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The Commoner
VOL. . 1G, MO., 1
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Our Pan-American Policy
Tho United SlalCH government's Pan-Amorican
policy was rovcnlcd In detail by President Wilson
in an address before the second Pan-American
Scientific congress, at Washington, January C.
Tho address, as carried in the press dispatches,
was in part as follows:
"I havo been told so much about tho proceed
ings of this congress that I can congratulate you
upon tho increasing sense of comradeship and
Intimate intercourse which has marked its ses
sions from day to day; and it is a very happy cir
cumstance in our vlow that this, perhaps JJio
most vital and successful of the meetings of this
congress, should have occurred in tho capital of
our own country. The drawing to
gether of tho Americans has long been dreamed
of and desired. It is a matter of peculiar grati
fication therefore, to see this great thing happen;
1 to soo tho Americans drawing together and not
drawing together upon an insubstantial founda
tion of mero sentiment.
"After all, even friendship must bo based upon
a perception of common sympathies of common
interests of common ideals, and of common pur
poses. Men can not ho friends unless they in
(ond tho same thing, and tho Americans havo
more and moro realised that in all essential par
ticulars they intend the same things.
To ho privileged, therefore, to see this drawing
together in friendship and communion based up
on these solid foundations affords every one who
looks on with open eyes peculiur satisfaction and
, joy; it has Boomed to mo that tho language of
fici'onco, tho language of impersonal thought, tho
language of those who. think was a
very fortunate language to express this commun
ity of interest and of sympathy.
. "Hut, ladies and gentleman, our thought can
, nqt, pause at the artificial boundaries of the fields
, of ,sciepce and of commerce All boundaries that
divido lifo into sections and interests are.artl
, Uoittl because lifo is all of a piece No
,flpo, who reflects upon tlo progress of science or
, ,ih,o spr.ead of tho arts of pqaco or tho extension
. an,d perfection of any of tho practical arts of life
pari fai,l to soo that there is only ono atmosphere
that theso things can breathe, and that is an at
osphero of mutual confldqneo and of peace and
, of ordered political life among the nations.
Ajwa.t war and revolution even tho voice of sci
ence must for tho most part bo silent and revolu
tion toars up tho very roots of every thing that
makes lifo got so steadily forward. For nothing
stirs passion like political disturbance, and pas
sion is tho enemy of truth.
INTERFERENCE OF POLITICS
r "Theso things were realized with peculiar
viviUnoss and said with unusual eloquence in a
recent conference hold in this city for the pur
. poso of considering tho financial relations be
tween the two continents of America.
A financial congress naturally led to all the in
terferences of politics, for politics I conceive to
bo nothing moro than the scienco of the ordered
.progress of society along the lines of greatest
usofulneBs and convenience to itself.
' "Tho conference to which I havo referred
marked the consciousness of tho two Americas
that economically thoy are very dependent upon
ono another, that thoy have a great deal that it
iSiVery desirable they should exchange and share
with ono another, that they havo kept unnatur
ally and unfortunately separated and apart when
thoy had a manifest and obvious community of
interest; and tho object of that conference was
to ascertain the practical means by which the
financial and political intercourse could be quick
ohed and facilitated. And where events move
statesmen, if they bo not indifferent or be not
asleep, must think and act.
"But these gentlemen havo not conferred with
out realizing that back of all the material com
munlty of interest of which I have spoken there
lies and must lie a community of political inter
est. I havo been told a very interesting fact
I hope, it is true that while this congress has
heen discussing science it has been in spite of
"Itself led Into the feeling that behind the Science
'ro'T.ymo l?Wfreitoe With regard to politics
and that if the Americas Were to be 'united in
: thought they must In some degree sympathetic
ally bo united in action. What these statesmen
who have been conferring from month to month
In Washington have come to realize is that back
of tho community of material interest there is a
community of political interst.
"I hope I can make it clear to you in what
sense I use those words. I do not mean a mere
partnership in the things that are expedient. I
mean what I was trying to indicate a few mo
ments ago, that you can not separate politics
from these things, that you can not have real
intercourse of any kind amidst political jealous
ies, which is only another way of saying you
can not commune unless you are friends, and
that friendship is based upon your political re
lations with each other perhaps more than upon
any other kind of relationships between nations.
INTERCOURSE EMBARRASSED
"Jf nations, are politically suspicious of one
another all their intercourse is embarrassed.
The object of American statesmanship on the
two, continents is to see to it that American
friendship is founded on a rock.
"The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed by the
United States on her own authority. It always
has been maintained and always will be main
tained upon her own responsibility. But the
Monroe Doctrine demanded merely that Euro
pean governments should not attempt to extend
their political systems to this side of tho Atlantic.
It did not disclose tho use the United States in
tended to make of her power on this side of the
Atlantic. It was a hand held up in warning, but
there was no promise in it of what America w,as
going to do with the implied and partial pro
tectorate which she apparently was trying to set
up on this side of the water, and I believe you
will sustain me in the statement that it has been
fears and suspicions on this score which have
hitherto prevented the greater intimacy and con
fidence and trust between the Americas. The
states of America have not been certain what the
United States would do with her power. That'
doubt must be removed.
