Evening star., 1934-01-07
LATIN AMERICAN POLICY
OF WILSON is REVERSED
President Roosevelt's Dinner Speech Was
Negation and Not Continuation,
as Many Believe.

United statesLbe termed the continu-
alton of the Wllsonian policies?
To do so IS to do the President in
justice. And TO seriously endanger TIC
good will which his latest announce
ment should arouse throughout Latin
America. The farther the administra-
ton keeps itself from the Wilsonian
policies, as far as Latin America Is
concerned, and the more the Latin
Americans are made to realize this re-
version, the greater will be the success
OF any effective pan-American under
standing which the present leaders Of
the United States may have in mind.
Americans Too Soon Forget.
There is a popular saying that
Americans too soon forget. Those who
listened the other night to the Presi-
dents utterances and those who in
terpreted them in the editorial columns
OF the press have certainly forgotten a
great deal when they brand them a
Continuation of the wilson policies
The President himself did not make
that mistake. He clearly stated that
the time had come "to supplement and
70 implement" the Wilson declaration
about non-terrttorial aggression by the
further declaration that "the definite
policy Of the United States from now
on Is one opposed to armed interyen-
ton" But this latest declaration does
more than supplement the previous one.
10 throws overheard all the conceptions
OF "constitutionalism," non-recognition
OF revolutionary regimes, guardianship
OF european interests In the Caribbean
unoer distortion of the Monroe Doc
trlne, unlimited protection of citizen.
abroad and others which have in the
past cloaked the Intervention of the
united States in Latin America And
these conceptions were part of the viii
sonian policy; indeed, a fundamental
part Of 1t.
The Presidents pledge of nou-inter-
Ventlon, then, besides being a supple-
ment to the Wilsonian promise OF non
territorial aggrandizement is also the
negatlon OF the Wilsonian paternalism.
Wiiie iin was the outstanding feature Of
wilson's Latin American policy and by
lar overshadowed the good points in
Volved in the former.
President Spared No Words.
The President did not spare words in
referring TO the mistaken policies of
the past when he stated: "As a citizen
OF some other republic I might have
FOUND 1t difficult to believe fully in the
altrutsm of the richest American re-
public. In particular, as a citizen of
some other republic, I might have found
II hard to approve Of the occupation
OF the territory Of other republics. even
as temporary measure" Is not this
the frankest disavowal of the Wilsonian
poncles, which resulted in the occupa-
ton Of territory Of Haiti, the Dominican
Republic, Nicaragua and Mexico bv
armed forces Of the United States?
another current and widespread mis-
Interpretation concerning the Presi-
dents pronouncement of December %
Is that which maintains that it has
scrapped the Monroe Doctrine. A prom
lnent Mexican statesman. probably mis-
leo by press reports, is quoted as saying
that the President has Smashed to bits"
the famous doctrine Of James Monroe.
AS matter OF fact, what the President
mas zone Is to attempt to revive the
lost prestige of the Monroe Doctrine BY
dismiSsing the policy Of intervention of
the United States in Latin America,
which his predecessors had attempted to
justify under the doctrine.
IL Is true that the Monroe Doctrine
mas In the past been misused and dis
| torted beyond recognition until it be-
came, truly. an instrument of United
State hegemony in the Western Hemi-
sphere, and 1t Is true that the Presi.
dents pledge of non-intervention re-
moves the fear that it may be used
similarly in the future. But that has
nothing to do with the original meaning
and scope Of the Monroe Doctrine. If
ANYTHING at all, and that only by logical
inference, the President has disayoyed
the modern corollaries. and, we might
say. the popular conception-or n1iscon-
ception-of the Monroe Doctrine But
the original Monroe Doctrine. even
though outdated and ineffective. is still
maintained by Washington. lust as
| unilateral as ever, more obsolete now
than ever before
And it is safe TO assume that the re-
cent efforts OF the Washington states
men to revert TO the original Monroe
Doctrine, their endeavors to separate it
/ from the memory of armed interven-
tions. dollar diplomacy ard big-stick
policies will fall short of their goal.
The doctrine has been so utterly mis-
interpreted and misused in the past, it
has become so intimately linked with
the wrongs and now acknowledged
| abuses of yesterday and both distortions
and mistakes have been so imbued in
the Latin-American public mind, that
individual pronounciamientos" or iso-
lated official declarations can hardly be
expected to correct the evil.
tCopyright. 1934)