The Nicaragua Arrangement.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 22, 1913:
    It is not surprising that the proposed convention with Nicaragua, which Mr. Bryan, with the approval of the President, laid before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate on Saturday, has been received with much favor in Washington, and that there is promise of strong support for it in the Senate. The convention has the very great advantage of being based upon a candid recognition of facts. The Government of Nicaragua is unstable, the people of that country are exposed to the pest of frequent revolutions engendered by unscrupulous adventurers for their own profit. The finances of the country have been brought into disorder, and debts have been improvidently created. We offer to Nicaragua assurance of a reasonable protection against the recurrence of these evils. In return, she concedes to us the right to build a canal across her territory and the privilege of establishing naval stations, in further consideration for which we are to pay her $3,000,000 in gold. The advantages are reciprocal. What we offer is an evidence of our friendly interest, and it may be assumed that the terms of the treaty will effectually remove from all minds that are not shut against the truth the notion that our action springs from the desire of territorial extension. It is hard to get that idea out of the heads of some Central American statesmen, but such an example of disinterested friendship as we have shown in the case of Cuba, if repeated in the case of Nicaragua, would go far to reassure them.
    The convention will be opposed, of course, by persons who are still barking into the vacuum of "dollar diplomacy," but the underlying reasons for making it are sound and substantial. It is plain that we must in our own interest have control of any possible canal route through Nicaragua. The Hise Treaty negotiated in 1849 covered that point, but was not ratified either by Nicaragua or by our Senate. It was, however, part of the chain of events which led to the negotiation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. The condition has now changed. The canal we have built will soon be open to traffic, it is the part of prudence to take these timely measures against the disturbances which would necessarily follow the attempt by any other Power to construct another canal. The new relation with Nicaragua is a gratifying evidence that the Administration is considering with foresight and breadth of view the actual and possible problems springing out of our relation with the countries to the south of us.