T CHAPTER III FOREIGNERS IN SPANISH AMERICA WO facts stand out prominently before the student of SpanishAmerican affairs. The first is that these so-called governments are entirely in the hands of the Latin Americans. The real power is in the hands of generals, military Jefes, very few of whom are of pure Spanish blood. The ruling class, the class that actually governs, is the mixture described in the chapter on the classification of the Spanish-American population. The second fact is that the business, the railroading, mining, exporting, importing, in short, substantially the entire commerce of Spanish America, is carried on by Europeans and Americans. These foreigners-Americans, English, Germans, French, Italians, and other Europeans comprise practically the whole element of Spanish America that is devoted to industry. When we speak of the great export trade of Argentina, do we mean that the Argentines themselves carry it on? By no means. They are engaged in governing. The agricultural work is performed by Italians; but the business and all enterprises of every nature are operated by Europeans and Americans. If we took the foreign enterprises out of Argentina there would remain not one civilizing element worthy ten minutes' serious thought. The railroads of Chili and Peru were built by Europeans and Americans, and the same holds good of the railroads of Venezuela and Colombia. After nearly a century of Monroe Doctrine, we find that no part whatever of the productive industries of Latin America or of the business development of those countries is due to the Latin Americans themselves. If left to the Latin Americans, there would not to-day be one mile of railroad in all Latin America. What little there is has come in spite of them rather than because of them. Are there as many good wagon-roads in all South America as there are in one county of the State of New Jersey? It is doubtful. When we read or hear of some new industry being developed in Spanish America, we know, without being told, that some European or American is doing it. Whenever we hear of a revolution or of a murder, we know that it is the Latin Americans who are doing it. Take every tariff schedule in Spanish America; who pays it, or at least eighty per cent of it? The Europeans and Americans. Examine all the extravagant disbursements of these dictatorships; who furnishes that money, or at least eighty per cent of it? Again the foreigners. Have the people of the United States ever thought where the money comes from for running these dictatorships? A vast part of it comes from forced loans on foreign enterprises; other large sums come from import duties, extravagantly high, on goods mostly consumed by foreigners; other sums come from stamps on documents, contracts, checks, and every conceivable transaction of business, again mostly from foreigners; for it is they who do the business there. Other vast sums come from export taxes, a form of tax which is not approved by any civilized country and is against the very Constitutions of many of these countries. The Europeans and Americans in Spanish America, and these only, are the wealth producers. They alone create what little industry there is; and it is from them, and from them only, directly or indirectly, that nearly all the money is obtained for running these so-called governments. How long will this producing element consent to be robbed and plundered? How long will it consent to be extorted, and the money so obtained squandered, diverted from the purposes of good government, and wasted in riot and anarchy? How long will it consent to have no voice in affairs, while furnishing practically all the means? These are questions difficult to answer; but it would seem that this state of things cannot go on forever. The Italians and French in Argentina outnumber the Spaniards, and a great many of the same nationalities are scattered throughout all South America. They are an industrious, peaceable population, engaged in agriculture and business, and have little or nothing to do with politics. The people and governments of South America are less hostile towards the Italians and French than they are towards Americans, English, or Germans, although they also come in for their share of suffering at the hands both of the revolutionists and of the governments. Like the Spaniards, however, they seem to be regarded more as members of the family, and if there is trouble among them, the element of race hostility is not the real source. In the affairs of the government no part whatever is taken by the Americans, English, Germans, and Swiss. The number of Americans in South America is so small that they might almost be ignored in discussing the subject; but they are a very important factor in Mexico. Unfortunately countries like Mexico are few in number. If our government continues to send such men as Bowen as its representatives in South America, if it continues to permit the bandit governments to rob and outrage not only other civilized foreigners but also its own citizens, if it continues to defend and sustain those treacherous bandits, there will be still fewer Americans than there are now in South America. Of English there are, comparatively speaking, not many in these countries, excluding Chili and Argentina. In the "lost countries," Venezuela, Colombia, and the others comprising our Group Three, English are almost as few as Americans. They own and operate some of the principal railroads and a few mines, but always under great difficulties. The Germans are the real pioneers of commerce. They penetrate with their goods into the remotest mountains and into the great forests. They endure almost inconceivable hardships with a stolidity that is marvellous. The people of these countries, as a rule, like the Germans. They are the very best class of business men that are to be found. They are the true representatives of civilization. In every German colony, in every town where there are a few German business houses, there is a saengerfest, perhaps a riding or boating club, certainly a social club with all the paraphernalia of a modern establishment and the many other evidences of civilization which stand out like oases in a great desert. In the greater part of South America Americans do their banking through German houses, and we find them invaluable adjuncts to our commerce. An old veteran of the Civil War, who had been in forty-seven principal battles, including Gettysburg, was once asked what his feelings were as he went into battle after battle in seemingly endless procession. He answered that he got so he did not care what happened; that it seemed as if hell had broken loose on earth, that there was no God in heaven, but that a demon had taken possession of things. It seemed to him that the war would never end and that men were only born to kill each other. Hope had died out of his heart, and he went into each battle caring