The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 1, 1917-1918Various
History
The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 1, 1917-1918
Various
Wisconsin -- History -- Periodicals
In the long run, Argentina has had to pay up, and has had to pay also
in high interest rates, for the lack of a feeling of absolute security
on the part of the investor. Probably few countries have had more
expensive statesmen than Drago and Calvo.
To attract capital, moreover, it has been necessary to offer it
abundantly the undeveloped natural resources of the country. On the
other hand, the logic of the situation has kept development in the
hands of the nation to a greater degree than in the United States, for
the nation has been able to borrow money more cheaply than individuals
or domestic corporations, and public ownership has played an important
part in her upbuilding.
Argentina has paid, and so we have a situation which has never
culminated in a crisis. The republics of the Caribbean have not been
so fortunate. Much of the money has been borrowed, not for the
purposes of improvement, but to finance revolution and for personal
expenditure. Frittered away instead of put at productive work, it has
become an increasing burden, in many cases an unbearable burden, and
countries like Hayti, San Domingo, Honduras, and at times Mexico, have
become internationally bankrupt. Protected against legal action by
their sovereignty, the creditor and the debtor stood in a situation
where force alone could determine their relationship. What the result
would normally have been, is clearly enough indicated by the
intervention of France in Mexico in 1861, and of Germany in Venezuela
in 1902. The subjugation of the weak debtor by the strong creditor has
been prevented not by sovereignty, but by the interposition of a third
force, the United States inspired by the Monroe Doctrine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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