ned to vote, on the ground that the moral and
material support thus furnished by the great nation to the northward
rendered it futile for them to assume political responsibilities.

Meanwhile negotiations began which were ultimately to make Nicaragua a
fiscal protectorate of the United States. American officials were chosen
to act as financial advisers and collectors of customs, and favorable
arrangements were concluded with American bankers regarding the monetary
situation; but it was not until 1916 that a treaty covering this
situation was ratified. According to its provisions, in return for a
stipulated sum to be expended under American direction, Nicaragua was
to grant to the United States the exclusive privilege of constructing a
canal through the territory of the republic and to lease to it the Corn
Islands and a part of Fonseca Bay, on the Pacific coast, for use as
naval stations. The prospect of American intervention alarmed the
neighboring republics. Asserting that the treaty infringed upon their
respective boundaries, Costa Rica, and Salvador brought suit against
Nicaragua before the Central American Court. With the exception of
the Nicaraguan representative, the judges upheld the contention of the
plaintiffs that the defendant had no right to make any such concessions
without previous consultation with Costa Rica, Salvador, and Honduras,
since all three alike were affected by them. The Court observed,
however, that it could not declare the treaty void because the
United States, one of the parties concerned, was not subject to its
jurisdiction. Nicaragua declined to accept the decision; and the United
States, the country responsible for the existence of the Court and
presumably interested in helping to enforce its judgment, allowed it to
go out of existence in 1918 on the expiration of its ten-year term.

The economic situation of Costa Rica brought about a state of affairs
wholly unusual in Central American politics. The President, Alfredo
Gonzalez, wished to reform the system of taxation so that a fairer share
of the public burdens should fall on the great landholders who, like
most of their brethren in the Hispanic countries, were practically
exempt. This project, coupled with the fact that certain American
citizens seeking an oil concession had undermined the power of the
President by wholesale bribery, induced the Minister of War, in 1917,
to start a revolt against him. Rather than shed the blood of his f