Evening star., 1925-11-26
I'LL WILL At AFRICA
|SSHARE OF i. S.
Losing Side, Despite Pledges,
Expected to Declare That
Award Is Unfair.
By Consolidated Press.


The United States Government is
thoroughly tired Of it's job as mediator
in the Tacna-Arica dispute between
Chile and~Peru, and it will be many
years before another intervention,
diplomatic or otherwise, will be coaxed
out Of the Washington authorities.
Every move made by Gen. Pershing
is viewed either with distrust or
suspicion. First one side objects that
he Is prejudiced and then the other
shows it's displeasure. Anti-American
demonstrations in Peru came with
the first announcement Of the terms
Of the American plan. Now news
papers in Chile. owned by high gov
ernment officials, are attacking Gen.
Pershing as biased And, the truth
is the American war veteran, who has
had many responsibilities before in
his life, which were greater in scope,
is about ready to take ship Tor
homes
For 80 years the controversy has
been going on. Chile is in possession
of the disputed provinces, which
originally belonged to Peru. In
order to determine what shall be done
with the territory a referendum was
proposed by the United States. The
Peruvians claim there can be no free
election If Chilean officials remain on
the spot. They charge coercion. Gen.
Pershing has tried to effect the with
drawal of all Chilean military and
civilian officers. Now Chile claims
that's an infringement of sovereignty.
What each side wants Is an asSur
ance Of victory. Anything that looks
as if it might alter that result is
frowned upon by Chile or Peru, as
the case may be. When Gen. Perish
ing does secure the consent OF Chile
TO withdraw her officials the trouble
will begin over again, for then the
problem arises as to what amount OF
electioneering can be done. In the
United States every form of per-
suasion is regarded as legitimate
short Of physical coercion. Any form
of argument either by personal con-
versation, by letter or advertising is
accepted as legal except an offer to
buy votes.
Now even these simple weapons
will cause concern in South America.
because Chile has dominated the prov
inceS and has enough Chilean busi-
ness folks and representatives in the
region to carry on an effective cam
paign. Should the result be Chilean
victory, Peru may feel that America
should have prevented the election
eering and kept the populace free
from invasion by Chilean orators or
election workers.
Ill Feeling Inevitable.
Whichever way it turns, there's
trouble and ill-feeling ahead. Neither
side considers the result except in
terms of possession, and every effort
to divide the land equitably hitherto
has failed.
The territory has been called the
Alsace-Lorraine of the South Ameri.
can continent because it has been a
thorn in the side of peaceful relations
between Peru and Chile for more than
a generation. Other countries have
taken sides in the quarrel and all of
South America is watching every act
Of Gen. Pershing. President Coolidge
has assumed personal responsibility
for the carrying out Of the terms of
his recent decision and is ordering a
small staff Of American Army officers
TO assist Gen. Pershing in conducting
the election.
But the difficulties of deciding dis
pute of this character were acknowl.
edged long ago, and the United States
Government entered with a full ap-
probation Of what might develop. Still
1t was not thought the two countries
would go to the extremes they have in
demanding advantages in the referen.
dunn. The theory on which Washing
ton intervention was based was that
a war should be prevented.
The fairness of the United States
was admitted by both parties when in
tervention was asked for by both Peru
and Chile. Yet the mediator will pay
a heavy penalty in ill-feeling, just the
same, and many diplomats here think
it would have been far better if the
United States had passed the dispute
10 hn II Il,
tuted for the very purpose of deciding
treaty interpretations and controyer-
sizes involving boundary questions.
tCopyright. 1920