Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-14

must be fostered as An example to the world
sspotsd snS ON 'S ths south @ pe q srsst danger,
Tsh cs With us he sSsern se lepo SS
| AN ASTONISHING thing is the stubborn
| "A ness with which the United states has
kept it's face turned from the south. With
the north closed through the existence there
of great foreign dominion, the eyes OF this
country have always looked either west or
east-west for its external expansion, east
for commerce. For a hundred years there
has been growing slsterhood OF republics
south of the Rio Grande, without any but
the most meagre interest on the part OF the
Great Republic.
II would be idle to pretend that there is
not some justification for this fixed direction
of American enterprise. The republics Of
South America arc Latin, and the ideals Of
their dominating classes are not the ideals
of England and Germany and Scandinavia,
but of Spain and Portugal Racially the af-
fectons Of North Americans are with north
ern Europe and those Of South America with
their Iberian forefathers. Yet the chasm
which is thus fixed between the continents
has been doubly bridged by the claims of
common humanity and by an obstinate de-
votion to the same ideals of democratic gov
ernment The piers have been sunk deep
and fortified by repeated afflrmations of the
protective and non aggressive Monroe Doc
trine, and more recently by tentative estab-
lishments of commercial relations. Much re-
mains to be done, but hing can be done
before the United States understands South
America more clearly.
Primarily 1t must be understood that the
safety and security of the United states are
bound up with the independence and in
- .t,a
country is a house with southern exposure,
from which all good things can come. But
the wind that comes up from the south may
be full of pestilence unless tho south is kept
clean of entanglements and free from for
eign domination. The great attraction
south of Panama is not that money can be
made there, but that nations can be strength
ened and protected until their existence con-
tributes to the prosperity and permanence OF
this country itself
The fact is that the ground is prepared
for the sowing. Brazil and Argentina and
Chill, the principal Governments, welcome
the interest of the United States, while they
look with n e-founded distrust upon the
solcltude of European Powers. A tre-
mendous tide of immigration has set in, and
whole sections of each of these states are
the property of European colonists. Upon
tncm no friendly eye nus Deen cast because
the motives of their fatherlands are in ques-
tion. The United States alone is in a posi-
ton to say that no aggression is intended,
because none is necessary to its own de-
velopment. So far there has not been. and
1t is unlikely that there will be, any definite
emigration from this country, so that the
spread of American ideals and the afflrma-
tion of American friendship depend almost
wholly upon the enlargement of commercial
relations.
The gain to individual traders, to United
States commerce, is, however, a measur-
able thing, while the gain to the United
States cannot be expressed in figures. What
the United States can help to create is a
demonstration of the possibilities of dem
ocracy. BY it's benevolent protection and by
its own example it can place before the eyes
of Europe, when they have cleared of the
red film of battle, the spectacle of many ma
tions rejoicing in the quiet blessings of peace
abroad and justice at home Neither of these
things has yet come to pass, but the promise
of both is in every country of this hemi-
sphere
Slowly but with reassuring steadiness
anarchy and violence are being driven out
of South America. The larger states are
well founded in their political conditions
as this country, and they are ready to take
their place in a Pan America which will be
a warning and lesson to the despotisms
and monarchies of Europe, with their eternal
quest for power and their inevitable strug-
giles. The purpose of the United States in
fostering the prosperity of the republics
which chose it for a model Is to insure for
the world a successful working experiment
in the possibilities of democracy.
Within the next so years South America
may be called TO answer the question of
Asiatic immigration. II may have to deal
with vast foreign populations already with
in it's confines. The relation of ruling class
to the mixed blood OF the middle class and TO
the cholos, the lowest class OF all. may be
entirely rearranged. The various subter-
fuges for peonage must eventually be ex-
posed and new system OF free labor be in
stituted. While these things are going on. the
peace of Europe may make Peru or Ecuador
too tempting a zone of dominion to be let
alone. In all these contingencies the as
sistance of the United States will be indis-
pensable. Yet it cannot be granted unless,
preceding the necessity, there is common
interest and free intercourse, not only OF
goods. but of ideas.
The United States has learned how pre-
is the peace OF Europe and how dan
gerous its alliances. Can 1t not teach Europe
a lesson in the success of republics which