The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-29


states changes its policy and protects Amer
Jean business men instead of protecting tho
SiaGkguards c, who oppresi them About
of my mules without leaving as much
worth. ] was red hoy hoy Because sS + I had me,
I exactions. made big row and in Ca
| racas even Castro himself admitted to me
face to face that had been dissracefully
a few days. he said. the chief inspector OF
! stamps would wait me and straighten
things out Sure enough. in two or three
MT when he told me he had been ordered
| by the President himself to pay me the
value Of the mules in stamps. or course, !
would be reimbursed. Then the stamp man
began to hem and haw. and at last it came
treasury was so unfortunate: he said that
this act OF restitution. one of simple justice
he called it, had to be coupled with re-
quest
KNEW OF THE GOLD.
II must know. he said .how hard up the
President was. and he knew that 1 had
plenty OF gold in my safe. don't mind
telling you right here that sta tement made
my flesh crawl. 1t was true. had a good
many thousand dollars in gold in my safe.
The plant being Idle. usual, had no use
Tor II. but couldn't get II out of the coun-
try. The stamp man went on to say had
better put my gold in stamps. The condi-
ton of the country was such that my place
might be broken into and robbed any night.
1t was a favor that would be greatly APP
preciated by Castro, and 1t would be a good
tnlnE d Tor Sra me, directly and indirectly;
sleep better at night. Well. let him have
s2ooo in good American hard earned gold
read the. official gazette in which. Castro
clothes his acts of brgandage in high flown.
howery language. / came across a notice to
the effect that certain issue of stamps
cancelled
cepted by the Government. In explanation
it was stated that stamp Office somewhere
entered by robbers and several thousand
from predting by tSeir exploit Castro de,
esared all this issue Cancelled. or course, |
knew 1t right away; still. l opened my safe.
and there 1t was. Ny stamps were of the
Cancelled issue. I placed the matter before
because, we understand it. the United
States Minister to Venezuela is now the
agent Of President Castro. and. with the
permission of the Secretary of State. Is
trying to save Castro and his gang from
their just deserts"
THE STORY OF THE STEERS.
The rise and fall Of the cattle trade be
tween Venezuela and Cuba. which began In
best illustration I know of the business
methods of Venezuela. As the trade has
entirely ceased, for reasons that will appear
this illustration has the advantage OF not
trenching upon any vested interests or
placing in jeopardy any one. The trade
sprang up at the end o Of the Spanish spa war var
Cuban insurgents had eaten up all the
cattle On the island. The; great grazing
fields of Santa Clara and Puerto Principe
regiments and other beef eaters had to be
fed. Fortunately. in Venezuela less than
three days. sail to the south. millions OF
cattle of the best description were to De
had very cheap. Naturally. Americans ana
Cubans projected themselves into this bust
ness eagerly. Venezuelans less eagerly. me
cattle resources of Venezuela are unlimited.
and it is estimated that on the llanos there
are enough cattle practically wild to pay
four times over the national DEBT OF tne
country These resources however. were
not tapped by the Cuban trade. There We're
enough cattle to be had around the por.
towns for 81. to sis apiece and at od shese
prices the business promised large pronts
Puerto Cabello and La Guayra We're the
ports selected. and several shiploads OF
magnificent steers had been landed IN ~ IL
crowd awakened to the possibilities. Inc
trade promised to become, and undouotediy
would have become. permanent ana most
valuable asset of the country. This, how
ever, did not appeal to sthe robber Prest-
dent. He only saw in 1t limitiess noss:,ii1
ties of hlackmaii A drove OF thou sa,,d
admittance. Two dollars a head would
have to be paid they safd; for a. evsry s1e ens
the streets in passing through The tax was
paid. and as orders had come for hundred
thousand more steers the eattiemGn i Haue
Company, whose lire runs into the port.
They built a switch line over which the cat
without treadins the, streets of the town.
AS they could not damage the streets. me
naturally. thought the damage
tax would not be COLLECTED ahe hsa We, e, the
local government still eXacted the tax His
view, which obtained approval In Caracas
didn't walk the streets they ought to. and
in any case they would nave TO pay y a
head
BLACKMAIL on sEvERY. HAND. !
caught on, and they. t99, began to squeeze
the cattle trade. In few weeks the ex-
porter had to pay 81 a head to the govern
ment of the Province where the steer WAS
raised or purchased. and he had to pay 81
to the government of each Province through
which he would pass on his way 10 the
the tax was concerned whether he made
the journey in railway train or on moor.
Quite often much as $40 had been paid on
a single steer before he reached the port,
and then of course. ne, and in. fact. the
whole drove. might be stolen, not by recos-
nized bandits. but by government officials.
or rather holding. for. in view Of the in
ertia met with by him in the American Le-
gaton well as in tAe t Venezuelan 0 ns GEv
it-well illustrates this phase. The herd
which he proposed to export to Cuba was
by one of Castro's Generals just
before 1t reached the port after the transit
and other dues had been paid and his prob
able profits were in sight. The herd was
not confiscated by the General for the pur-
pose of feeding his soldiers. He simply |
wanted to take hand in the cattle trade
on his own account. land; after the initial !
robbery was accomplished. it must be said
for this General that ne acted in the most |
thoughtful way, disturbing the trade as lit
tie as possible. 1t was a simple transfer |
ence of the value of the herd from the |
pocket of the rightful owner to his own.
The day after the herd was stolen he !
drove them into Puerto Cabello. where the |
Cuban who had ordered them from the |
a cattle ship with steam up and everything |,
ready to transport the cattle Immediately |
TO Santiago The General put himself in /
with this trader and in a |
few hours the cattle were sold. put on board |,
md shipped The General scrupulously car |
RED out every detail of the American trad |
ar's contract. only he made more money |
put of it. because he for once put VeneZue- |
IAN soldiers to useful work and utilized his |
cattle on board the ship The whole thing |
was done by officers and men wearing Cas- !,
.ro's uniform and yellow ribbons. The claim |
If the American owner has. / believe, never |
it probably never will.
DEMUR AT INTEREST RATE.
The incidents of the robbery, as stated |
above, are fully known at the legation. and |
heir correctness is not denied. The claim
If the American is for the market value of |
he profit he would have made out of their
sale as per the contract he had with the |
Cuban (Which Castro's General carried out !
IN his own hook, plus IL per cent interest
VIII never come--when the claim is liqui-
lated, / understand that the legation de-