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The Commoner
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JUNE, 1915
13
mcnt on them. Eighteen new group committees
in this country will be selected as quickly as pos
sible, and one will he assigned to each of the
countries represented in this conference. While
these committees will have no official status, they
will have a, recognized standing in this country
and in your countries, I hope, so that when you
have matters upon which you wish to secure in
formation, or which you may wish to submit for
the consideration of financiers, merchants or
manufacturers in the United States, you will
have a committee in the United States through
which you may get such information or get into
contact with our people. As before stated, I
would suggest that the delegates of your respec
tive countries continue to act as group commit
tees, or that similar committees be appointed in
your countries, so that our people may have a
recognized channel through which reliable in
formation may be obtained.
The committees for the United States will be
announced later. I shall try to form them in
such a way that they will be live committees and
continue to do effective work.
WILL BE PLACED BEFORE CONGRESS
Before you leave this country for your homes
I hope to be able tdannounce these committees,
so that you may know just what the organization
hero is to be. In this connection I desire to say
that I shall take the greatest pleasure in sug
gesting to the president that in his next message
to the congress he refer to the work of this Pan
American financial Conference, and make appro
priate recommendations for carrying on the
work so auspiciously begun here, and that suffi
cient appropriations be made for the purpose.
If we can get that done we can give a great im
pulse to the work in this country, and I sincerely
hope that you, on your part, will nnke similar
recommendations to your governments and in
duce them to take similar action.
By this means and by co-ordinating the work of
these various committees and proceeding along
common lines of mutual interest, and in co-operation
with the Pan-American Union (and I know
my distinguished friend, John Barrett, will gladly
pull with us), I am quite sure that we qan put
enough ginger into this moyement to get prac
tical results, and that is what we want. We do
not want our work to expire with this confer
ence. We want every man here to put, all the
force into it that he individually possesses and
all the influence and enthusiasm that he com
mands, in order to realize the great results we
are trying to achieve.
Now, gentlemen, I want, in conclusion, to as
sure you again of my most cordial appreciation
of your coming here, and to you, gentlemen of
Latin America, do I feel most deeply Indebted for
all the time, patience and toil that you have
given to the work in hand. We are most grate
ful to you for coming such a long distance to
join us in these deliberations.
I hope that you will have a delightful trip
through our country. We have tried to arrange
a journey that will give you a small understand
ing, at least, of the greatneBs of our resources,
our industries, and our economic development.
In the first part of the trip, I am sorry to say
that I shall not be able to accompany you, but
I am trying to arrange my plans to join you, if
possible, in Chicago and make the remainder of
the journey with you. I hope T may succeed in
doing that.
SECRETARY BRYAN'S FAREWELL
Following is an address of farewell oy Mr.
Bryan to the delegates of the Pan-American Fi
nancial Conference:
Mr. Secretary and Gentlemen of the Conference:
It has during the past two years given me
great pleasure to support the secretary of the
treasury in the very important work which he
has done in connection with domestic problems,
and in this international work which he has con
ceived and brought to such a successful consum
mation he has also had my most earnest and
sympathetic co-operation. I am sure that no one
who has had to do with this meeting has found
more satisfaction than I have in the very obvious
results that have thus far been accomplished. It
was not to be expected that you would be able
to complete all the work that has been under
taken. In fact, as I have thought of this meet
ing, I have been reminded of the school events
that are associated with this period of the year.
This is our "Commencement" season, the com
mencement being the conclusion of the course of
study. The word commencement has been chosen
to describe these exercises because it is under
stood that the training prepares the student for
the work which lies before him the work which
he is about to begin. I shall remember this
meeting as a commencement exercise, not as the
conclusion of our work.
You have been brought together hero and have
become acquainted; and this acquaintance will,
I doubt not, in many cases ripen into a friendship
that will not only give pleasuro to those in at
tendance, but will have a substantial and mate
rial basis also in the good which our respective
countries will derive from it.
I congratulate you upon having laid the foun
dation; I am sure the superstructure will be all
that you can hope for. You have learned a very
important lesson at this conference, namely, that
there is a sympathetic relationship binding the
United States to all of the sister republics and
binding each of them to every other one. Upon
this sympathetic relationship we shall construct
the enduring edifice of Pan-American solidarity,
which means so much to all of our nations.
You have, it is true, gone to considerable ex
pense and given considerable time to this meeting,
but nothing that is of value can be accomplished
without effort. As we look back over our lives
our memories dwell with mos, satisfaction upon
those occasions which have drawn out that which
is best in us; if this be true then I am sure that
this week will be a bright one in the memory of
all who have participated, for this gathering will
result in a larger acquaintance, a closer intimacy
and a mutual helpfulness that will add greatly to
the happiness of all.
I thank you.
THE NICARAGUAN TREATY
During the closing hours of the Pan-American
Financial Conference, which ended its sessions
at Washington on May 29, Mr. Bryan, in address
ing the delegates regarding the Nicaraguan
treaty, spoke as follows:
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:
"I have asked the secretary of the treasury to
allow me to say a word in regard to this treaty.
I need not tell you that it is a matter in which
the department with which I have the honor to
be acquainted has been deeply interested. And
I desire to add just this word, which probably
could come more appropriately from this gov
ernment than from the committee.
