The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-19
IMPORTANCE or THE ORINOoO.
United states Control Essential to Main.
tenAnoe OF Monroe Doctrine.


America to Mandos, on the Amazon; thence
via the Negro, Caasiquiare and Orinooo
rivers to the Venezuelan coast; over the
American Mediterranean (the Caribbean
Sea and the Gulf Of Mexioo) TO New Orleans,
and 80 up the Mississippi and Missouri to
the head Of navigation, the explorers bring
ing to the people Of the Mississippi Valley
specimens of the products Of tho little
known lands In tho interior Of tho southern
continent-brinSing stories Of adventure,
stirring accounts Of experience and OBJ
servation there. bringing real information
for the first time home to nearly every one.
| The boat, It IL true, must be constructed
In such a manner that IL may be carried
around distractions TO navigation, since
a portage between the Amazon and La
Plata river systems and certain rapids in
the Orinooo and Negro must be anticipated
And, because there is not at present a good,
unbroken inland through route FOR larger
vessels between the Caribbean Sea and the
estuary OF the River Plate, tho achievement
thus suggested may appear at first 50 ght TO
be OF great scientific interest rather than oil
| great practical value.
shall try TO prove in this article that the
| Orinooo link in the chain Of waterways
between our Northwest and the remote
| Southeast Of South America has value
which IL would be sheer folly TO overlook.
Let us see what consequences flow from
the fact that this long voyage by river
ways can be made in q specially designed
| boat, even under existing conditions.
| And, first. the bare suggestion Of such
voyage stirs our imagination so that we
shall see that it Is time to stop thinking only
Of tho unessendal, tho people, when we
think Of Venezuela. 1t Is time to begin to
realize the essential, the river.
Venezuela is a country Of miscreants1
Say, rather that it ia the country of the
Orinoco-for our national development
in the near future more essential than any
other river hey our own boundaries.
The miscreants are few--merely the in
solent minority In a population averaging
less than four persons to the square mile.
| The land IL vast-so vast that. when the
court of arbitration in 1899 awarded to
Great Britain slice OF It's territory which
was larger than the State of New York the
transfer OF ownership attracted little at
tenton.
The control Of navigation on the Missis
sippi River did not seem worthless TO our
ancestors, though miscreants not few
dwet in the Mississippi Valley. But the
systems OF rivers to which the mouths OF
the Orinooo give acoess-to which the
Orinooo is our gateway and near approach
are equal to four or five Mississippis
When Columbus sailed past the mouths
Of the Orinoco he reasoned that such a
torrent proved the existence OF land mass
OF continental dimensions Humboldt,
more than three hundred years afterward.
found that the Orinoco was joined to an
afiluent OF the Amazon. The people OF the
United States. preoooupied with great
enterprises elsewhere. let another century
60 by without taking the trouble TO realize
that the propinquty of the 0rinoco. and no
other circumstance whatever would en-
able them 10 make good their claim Of pre-
dominance In the Western Hemisphere.
that unless their footing in Venezuela
should be assured, and peaceful conditions
established 80 that by way OF the orinooo,
practicable north and south route for
ordinary river steamboats, could be made
through the heart of the continent. the
entire eastern and central regions OF South
America would inevitably become com
meroial and political dependencies Of Eu-
rope.
oar people did not know or care to know
Ointil the time came. as it has at last come.
for knowing and caring) that 80 long as
the Orinoco should remain subject to the
caprice of Venezuela. and therefore an I'M
improved route, 1t would be impossible
for the United States to prevent the aoquisi-
ton by military Powers from across the
seas OF a control in all the region beyond
practically the entire continent except the
,f,- of ha Ind
OF the equator, which would in effect be
equal to territorial aggrandizement on an
enormous scale-in other words, impossible
to enforce the Monroe Doctrine as laid
down by President Roosevelt In his speech
at Chicago April ?, 1908.
But we begin to see that the President
spoke like prophet. He spoke as leader.
too, for the people by their approval have
made his words their own.
Now as to tho Argentina Venezuela and
louisiana Minnesota route.
A continent being at stake, mere geog-
raphy becomes interesting. I need not ask
the readers patience for repeating familiar
things. since it ia perfectly plain that we
are simply running across them to reach,
"a quickly as possible, wholly new point
OF view.
Inc SAILING distance from Pernambuoo,
Bazil, 70 some OF the coast cities Of west
eTn Europe IA less than to New York Be-
Sides the superior facilities for transporta-
ton between Europe and the eastern and
southeastern coasts OF South America are
steadily increasing the advantage Of our
rivals. Southeastern America, for all pur-
poses Of social intercourse, including nearly
every kind OF intimate association which,
with the lapse OF time, inevitably binds
nations together, can be reached much more
easily from Europe than from the great
centres OF population in the United States.
Moreover such Inducements are offered
to oolonists from Europe that Argentina, for
example, in 1901. was reinforced by three
times as many immigrants In proportion
10 the total number OF inhabitants as the
United States. A large part of the south
eastern coast receives from Europe ideas,
manners, fashions. culture. immigrants.
Now, within the coast region most sub
ject to European influences are the mouths
OF four great rivers, natural avenues Of
internal transportation and communica-
ton piercing the continent Only the 1fth
and last great river which can be called
an avenue in the same sense, the Orinoco,