The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-21

q day. but even that Is no longer ob- tainable. Since last May there has been no work for anybody. The busi- | ness houses are dlscharging clerks and some of them are putting up their 1 shutters. Stagantion in the business : houses is followed by starvation in the homes. The people of Curacao are actually starving. many poor negroes
 dying every week for no other reason
 than that they can't get anything to
 eat and they can't get away. The
 Government Is giving what relief it
 can. but 1t Is not possible to reach ev-
 cry case.
 If 1t Is possible to add to the in-
 dignation of a starving man who sees
 In one person the cause of all his woes,
 the people of Curacao hate Castro
 even worse for the manner in which
 the blow was delivered than for the
 blow itself. Whatever explanation the the Dutch will not forget the exact
 details of the Issue of the order pro- hiblting trans-shipment in Curacao. The bubonic plague broke out In LaGuayra. Castro denied Its existence and imprisoned the physician who dis covered it. But the ,plaugue could not be stamped out by an executive de- cree, even when issued by so great a man as Castro. Curacao naturally did not wish. to be infected with the dread- ed pest and took measures to protect | itself. Early in May a schooner n.y., l ing the Venezuelan flag. although own. ed in Curacao. arrived at Wiliemstad. | It had clean bill of health from LaGuayra and claimed to have been six days at sea. although LaGuayra Is | but l20 miles from wiilemstad. The Dutch authorities ordered the schoon- CT into quarantine and forced 1t to l clean up:
 President Castro was still attempt | ing to stamp out. the plague by exec | utive decree, and when he heard that | Curacao had quarantined against La- | Guayra; he was furious. Hating Cu- | racao as the asylum for revolutionists | and undoubtedly deceived as to some | features of the quarantine by the re- 1 port of Consul Lopez. he decided upon l reprisal. Thus 1t was that on May i4 | the order was issued prohibiting trans | shipment of Venezuelan imports or ex- ports in West Indian ports and re- | quirIng all trans-shipment to be made | In Puerto Cabello
 I Curacao was not the only place af. | fected by that order. The British is. | land of Trinidad lies almost within | sight of the Venesueian coast. It's l port, Port of Spain. is practically a
 free port and 1t has enjoyed the same | privileges as Willemstad, and 1t has | also been . harbor for smugglers and | an asylum for Venezuelan revolution l ists. But Trinidad has other resources, | its great asphalt mines and its own trade, so that the loss of the trans- | shipment privilege was not so nearly | fatal.
 | As yet the British Government has i not formally protested against the | order in behalf of Trinidad. The Brit
 ish Minister, Sir Vincent Corbett. has l made the matter the subject of sev- eral conversations with the Venezuelan | Minister of Foreign Affairs, pr. Jose Paul, but no note transmitted. Sir Vincent Corbett has just returned from
 a visit to Trinidad and there is great curiosity as to his attitude In the mat. | ter.
 The British interest in the trans | shipping issue is exactly the same as | that of The Netherlands, with the ex. l ception that the injury to British sub. | jects Is not so great as that to the 1 Dutch. The failure of England to l take a definite attitude in the matter l gives rise to rumors that the British I have decided to back Castro as against l the Dutch. This view is no tenable, | however, in view of the actual condi. tion of affairs between Venezuela and Great Britain. \
 In the meantime. the people of Gu. racao are hoarding a crust of bread anu IOok ouI ACAoSS ShO heA DSA " ~..S three Dutch men-of-war there an- | chored Is 1t any wonder that the Dutch bIuejackets are tosated in the
 last glass of beer? Is 1t any wonder | that the band plays the Dutch national air and the people cheer for the good l Queen Wilhelmina? Is it any wonder | that the voice of Curacao Is for war? Copyright, 1908 by Frederic J. Has. kin.)
 
 | TOuorrOw-TrOubIes of Venezuela. @VEN AaAtfv,des of VeuexueIn.