Administration Cites an 1878 Evarts Note to Defend Its Nicaragua Policy

The Coolidge administration answered critics of its Nicaragua policy on Friday by reviving a principle from the files of the State Department, the Associated Press reported. The White House announced it as one of several precedents for the government’s present action.

The principle appears in the so-called Evarts doctrine, a note sent in 1878 by William M. Evarts, secretary of state under President Hayes, to the American minister for presentation to the Mexican government. It says the first duty of a government is to protect life and property, a paramount obligation for which governments are instituted, and that the United States is not solicitous about the method by which that protection is accomplished.

The Evening Star said opponents of the policy, now joined by some European and Latin American newspapers, have been answered anew, and that the President sees his first duty as protecting American lives and property in Nicaragua. It reported that Senator Borah’s criticism had brought no change in the policy.