Evening star., 1925-11-19

The recent call by Gen. PershinG
for additional American oftlcerS 10 he
sent to South America to assist IN
the settlement of the TaCna-A -AriCa dis
pute between Chile and Peru lends
color to the fear that all is not going
well under the decision of President
Coolidge that the boundary shall he
settled by a plebiscite OF the lnhaol-
tants of the two countries. This de-
cision is authorized by the agreement
of both countries making him arbi-
traitor.
Both the State Department and the
Pan-American Union have recognized
the necessity of official silence pending
the continuance of the delicate sltu-
alton. so loaded with dynamite as
one official expresses 1t. The onlted
States is clearly the neutral or limo
cent bystander," and concerned only
to keep the peace and help the con
tending parties to arrive at just and
permanent settlement.
x x
The origin of the trouble dates back
more than half a century, when Chile
discovered that in a desert of BOLIVIA
and Peru there were rich deposits of
guano. The President of Chile there
upon sent a commission or eXplora-
tion to locate the guano, and the legis-
Iature passed a law decreeing that
all guano discovered should become
national (Chileam possessions-ignor-
ing the fact that the region where
the guano was located was OUTSIDE
Of Chilean territory.
This brought on war between Chile
and Bolivia, which involved Peru as
an ally of Bolivia. Chile won a vic
tory over the allies, and at the con-
ference at Ancon GSS2) a treaty of
peace was agreed to, which put Tacna
and africa, provinces of Bolivia and
Peru, under the jurisdiction of Chile
for a period of 10 years, at the end OF
which decade a plebiscite was to de-
eide permanent jurisdiction.
That plebiscite was due. therefore.
in 1892 Peru is charged with having
delayed it, on the ground that Chlle
had manipulated the population OF
the disputed territory, exiling most
of the Peruvians, so that 1t would be
impossible to hold q fair plebiscite
until the eXiles were recalled. since
1892 the dispute has continued, with
frequent crises threatening a renewal
of hostilities. Three years ago an
agreement was reached that the ques-
ton should be submitted to the PreSl-
dent of the United States for arbi-
tration as to whether a pleblSclte
could yet be held, and under what
conditions.
President Coolidge ruled in favor of
a plebiscite to be conducted under
commission consisting of one repre-
sentative from Chile, one from Peru
and one from the United States
Gen. Pershing-the latter to be presl-
dent of the commission.
X X x x
The treaty of Ancon provided that
Chile was to retain administrative
Jurisdiction until the plebiscite, which
was to be held in 1892. On that pro-
vision Chile claims the right to in
dependent jurisdiction until the
plebiscite determines the permanent
disposition of the territory and defies
American authority to inquire into
their administrative acts.
Peru, however, points to the Ian
guage of the Complementary act.
under which it was agreed that the
President of the United States should
determine how the plebiscite should
be taken. The Complementary ACT
reads:
"In case it is declared that the
plebiscite shall be proceeded with
the arbitrator shall be authorized tc
determine it's conditions"
The Peruvians argue that there
were no limitations in that provision
but that the arbitrator should use his
full discretion in determining the
conditions They demand that the
conditions should insure fun and fret