"It has been suggested that this treaty with
Nicaragua is in some way antagonistic to the
interests of other Central American republics;
when we learned that there was uneasiness lest
the treaty might interfere with the rights of ad
joining countries, we gladly stated that wo would
amend this treaty so that 'it would specifically
provide that none of its terms should in any way
affect the rights of other countries of Central
America. We did not regard this amendment as
necessary, because nothing that Nicaragua and
the United States could do by treaty could pos
sibly affect the rights of any countries not par
ties to the treaty, but in order to contribute to a
sense of security we have been very glad to offer
this assurance, and we have done it with the ap
proval of Nicaragua. You will find, when the
treaty is ratified, that it will contain an amend
ment that will specifically declare that no other
country is to be in any way injured by any of the
rights therein conferred; and we have gone fur
ther and said to Costa Rica that wo are perfectly
willing to make such a treaty with her, purchas
ing an option on her interest in the canal route,
just as we are purchasing an option from Nic
aragua. And we have also stated to Honduras
and to Salvador that we shall be pleased to make
with them arrangements for a lease of land for
a naval base similar to that made with Nicara
gua The lease with Nicaragua gives us all the
land we need for a naval base, upon the shore
adjacent to Nicaragua; but in order to show our
entire impartiality we are perfectly willing to
treat with all adjoining nations in exactly the
same spirit and upon the same terms, and we
want them all to understand that nothing that
we do with any of them is at all prejudicial to
their interests as they are related to each other;
that we shall be more than pleased to have them
all confer and consult with eacli other about all
matters that affect the welfare of Central Amer
ica." It is difficult to please some kinds of repub
licans Not long ago they were criticising the
president for "pursuing business," and now that
his program with relation to business has been
completed, they effect to believe that the pres
ident has made "his peace" with the -business
men. ' '"
President's Appeal to
Mexico
For more than two years revolutionary condi
tions have oxlHtcd in Moxico. Tho purpose of the
revolution wns to rid Moxico of men who ignored
the constitution of tho republic and used their
power In contempt of tho rights of Its people;
and with these purposes tho people of the United
States Instinctively and genorously sympathized.
But the leaders of tho revolution, in tho very
hour of their success, have disagreed and turned
their arms against one another. All professing
the samo objects, they aro nevertheless unable
or unwilling to co-operate. A central authority
at Mexico City is no sooner set up than it Is un
dermined and its authority denied by thoso whs
were expected to support it. Mexico is appar
ently no nearer a solution of her tragical trou
bles than she was when the revolution was first
klndlod. And she has been swept by civil war as
if by fire. Her crops arc destroyed, her fields
lie unseeded, her work cattle urc confiscated for
the use of tho armed factions, her pcoplo flee to
the mountains to escape being drawn Into un
availing bloodshed, and no man seems to see or
lead the way to pcaco and settled order. There
is no proper protection either for her own cit
izens or for tho citizens of other nations resident
and at work within her territory. Mexico la
starving and without a government.
In these circumstances the people and gov
ernment of the United States can not stand in
differently by and do nothing to serve their
neighbor. They want nothing for themselves In
Mexico. Least of all do tlfoy desire to settlo her
affairs for her, or claim any right to do so. But
neither do they wish to see utter ruin come upon
her, and they deem it their duty as friends and
neighbors to lend any aid they properly can to
any instrumentality which promises to be effec
tive in bringing about a settlement which will
embody the real objects of the revolution con
stitutional government and the rights of the peo
ple. Patriotic Mexicans aro sick at heart and cry
out for peace and for every self-sacrifice that
may be necessary to procure It. Their people
cry out for food and will presently hate as much
as they fear every man, In their country or out
of it, who stands between them and their daily
bread.
It is time, therefore, that the government of
the United States should frankly state the policy
which In these extraordinary circumstances it be
comes its duty to adopt. It must presently do
what It has not hitherto dor or felt at liberty
to do, lend its active moral support to some man
or group of men, if such may be found, who can
rally the suffering people of Mexico to their sup
port In an effort to ignore, if they can not unite,
the warring factions of the country, return to
the constitution of the republic so long In abey
ance, and' set up a government at Mexico City
which the great powers of the world can recog
nize and deal with, a government with whom the
program of the revolution will be a business and
not merely a platform. I, therefore, publicly and
very solemnly, call upon the leaders of faction
in Mexico to act, to act together, and to act
promptly for tho relief and redemption of their
prostrate country. I feel it to be my duty to tell
them" that, if they can not accommodate their
differences and unite for this great purpose with
in a very short timo this government will be con
strained to decido what means should be cm
ployed by the United States in order to help Mex
ico save herself and servo her people.
WOODROW WILSON.
Washington, June 2, 1915.
Deacon Hemphill of South Carolina, who
knows Comptroller Williams very well, says
that ho is a man "who would rather fight than
eat." The simile is quite apt in view of the fact
that most of his predecessors lacked in a desire
to fight the political bapks at the capital, but
were willing to take lunch with the cashiers and
other bank officers who had money to lend to de
serving government officials.
Mr. Taft has demonstrated his patriotism dur
ing the last few months by the loyal backing he
has given the president, but he marred his last
declaration of praise for Wilson and his plea for
united support for him by insisting that the dem
ocratic party has again shown that it is not fitted
to wield governmental power. But then, Prof.
Taft does not hold "down the chair of logic in hi
university.
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