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Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 in 2010 witin funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/colombiantreatyOObart 
 
THE COLOMBIAN TREATY 
 
 HOW THE INDEMNITY OF 
 
 $25,000,000 
 
 -AND MANY TIMES THAT SUM- 
 WILL COME BACK IN PURCHASES OF 
 SUPPLIES FOR PUBLIC WORKS, AND 
 IN A GREA TL Y INCREASED GENERAL 
 COMMERCE - - - 
 
 J^l^ 
 
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 COPYRIGHT JUNE 1921 
 
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 ^vi^ 
 
 ICI.A617431 
 
 JUN 22 1921 
 
THE COLOMBIAN TREATY 
 
 By WALTER H. BARTHOLOMEW 
 Assistant General Manager, Colombian Commercial Corporation 
 
 Why has the United States Government, by its ratification of the 
 Treaty with Colombia, agreed to pay to that country a total of 
 $25,000,000 as an indemnity for the loss of Panama? A correct answer 
 to this question makes clear our true economic and political relationship 
 to Colombia, and the possibilities of future trade w^ith her. 
 
 The loss of Panama was a great blow to Colombia, and has seriously 
 interfered w^ith her prosperity and growth for eighteen years. Since the 
 United States has benefited and will continue to benefit tremendously 
 by what Colombia lost at Panama, it seemed — regardless of differences 
 of opinion as to responsibility — only just that Colombia should be reim- 
 bursed. We* profited greatly, she was appreciably injured; a balancing 
 of accounts was highly desirable. Without it there could have followed 
 only continued recrimination and friction. 
 
 Let us analyze what the loss of Panama meant to Colombia. She is 
 the only country in South America having a seacoast on both the 
 Atlantic and the Pacific. The Panama Canal is the connecting- Uijk 
 between her two seaboards. When the trans-Isthmian railroad w^as built 
 prior to the digging of the Canal, Colombia reserved certain preferential 
 rights in its use, besides which she was to receive $250,000 a year rental 
 until 1966, w^hen the railroad was to become her property. 
 
 Also, in the concession to the French company under the manage- 
 ment of the famous De Lesseps for the construction of the canal across 
 the Isthmus, Colombia reserved certain rights to the use of the canal 
 for her commerce, her w^arships and her armies, and she w^as to receive 
 a percentage of the tolls to be collected. It should be remembered that 
 when Colombia lost Panama she lost a present income from the railroad 
 and a potential income from both the railroad and the canal, the 
 ultimate w^orth of w^hich can hardly be computed. And she lost as w^ell 
 the right to use the canal unless she paid for it as other nations must. 
 
 It is exactly as if Florida extended to the mainland of South America 
 and a railroad had been built across it to connect the Atlantic with th^ 
 
Gulf of Mexico, and a canal was planned and partly constructed to 
 connect these two bodies of water; and then Florida seceded, and some 
 foreign nation prevented our using our army and navy to force her 
 back into the Union. We would thus have our Gulf ports separated 
 from our Atlantic ports, and a barrier set up w^hich would operate as 
 a fatal obstacle to the free intercourse between our people. One can 
 imagine the feeling which would have arisen in the United States. 
 
 No matter w^hat our individual opinions may be as to the right of 
 our Government to take the steps it did at Panama, it goes without 
 saying that Colombia could easily have defeated the little province of 
 Panama in a war, and thus retained possession of that valuable territory. 
 This was prevented by the interference of the United States. If we 
 visualize the wave of indignation which would have swept over this 
 country had the same thing happened to us, we will get some idea of 
 the w^ay the Colombians felt about it. 
 
 > 
 
 The payment of $25,000,000 to Colombia is in fact small recom- 
 
 - pense for her actual and potential loss. Fortunately, the Treaty accords 
 to Colombia certain preferential rights in the use of the Panama Canal 
 and the Panama Railroad calculated to restore to her the strategic and 
 commercial advantages which she lost. The Treaty specifically grants 
 her the right to use the Canal on equal terms vfiih the United States, 
 and opens the Canal Zone to her products free of duty. This is a 
 greater benefit than at first appears, as Colombia has rich deposits of 
 petroleum and coal w^hich eventually can be furnished to the ships of 
 the world passing through the Canal. Also her cattle and fruits will 
 find a ready market there, and it means a good deal to her merchants 
 that these articles can enter the Canal Zone duty free. 
 
