Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1918
File No. 817.032/25
The Chargé in Nicaragua ( Curtis) to the Secretary of State
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that on the morning of Sunday, December 15, there was held the formal opening of the Nicaraguan Congress by President Chamorro, a copy of whose address I transmit herewith. …
The outstanding characteristics of the message were its optimism and its friendly references to the United States, neither of which was unmerited (though the optimism is justified chiefly by the assistance rendered by the United States, as was not stated). …
I have [etc.]
Message of President Emiliano Chamorro to the National Congress, December 15, 1918
It is a source of special complacency for the Nicaraguan people and Government that you can undertake your tasks as the terrible evils of war cease and, with the blessing of universal peace, the complete triumph of democratic ideals dawns with brilliance. Once humanity is calm again and the balance of losses and gains from the tragic conflict now ended is struck, you will undoubtedly find that over all the ashes and material ruins there stands proudly the decisive triumph of the purest ideals of universal justice.
If the obtaining of the victory has required sacrifices animated by most enthusiastic patriotic sentiments, the complicated peace arrangements will require still greater ones, since this peace must be durable and therefore just. A clear vision of this great truth and complete devotion to the abstract principles which must be its foundation have been shown by the United States during their intervention in the war and in their decided influence on the peace negotiations, in which President Wilson has gone so far as to take a personal part.
Apart from the fact that the moral principles for which my Government determined to place itself frankly and decidedly on the side of the Allies remain unalterable, the result has convinced all Nicaraguans that that was the true and honorable path which our Fatherland had to take; and the manifestations of jubilation and sympathy made by the people in general, including those very ones who opposed that decision, when it was known that victory had been obtained, are eloquent proof that the Government knew how to interpret the sentiments of the Nicaraguan people and protect their interests.
Humanity, afflicted by the immense moral and material sacrifices which the victory has cost and by the peril in which were the ethical principles of Christian civilization, is anxious to find means to impede in the future the repetition of the tremendous conflict, and the statesmen of the great powers propose the formation of a League of Nations, united to maintain on the face of the earth international right and justice, through the recognition of identical rights to each and every one of them, without smallness militating against any one enjoying its full sovereignty.
[Page 820]Such a fraternal league, which fills with rejoicing all well-disposed hearts, and fills with just hope all weak nations, must bring with it to us a greater number of responsibilities, for it is impossible to imagine its existence except among nations which have similar political institutions, institutions practised and jealously guarded by their governments and their peoples. The enjoyment of liberty brings harnessed with it the duty of availing one’s self of it in a conscientious manner, and of knowing how to submit one’s self to its necessary limitations. We must learn to respect ourselves in order to demand that others respect us and thus be able to offer our honest and clean hand to all the peoples of the earth.
The champion of those ideals is the Government of the United States, a nation with which Nicaragua has continued to have the most frank and sincere relations, our interests and theirs following parallel paths.
Its adherence to these ideals decided me to enter without vacillation on its side in the war against the Central Empires and to offer through our Minister in Washington the cooperation of Nicaragua, so far as it could be useful, including the military service and the organization, on the same footing, of the whole country, for the purpose of increasing the production of articles of prime necessity for the consumption of the Allied Nations. The happy termination of the war took from us the opportunity of proving our determination, in which, with few and unavoidable exceptions, I counted upon the decided backing of the Nicaraguan people This was proved by the promptitude with which they responded to the invitation which I sent to the capitalists and merchants of the country to get them to subscribe to the fourth Liberty loan, which subscription was offered upon the altar of Liberty in New York on Nicaragua Day, and which, while small by comparison with large sums subscribed by the people of the United States, is significant enough, since it comes from a people of limited financial possibilities and was subscribed, as can be seen, by a large number of persons to demonstrate sympathy for the cause of the Allies, while in the mind of none of them could there have been considerations of profit, considering the good returns obtained by capital here.
I said that it was significant enough because it well shows the sentiment of inter-American solidarity which we governors must take fully into account, since, even if the constitution of the League of Nations become a reality, it is evident that within it there will be organized groupings of more or less closely related nations and the smallest will certainly not be the one which ought to be constituted by all of us who live on the same continent, bound together by the ideals, sentiments and interests which constitute the doctrine of Pan-Americanism. …
Honduras.1—The old question with our sister of the North on account of part of the frontier line, which has not yet been defined, is being settled through friendly counsel of the Government of the United States, whose mediation both Republics accepted as a consequence of the incidents which occurred in the town of Las Trojas and in some other place on the left bank of the Coco, in territory which always has been and will be under the sovereignty and dominion of Nicaragua.
Since my entrance to the Presidency I have endeavored to solve this question, as much because it is opposed to the interests of both countries, as because the special affection which I have for Honduras, where I resided for some time, and the old friendship which binds me to the distinguished gentleman and the very great public man who rules its destinies seemed to me to facilitate the task of a friendly settlement, in the midst of the dangerous feelings which are easily excited in discussions of this nature. In spite of all my desires to keep the question within the bounds of the greatest cordiality, there was a time when the Government of Honduras sent troops which entered a small portion of our territory which never has been in dispute. In view of this, the Government limited itself to ordering a guard of 12 soldiers who went to the same place in order to claim its sovereignty. Our guard was received by the head of the Honduran forces with every courtesy and they camped in the same place, the two sister flags flying in the same territory for some time until mediation having been accepted both retired in order that the question be settled by that means. The incident which I have reviewed shows clearly the puerility of taking to the forbidden fields of violence matters which can and must be settled in a peaceful manner.
[Page 821]The Government has designated our Minister in Washington, Don Diego Manuel Chamorro, as head of the commission which shall discuss with the respective commission of Honduras and with the mediation of the North American Government the manner for settling definitely the said boundary line.
