The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-20


had before, but even that great victory Is
consistently beittled by Germans and
English, and they have almost succeeded
in robbing us Of the position with South
Americans that the war won. The English
are as bad as the Germans in this matter
but our crisis is not with England, but with
Germany. for while the English In South
America are against us to a man, at home
they are our friends.
VENEZUELAN DISHONESTY
Il saw Gen. Pulgar the revolutionary
hero OF Venezuela. when he was here some
years ago. and he told me that he was afte Z
money. That is the curse of Venezuela,
for while il il true that Germany has eagerly
seized on this opportunity to naugurate her
policy in South America. il is a fact that
Venezuela is herself responsible for the
crisis which she is facing
The whole Venezuelan system.is to get
all the foreign money in that is possible
and pay nothing out. They are not honest
and il is an outrage the way they treat
foreigners.
Here Is al illustration. Under Presi-
dent Palacio a French company had the
mlnting concession. The company spent a
good deal Of money building and equiv ping
mint. After they had operated it for some
time, they were suddenly ordered to shut
down by the Government. There was no
explanation, but, believing it would be all
right, the French shut up shop and the en-
tire STAFF went away for week on a hunting
"trip. When they returned the superin-
tendent Of the mint found that it had been
a. n triv aLa 20 L.
valuable dies stolen
The Government would give no salts
faction for this outrage, but some time
afterward the company was approached
by man who offered $4,000 for the con-
cession. II was refused and there was
mere delay Well, to make a long story
short il turned out that the Government
troops under Palacio's order had broken
into the mint and looted it for the purpose
Of making the French company sell its
concession cheap. The French finally
closed with Palacio for $4,000 but before
they got cent of it they had to sign a re-
ceipt for 500, 1000. Right there Venezuela
was robbed OF $4,000 by her own people
After the sale Palacio went on minting with
the dies stolen from the French.
1t is this kind Of rottenness that honey
combs Venezuela and is responsible for her
plight. l heard young man in the Hotel
Clint in Caracas, the son Of one Of the best
families in Venezuela. say he would like to
be President OF the country for three weeks.
l asked him why, and he said because he
would he in a position 10 get rich for the
rest of his life The whole idea of the coun-
try is steal, steal, steal. They steal, 60 TO
Paris and spend the money and then re-
turn to steal more. This rottenness, COM
bined with the idea that manual labor is
degrading has brought Venezuela face to
face with ruin.
LAwLESs COUNTRY.
'There is no regard for law in Venezuela.
A man who stays any time in jail Is friend
less indeed. A young Venezuelan in my
time there murdered the man he worked
for and was sentenced TO jail for a few
years. The maximum penalty for murder
by the way. Is ten years. This young man
had a sister that q Government official
was in los With. Her hand In marriage
was the price OF pardon for her brother.
The girl married the man and the boy was
released, having served just three weeks.
'Bernacio Pulgar. a splendid young
Hihn 10 ulert, mas killed. tuT6e men IN the
streets Of Venezuela, but, being OF q pow
erful family. has never served q day or a
night in Jail for his crimes.
II WE ARE GOING TO FIoHr.
If we are to enforce the Monroe doc
trine We need nothing so much as more
gunboats and more cruisers. Germany
has nearly a million men In South America
and she has her plans made Her men
are all fighting men, and war is not a ter
ifying thing to them. for they have known
that this crisis was coming for many year,.
They have been the life Of the plan and
have furthered it at every opportunity,
and they will profit by any strength that
Germany wins in South America
In 1893 when went to vene zuela went
with German army engineer, Baron Won
Steuben. He travelled all over South
America on map-making tour. He was
received everywhere with the greatest
honor by Germans. the Consuls personally
entertaining him wherever he went Ger
many has maps to-day that he made Of
all the points Of strategic value in South
America, and when they had them made
they knew that the time would come whom
they would need them