Evening star., 1915-06-13

| present instance do have. importance
| beyond compare. They may mean the
| opening and peopling of great regions
desert until then: the redemption of a
| weak nation and of it's transformation
| into prosperous and commanding
| community. Such happy consummations
| have been witnessed time and again
Ours however. Is loftier endeavor
| strengthen throughout the continent
the structure of liberty which was
| erected by our ancestors Any omission
I of ours at any hour of history to do
what the hour requires for the main
| tenance of that structure would be an
unpa ardonable sin. any concession to
oppression or to tyranny in exchange
| for material advantage. for commercial
| or political power or for economic
! domination would be high treason to
| the consecrated ideals of patriotism
| In this wise the Improvement of finan-
| cial relationships-the link which we
have to forge at the present hour-ex-
pands into a living reality Identified
| with the past the present and the 1u-
ture of our continent.
November %, 1922, the allied mon
archs of Europe signed a secret treaty
at Verona. whereby they pledged them
selves to do everything in their power
| for the suppression of representative
government wherever it existed and
for the prevention of the spread of rep
resentative institutions wherever they
did not exist. December 2, 1923. Presi-
dent Monroe made a declaration when
has come to be one of the most por-
tentous and pregnant facts in the his
tory of the world it is therein mann
tanned that the American continents.
by the free and independent CONDITION
which they have assumed and main
tained are thenceforth not to be con-
Sidered as subjects for future colonl-
Zation by any European powers: that
the political system of the allied pow
ers of Europe is essentially different
from that of America, that any at
tempt on the part of the powers of Eu-
rope to extend their system to any por-
tion of this hemisphere would be con-
sidered by the United States as dam
gerouS to their peace and their sa1etS.
THE period of time when those ut
terances were made coincided with the
lull that followed the French revolu-
ton and the Napoleonic wars. The vic
torious dynasts of Europe sat uneasy
on their thrones; their vision of life
was obscured by the procession events
during the preceding thirty years,
which fingered in their memory as a
warning and a menace. All the tradi-
tions, all the sanctities of life as they
conceived them, had been trampled
under foot in the name of that horrible
Utopia called Liberty, and through
the agency of that dreadful monster
called the People 1t had become i'm
perative to prevent beyond all possi-
bility the recurrence of such calami-
ties. liberty must be stamped out as
poisonous plant and the people must
be kept in deep subsection beyond all
mad dreams of revolt. Thus. the mon
archs entered into their compact In
the pages of history the Monroe decla-
ration stands reply to the royal
covenant. And if those same pages
of history are followed to the present
day no deep scrutiny will be required
to verify the evolution of the two sys-
tens embodied in the two documents.
Closed the Continent.
1.-The Monroe declaration closed the
continent of America to the system of
Europe, and consecrated the American
continent to the system of democracy.
In Europe the system of balance of power
obtained Throughout the whole of the
nineteenth century and up to the present
moment: the present European catas-
trophe marks the inevitable result of
system based on inequality and privilege.
THE United States have been true to
their word: the continent of America has
been maintained free from European con-
quest. President Monroe's utterance is
not an international treaty, nor does it
pretend to protect the weak and the de-
fenseless it is based solely and ex-
clusively on the welfare and convenience
of the United States. AS that welfare
is identified with liberty and justice
of selfishness disappear and the element
of greatness enters into the declaration.
Therein lies the fundamental essential
quality of excellence and goodness of the
doctrine The oak spreads its branches
in obedience to the law of its nature; yet
it gives shelter to the birds OF the air
and shade to the wanderer from the heat
of the monday sun.
I'm preventing the Introduction of the
European system amongst their neigh
bors, the United States prima rly pro-
tected themselves. In 1926 Daniel Web
ster, speaking in the House of Repre-
sentatives, stated that the concern of
the government of the United States in
cases of landing of foreign troops on
the American continent would become
intensified in direct ratio to the prox-
unity of the invaded land to the terri
tory of the United States. that an in
vasion in the Gulf of Mexico would
necessitate prompt and energetic meas
ures. whilst the disembarkment of an
alien force in the then remote regions
of the River Plate might only call for
diplomatic protest. Matters, however
have changed since then; the River
Plate region is nearer the United
States today than the Gulf of Mexico
was in Webster's day.
Saved the Americas.
The Monroe doctrine has saved the
sovereignty of the American nations
from European conquest. In the last
forty years European powers have con-
quered every available inch of terri
tory on the eastern hemisphere. Those
military and predatory activities of Eu-
rope have served a multitude of pur-
poses; they have justified in a measure
the military and naval establishments;
they have procured an outlay for en-
terprise and capital, even at the point
sort of safety valve for the growing
pressure of the armaments and theif.
consequential fosterings of rebellion
Had II been possible to continue the
wars of depreciation on the western
hemisphere the present European war
would have been avoided and those
wars of depreciation would have ragged
from the Rio Grande down to the
southernmost end of the continent
The assertion made in some quarters
specially in Latin America-that the
Latin American nations are able to
protect themselves. is futile and un-
tenable. The law of necessity invok ed
by the great military powers recog-
nizes no other law than that of a su-
perior force. What superior force could
any nation or group of nations in Latin
America oppose to great European
military power? What could the best
organized communities in Latin Amer
Ica. or the most numerous in popula-
tion. like Argentina. Chile and Brazil
do against a landing force of half of a
dreadnaughts? After what we have
seen in the last thirty years Of uuprn-
voked attacks upon civilian prpula-
tIons. Of massa cres. Of civilian multi