little whether he came out alive or not. The same feeling of pessimistic fatalism is observed among the Germans of South America. They would almost unanimously support the United States as enthusiastically as would Americans, if it would take possession of these countries and establish decency and order. They pray for security no matter under what flag, so long as it comes. I. SAN SALVADOR'S LAWS REGARDING FOREIGNERS On September 27, 1886, the government of San Salvador promulgated a law concerning foreigners, the animus of which may be sensed from the following articles: "ART. 38. Every foreigner is obliged to obey and respect the institutions, laws, and authorities of the Republic, as prescribed by Article 45 of the Constitution, and to submit to the decisions and sentences of the tribunals without resorting to other recourses than those that the same laws concede to Salvadoreans. "ART. 39. Only in the event of a denial or of a voluntary retardation in the administration of justice, and after having resorted in vain to all the ordinary means established by the laws of the Republic, may foreigners appeal to the diplomatic recourse. "ART. 40. It is understood that there is a denial of justice only when the judicial authority refuses to make a formal declaration upon the principal subject or upon any incident of the suit in which he may have cognizance, or which is submitted to his cognizance. Consequently the fact alone that a judge may have pronounced a decision or sentence, in whatever sense it may be, although it may be said that the decision is iniquitous, or given in violation of law, cannot be alleged as a denial of justice." express Secretary of State T. F. Bayard, in writing to United States Minister Hall, on November 29, 1886, regarding the above law, called attention to its provisions with disapproval. He showed that it made "the compliance of a foreigner with a municipal regulation a condition precedent to the recognition of his national character," of which the Salvadorean government assumed to be the sole judge; because other sections of the law made it obligatory upon foreigners to matriculate in the books of the municipality, and obtain a certificate from the local officers as to his nationality, a certificate which might or might not be issued according to the pleasure of his local mightiness. While Mr. Bayard fully recognized the injustice of this "law," it is not on the records that he ever did more than express a modest opinion on the subject. He did not even instruct our minister to enter a protest against this violation of international law and treaty rights. Here are his instructions: "Should you find occasion to discuss with the Salvadorean minister for foreign affairs the subjects of this instruction, you will endeavor to impress upon him the views herein stated, in the interest of that complete understanding and friendly intercourse which should subsist between the republics of this continent." II. CASTRO's Law agaiNST FOREIGNERS (Gaceta Official, No. 8821, of April 17, 1903.) THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA DECREES: 2. Foreigners who are found in the territory of the United States of Venezuela will be considered as domiciled or as transients. 3. Domiciled foreigners are: (1) Those who may have acquired domicile in conformity with the dispositions of the Civil Code. (2) Those who may have voluntarily resided in the territory and with- (3) Those who own real estate in the territory of the Republic, and 4. Transient foreigners are all those who are encountered in the Republic, and who are not comprehended in the clauses of the preceding article. 5. Domiciled foreigners will be subjected to the same obligations as the Venezuelans, not only in their persons, but also in their properties; but they will not be subject to military service, nor to the payment of forced and extraordinary contributions in case of revolutions or internal armed contests. 6. Foreigners, domiciled or transient, must not mix in the political affairs of the Republic, nor in anything concerning them. To this effect, they cannot (1) Form part of political societies. (2) Edit political newspapers, nor write regarding the politics of the country, internally, nor its foreign policy, in any newspaper. (3) Fill any public office or destiny. (4) Take arms in the domestic contests of the Republic. (5) Pronounce discourses which in any manner relate to the politics of the country. 7. Domiciled foreigners who violate any of the prescriptions established in Article 6, will lose their condition of foreigner, and will remain, ipso facto, subjected to the responsibilities, charges, and obligations that may be occasioned the national citizens by the political exigencies. 8. If, in contravention of the express prohibition of this law, any foreigner shall exercise a public employment without having been qualified in conformity with clause 22 of Article 54 of the Constitution, his acts are null, and the responsibility for them rests solely on such person, and the functionary who nominated him. 9. Transient foreigners who violate the prescriptions established in Article 6 will be immediately expelled from the territory of the Republic. 10. The Presidents of the States, the Governor of the Federal District, and the Governors of the Federal Territories, upon having knowledge that some or any of the domiciled foreigners residing in their respective jurisdictions are mixing in the political affairs of the Republic, will advance before the ordinary tribunals the corresponding complaint, passing the documents which with it is formed to the Federal Executive, for the purpose of the declarative decree which he will dictate in conformity with the dispositions of Article 8. 11. Foreigners, neither domiciled nor transient, have the right to resort to the diplomatic road, except when, having exhausted their legal resources before the competent authorities, it appears clearly that there has been a denial of justice, or notorious injustice, or evident violation of the principles of international right. 12. Domiciled foreigners, those who are domiciled in the future, and transients who have not a diplomatic character, are obliged to declare before the first civil authority where they are, that they submit themselves in every respect to the dispositions of the present law, and to that contained in the decree of the 14th of February, 1873, which governs the indemnization of foreigners. Those who omit to make this declaration will be expelled from the country within the period of time designated by the National Executive. 13. The civil authorities before whom these declarations must be made will use unstamped paper, and will not collect fees. The original copies will be sent to the Minister of the Interior. 14. The National Executive cannot grant any exequatur for the consular, or vice-consular service, to any person who is engaged in commerce. |