Evening star., 1927-11-20
LATIN AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP
in, MONROE DOCTRINE URGED

and with Mexico and Nicaragua dur
ing the past two years have sown the
seeds of distrust in almost every nook
and Granny of Latin America. Al.
though the United States has never
ceased to protest that we wish the sis.
ter republics nothing but prosperity
tranquility and unimpaired independ.
ence, our protestations have notorious
ly failed to prove convincing. There's
an amazingly widespread conviction
,hal the Marines are prepared to fol.
~" tne american dollar wherever orr
capital takes root. The recent exner;.
ences in Haiti and the Dominican De-
public, having been succeeded nv crr.
rent events in Nicaragua. nlanted
deep In the minds of Latin Americans
fear that our disinterestedness In
their affairs Is more asserted than ar.
tual. az
American Diplomacy in the eternal
Tacna africa controversy has not heen
very impressive in Latin America II
1t more than four years since the good
offices of the United States were ton.
dered TO Chile and Peru, for purposes
OF settling their ancient territorial
squabble, and yet it is as far from so.
luton as ever. Uncle Sam accepted the
roie or arbiter, made his decision that
t"S SSiap SHoulu De composed by
means of a plebiscite, and then failed
10 take such steps as were necessary
TO Drlng about acceptance of the arbi
tration decreed. The Latins are peonIe
who respect authority and expect il
to be exercised by those clothed with
II. The Colossus of the North" does
not loom in some Latin-American eves
as quite so formidable and awe.insnir
ing as before the Tacna-Ar affair
came along.
Six years ago Charles Evans
Hughes, acting as chairman ~
the Washington Armament Confer.
ence. flung his historic bombshell into
tnat midst by proposing the scrapping
OF the most powerful battleships afioat.
it Is well within the range of posi-.
Dihties that Mr.. Hughes, speaking for
the American delegation at Havana.
IN January, may spring another pro.
nouncement of equal magnitude. For
many years there has been agitation
not confined to Latin America, in
favor of converting the Monroe Doc.
tr1ne from "unilateral" policy into a
bl-lateraF' principle. i. e., into a doc.
trine which would not be exclusively
an affair of the United States. but a
program in which pan.America would
be no less interested
There are authorities who declare
that the United States readiness to
take Latin America, as It were. into
Monroe Doctrine partnership would
bring about the closest friendship ne.
tween the two continents that has ever
existed. Monroeism is not as popular
everywhere in Latin America as might
be expected. Its big brother" aspect
is often resented. Some of the sister
republics have grown powerful and
strong during the past century and
are not 100 per cent enthusiastic over
the idea Of enjoying independence un.
der the protecting wing of the United
States.
There is latent movement to trans.
fer the headquarters of the Pan.
American Union from Washington.
where 1t has always been. to some
Latin American capital. The Monroe
Doctrine change herein mentioned. IL
proposed by the United States at
Havana, would undoubtedly nip in the
bud any real effort to alter the home
port of the Union.
tCopyriKht. 1927