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The Commoner.
Conscience in Diplomacy and Business
Henry N. Hall, representing tho New York
"World, has written for his newspaper, an article
from which the following is taken:
Mr. Bryan's advent in tho state department
marks the beginning of a new era in the inter
national relations of the United States, because
his conception of the uses of diplomacy is radi
cally different from that which for the past six
teen years has directed this country's foreign
policy. Mr. Bryan had been discussing with mo
what is known as "Dollar Diplomacy" and its
effects. There was nothing of the emotional
orator about him. His talk was as calmly
reasoned as a court declsion.but it radiated heart
felt faith in the American people, in their prin
ciples, their morality and their form of govern
ment. He was rugged, grave, studious and sin
core. He epitomized all our talk in one of thoso
short, expressive sentences he is so fond of using
when ho said:
"The preceding administration attempted to
till the field of foreign investment with a pen
knife; President Wilson intends to cultivate it
with a spade."
Wo wore travelling together from Washing
ton to Philadelphia. "Dollar Diplomacy," ho
said, "is'a phrase coined tojdescribe a policy of
government under which the state department
has been used to coerce smaller nations into
recognizing cla' s of American citizens which
did not rest upon a legitimate basis claims
that were either founded in Injustice or which
were exaggerated until they represented an un
fair demand. When a great nation like ours
deals with one comparatively smaller, as, for
Instance tho republics of Central and South
America, tho larger nation must bo even nioro
scrupulous as to the methods employed than
when it is dealing with a nation that can de
fend itself. If, for instance, an American cor
poration or an American promoter goes into a
country awaiting development and obtains a con
cession or makes a contract, questions may arise
they actually have arisen as to the perfor
J? Ce S tho contract by the American corpora
w i f crnoratlon when its rights are af
fected turns to the state department for assis
tance and It is proper that the state department
Bhou Id render such assisanco as can bVlegiti
mately rendered." b
A GUNBOAT WITH EVERY BOND
'But what assistance is legitimate?" I asked
Mr Bryan, who makes very few gestures in
speaking, gave a little pull to his white shirt
sleeve and looked for a moment at tho old'
lie wont on?1 bUUn h Wa8 weapln
"Everything depends upon the definition of
tho word 'legitimate.' Some of the American
promoters have acted upon the supposition that
a gunboat goes with each bond to mint" i
gunge that has been actually employed They"
demand of tho government that the dinlomatio
representative of Ule United W
m,iefh0yi-try hey are fretted in shall re
quire that country to meet any and everv ril
nand that the promoting company 'may Sate
and some seem to think it right that the
ow?8 b suPPrted without rVgard to thei?
character unjust ones ns well aaW II!
Sometimes the contract entered I into betweeS tho
Latin-Amor can and the American promo?ep nro
vides for the arbitration of controvSriM tK
president of the United States to appoint he
American representative on tho Stration
board. It has even been the opinion of aomi
trained in tho ways of dollar d?p??macythaT
this American representative should be not a
judicial officer but tho special representative of
the corporation engaged in the controversy
The corporation has even been allowed to ninTo
the American arbitrator, and the governments
luTnf Se2ted t0 SUpport him ad Wa findings
Just as if ho were representing tho honor of th
nation instead of the interests of the corpora!
BEGINNING A NEW ERA
There was a shade of indignation in Mr
Bryan's voice as he spoke. He said:
The change that has taken place in the con
ception of the nation's obligation in such matted
iraa clearly set forth in the president's admfrabK
Statement on the Chinese loan. The preedinc
administration, aeting in perfect good faTth and
In aceordanco with the former president ideas
of American interests, asked a group of Ameri
can bankers to join a similar group in flveVther
countries and negotiate a loan to tho SuZll
government. The American group was S have
a monopoly of this nation's part in the loan
not only a monopoly of the nation's part in the
present loan but a preference in certain loans
contemplated in the future. The American
group joined with the groups in the other coun
tries to arrange the details of the loan, one of
the details being a provision for the appoint
ment of foreigners to supervise the collection of
certain customs duties as a matter of security.
President Wilson, after a careful investigation
of the subject and after the American bankers
had had a hearing, refused to renew the request,
setting forth his reasons therefor. While the
statement related but to this Chinese loan, the
reasons given for a reversal of the policy of this
country on the subject applied and apply to the
entire subject of diplomacy as it relates to
American investments abroad and marks an era.
"The country has indorsed the president's
course with unanimity and it can hardly be
doubted that his approval will be extended to
the subsequent development of this policy as it
is applied to similar cases. The president be
lieves and what disinterested citizen does not
that this nation's obligations to urge fairness
on the pan of Americans dealing with foreigners
aro as .binding as its obligation to ask fairness
on the part of foreigners dealing with Ameri
cans." And then, a somewhat stern expression in his
dark eyes, ho looked me full in the faco and,
raising his voice gradually till it swelled into
an organ-toned tumult of sound, declared:
"The change that has taken place can not
honestly be regarded as the. inauguration of a
new diplomacy; it is simply a return to the
diplomacy of earlier years. It is the application
of common sense, of common honesty and of
plain every-day morality to our international
affairs. It is a recognition of that sound philo
S0?hZwhIch teaches that national ethics can
not differ from individual ethics. President Wil
son believes, and I believe, that there are no
moral principles binding upon an individual that
are not binding upon a'nation. The attempt to
5SS & a J?9.ral-C0e for nations different
from that which governs us as individuals is
the fruitful cause of most of the injustice that
r1 S "?tions attempt to perpetrate upon weak
nnH8, ThGg?lden re is just as useful in inter
national affairs as it is among neighbors and
it is just as dangerous to ignore it."
