sustained that greater curse, the Monroe Doctrine. This must come unless we repent of our folly and make amends for the wrongs we have inflicted. As against the dictum of Monroe I would establish another doctrine that this ought to be a civilized man's hemisphere; that we have had enough of the Latin freebooters; and that law, order, and Justice shall henceforth be ineffaceably stamped on the Continents of North and South America.

VOL. II- -30

CHAPTER IX

THE MONROE DOCTRINE-A BAR TO CIVILIZATION 1

T

HERE is probably no doctrine or principle on which the American people are more unanimously agreed, without respect of party, than the Monroe Doctrine. If a general vote were taken on the subject, it is more than likely that ninety-nine Americans out of every hundred would declare in favor of defending the Doctrine everywhere, under all circumstances, and without reference to the consequences. Yet, of our fifteen million voters, I wonder if there is one per cent who have an accurate and definite idea as to what the Monroe Doctrine in fact is; and of that one per cent I wonder if there are ten per cent who have an accurate notion, from personal observation or reliable information, as to the precise effect which this famous Doctrine has had and is having on the civilization and commerce of the world, and particularly of Central and South America. I seriously doubt it.

In order to understand thoroughly the effect which this Doctrine has upon civilization, the rights which it involves, and the dangers which it invites, it is necessary that we should carefully examine into the institutions, customs, and character of the people who are most directly affected by it.

As one journeys towards South America, one longs to believe that the Star of Liberty, like that of Bethlehem, leads the way, and that one will find our brethren to be animated by high ambitions and noble resolves, struggling upward like ourselves. This pleasant anticipation appears to be in a fair way towards realization when one picks up the constitution and laws of one of these countries, and reads the somewhat ornate but sufficiently profuse declarations in favor of liberty, justice, and equality. The Bill of Rights is scarcely shorter than the Moral Law, but the traveller soon learns that it is most apt to be vociferously preached from the house tops in those communities where anarchy and despotism reign supreme.

The visions of constitutions with their sacred guaranties of personal liberty, and of laws with their well-rounded periods of equity, soon fade away; and the observer finds in their stead the decrees of

1 This chapter appeared in the "North American Review," April, 1903, signed “An American Business Man."

dictators and military despots. True, these decrees, by whatever military despot issued, are mostly interlarded with protestations of undying patriotism, with references to the sacred will of the people, and with appeals to the Deity, in every form of canting phrase, in testimony of the purity of intention and spotless nobility of character of the promulgators. All this does not deceive the intelligent observer. He is not long on Latin-American soil before he discovers that he is outside the bounds of civilization. For every move he makes he must first obtain a passport from the military Jefe. Everywhere he goes he is confronted by a soldier or a policeman who demands his name and his business. If he send a telegram, he must first get the approval of the government censor. If he write a letter, a hundred chances to one it is broken open and read by the postal authorities before it is sent. If he walk along the street, he knows not what moment a soldier will bring him to halt with a "Quien viva ?" and a Mauser levelled at him, and an order that he walk in the middle of the street. He soon finds out that he himself is liable to be locked up in jail on any trivial pretext or none at all. It does not matter what may be his social or business standing, if he make protest at the acts of these tyrants, he may be expelled from the country without redress or incarcerated in a jail. If he appeal to the American consul for aid, the chances are that the mouth of that dignitary has long been stopped by government concessions, or that he is an actual party to the intrigues. But our traveller has by this time only commenced his initiation. He has only learned what any intelligent man would certainly ascertain to be true within forty-eight hours after setting foot on the soil of any Latin-American country, with the exception of Mexico, Chili, and the Argentine Republic.

It does not take the observer long to ascertain that there is not in any of these countries such a thing as a legally constituted government. The constitutions prescribe that elections shall be held at stated periods and in a certain manner for the election of the President and other officials of the government. But no elections are ever held. Occasionally a newspaper correspondent, some disciple of Mark Twain, as a huge joke, writes about an election in Venezuela or Colombia, the same as he might about a sea serpent; but not within the memory of any living man has there been a real election in those countries.

The constitutions of those countries provide how the members of the legislatures and of Congress shall be elected but not since they were separated from Spain has there been one single Congress or legislature elected in the manner prescribed. An honest ballot and a fair count, such as we understand them, are so strange and foreign to these countries that in the wildest dreams of fancy no one of them ever imagined such a thing. One might have greater hope of success in attempting to explain the Australian ballot system to a

Chinese peasant in the centre of Manchuria than to any of those people.

