is eg>n doubtful wheth-
er the current receipts of the collector
OF La Guayra, even should he, contra
ry to his instincts and traditions hon
estly turn them all in, would meet the
current expenses of the warships sent
to collect them.
While the landing of marines by a
European power on the territory of
an American state and the seizure of
customs for legitimate debt are per-
haps not in violation of the Monroe doc
trine. clearly the United States can
not, if it maintains its traditions, per-
NIT European power or powers to
go much further than that. Doubtless
there is an understanding at Washing
ton as TO how far the Europeans can go
in their debt collecting process. so there
is perhaps no cause to get excited over
a prospect of serious complications.