The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-09-30
AN IMPOSSIBLE DISTINCTION.

Ll0llNOIlONs
On Friday last The Tribune printed
an editorial discussing the claims of
the Colombia government against the
United States and the possibility of
settlement of them, provided Colon
hia would make a square statement
of what its claims amounted to.
We, of course, did not undertake to
make any distinction between the
Colombian government and the
Colombian people. But we have a
letter from Senior Tomas Ceron
Camargo which undertakes. to make
that distinction, and we willingly print
the same. That letter is as follows:
Dillon, Mont, Sept 27, 1913
Sir:-I have been surprised by your
editorial His Queer Square Dear' pub
lished in The Tribune Friday morning.
on b y9 the n the og th nS
ernment imposed upon the people OF CO.
lombia by the Government OF the United
States through the intervention Of 1885.
during our Civil war to maintain the lib-
eral Constitution of 1868. violated by the
Catholic party, which is today governing
Colombia.
lne people OF COlONlDla ana lne Gov
ernment of Colombia have nothing In
common. the government class, as you
state, are nothing but robbers. but the
people Of Colombia; that Is to say, the
of my country The people have been
enslaved with the cooperation of the
politicians of the United States, and ire
deplorably misrepresented by the Govern
The Catholic party In power wants
money to perpetuate the misery and des-
pair of our people, and expects TO get 1t
from the people of the United States, be-
cause Its members are not satisfied with
the money they received when they sold
the country.
The great majority of the nation, en-
slaved through a conspiracy of the poll
ticians Of both our countries, don't want
money from the people OF the United
States In settlement Of the Panama mat
US by both the politicians of Colombia
and those OF the United States; TO IN
crease 1t by more money paid to the
Catholics OF Colombia.
representing shamefully the people Of Co
iombia and our nation. He has no bust
ness in this affair. II he Is anything, he
ought to be a public. servant OF the peo-
pie OF Colombia, confined within his con-
sular duties.
1 do not desire to discuss your other
statements: but. as matter OF justice. !
most politely request from you to cor
rect the charges against Colombia, where
YOU ought to have said in the tone of
your editorial "the disgraceful Govern
ment of Colombia"
Very truly yours.
TOMAS CERON CAMARGO.
OF course in republic, which the
Confederation of Colombia processes to
be, the government Of that republic is
supposed to be chosen by the people,
and to reflect their will. 1t is i'm
practicable to depart from this pre-
sumption in this case, or in any case
Of republic. It might be fairly said,
for instance, that the people of the
United States are not in accord with
the position of President Wilson on
the tariff question, since the Taft vote
and the Roosevelt vote combined were
very much greater than the vote for
Mr.. Wilson, and a fair presumption is
that both the Taft vote and the Roose'
Welt vote was the protection vote OF
the country. The anti-protection vote
was, of course, cast for Mr.. Wilson,
and he won through plurality as against
the divided majority sentiment of the
country that favors protection. And
yet on every question whatever, In"
cluding the tariff, the American senti-
ment must be presumed by the people
of every foreign country to be in ac~
cord with that of President Wilson and
Of Congress, and however it may be
viewed, there is no practicable way to
consider this proposition in any other
light.
And so, since there is no way for the
protectionist sentiment in this coun-
try to make itself felt as against the
anti protectionist sentiment Of the
present administration, and since there
is no way for the people outside of
Colombia to note or consider any an
tagonistic sentiment among the people
of Colombia as against the sentiment
of their government, we are not able
to find that such distinction as is
made by Senior Camargo is at all prac-
ticable, in the purview Of people who
are not Colombians