The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-14
VENEZUELA DEFIANT.


VENEZUELA DEFIANT.
The defiant attitude assumed by
Venezuela towards Great Britain and
/ Germany in consequence of their acts
of aggression surprises those Power.
| They are beginning to think that II
will not be so easy to collect the claims
| their subjects have against Venezuela
as they thought it would And they
| are hampered in their action by the
! doubt as to the position the United
States would take if they should pro-
coed to extremes in their efforts to
I bring Venezuela to terms.
Great Britain is beginning to realize
that, so far as she is concerned, there
is little, if anything, to be gained by
the course that has thus far been
pursued-that of committing warlike
acts and pretending that everything
yet remains on a peace basis. She will
be the principal sufferer by a blockade
of the ports of Venezuela, since she
has the bulk of the commerce of the
country. BY cutting off her principal
source of revenue Venezuela's ability
to pay the claims against her are les
sened. The amount that Germany and
Great Britain could collect by Selling
the duties on imports would hardly
pay the cost of maintaining the block.
ade. 1t is evident therefore that the
claims cannot be collected that way.
Besides. France and this country,
which have larger claims against Ven
ezuela than Germany and Great
Britain have, might become restless if
the blockade were maintained for a
long period, thus interfering with their
commerce and lessening their chances
of collecting their claims.
What Germany and Great Britain
would like is this: They would like
this country to assume the responsible
ty for the payment of their claims, and
the fact that British newspapers are
trying to give a new Interpretation to
the Monroe doctrine, so as to accom-
plish that object, is worthy of very
careful consideration.
These papers say that as Venezuela
is within what the United States call
their sphere of influence they ought 20
be responsible for her wrong-d doing.
They make the point that if Vene-
zuela did not think that she was,
in measure, under the protection o.
the United States, she would not be so
insolent to those European Powers
that have just claims against her.
, ss.I- 49,
if the United States insist upon the
Monroe doctrine, which provides that
no European Power shall acquire
additional territory in the Western
Hemisphere, they should be required
to compel the Central and South Amer
lean states to comply with their obli-
cations to European Powers. 1t would
not be surprising if this interpreted
ton of the. Monroe doctrine should be
given smuch greater prominence than
it now has before the imbroglio is set
tied.
1t is evidently the intention of the
administration to keep out of the Vene-
zuelan trouble n possible, but no one
can forsee the course which will be
pursued by Congress. A presidential
campaign is approaching, and the poll
ticians are eagerly seeking campaign
issues. 1t is worthy of notice that
two resolutions bearing upon the Ven
ezuela trouble have been introduced
into the House. We are sure that
public sentiment is against any in
reference in the trouble, but the poll
ticians may disregard that in their
effort to find material upon which to
conduct a presidential campaign.