THE REAPPEARANCE OP CONSCIENCE
tinued!mIng hiS argument' Mr- Bryan con-
"In a suit between two individuals in this
counttr,y we are careful to insist ipon the im!
partiality of the judge and jury. Any suitor
an Hslualify a judge if he can show that the
Storti8 lnf rested-elther because of pecuniar?
Mm w' 5eca?8S of relatias which would bias
him. We carefully exclude from a jury everv
person who for any reason can be suspected of
SV0 either ""sant. Is there any good
5emaSdW?oyrWf8hUld b.e less taslBtentVou?
demand for fairness when the United Stntc,
engages in a controversy with a foreign kovmS
wTi?lnnihe Claims of one of Ita ' citizens Can
we in good conscience ask that any other mT
tion shall consent to arbitration before a board
w AnlerIcan representative is tainted with
Sit? nf r bJa8ed in favor ofa pa?ty to the
?enuir tw ul Ur country's Bense of bono?
uSptefon? at tS represeta"ves shall be Tovl
OUR BUSINESS IN OTHER LANDS
conadMe. In Mr. Bryan's vole" as ie JSuSaT
is to the material worin i 5W of gravitation
Justice is 7 TAm$ of
pension of the natural law tw i e Sus"
Particle of matter on the eaiThKrf8 eaoh
tho center of it. surface towards
"The attempt;' to enforce the claim nf a
cans by methods repugnant alike S meri"
and to established usages ali e2?
will always result in an irritattonlmpe
VOBUME 13, NUMBER l7
our trade relations and dimlnisheq a ,
opportunity. When the people of otherIcan
tries understand that the United States winT
vestigate claims before it puts i mom? J ln'
behind them and that when it does ann JrC
claim it will support that claim only by To!
consistent with the nation's honor and thihodB
ditions of fair dealing when the people 0fu
other nations understand this they will wnin!
American capital and American capitalists
"Many rich fields are awaiting development
the development of Central and South Amer
is still in its infancy and our nation is thP a
tion to which our' sister republics to the RnnS
of the United States naturally look for 2
assistance as they need. They followed S
example in winning their independence with I
gallantry no less than that of our own heroes
they modelled their constitutions after ours:
their school systems are increasingly borrowing
from ours; they are sending to us for instruc
tions and for experts in various lines of ma
terial development. Why should they not ba
encouraged to avail themselves of our rich ex
perlence, of our advanced system of instruction
and of our widespread prosperity? Why should
they not look upon the United States as the
great clearing house of their natural wealth?
"It would be mutually advantageous. Wo
need each other. Why not put our relationship
upon an enduring basis of mutual confidence7
The president's policy means extension, expan
sion and multiplication of American interests.
We have, so to speak, been busy watching the
spigot and neglecting the bunghole, and we have
been doing it because of the short-sighted policy
that allowed the man at the spigot to dictate
the policy. The effort to get a few dollars by
the employment of unfair and offensive methods
has prevented our industries from securing that
laTge and lucrative business which would have
come with a more liberal policy for a just
policy is a liberal policy."
SOUTH AMERICAN IRRITATION
And then I asked him a "question which for
some time had been uppermost in iny mind:
How are you going to win back the lost con
fidence of South America,?".' He answered in
straight-flung words and few and with an
honesty so obvious and plainly apparent that it
won my heart:
"That matter will take care of ! itself. A splin
ter m the hand will make a' sore and the sore
will continue as long as the splinter remains.
But when tho splinter is withdrawn nature heals
and heals quickly. Dollar diplomacy was a
foreign substance; irritation was a natural con
sequence. The wounds of the past will soon
be healed now that dollar diplomacy is dead."
DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS
Thus, "By open speech and simple, a hundred
times made plain,", has Bryan lifted his voice
in the past to support tbe progressive prin
ciples dictated by his conscience. He began tho
In tarlff reform thirty-three years ago,
While yet in college. His first speeches, made
in the campaign of 1880, when he was hut
twenty years old, are all on this subject, and
xSi years ifc was almost his only theme.
when nominated for congress in 1890, at the
age of thirty, he wrote his own platform, and
it contained a declaration in favor of the direct
e,eUon of senators by the people. It was one
or the earliest platforms upon the subject. As
secretary of state he is to have the honor of
announcing the adoption of tho constitutional
amendment just twenty-three years after he be
gan his fight for this reform. He was elected
to congress and appointed a member of tho
ways and means committee. It was in 1894,
as a member of the sub-committee, that he as
sisted in framing the income tax bill and in
its support made one of the finest speeches ever
made in congress. From the time it was de
clared unconstitutional he waged- an unceasing
warfare in favor of an amendment to- tho con
land SUCh aS iS D0W the SUDreme law of tb6
THE MAKER OF PHRASE
tit Tn rdealIn& ith the question bf the trusts
iqqp ryan was a Pioneer. -Beginning before
i,Y ? Ipeak on tue danger of monopoly, he
onginated the phrase which has gone into four
democratic platforms, "A private monopoly is
indefensible and intolerable." The subject of
PUDiicity of campaign contributions, now also
maae law, was one of the doctrines in the
?nVocay of whicu Mr- Bryan blazed the trail.
When first he urged this reform, so potent for
jne purification of politics, people scoffed at
nt ,,Nearlv two decades ago ho began to call
attention to the money trust at a time when the