The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-02
Copyright, 1902, by j. I. Diaz Bal
cenas.)

CendS.l
Philadelphia, Jan. 31.-The attempt
at intimidation of Venezuela, on the
i part of Germany, because of the Krupp
Company's claim, will not in my opin-
ion, mean war between the two coun-
tries. 1t will not mean a seizure of
any territory in South America by
German forces. 1t will not mean any
conflict between the United States and
Germany. over the Monroe Doctrine.
There has been a great deal printed
| as to the justice ,of the German clims,
as to Germany'ss resolution to enforce
them, and as to Venezuela's inability
to pay and her powerlessness to resent
German encroachment. The justice of
the German claim. now for the first
time coming before the world in its
true light, resolves itself into the in
justice of an extremely questionable
case Of railway hnanciering. with
bribery and corruption at the bottom
! of ii originally.
!. Let us look at Venezuela's side OF the
| question. The two most important
GtkltS u fsNeIeZueid are v dlenZld ana
Caracas, the capital. They are sep
arated by a distance Of 100 miles-by
rail, six hours journey. The pop
ulation of Caracas, some dozen years
ago, was about 100000 people; that Of
Valencia was 10000. Between them
lay country filled with herds Of
grazing cattle. which were shipped
abroad from the port of Caraccus.
Rojas Paul, In 1883. had been elected
a. "a
the retirement from office of Guzman
Blanco. The attention of German mer-
chants, for a number Of years, had been
very closely fixed upon Venezuela, be-
cause of the wealth Of her natural re-
sources, and because the trade in Mar
acaibo and LaGuayra coffee was
thing well worth havings The CONNER
cial world Of Germany, having fixed its
eyes upon the Venezuelan trade, put it's
hands there afterwards and now IL has
most of the trade in its pocket. After
the merchants, came the financiers.
While Paul was President, the projec-
tors of the railway company bearing
the same name is the great cannon
making establishment In Germany, ap-
preached the Venezuelan government
with a proposition for the connection,
by rail, of the two large cities of the
country. Venezueia. filed with natural
necessity for speedy transportation,
welcomed the proposition gladly.
Within four years the people of Ven
eZuela saw in operation, between Car
accas and Valencia, a well equipped
modern railway, carrying passengers
and freight at rates which the public
found acceptable, and serving all the
purposes required of modern, first
class, well-planned road. 1t looked as
If German enterprise. German finance,
and German thoroughness, were real
blessings to the people Of Venezuela.
What the country at large did not
know was the manner In which the
railway concession had been obtained,
and the Shylock terms on which the
road had been constructed and equip
ped. With every item of expense in
cluded the cost of the entire project
could not have been more than seven
million dollars. From the city of
Caracas for distance of eight miles,
the country was mountainous, and IT
was necessary that several tunnels be
built. But. beyond that, all the way
to Valencia, the. route lay through
coffee plantations and along savannahs
as level as a. board. All the railway
company had to do was put down its
rails and run its trains.
The proposition which Krupp COM
pany laid before the Venezuelan Con-
gress was that the Republic of Vene-
zuela guarantee to pay, irrespective OF
any returns from the road-which went
into the hands of the railway pro-
motors-an annual subsidy OF per
cent. on the capital stock. The stock
was to be issued on the legitimate