Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-12-04
APPENDIX.
Address by the Secretary Of State Of the
United States of America as Honor
airy President of the Third Confer
ence of American Republics at Rio
de JaneirO, July 81, 1906.

Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the
Third Conference of American Repub-
lics-I beg you to believe that highly
appreciate and thank you for the honor
you do me.
| bring from my country a special
greeting to her elder sisters in the civ
ilization of America.
Unlike as we are in many respects,
we are alike in this-that we are all
engaged under new conditions and free
from the traditional forms and limita-
tons of the old world in working out
the same problem of popular self gov
eminent.
1t is a difficult and laborious task for
each of us. Not in one generation or
in one century can the effective con-
troll of a superior sovereign, so long
deemed necessary to government, be
rejected and effective self control by
the governed be perfected in its place.
The first fruits of democracy are, many
of them. crude and unlovely. Its mis-
takes are many, its partial failures
many. it's sins not few. Capacity for
self government does not come to man
by nature. 1t is an art to be learned,
and it is also an expression of char
acter to be developed among all the
thousands of men who exercise popular
sovereignty.
To reach the goal toward which we
are pressing forward the governing
multitude must first acquire knowledge
that comes from universal education,
wisdom that follows practical expert
ence, personal independence and self
respect BETTING men who acknowledge
no superior, self control TO replace that
external control which Il democracy re-
jects, respect for law, obedience TO the
lawful expressions of the public will,
consideration for the opinions and in
tereSts of others equally entitled to a
voice in the state. loyalty to that alb
stract couception-ones country-aS in
spring as that loyalty to personal SOW
ereigns which has so illumined the
pages of history, subordination of per-
sonal interests to the public good love
of justice and mercy, of liberty and
order All these we must seek by
Slow and patient effort, and of how
many shortcomings in his own land
and among his own people each one OF
us is conscious.
Yet no student of our times can fail
to see that not America alone, but the
whole civilized world, is swinging
away from it's old governmental moor
ings and intrusting the fate of its civ
ilization to the capacity of the popular
mass to govern. BY this pathway
mankind is to travel whithersoever it
leads. Upon the success Of this our.
great undertaking the hope of human
ty depends.
Nor can we fail to see that the world
makes substantial progress toward
more perfect popular self government.
believe it to be true that. viewed
gainst the background Of conditions a
century. a generation. decade ago,
In my own country has adj
vanced i'm the intelligent participation
IF the great mass of the people. In the
idelty and honesty with which they
are represented, in respect for law, in
obedience to the dictates of a sound
and In effectiveness and pu- /
.ity of administration.
Nowhere in the world has this prog 1
'ess been more marked than In Latin
America. Out of the wrack OF Indian
Sighting and race conflicts and civil
vars strong and stable governments
AVE arisen. Peaceful succession in
lccord with the peoples will has re-
placed the forcible seizure of power
permitted by the peoples Indifference.
loyalty to country. Its peace, Its dig.