The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-10-13

COQIQ De secured IOT one or TWO uSC
ades, prosperity would ensue- 1t has
been exceedingly difficult, however, te
preserve peace, because unScrupulous
and ambitious adventurers leading 6
turbanceS in another. Honduras anC
Nicaragua are now the two countries
most exposed to these internal dis
sensions.
Seven Revolutions In Fifteen Years.
I'm Honduras there have been seven
revolutions in Is years. Its territory
reaches from ocean to ocean, and Its
neutrality is rarely preserved when us
neighbOrS are at war These cOndl-
tions necessitate the keeping up, al
great expense. of it's army. General
arbitration treaties can have little IN
f1uence over countries subject to these
conditions. The shifting of govern
ment from one group to another would
weaken greatly the practical binding
force of such treaties, and the unset
tied condition of the population makes
it necessary that more efecIlVe
method to secure tranquility and quiet
must be found. and thereby the forces
among these people making for clV1-
lization and progress must be gwen
full opportunity to achieve their
s.C1r experience with Santo Domingo.
once a volcano of revolution constantly
in eruption, suggests a possible and
practicable method of meeting the
same difficulties that are presented TO
these Central American republics. a
study of the revolutions shows that
their first object is the seizure of Gus
tom houses through which import taxes
are collected. The custom houses are
ths only sources of revenue at such
times. and provide the sinews of war
for the professional revolutionist. With
these as basis of operation he moves
into the country and ultimately and
for the time being secures control of
the whole republic. By very fortu.
nate arrangement, under an order OF
President Roosevelt, with the consent
of Santo Domingo. and under an ar
rangement with the bondholders OF
that then failing and unfortunate coun-
try. Americans were placed in control
of the custom houses and took charge
of the collection of the revenues.
Uncle Sam Is Receiver.
1.-THE ARRANGEMENT was like a receiver
ship. providing for the deposit of a, GER
tain proportion of the funds collected
in New York city bank, to be applied
to the payment of the national debt,
after it had been scaled down to a rea-
sonable figure, with as much as pos
sible of the fraud, waste, and injustice
squeezed out. The United States un-
dertook to defend the custom houses
against seizure by rebellious Santo Do
minicans. and the fact that this gov
ernment acted as guardian-not of the
people, not of the country, but only OF
the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES quite sufficient
to make this receivership arrangement
a complete success.
subsequently a treaty with Santo
Domingo embodying these features was
ratified by the senate, and has now
been nearly five years in successful
operation. The revenues have been di-
vided, some 40 or 45 per cent applied
toward the extinction of the national
debt of Santo Domingo, and the re-
mainder of So per cent constituted
revenue for the country greater than
it ever had before in its history.
1.-THE Santo Dominicans have been
we'll served in the collections of their
customs by experienced and honest
Americans recommended by this gov
ernment; revolutions have been pre-
vented because no professional revolu-
ZIONIST believed it possible to GUST from
the custom houses men who were there
by direction and under the protection
of the United States Peace has pre-
vailed; capital has entered after peace;
has followed, and prosperity
is the result. We had spent hundreds
Of thousands of dollars each year in
sending fleets of gunbOats to protect
American and foreign property in
Santo Domingo and Haiti against in
Jury from revolutions. Now that source
IF expense has been reduced to mini
mum. Our responsibility, so far as
armed interference is concerned, has
practically disappeared.
Asks United States to Take Charge.
THE lesson of Santo Domingo has
suggested a similar solution of the diff
iculties of Honduras, Nicaragua, and |
some of the other countries in Central |
America. There have been, as / say, |
seven revolutions in 10 years in Hon /
luras. Her debt, the principal of which |
was originally 1926 900, 900 in bonds has |
increased by accrued interest to $124-
100000, and her military expenditures /
Zach year are $500 COO The government |
v-ith wi ioI7 70
to build roads, to do any /
If the things necessary to progress
and civilization Her people are poor /
Ind on the verge of starvation in a |
and that ought to be blossoming with /
prosperity, and she has turned to us as
l phllanthropic guardian of the small |
countries of our continent to assist in
he adjustment of her foreign debt, to /
improve the collection of her taxes-in a
word, to follow the course taken in
Santo Domingo. The treaty we have
concluded with Honduras provides thai
We will help her to secure a financial /
Lgent in our country who shall settle
he existing debt on a just basis. for
'veryone admits the fraudulent char
Lcter of part of the debt and its in
equity, because so little of it really
nured to the benefit of the country.
BY the treaty the government of
honduras undertakes to make a con-
ract providing for the refunding of
is present internal and external debt
or the adjustment and settlement of
laims liquidated and un1iquidated, and
or the placing of its finances upon Il
ound and stable basis Both govern
nents agree to take due note of all
he provisions of the contract when
made, and to confer in case Of diff
ulties, with a view to the faithful ex-
cution of the contract, in order that
he benefits to Honduras and the Sc
urity of the loan may be secured.
Thus War Is Stopped.
BY Article II it is agreed that the
ban shall be secured upon the customs
f Honduras. and the government OF
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