Mr. Bowen to Sir Michael H. Herbert.

WASHINGTON, January 27, 1903. DEAR SIR MICHAEL, Please do not fail to state in your cablegram that I cannot consent to give preferential treatment to the allied powers, because, if the matter were referred to the Hague, all the creditor nations would be put on the same footing. The allied powers, therefore, should not try to press the point, as it would be unfair to do so.

Believe me, etc.,

HERBERT W. BOWEN.

Mr. Bowen to Baron von Sternburg.

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 10, 1903.

DEAR BARON VON STERNBURG, I agreed to pay each of the allied powers £5500 in cash, with the understanding that no other cash demand would be made. I therefore refuse absolutely to pay Germany's new demand for a cash payment of 1,700,000 bolivars and Italy's new demand for a cash payment of 2,800,000 bolivars. Our agreement was that the 1,700,000 and the 2,800,000 bolivars were to be paid out of the 30 per cent of the customs receipts at the same time and in the same manner as were to be paid the claims of all the other creditor nations. The special agreement I concluded with Germany was that I should pay cash or give a sufficient guaranty. I gave the latter, and its sufficiency has never been disputed.

Notwithstanding Mr. Bowen's allegation that if the matter were referred to the Hague "all the creditor nations would be put on the same footing," quite the opposite occurred; and he did yield to the demands of Germany, although he had said so positively that he would not.

That Bowen did really valuable service for Venezuela there is no doubt, yet, after all he had done on her behalf (and his deeds comprised not only bluster, but hard work), when he returned to Caracas he was received with disdain. Our "sister Republic," accustomed to find some ulterior motive lurking behind such generosity, was suspicious. Soon appeared in El Monitor, of Caracas, an article reflecting seriously on the honor of Mr. Bowen and saying that he had been paid large sums for his services. At the same time it was stated among the Venezuelans generally that Bowen (of course through his friends) was to receive from General Castro "concessions" which would be worth "millions."

Mr. Bowen took official cognizance of these attacks upon his honor by writing General Castro as follows:

CARACAS, March 4, 1904. ESTEEMED FRIEND,-In El Monitor of this morning they published that Venezuela has paid to me B. 169,382.70, and that there had been paid to the arbitral commissioners and in the Hague B. 416,001.95.

I pray Your Excellency that you will please defend my honor, as I have defended the honor of Your Excellency and of Venezuela.

I will never be satisfied unless they punish the Director of said paper at once, and unless there is published in said daily, and in the Gazeta Oficial the truth with reference to Venezuela having paid me $5000, and that they have paid for the expenses of her three representatives at the Hague $4500.

I have raised my most energetic protests to the Minister of Foreign Affairs this afternoon, and I protest now against such calumnies to Your Excellency. Your affectionate friend,

HERBERT W. BOWEN.

To the Most Excellent General CIPRIANO CASTRO, President, etc.

To this the secretary of the "Esteemed Friend" coolly responded that the press was free in Venezuela, just as in the United States, and that therefore the government would take no action in the premises.

Mr. Bowen the next day wrote in reply, submitting that, as during the last two years various periodicals had been suppressed by the Venezuelan government, he had supposed that such a method was the most convenient one for dealing with the calumny, to the end that the editor might be compelled to retract it and be punished for it. But, he continued, as President Castro refused to intervene in the affair and gave him to understand that he must defend himself," tomorrow I will convoke a reunion of the Diplomatic Corps, and after it has been effectuated, I will inform you of the steps which I have decided to take." It is said that Castro stood up bravely under this fearsome threat.

Mr. Bowen accordingly attempted to assemble the Diplomatic Corps, the representatives of the same governments that he and Wayne MacVeagh (chief counsel of the United States in the Venezuelan arbitration before the Hague Tribunal) had been but a short time before so eager to vanquish.

These gentlemen had held their tempers and kept civil tongues in their heads while the subjects of their governments were being assassinated and robbed, their flags insulted, and the ships of their compatriots looted and destroyed. They had schooled themselves to self-reserve in the face of dangers and outrages, and Mr. Bowen's ebullition of wounded feelings must have fallen upon stony ground. At all events, none of them attended the indignation meeting.

After this little fiasco Bowen's position grew even more uncomfortable. The other legations, remembering his professional status during the blockade, treated him with scant sympathy, and concerned themselves very little over the systematic insults to which Castro and his clique subjected him. His experience should be a warning to others.

When a man leaves a position as representative of the greatest and best government on this earth for a position in the service of the rottenest, let him alone bear the consequences of his act.

CHAPTER XIX

WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION OF FOREIGN
INTERESTS IN VENEZUELA

HERE have been several international arbitrations with Vene

Tzuela, because of the destruction of foreign property, and the

outrages committed on foreign citizens by that government. In each one of these arbitrations those international mixed commissions which were under American influence have resolved every technicality in favor of Venezuela; hence that government has never been compelled to pay for the hundredth part of the property that it has actually confiscated or destroyed.