The constitutions provide that the laws shall be passed by the legislatures of the several States, or by the Congress for the Federal Union. Yet ninety-five laws out of every hundred are edicts of the dictators, pure and simple; and no pretence is made that any legislative body ever read them, let alone passed them or engrossed them. Read the daily or weekly issues of the respective Gazeta Officials of these countries, and you will see that they are almost wholly composed of laws in the shape of decretas of the dictator. It would appear that the respective dictators and in this they all seem to be alike spend their odd moments thinking up schemes for robbing the people, and keep their typewriters busy in formulating these into decretas, which their courts are obliged to interpret as law, and which in fact form the law, and the only law that there is.

The constitutions describe how they may be amended, and their regulations are so precise and formal that a foreign jurist might be inclined to take them seriously. As a matter of fact, a dictator abolishes a constitution or amends it or adopts a new one with as little ceremony as he would use in ordering his breakfast. True, changes of this character are sometimes made by a so-called provisional Congress; but as the members of such a body are always appointed by the dictator and selected to do his bidding, a little thing like amending the constitution or abolishing it or making a new one is such a trifling affair that it may be done almost any afternoon. Indeed, the constitution, in whole or in part, is suspended at the whim of the dictator, without consulting anybody and whenever it suits his convenience.

Having learned the novel and easy method by which laws are made and unmade, one will not be surprised to know that the methods of their interpretation and enforcement are no less unique. There are in these countries many able scholars and fine lawyers, who constitute the material for a creditable judiciary; but, unfortunately, even this department of the government is at the mercy of these brutal, ignorant, corrupt, vicious, and wholly intolerable despots. Lawyers of character and ability are not wanted as judges, and they would fear to accept such positions if tendered to them. In fact, the better element shuns politics as it would a pestilence.

It may be asked whether the travesty on government herein described is not abnormal and temporary. The reply is that this condition of anarchy - for it is nothing else is and has been the normal and ordinary condition of Venezuela and Colombia. Most of the other Latin-American countries, ever since Spain lost its dominion over them, with the exception of brief intervals, when some dictator more powerful than the rest has succeeded by force of arms in maintaining his authority, are in the same condition.

For one period, of about twenty years, Guzman Blanco, the greatest Dictator Venezuela ever had, succeeded in overawing opposition, although it was necessary for him to use the most high-handed methods and finally murder his chief opponent, contrary to the constitution, which forbade capital punishment.

As to the character of the people in these countries, I shall now describe and analyze it, so that it can be readily understood why there is not, and never has been, anything but anarchy and disorder in South America.

The people of those countries, and they are all practically the same, apart from the foreigners, naturally fall into four groups: 1. The Spaniards of pure blood, who do not form perhaps more than ten per cent of the total population. These people as a class are cultured, highly civilized, religious, hospitable, many of them of literary attainments and scholarly pursuits. This class contains many families of distinction. They do not take any part in politics, nor desire positions under the government. They are among the chief sufferers from the numerous predatory excursions, both of the government troops and of the revolutionists. The story of the outrages committed on the women of this class by the military chieftains would make a chapter of horrors which would shock mankind. These people remain in constant terror, not only of the revolutionists, but more particularly of the government itself, which confiscates their property, commits nameless outrages upon them, and renders life a burden to them. It is no uncommon thing for a military chief who desires the daughter of one of these families for his mistress to imprison the father or brothers, and hold the daughter's virtue as the price of their ransom. This class fervently desires and earnestly hopes that some foreign nation will eventually take hold of these countries and establish law, order, and civilization.

2. This class comprises the peons who do farming, the laboring men, the small traders, cattlemen, fishermen, woodsmen, mechanics, etc., or perhaps more than seventy per cent of the total population. As a rule, these people are exceedingly simple-minded, honest, kindhearted peasants, fairly industrious, and much more intelligent than the peonage of most other countries. They dread war, take to the woods at the slightest intimation of trouble, have nothing to do with politics, and pray to be left alone to live in peace. In habits these people are simple, in manners polite and hospitable, and but little drunkenness and crime are found among them. They are the most docile and easily managed people in the world. They are respect to their superiors, they seldom fight, and they are so easily managed and governed that the semi-brigands who constitute the governing class do just what they please with them, and handle them as a 12 would handle pieces on a checkerboard. These people are deni ants from the Spaniards and native Indians, a mixed breed, and