The sun., 1908-04-13
4 PLEA ron VENEZUELA.
UnsoFupulouS Promoters Blamod for On,
Strained Relations With Her,

To THE EDIToR OF TIRE SUN-Sir: An
surprised At the lack Of knowledge In regard
10 Venezuela prevalent among our peonIs
The country is looked upon a. being In a
chronic state Of revolution. the people unrell.
able and the Government a. Changeabe AZ
chameleon. Visit Venezuela. talk with her
people, investigate their domestic Affairs
confer with American merchants who havs
been doing business there for years, and vstv
different conclusion will he arrived a.;
Venezuela has unfortunately granted IA
INSCRIPTIONS Americans without capital o1p.
cesslons With the view Of developing sbd
improving her country Some Of them ver.
men who cared little about developing The
resources OF the 0rinoco, but used that rich
country for the purpose OF exploiting IL.
pockets Of unsuspectlng Americans to tho
amount OF millions Of dollars. one COMPANY
alone having Issued $50 900 900 OF stock on an
unconhrmed concession OF which II nev,r
owned an acre.
The sole aim Of these conoesslouaires va,
TO get money and let the devil take the hind.
most Their greed was boundless and their
ambition TO rule or ruin was beyond compre
hension. They agreed 10 do things and did
not fulfil their promises. When called upon
by\the Government TO carry out the terms Of
Their agreement they have tried TO oveftbroT
the party In power, For instance one con.
eesslonalre and ASSOCIATES went so far as 10
back up the political Tevolutioulsts with
$3.50 900. These reyoutlonists made a demon
stratlon and were defeated at a cost 10 the
Government Of 1900 lives and millions Of
dollars. This cQnoesslonaire and his asso.
clates Acknowledged In our own courts that
they had contributed this money for the pur-
pose OF overthroWlnR the Government That
had 30 kindly apd graeiously granted them
princely concessions. They undertook TO bite
the hapd that fed them. Had the same thing
been done In the United States they would
have been arrested and shot and their prom
erty cOnfscated But the Venezuelan Gov
eminent in lts leniency, after trial IN their
courts, simply fined them to the extent OF
only a portion OF the money II had cost The
Government to suppress the rebellion These
are the parties who are now trying 10 induce
our Government to disCredit Venezuela and
are olamorink Ia the newspapers TO create a
feeling Of bitterness between the two coun-
tries and thus destroy the confidence and cor.
dial feeling that should exist.
This is injurious 20 the business OF PROM
inent and reputable merchants here who are
doing business with Venezuela and death 70
all other enterprises that should grow out OF
cordial relations, The whole action Of thI,
greedy clique is disCredlt!ng TO our Govern
citizen protest against II in the most emphatic
terms The English, Germans and other
peoples are doing business In Venezuela regu-
hrly and have no such trouble, and they are
fast securing the trade and good will Of that
country.
A mixed commission appointed at the 70.
quest Of the United States and the Hague
court has already settled most Of the diner.
ences. and the remainder have been settled
by the Venezuelan courts, the only tribunals
that have Jurisdiction over people who are
doing business In that country,
The Government OF Venezuela has already
paid most Of the awards Of the mixed COM
misai0u and IL faet DAvllg the balance M
other parties but these ConcessOnaires who
have tried TO overthrow the Government are
finding fault with the commissions decision
and all honorable men and Governments have
considered this decision as final. Can We
ask Venezuela 10 open cases already
settled by so high tribunal or cases decided
by their own courts where evidence was
taken In our courts and the defendants ad-
mitted their treasOnqbe actions!
NJ. Il. JEFFERDs, c. E.
NRW YORK. Aprl A.