The decisions of the mixed commissions have merely encouraged each successive Dictator of Venezuela to be more grasping than his predecessors. The seizure of a foreigner's property means net profit and little or no risk. The august Monroe Doctrine raises a mighty barrier against foreign invasion, and unless the outrages become so extensive or so rank as to arrest the attention of the world, nothing is done toward redress. No single European nation wishes to risk war with the United States, and so the cries of its citizens go unheard, save when the volume of many-tongued laments swells to arouse all Europe. But foreign interests have now been so nearly obliterated that no really effective outcry can be anticipated. Nor is there any probability that foreign interests will soon increase, either in Venezuela, or in Colombia, Ecuador, Central America (except Costa Rica), San Domingo, or Haiti, for an attempt to establish a business in any one of the countries on this list is tantamount to an attempt to commit financial suicide.

It is evident that the foreign company would not (unless its case were desperate) present an international claim, and thus bring down upon its head the bitter hostility and reprisals that would be sure to follow. Ordinarily it would prefer to suffer, to yield to extortion, to divide its profits (if it had any) with the Dictator, in short, do everything within the bounds of reason, to avoid a collision.

While examining the cases of partial or total destruction of foreign companies, one should critically consider the extraordinary difference between the sums claimed and the amounts allowed as damages. In order justly to appreciate the enormity of the outrages committed,

and the preposterously inadequate damages allowed, one should study carefully the decisions made in typical cases by the several umpires of these mixed commissions.

So infamous were the decisions of the mixed commissions that great many of the complainants withdrew their cases, doubtless believing that it is better to "bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of." If the reader will bear in mind the character of these decisions as fully described in the typical cases discussed in other parts of this work, he will obtain an idea of the extent and nature of the sufferings by foreign interests in Venezuela since the preceding international arbitration; in fact the foreign interests there have been substantially destroyed.

I. DESTRUCTION OF FOREIGN INTERESTS IN VENEZUELA

In Ralston's "Report of Venezuelan Arbitrations," 1903, will be found substantially complete summaries of the claims for damages made by foreigners before the mixed commissions. From those summaries the following figures have been compiled:

The enormous difference between the "Amount claimed" and the "Amount allowed" is especially noteworthy in the case of the American claims.

II. EXTENT OF AMERICAN INTERESTS IN VENEZUELA

The following correspondence is self-explanatory:

CARACAS, VEN., December 8, 1903.

Hon. W. W. RUSSELL, in charge of American Legation.

DEAR SIR, — I am interested in knowing how many American citizens there are in Venezuela, where located, and in what business they are engaged. The only ones I know anything about are the following:

Maracaibo, - David Fleming, U. S. & V. Co.; J. H. Jardine, U. S. & V. Co.; Leichtner, Electric Light Co. Puerto Cabello, W. H. Volkmar,

1 The bolivar = about 20 cents gold.

Electric Light Co. Valencia, W. B. Stoughton, Electric Light Co. Guanoco, Perry and Kuhn, N. Y. & Bermudez Co. Santa Catalina, George P. Boynton, Orinoco Co. ltd.; W. P. Scott, Orinoco Co. ltd. Ciudad Bolivar, — R. Henderson, Walter & Co.; J. Henderson, Walter & Co. La Guayra,- Frost, railway employé. Caracas, L. Frost; Rudolph Dolge, laundry business; E. Henry, Singer sewing-machine; Edward Eichborn, mercantile business; Schleuter, engineer of gas works; Robert K. Wright, N. Y. & Bermudez Co.; Fred W. Rudloff; Del Genovese, contractor; A. F. Jauret, editor; Elois De Sola, bank clerk; Rev. Thos. S. Pond, missionary; Rev. Girard A. Bailly, missionary.

I understood there are some natives of Morocco, Tangiers, etc., who have been naturalized in the United States; also some Porto Ricans here. Aside from coffee-buyers, or investments in Electric works, I only know of three American companies actually doing business in Venezuela, namely, U. S. and Venezuela Company, Maracaibo; New York and Bermudez Co., Guanoco; and Orinoco Steamship Co., whose actual headquarters is Trinidad.

If you know of any others aside from those engaged in the diplomatic and consular service, I would thank you very much for the information.

Yours,

GEORGE W. CRICHFIELD.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, CARACAS, December 9, 1903.

Mr. GEO. W. CRICHFIELD.

DEAR SIR, I know of no other Americans, besides the ones you have mentioned, engaged in business in Venezuela. Mr. H. C. Stuart, who is living at your hotel, is the representative of the International Rubber and Trading Company lately established in the Orinoco region.

Very respectfully,

(Signed) W. W. RUSSELL.

At the date of Cipriano Castro's ascension to power as Military Dictator, there were in the neighborhood of fifty Americans in Venezuela, engaged in various kinds of business. Among these were several electric-light concerns, trading-companies, contractors, a steamship company, and a small railway running from La Vela to Coro, and other small interests. Quite a number of valuable concessions of various kinds were also held by Americans, and several million dollars' worth of asphalt property was owned by American corporations. To-day there is scarcely a vestige of American interests left in that country. While the United States has become even more solicitous than before for the welfare of the Monroe Doctrine, the Venezuelan Dictator has determined more than ever to destroy the insignificant investments that Americans still hold in Venezuela. Substantially every concession owned by Americans has been cancelled by General Castro; every American company doing business in that country has been shut down, except one or two concerns in which the Dictator is reputed to be personally interested; and so there are to-day but a handful of Americans remaining in that country, and most of them are there