 In accordance w^ith the established principles of international law, 
 Panama will now^ be required to assume her just share of the national 
 debt of Colombia, and this the United States, under a clause of the 
 Treaty, agrees to bring about. Thus Colombia's financial burden, already 
 the smallest per capita of any South American country, will be further 
 lightened, probably by several million dollars, and she will have just so 
 much more money available for her own development. 
 
 Undoubtedly the Panama episode prejudiced our commercial rela- 
 tions in Colombia, and what happened during the World War did not 
 
contribute toward alleviating the bitter feeling. Rather the reverse was 
 true in some respects. Colombia, prior to 1914, did a large business 
 with Europe, and had been accorded the usual courtesies and accommo- 
 dations extended by England, France and Germany to their foreign 
 customers. Europe being closed as a market for her products as well 
 as a source of supply for manufactured goods, Latin America turned 
 to the United States. While we may be able to explain satisfactorily 
 to ourselves, and make excuses on the ground of necessity, it still 
 remains a fact that during this period when our southern neighbors 
 were compelled to buy almost exclusively from us, the prices they had 
 to pay were the highest ever heard of and the terms demanded the 
 shortest ever known, and with this all too often went short courtesy 
 of speech and manner. We charged all the traffic would bear, and 
 demanded cash or gave short credit. 
 
 With the return of normal conditions, our European competitors will 
 be back on the job with their usual far-sighted w^illingness to please the 
 South American and meet his views. The average American house 
 has a long way to travel before its service and the consideration it 
 accords its foreign customers match those of European exporters. 
 
 The prevalent belief in the minds of thousands of Latin Americans 
 that the United States wilfully wronged Colombia — whether the belief be 
 justified or not by the facts — created an almost insurmountable w^all of 
 prejudice w^hich would have taken ma^iy years for American houses to 
 live down not only in Colombia but elsewhere in Latin America, for the 
 feeling had spread far. 
 
 Fortunately many Colombians have felt almost from the beginning 
 that the American people as a whole knew nothing of and w^ere not 
 to blame for the Panama affair, and they are w^illing to forgive and 
 forget the incident, now that a reasonable amount of justice has been 
 accorded their country under the terms of the Treaty. 
 
 It w^as right, from the standpoint of both justice and expediency, 
 that this source of irritation and fear should be removed by the payment 
 of a reasonable indemnity to Colombia. When w^e consider the proximity 
 of Colombia to the United States — only half as far from her nothern 
 ports to New York as to Europe — and that geographically and economi- 
 cally we constitute the logical market for her products and the source 
 
from which she should supply her needs, it is clear that very neighborly 
 relations should exist between the two countries. The payment of the 
 indemnity opens the door for resumption of cordial relations, but it 
 remains for the American business man to use tact and intelligence in 
 cultivating the Colombian market. 
 
 The $25,000,000 gives Colombia a borrowing pow^er of at least 
 $100,000,000 w^hich she contemplates using in public works. This will 
 open to the American manufacturer a new market for transportation 
 and public utility supplies, and will result in a general stimulation of 
 business within Colombia w^hich will be reflected in an increased demand 
 for all commodities. 
 
 There is an era of phenomenal deveIopm.ent ahead of Colombia, and 
 the American manufacturer interested in the upbuilding of his export 
 department on sound, constructive lines, will do w^ell to investigate 
 thoroughly this market, and to make use of the present moment, w^hen 
 export business generally is stagnant, to prepare for the proper handling 
 of this rich territory. 
 
 «P-2 8 
 
t^ 
 
COLOMBIAN COMMERCIAL CORPORATION 
 
 56-58 Pine Street 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
 TELEPHONE CABLE 
 
 JOHN 0400 "COLOCOMCOR" 
 
 Branches: BOGOTA and BARRANQUILLA. 
 Agencies: MEDHLLIN, CARTAGENA and BUGARAMANGA 
 
 — IVe are specialisti on Colombia — 
 
 The personnel oj our New York 
 Office is well informed on all Co- 
 lombian matters and will welcome 
 inquiries as to any phase of 
 business there. 
 
 Exports Imports 
 
 Associate Engineers 
 
 WOOD HULSE YATES CO., Inc. 
 
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