New-York tribune., 1903-03-24
PROFIT AND LOSS IN SOUTH AMERICA.

PROFIT AND LOSS IN SOUTH AAbhfCA'
lord 4vehury sees clearly and accurately MS
side of the South American shield. so much
vvas demonstrated by Mr. Ford in his luminous
and instructive London letter In yesterday
Tr1lmne No one doubts his lordships infoFma-
ton and integrity, and no one will seriously
challenge his complaint that English bonahoio-
ORR have suffered much dishonorabie. II hot
positively dishonest treatment at the hdlfus VI
Central and South American Sta'es. Ah0
figures which he cites are conclusive we nave
no do,bt that English and Other foreign mer-
cbants have likewise sore grievances against
son,e of o,Ir southern nefghbors. That side OF
the shield is pretty black. There is. however
another side. It is notorious that some larse
claims against some South American States are
so ineauitabIe that those who prefer thein
dread the thought of referring them 10 d JUDI
court for adjudication. There are many other
claims which are honest enough, but which rep
resent loans made at so great rate OF discount
that the scaling down of interest is nothing
worse than retribution If a man nominally
loans a million dollars at per cent interest,
hut really gives the borrower only half q
million. he will get his per cent interest on MS
actual loan IL the borrower scales down the
rate on the nominal loan to per cent Inls
other side of the shield is worth consder1ng
There is something more to be CONSIDERED
Mr. Ford reminded Us Of pertinent truth
when he wrote Of ''the circle Of Span1sh-Aneri-
"can republics corrupted and debaucheo by the
"fsciIfty with which money could be borrowed
Gin Eurooe" There Is no doubt that European
money lenders have encouraged and tempted
those States to run heavily Into DEBT, relying
unon European war fleets to collect those debts
for them with compound interest. They estao-
fish business enterprises in those iands, Know
ing we'll the character Of their governments,
and then expect to get big indemn1ties IL tney
are not treated as they would be at home In
EuroDe This it seems to us, is unreasonaDie'
Those who lend money should take heed to
whom they lend It, Those who go into a
foreign land to trade must subject themselves
to the laws and conditions which prevail in that
land. They cannot require that land to shape
its poIicy or to sacrifice It's interests just to
suit them II they do not like its ways they
have the alternative Of keeping ont Of it alto
sether Nobody conpels them to go tnlther
They do 80 voluntarily for their own profit
It has always seemed to us a petty and un-
worthy thing for European powers to be con-
tinua1ly complaining Of the untrustworthness
of South American countries, and at the same
time to be continually trusting them on an in
creasing scale. They lend them money, COM
plain that they cannot get it back. and then
urge them to borrow lot more. They intrigue
for the granting of concessions, make a great
fuss because the terms of the concessions are
violated, and then solicit still further conces-
sions They establish trade relations complain
Of their unsatisfactoriness and then seek by
every means in their power to enlarge and ex-
tend them. Really, 1t seems to be high time
for them to remember the old saying that a
burned child breads the fire In ordinary buSi-
ness a man does not continue to deal with one
whom he has found to be swindler. If these
South American countries are so dishonest and
untrustworthy and generally unit to deal with,
why do not our European friends leave them
severely alone?
AS for the United States and the Monroe Doc
trine. all that needs to be said Is what has
been said before thousand times. This coun-
try is not going to guarantee the debts of its
southern neighbors Neither is it going to col
lect them or to enforce the payment OF them.
It is not going to prevent European powers
from collecting Just debts so long as In doing
20 they do not disturb or menace this country.
A collection Of debts through seizure OF Amer
lean territory or the establishment Of Euro
pean sovereignty over an American State would
be a menace 10 this country, and therefore
could not be tolerated. The Monroe Doctrine
is neither a sheriff's writ nor a bankruptcy act
It's primary purport is to protect the United
States Of America from European intrigues
and aggressions and from the intrusion of Eu-
Topean influences into the American political
system. Those are the principles which Euro
pean money lenders will DO we'll to bear IN
mind in their financing Of Spanish-American
republics