The Washington times., 1905-04-12
Castritis.

There is again a tempest in the
Venezuelan teapot The specific heat
of the country is so great and the
specific gravity of the lilliputian who
sits upon its lid is so little that its
foreign impolicy has for years varied
from Kisses of defiance to ebullitions
of scalding Castritis.
This is annoying, but not neces-
sarily deadly. Castro, like the mos
quito, is to be feared not so much for
the sting of his bite as for the noXious
germs with which he may inoculate
one. It would be silly to hunt him
with a shotgun or a butterfly net, for
he is so small that he could escape
the one and elude the other, but
what we need in dealing with him is
mosquito-bar and bunch of penny
royal
While this is true; while it is true
that Castro, viewing himself in the
concave mirror of his own conceit.
struts and busters like any Don
Whiskerando of opera bouffe; it is
also true that the American Gulliver
owes it to his innate love of fair play
and his avowed devotion to inter-
national justice to recognize that the
little man is still a human being and
his country cadet of the family of
civilized nations
CaStro's manners may be bad, his
etiquette not quite up to standard,
and his sense of proportion sadly
deficient, but he has some glimmer-
ings OF reason and a show of truth
and equity on his side.
Venezuela has all the outward ponp
and circumstance of civilized power,
she has courts of first instance and of
appeal, she has bureaus of internal
administration and foreign communi-
cation, she has policy OF orderly
development and scheme of local
independence. All these things have
been recognized by the various powers
and she has been dealt with on the
basis thereof in sundry treaties and
arbitrations
The merchants, bankers, syndicates,
and corporations of the world knew
what they were doing when they un-
dertook the promotion of their vari-
GUS enterprises in Venezuela 1t is
to be presumed that as sensible men
they examined the credit and con-
sidered the character of the people
with whom they dealt, and having
made their bed they should be allow
ed to lie in it until actual and gross
injustice is done
The United States has no quarrel
with Venezuela Of a national or gov
ernmental character, nor need it dis
turb its repose over the possibility of
foreign complications by reason of
some European power treading on the
coat-tails of the Monroe Doctrine.
The trouble is at present simply and
solely question of whether certain
financial interests, not in any way
connected with our Government or
our national dignity, shall have their
claims settled by the Venezuelan
courts or by a board of arbitration
forced upon the weaker country either
by an overpowering influence or by
our sword.
1t is hardly worth while to carry
the discussion further Surely we
would not attempt to dictate to the
English high court of judicature or
to the French court of cessation. Why
then should we attempt to wrest a
pending case from the courts of
Venezuela?
We have bluffed Master Castro as
far as the rules of the game permit
and he has called our bluff We are
in the ridiculous position Of hunters
armed for big game who having been
annoyed by crowd Of small BOYS
find one of them up a tree and tWid-
ding his nose at us. We are strong
enough to chop the tree down and
We have powder and shot enough to
blow the boy to kingdom come But
1t is wiser and better to smoke a pipe
of peace and go about our business.
Some other day we may spank the
impudent little euss.