The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-30
VENEZUELA DEFENDED.
A singular Piea That tho United states Alse
Has Repudiatcd an Arbitration.

HAS Repudiated an Arbitration.
To THE Enron or TIE suN--Sir; In q
recent editorial article on "Venesuela Repudi-
ates Awards Of Arbitrators" you assume that
only debtor nations. such as Venezuela. refuse
to abide by the decision Of an arbitrator
when such decision soes against them. This
II unjust to Venezuela. for the United states
has been for the last two yesrs demanding
that Venezuela should submit again TO abb
tration n case where IN American company
received an award Of only 2 per cent. Of tts
original claim. This claim Is that OF the
Orinoco Steamship Company. which Under
an agreement made In February. 1908. was
submitted TO an arbitrator appointed by the
Queen Of Holland. Tho original claim was
for 81 400. 900. and the arbitrator awarded
s2s.27+.ss. This. Of course. was unsatisfao-
tory to the company, which took the matter
TO the State Department. resulting In a de-
mand by Secretary Hay early in 1908 that Pres
ident Castro rcsubmit the claim TO arbitration.
In President Castro's reply he stated that n
no should reopen this csss It would reflect
dot only upon the arbitrator h made the
decision but upon the Queen OF Holland.
who appointed him..
Here the matter rested for several years.
until February. 1907. when Secretary Root
again brought this case TO President Castro's
attention. IL nay be interesting to follow
@Nf " wv " oASs
which are in part "a follows:
What the claimant now asks is the reexarnina
ton OF this award by q competent and impartial
tribunal.
To this reasonable request that the case Of the
Ornoco Steamship Company be reopened and
partial and International REORGANIZATION the Gov
ernn,cnt OF Venezuela presents as an objection the
fact that this decision OF the American Venezuelan
mixed commission on claims 10 nnai and that TO
reconsider the decision OF an arbitrating court
would be equivalent TO ignoring the force Of such
decision.
To this there Is an obvious and very reasonable
reply. 10 Wit: That a decree OF an arbitrsting court
10 only nnal when the court proceeds within the
terms OF the protocol which established the turisr
diction OF tho court and that when such terms are
ignored the decision 10 necessarily deprived of the
night OF nnai force. In this Individual case the
protocol specifically said that "the commissioners
or In case they should not agree. the arbitrator.
shall decide all the claims upon q basis OF absolute
equity. without paying attention TO objections Of
q technical character nor 70 the provisions OF the
local legislation"
The equity alluded 10 IA ciea riy not the local
equity. that is. not necessarily the equity II the
United States nor the equity OF Venezuela. but the
spirit OF justice applied 10 q particular question
without attention 20 local statutes. regulations
II 10 dinlculs TO SEQ how the Arbitrator could have
more clearly ignored the most common principles
OF Justice and equity.
At the same time that this Government believes
that such lnattentlon TO the express terms OF the
nrotoooi ,,stiaes the reo,.nlns ana the yssumn,,on
Of tho whole case before an impartial tnpunal
there IRE other reasons which tend 10 discredit the
sentence in Its entirety.
The award OF the arbitrator. therefore. which
ignored these simple yet essential considerations
is In every respect unacceptable. He assumed.
true, 'ne Jurisdicuon, out the error which he
mace Is 70 serious ana ev1dent mat THIS Govern
mon. 0snnos . ie.'" o']en' W accept TINS
!.
.,.s ma -, Nv. a1nr.'. ,s ~ y !. . ! 'ns
the n-o,oco, or a, srrors IN ,ns Az, .r as".n
from serIou. errors az law ana n, FAC, ava IN ,ns
lisht of the history OF both nations In the ms,ter
Of arbitrai ava rds this Government insists upon
the reopening and of the entire case
Of the orinoco stea mship Company to an impartial
and competent tribunal and confidently expects
them.
In a reply dated April %. 1907. Presiden Z
Castro states that the revision which is pro-
posed in the memorandum Of the awards of
the Venezuelan American mixed commission.
although it would finally be favorable 10
Venezuela In view Of the right which Ia on her
side, it could not then be explained why there
should not be revision Of all the other awards
OF the mixed commissions whereby Venezuela
was sentenced, contrary to her right, which
she maintained In various questions" These
quotations are taken from the yellow Book"
Of Venezuela and translated from Spanish
into English.
In view OF the above correspondence no
doubt President Castro feels that he has a
right 70 protest against paying what in his
opinion are excessive awards against Vens-
xuela, when the United States lie doing pre-
cisely the same thing in favor Of an American
claimant. 1t thus appears that II a nation
10 dissatisfied with an award all IL has to do il