Costa Rica.1—I have to inform you that I have not yet been able to renew official relations with the political régime which rules in Costa Rica, because there exist causes which prevent me from recognizing General Federico Tinoco as the Constitutional President of that Republic. The time which said régime has remained in existence forces me to explain clearly and faithfully the reasons which I have had for not granting that recognition.
Therefore, I must state that I recognize in all its extension and with all its consequences the right which every people have for giving themselves the government which most pleases them and for establishing, supporting, or overthrowing the political institutions as may please them. I recognize that in order to obtain these ends peoples have the right to make use of all the legal means possible, and, if these do not suffice or if they miscarry, to resort to extreme measures for the attainment of those ends, which are suitable for their existence. But these rights are of the people and serve as their safeguard against the excesses and oppressions of the governments; but never can they serve to justify coups d’états or army movements contrary to the constitutional order. Unfortunately, this last class of movements is that which has been most frequent in the history of our civil wars, whence arises the sterility of that which in Spanish-America we have sometimes called revolutions.
In consequence of these ideas, the Government of Nicaragua has never shown hostility to that of General Tinoco and fulfils by the means recommended by international law, the strictest neutrality as to the matters of internal politics of Costa Rica, without disturbing in the slightest way commercial communications which are intense between the two closely related and neighboring peoples; but it reserves to itself the sovereign right of choosing the other governments with which it desires to cultivate official relations and with this object in view directs its course by those high principles which rule democracies, principles of rigid ethics, which must be applied without vacillation in the interest of the normality of our own political life and of the solidarity, which grows daily closer, which exists between the peoples of the earth. …
With peace have come great modifications in the economic organization of society, and the intervention of the state in industry and commerce, which appeared to be a temporary means to care for the urgent needs of the war, tends to be converted into a current system of government and penetrates slowly but surely, even in countries in which individualism seemed to have the most fixed institutions, as in the United States and England. …
Finance and public credit.2—The difficult situation created in the world by the war, if it had grave effects upon our national economy, has in exchange given us great benefits once our activities and resources have adapted themselves to the new methods of commerce and production. The continued evolutions of progress in all branches of human life bring benefits in themselves and it is only necessary that man’s intelligence try to take advantage of them instead of resisting or denying them.
Our exports in the present year have nearly doubled in value; and this figure is certainly not the happiest feature, but rather the class and variety of the products which we have sent, chiefly agricultural, that industry constituting the logical development of our country.
The mercantile movement has not been only a mass of wealth for some few merchants but extends its influence over the generality as is indicated by the increase of the medium of circulation and the growth of the monetary conversion fund. There are now C$2,960,000 in circulation with a guarantee of $1,300,000 deposited in New York, index and reserve of the trade balance in our favor.
In spite of all the pessimistic prognostications which the political opposition made as to the financial arrangements of the Government, the first year of its operation proves that my efforts have not been sterile and that the public administration has known how to get successfully out of all its difficulties and [Page 822] has complied faithfully with all its engagements, the only way to obtain credit and to make a firm foundation for our economic welfare.
One of the clauses which provoked the greatest attacks is the one which stipulates that in case the internal revenues should fall below C$180,000 in any quarter, the administration and collection should pass into the hands of the Collector General of Customs. I am pleased to be able to announce to you that those revenues have become constantly greater and that during the present year they have produced a little more than C$1,150,000, that is, that we have been able to pay with them alone our budget of C$95,000 per month and to obtain even a small surplus, which will increase the overplus of the customs receipts, which you will dispose of for the progress of the Republic.
The Ethelburga loan, whose service was suspended for a time during the past administration, has been paid faithfully during the year, and the capital represented by the sealed bonds is £1,159,000.
| What we owed to the New York bankers for the Treasury bills on December 17 of last year was the sum of | $530,000.00 |
| To the payment of which were devoted during the year the dividends of the railroad and of the bank | 218,872.00 |
| Which leaves a balance of | $311,872.00 |
| There are also due to the New York bankers on the deferred bills, i. e., on the Emery claim | $263,986.12 |
The interest for all the year which corresponds to the foregoing credits has already been paid from the customs revenues of the Republic.
This is the total amount of our foreign debt, a very small amount compared with what other nations owe, even nations of inferior economic conditions. If the Republic continues its serene progress, even without the improvement which we have a right to expect owing to the conclusion of the war, and counting on the good judgment of the Nicaraguan people, completely dedicated to work, without hearkening to the songs of the siren of those ambitious for power, the Republic will very soon be free from its present liabilities, since of the surplus of the revenues which the Government has on deposit with the Banco Nacional, which on the last day of November amounted to C$402,113, more than one hundred thousand dollars was devoted to the New York debt and an equal amount to the Ethelburga.
The High Commission is complying religiously with the service of the internal debt, for whose payment there were issued C$3,800,000 of bonds. The first half year’s interest was duly covered and there also was amortized by lot C$18,350.
The revenues set apart for this purpose are more than sufficient and will surely leave a surplus.
They are: the tax on capital, the additional 12½ per cent on import duties, half of the produce from the sale of national lands and excise taxes. For the half year to be paid on February 1 of next year, there was already deposited in the bank on November 30 last the sum of C$55,449, in spite of the fact that the three last named taxes were not collected throughout the year.
Such, briefly, is the result of the economic arrangements which I have carried out and which, like the solid cement hidden under the earth, will serve as an imperishable foundation for the future aggrandizement of the Republic.
For the first time in many years the Honorable Congress can hear that we have not only faithfully complied with our obligations, paying punctually the general budget of expenses, but offer it a considerable surplus ready to give an impulse to the progress and aggrandizement of the Fatherland and that the time is not distant when Nicaraguan bonds will be quoted on the exchanges of the world with the credit which comes from the honor and not from the size of a nation.