"And latterly there has been a very frank in
terchange of views between the authorities in
Washington and those who represented the other
states of this hemisphere, an interchange of
views charming and hopeful, because based up
on an increasingly sure appreciation of the spirit
in which they were undertaken. These gentle
men have seen that if America is to come into
her own, into her legitimate own, in a world of
peace and order, she must establish the founda
tions of unity so that no one will hereafter doubt
them.
STATES WILL UNITE
uLLli0PenMna l belieVG that this cau be accom
plished. Ihese conferences have enabled me to
foresee how it will be accomplished. It will be
accomplished in the first place by the states of
Araorica uniting in guaranteeing to each other
absolutely political independence and territorial
Integrity. In the second place, and as a necessary
corollary to that, guaranteeing the agreement to
settle all pending boundary disputes among
themselves should they unhappily arise, wUl be
handled by patient, impartial investigation n ml
settled by arbitration, and the aSS JeS
sary to the peace of the Americas that no stoto
o either continent will permit revolution expe
ditions against another state to be fitted on ts
territory and that they will prohibit the exnorta!
ion of munitions of war for the purpose of -S
SpnS5nt8?0,UUOn,Bta againSt Z$ "o?:
"You see that our thought is, gentlemen nnt
only the international peace of Amer" ca bul the
domestic peace of America. If American state?
are constantly in ferment, if any of them are
constantly in ferment there will be a stamw
threat to their relations with one another. 1 "!
just as much to our interest to assist each otiinr
to the orderly process within our own borders as
it is to orderly processes in our contfoverslSJ
with one another, These are very practical sut
gestions which have sprung un in SS, BI
thoughtful men and I for mypart ioCn
they are going to lead the w tolluZt a
America prayed for tor many a Srltion
absolute JrJSSf ZZi
world. These are things, ladies and gqntlemeg,
for which' the world. has hoped arid waited Wlith
prayerful heart. God grant that ' it may, ,je
granted to America to lift this light on higlufor
the illumination of the world."
Co-operation
Abstract of an address delivered by William .
Jennings Bryan before the Pan-American Scien-
tific Congress, Washington, D. C, January 3,
1916.
Mr. President and Members of the Congress: '
Allow me to preface my remarks 'by saying
that my object in attending this session of the
Pan-American Scientific congress is not so much
to make an address as to meet the distinguished
delegates here assembled and to testify by my
presence to my deep and continuing interest in
all that relates to the republics of Central and
South America. My concern in their develop
ment and welfare, while antedating my connec
tion with the state department, was increased
during my occupancy of office, and it has not
abated since ray retirement. I desire to be en
rolled among the permanent friends of these
neighboring republics, and shall hold myself in
readiness to respond to their call whenever I can
render them any assistance.
In casting about for a theme for my brief; re
marks today it occurred to me that the word '.'co
operation" might well serve as the point about
which to group certain suggestions, for which I
ask your consideration. ,
Co-operation is the growing word
of the twentieth century. There. is '
noticeable everywhere an increasing tendency
on the part of individuals and nations . .
to act together in matters of mutual concern. In
business life the idea is accentuated by the mul- ;
tiplicity of corporate organizations, in whicli in-
dividuals associate themselves together for the
advancement of their joint interests. Nations, -too,
are more and more considering matters of
common interest, and lending to each other, the
assistance that comes from joint action. While .
the unprecedented struggle now raging across
the Atlantic has for the time being interrupted .
international co-operation in that section of the
world, it should be regarded as a temporary sus
pension of co-operation rather than a permanent
surrender of the idea.
Co-operation in the western hemisphere has
been more general than in the east because of the
greater similarity of our institutions and polit
ical aims, and also because of the absence of the
issues and prejudices which have made interna
tional dealings less intimate there than they are '
on this side of the ocean. Then, too, the pres
ent conflict in Europe. has tended to draw the re
publics of the western hemisphere nearer to
gether, as their dependence upon, and, their ppw- -er
to aid each other have become more appar-'
ent.
With this introduction permit me to suggest
a few lines of action along which I believe it is '
possible for us, with mutual advantage, to co
operate to a larger extent than we do now
First, the language tie which binds nations to
gether is a strong one; ability to speak to, and
understand each other lies at the foundation of
both business and social intercourse. The two
languages spoken in the Americas are the grow
ing languages of the present century. The rapid
increase in the population of the United States
would alone greatly increase the English-speaking
population of the world during tire next cen
tury, and, m addition to this, the use of the Eng
lish tongue is rapidly spreading in the Orient and
in the commercial centers of the world. As the
I T s?utu American countries are likely
to repeat during this century the development
witnessed in the United States during the plst
century, the Spanish language seem! desthied
to fill an increasing place in the world's future
Every possible encouragement should, there
fore, be given to the teaching of the English
language in Latin America and to the teaching
of Spanish in the United States. There are sev'
eral ways in which this encouragement can be
given An exchange of professors would be an
advantage. If arrangements could be made bv
which the colleges and universities of Central
and South America would accept American in
structors .in return for Latin speaking instruof
ora sent to the United States theTemnorarv ex
S?T MUld' not only be hft in. extencling
the two languages but a larger acquaintancl
would follow, and acquaintance-is, after all ?hS
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