The Tucson citizen., 1902-12-04
WHAT OF The MONROE DOG.
TRlNE..

OlspaCcn from London published In
yesterdays Citizen gave the informa-
ton that it was admitted by officials of
the British Government that Germany
and Great Britain had arranged to "sec.
ure satisfaction from Venezuela" and
for that purpose the two great nations
were concentrating feet of ships on
the Venezuelan coast. A London dis.
patch published in the Star of this
morning goes further and says that it is
officially admitted that the attack on
Venezuela win be punitive" This is
both serious and interesting. 1t brings
President Roosevelt square.y up to the
enforcement of the Monroe doctrine,
which in his message to Congress Iast
Tuesday he declared to be :.''the cardin-
al feature of American foreign policy"
In connection with this contemplated
raid of two European empires on a
feeble South American republic there is
one probability, and one of very great
Importance to be considered. Let us
suppose, for example, that President
Roosevelt and his very pliable Secretary
of State assent to the European scheme
looks on complacently while King Ed
ward and Emperor William assess their
own damages, give verdict in favor of
themselves, and then proceed to collect
by seizing two or three Venezuelan Gus
tom houses and taking possession of the
revenues thereof. This is, in fact, what
they have declared as their deliberate
intention, and, indeed, it is the only ex-
pedient open to them save that of occu.
pying territory. Let us suppose, there
fore, that the chief custom houses at La
Guaira, Puerto Cabello, and Maracaibo
are seized by England and Germany
jointly, what then?
President Castro, of Venezuela has a
plan of his own when it comes to that,
and he has already proclaimed it. He
has said, in word, that he will suspend
all tariff taxes of every kind on imports
and exports in the event of seizure of
Venezuelan custom houses by foreign
powers, and declare free trade with all
the world. When that announcement
was made some months ago it attracted
little attention in any quarter. 1t was
regarded as the idle vaporing of an in
significant charlatan The outside world
had been industriously assured that
Castro was powerless; that he would
soon be deposed; that even then, he had
neither authority nor following. We
had. in fact, the picture OF scowling,
gesticulating little puppet screaming
and making faces at every body, but ut
terly devoid of dignity or power. We
were asked to laugh at it and we laugh.
ed. But the President of Venezuela
does not act quite as ridiculous a figure
today as he seemed to act six mon tbs
ago. he has shown he is a man OF
courage and resource. He has triumphed,
at least for the time being, over a very
formidable revolution, and exhibited no
little military ability in the process.
Certainly it cannot be said that he is
either a coward or an imbecile. Per.
haps il we could see him through me-
dunn at once impartial and accurate We
might discern some virtues in his char
acter not wholly negative.
Suppose, then, that England and Ger
many seize the Venezuelan custom
houses as stated, and that President
Castro suspends the operation of the
tariff, Offering free trade to the COM
merce OF all nations-what next? Can
England and Germany collect duties in
the name OF Venezuela when Venezuela
has abolished them? Would not that
act amount to usurpation of the repub.
lies sovereignty, and therefore, to
seizure of her government? Suppose
for arguments sake that q Dutch,
French, Russian, Spanish, italian or
United States merchant vessel were to
touch at La Guaira with cargo would
England or Germany, or both com.