moment that Argentina would oppose England in some controversy as to some minor state, which would be important to the United States, but relatively unimportant to Argentina. This illustration applies with equal force as to the other South American states. The money with which, these great states are being developed, and the population which is largely engaged in developing them, come from Europe and Europe could injure these states financially if they opposed European interests in and about the enforcing of the Monroe Doctrine.

This is a mere illustration of the multitude of troubles which would come by an agreement that the Monroe Doctrine should be enforced by a joint action of South American states and the United States. The questions are so absolutely diverse as between the United States and these countries, that no unity of action could be brought about so as to make the enforcement of the doctrine effective. While this is true the Monroe Doctrine should not be enforced with a strong hand, but should be carried out in justice, in courtesy and in fairness between our country and the countries of South America. This honesty and respect obtain among nations just as among men and by the immutable laws of cause and effect, and the action of this government upon a high plane will surely obtain and hold the respect of the countries of South America.

The Monroe Doctrine within its very nature is a doctrine which is fundamental and peculiar to the United States. While it should be carried out in justice, the mode, the time, the place and the manner of its operation should be, and I believe will be, directed and controlled absolutely by the United States. To place it in other hands would be the destruction of the Doctrine, which has been vital to this country and to this hemisphere, and cause the weakening of the hands of this government in the direction where international trade and life, will demand that our hands should be strong, and absolutely free to act decisively in the great international emergencies which arise so unexpectedly and which are fraught with such momentous consequences.

The doctrine of Monroe is a doctrine of help and peace. It is true that those who love our country believe that this Republic "looks hopefully to the time when by the voluntary departure of European governments from this continent and

the adjacent islands, America shall be wholly American." Still these governments and their systems are here and are part of the life of this hemisphere. They will surely demand that we preserve order and conserve the safety of the commerce within our sphere. This means absolute order. To bring about this order this government will not hurt the self-respect or pride of any great and stable nations of our hemisphere. We will work with them along the lines of mutual respect and esteem. Touched by the new life, which is making them so vital and important a part of the world affairs of the day, they will understand that the conditions of other days cannot continue, and that the responsibilities brought about by present world conditions demand that our safety and peace, as well as theirs, compel the continued existence of the Monroe Doctrine in its full virility. When this is understood there will be no distrust. There will be the co-mingling of nations with the same governmental freedom. It will be a great brotherhood, and the only one, of free people and free nations marching onward hand in hand to the consummation of that blessed time when the strong will not oppose the weak, and when filled with mutual esteem, confidence and regard, and touched by the wondrous vitalizing life of freedom, the nations of this hemisphere, great and little, Latin and Anglo-Saxon, will show to the world the splendor of freedom in its highest and best development.

Bulletin Pan American Union. 34: 790-800. June, 1912

Notable Pan American Addresses

At the meeting of the American Society of International Law, held on the morning of April 26, Sr. Don Luis Anderson, former minister of foreign affairs of Costa Rica, read a paper dealing with the Monroe Doctrine and its relation to international law.

After briefly reviewing the circumstances which led to the famous declaration of President Monroe in 1823, and quoting the paragraph of his message which was later to constitute the Doctrine bearing his name, Sr. Anderson said: Such an important and solemn declaration, uttered at the most opportune time, was really the last stone to complete the edifice of Spanish-American independence; and until this day it has been the rock against

which have foundered all the different enterprises of reconquest and domination on the part of the countries of the old world. Before this statement the vast projects entertained at Verona by the monarchs united in the Holy Alliance had to hold themselves. in check and remain reduced to nothing; and the same fate was later shared by the unfortunate adventures of Mexico, the Chincha Islands, the Dominican Republic, etc.

To avail myself of the happy expression of our illustrious colleague, Don Alejandro Alarez, "the message of President Monroe, although it was not its purpose to declare any principle, nor had anything in view beyond the immediate interests of the United States, yet it formulated with such a precision the international situation of the new world with respect to the old, and synthesized so exactly the aspirations and destinies of all America, that in a certain manner it came to be its gospel."

In fact, the declaration of President Monroe, made under trying circumstances and at the most proper occasion, was for the Iberian Republics of America the fundamental ground for their sovereignty and institutions; for America at large it was, and continues to be, the symbol of continental solidarity which united the English-speaking and the Spanish-speaking peoples, and places the territory and the institutions of every American country sheltered from violence and possible foreign intervention, assuring them their national life as organizations which shall never be disintegrated by any expansionist ambition.

