Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1905 — THE INCORRIGIBLE CASTRO [ARTICLE]

THE INCORRIGIBLE CASTRO

May Yet Succeed In Getting Uncle Bans Into Trouble. The French cable complications ta Venezuela have reached a crisisapd,MJft» ister Bowen has informed the State Department that the French minister at Caracas, by instructions of his government, has notified the Venezuelan government that there must be no further proceedings on its part toward the cancellation of the company’s franchise or interference with its property. Further, Mr. Bowen reports that two French warships have been ordered post haste to Venezuela to act in accordance with the instructions of the French minister. Apparently, in the opinion of the Chicago Daily News, this country will be most fortunate if the incorrigible Castro does not succeed soon in creating an international situation even more embarrassing than that which culminated in the Anglo-German blockade of Venezuelan ports. The latest developments at Caracas suggest that if he is not actually seeking complications with foreign powers he is not restrained by any fear of them. Through his control of the Venezuelan courts, which are absolutely subservient to his will, he seems to have succeeded in putting the American asphalt company out of business and confiscating its property. Following the same high-handed policy he is now proceeding against property interests belonging to citizens of European nations. To appreciate the broad possibilities of the situation which may result from those repeated attacks on foreign property, it should be remembered that ths granting of concessions to foreign firms is one of the most characteristic features of Venezuelan industry. Like the asphalt lakes, many of the mines are worked by these concessionnaires. An American company operates the country’s telephone service. A German company is exploiting its sulphur deposits. The French Cable company has a contract giving it terminal facilities and the use of overland telegraph lines, the contract providing that all disputes shall be settled “by the courts of the republic and shall in no case give rise to international claims.” Tlie French company’s contract and the concession of an Italian coal mining company have now been annulled by the order of Castro, who threatens to seize the properties of these concerns. That this is no new proceeding may be gathered from the fact that last February he annulled nearly 300 concessions “for lack of fulfillment of, the legal provisions?” The Daily News says that so long as a large part of Venezuela’s industrial enterprise is of this character the possibilities for international complications will remain almost unlimited. The facts tend to emphasize tlie argument that if the United States is to maintain the Monroe doctrine it must adopt some fixed, practical policy upon which to proceed when foreign property interests are injured by the acts of any irresponsible government on this hemisphere.