F E weeks ago Mr. Root, the American ex-Secretary of State
for War, made a speech on. the Monroe doctrine in which be pointed the moral of the recent Presidential Message. We urged at the time that such a statement of the. doctrine, which recognised the duties as well as the rights attending it, was the true charter of American foreign policy, and in itself favourable to British interests. The. United States will not permit European interference with any of the small Republics, but they will, not allow any State to make necessary that course of action which they will not permit to Europe. In a word, the Government of Washington takes upon itself the task of ensuring peace and decent conduct among the minor American peoples. We have not had long to wait for a practical instance of the policy. Last Saturday a protocol was signed by Mr. Hay and the Government of Santo Domingo, under which the United States take upon themselves the adjustment and manage- ment of Dominican liabilities. They will investigate all claims against the Government, and pay those which are just. They will collect its revenues, and to a certain extent supervise its administration. Santo Domingo will remain nominally self-governing, but the United. States will prevent disorder, reform the various branches of the Government, and, without in any way guaranteeing the payment of its liabilities, endeavour to restore the credit of the country by efficient management. The country has in effect gone into voluntary liquidation prior to reconstruction, and a receiver has been appointed to administer the estate.
Santo Domingo forms one of the best instances of the kind of government to which the Monroe doctrine must be applied. It occupies the eastern three-fifths of the large island of Hispaniola, and must not be confused either with Haiti, which is the western part of the island, or the British Colony of Dominica in the Antilles. For the past four years it has been in a state of revolution ; but civil war has become so much an incident in the daily life of its people that except when fighting is actually going on business proceeds undisturbed. The trouble in all these bastard Republics is the absence of any force of persistence, whether in the form of a noble class, a wealthy class, or an intellectual class. They have a mixed race, no past traditions, little education, and less money. It is a mistake, however, to regard such States as unredeemable pariahs among nations, happy in their incompetence and corruption. Misgovernment is felt as keenly by the better type of South American or West Indian as by the European, and Santo Domingo seems to have had many longings after improvement. As compared with its neighbour Haiti it is respectable, and the contempt it feels for the other is shown by its refusal to allow Haitians to settle in its confines. There are a number of European residents, chiefly Scotch, who have established several creditable industries. The country people are peaceable and hospitable; there is a great deal of undeveloped wealth, both mineral and agricultural ; and there is at least one town, Puerto Plata, whose administration would do credit to any European municipality. The root of the mischief is the lack of any dominant power in the country, and the presence of a form of government which is suitable only for a State at a certain level of development. Authority falls into the hands of a President who is autocratic, and whose Ministers are no better than clerks. Public funds are misappropriated. because the State is too poor to give adequate wages to a ridiculous multitude of officials. The Army is conducted on the lines of comic opera. " They receive 20 cents per day," says the correspondent of the Times, "but they are quite ready to beg from the passing stranger. The majority cannot shoot; they fire as they run, without holding the gun to the shoulder, and they frequently aim high into the air, the object being to intimidate, not to kill." The Exchequer is always out of pocket ; its income is mortgaged in advance, and it has to borrow from local merchants to meet current expenses, giving them in return the right to import a certain amount of goods duty free. This amount is frequently exceeded, but the Government cannot bring them to book, having overdrawn its account, and being unable to quarrel with those who accommodate it. Naturally the better class of Dominicans are distressed by these abuses, and But at present there is no infringment of independence. There is no protectorate in theory, whatever there may be in practice. The United States do not assume any liability for Dominican debts ; they act only as collectors, not as sureties, and they specifically guarantee territorial in- . tegrity. Forty-five per cent. of the Custom receipts will be handed to Santo Domingo for current expenses, and fifty-five per cent. will go to the cost of collection and the payment of debts. The monthly receipts are calculated at £180,000, and the total Debt of the State at £6,456,000, of which about £900,000 is due to American creditors, and about a million and a half to European bondholders. American intervention is clearly a boon to the Dominican creditors, and equally clearly to the Dominican Government. But one naturally asks what the United States are to get in return for the onerous duties which they are taking upon themselves. So far, the practice of the Monroe doctrine appears to involve duties rather than rights. The answer . is to be found partly in the control which such super- vision gives of Dominican policy, and partly in a tangible quid pro quo which seems to have been decided upon. The island of Hispaniola lies in the fairway of the route from. Europe to the Panama Canal. With Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, the one a virtual pro- tectorate and the other a virtual territory, its possession would give the United States a complete chain of forts to . command that route. It is obviously desirable that the Power which is making and which will control the Canal should also control its approaches. Whether or not the United States will proceed, as ninny Dominicans seem to desire, to an actual suzerainty over Santo Domingo is not a question of great importance. In such an event a guarantee of Dominican bonds would have to follow, and there seems no reason why the United States should insist on the name, with the special liabilities which attach to it, when they already enjoy all the advantages of the substance. And this brings us to the second con- sideration for American services, the cession of Samana Bay as a naval station, which is reported from New York. This is the best harbour in the island, and it is adjacent to the Mora Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, which is one of the two main entrances from the ocean to the Caribbean. Its possession gives the United States the command of that passage, just as the occupa- tion of Guantanamo in Cuba gives them the command of the other great entrance, the Windward Passage, between Cuba and Hispaniola. These positions, given a strong American Navy, may well set the mind of their owners at rest as to the future of the Canal. With regard to British interests in the matter, about which some people have tried to raise a scare, we cannot see that they are in any way injuriously affected. The economic future of the British West Indies depends on the success of the Canal, and anything which tends to the security of that under- taking is directly to our benefit. We refuse to consider the possibility of a rupture with the United States ; but we may point out that in such a contingency the strategical importance of Jamaica's position is not impaired, but greatly increased, by the fact that it now stands in a high- way instead of in a corner.
THE LATEST LIGHTS ON THE COAL QUESTION.
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