The Monroe Doctrine, so considered and understood, constitutęs the corner stone of our existence as political bodies and is in fact one of the cardinal principles of our international life. Proclaimed and maintained in the most energetic way by the United States, but sustained with no less decision and enthusiasm by the other Republics of the continent, each time that the independence and integrity of the Latin American nations have been menaced, the Monroe Doctrine has played an important rôle in the incident and has received a new consecration. Thus it is evident, among other instances, from the declaration of Secretary of State Buchanan in 1848 in regard to the expedition of Flores to Ecuador; the attitude of the United States in regard to the French intervention in Mexico in 1863-1866; the declaration of Secretary of State Seward in regard to the war of Spain with Chile and Peru; the protest of the United States against the

reincorporation by Spain of the island of Santo Domingo in 1881; the declaration of the Government of the United States in view of the conflict over the boundary of Guiana, between England and Venezuela, etc.

It is necessary, therefore, to admit that thanks to the Monroe Doctrine, maintained by the diplomacy of the United States with such ability, energy and constancy, the Latin-American continent has remained until now immune to the colonizing tendency which characterizes the policy of the Great Powers of Europe.

But will this policy of the United States Government be sufficient in coming years to prevent the weak nations of America from attempts at conquest by the strong nations? This is a problem with which we may, perhaps we shall, be confronted in the near future; and logic, as well as the most elementary precaution, teaches us all that we ought to foresee the events, and prepare ourselves to face them, seeking from now on satisfactory solutions to so delicate a situation.

This is not a pessimistic point of view. The social and political conditions of Europe are truly exceptional and critical. The powerful armaments by sea and by land, those great armies which of themselves are a heavy burden on the citizen, against his will turned from the home to serve in the ranks, make necessary the imposition of tremendous taxation, each day more burdensome and oppressive for every class; add to this an overcrowded population, poverty among the working class, together with the socialistic tendencies which advance everywhere with the onrush and persistence of the tides, and which are already beginning to shake the political and social structure, and you shall see how near is the realization of the prophecy of Lord Grey spoken before the House of Commons on the 13th of May of last year: "Rebellion will not come until the taxes oppress directly the classes of society for whom life, even in the better conditions, is a constant struggle. When hunger begins to come by reason of the taxes, and it will arrive sooner or later in every nation if the actual military expenses continue increasing as at present, then a rebellion will be near which will bring an end to this military expense. Such is the end to which the great nations to-day are sinking."

The Governments of the Great Powers of Europe believe they have found in territorial expansion the means, if not to prevent,

at least to delay the danger with which they are confronted; and thus, we have seen them, during the last few years, striving to enlarge at any cost their colonial empire, with a view to transfer beyond the seas their overflow of population without weakening the country by migration, but enlarging their frontiers and acquiring at the same time splendid advantages for their commerce. With no limitations other than those which they themselves have been willing to use against each other as a matter of compensation and equilibrium, the European Powers, while rejoicing at the peace the Continent has enjoyed since 1871, have been bringing war into the regions of Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, in order to raise here and there the flag of conqueror.

But this colonial policy has proved nothing more than a momentary remedy, as the disease still exists while the medicine is being used up; the territories appropriated are no longer sufficient, and the Old Continent offers no more land available for colonization. The danger as an ever increasing and threatening wave shows itself again, and the Governments, utterly astounded, realize that the colonial policy in which they expected to find their salvation was no more than a truce.

New fields for the colonizing and adventurous spirit would perhaps be the means of prolonging that truce, to set aside for a longer period the danger which is now imminent. But where are these new fields? It is not difficult to see that the answer Ishould be found on this side of the Atlantic. I read in an important book, written not long ago by Dr. Albert Hale, what follows:

The nations of Europe are crowded and South America offers the only available land on earth into which the surplus can overflow. Who will оссиру this virgin soil? When and how, by whom and under what influences, will its productive acres be used for the sustenance of man?

I think that the very Monroe Doctrine would be sufficient to meet the difficulty if only all the American countries, without looking at past events but with eyes cast upon their future destinies, would resolve to carry out the idea of President Monroe in all its logical developments and conclusions according to what the spirit of the times demands. If they unite to proclaim, as they should do, that "conquest shall be hereafter absolutely prescribed from the American continent, binding each and all neither to undertake nor to tolerate conquest of American terri