Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-14
THAT "BId-BRoTHER" TALK.

uTN accordance with the most an
80 Gent laws of national expansion,
the Caribbean isles and all the
j continental territory lying south
of the Rio Grande as far IS Pan
anna should have long been incorporated
States" stated Henry Kittredge Norton,
New York journalist, in a recent ses-
sion of the Williamstown Institute Of
Such a scheme would include the re-
publics of Mexico, Guatemala, Hon
duras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa RIGA,
Panama, Cuba, Haiti and Santo Do
mingo all Of them independent, SOW
ereign states at present. It Is only fue
to the magnanimity and kindness Of the
United States, he said, that these ma
tions can survive as sovereign republics
foT the United States has refused to
follow a universal precedent Of i'm
perialistic conquest.
It is this kind Of phraseology that
undoes the benefits Of goodwill missions
TO Latin America and makes more din
cult the political understanding between
Saxon and Latin Americans. Pan
American diplomacy has q great foe In
this "hig-brotheE" propaganda, which
status Of the Southern republics.
NOShtIlB hkUubSS BEUatcA pLOtook AE0ul
Latin Americans than this talk Of
self superiority" or Of condescending
benevolence toward them. Nothing
hurts their pride more than an attempt
to deny their right 10 q sovereign ex-
istence. They admit that they have
little democratic experience; they admit
that they are only at the beginning Of
industrial development, and that q good
many problems Of national organization
sx.s1l a. -
stable governments are established
among them. But they are most en-
phatic In Affirming their right TO an
Independent life, however turbulent or
troublesome it might be,
To deny them this right and ignoring
their cruel sacrifices to gain that inde-
pendence, to suggest that they owe II
only to the unselish spirit or the chcr-
ity Of q strongc- foreign nation, Is the
bitterest compliment tn, any one can
pay the Latin Americans.
Nobody doubts the fact that the
United States Is well able to carry the
Stars and Stripes tFiumphantly not
only down the Caribbean zone but even
TO the farther Southern lands. Nobody
disputes the ability Of Uncle Sam II he
should undertake an annexationistie
policy In the continent. Under present
circumstances there Is little reason to
doubt his power. And from an eco
nomic and strictly material point OF
view perhaps such an accomplishment
might be OF advantage TO the majority
of those countries, but this does not
justify forgetting that there are also
moral and political elements to be con-
sidered. And the Latin Americans have
always stressed moral principles and
national pride above everything else.
TvgAN fn Vala ~
ity of truth In Mr.. Norton's statement,
1t Is not difficult to foresee the Ill ef-
fects that such an undiplomatie blow TO
Latin pride will have on the other side
of the Rio Grande. Fortunately, Amer
lean statesmen have always been OF q
different mind from Mr.. Norton on this
subject. They have made the recogni-
ton of the Latin republics Is SOW
ereign. independent states one Of their
principles of international policy. They
have considered each Of the Latin cOun-
tries as on an equal plane Of political
independence. They have treated them,
save in a few unfortunate occasions, as
self-governing countries, deserving all
the respect to which any sovereign
state Is entitled.
The Pan-American Union, an organi-
zation with headquarters In Washing
ton, created for the purpose OF promot-
this ideal. The 81 republics of the
Western Hemisphere are equally repre-
sented in the union, and every one OF
them enjoys the same privileges and
the same political standing.
Especially during the last 10 years
American officials have stressed this
concept of political equality among the
nations of the New World. In the last
Pan-American conferences they have
emphasized the fact that the United
| States considers her Latin sisters 20 ne
on a footing of absolute equality and
independents,
President Hoover declared during his
goodwill tour of South America that
! the United States had no greater right
to an independent and sovereign exist
enee than the smallest OF the Central
American republics. II Is fortunate for
the success of PRn-American ideals that
Hoover and very few With Mr.. Norton
in this country.
THE AMERICAN SOUL.
Almost at the same time that Henry
Kittredge Norton was addressing the
Wiiliamstown Institute OF Politics q
prominent Latin American, Carlos Da-
villa, Chilian Ambassador to the United
| States, leave in Lis country, was
delivering q sraech on his impressions
of the great colo IS of the North, !"
which Is remarkable for the novelty and
the fairness of Its concepts.
! IVheneVer a South american goes
hack to the other side Of the Panama
Canal after q prolonged stay In Unsle
Sans dominions e speaks OF the wc3a-
| ders of the fantastic akyscFapers, the
monumental factories, the industrial
power and the natural resources Of the
land; in q word, Of the stupendo ma
terisl progress which has given this
country universal fame. But &enar
Davila, an enthusiastic pioneer Of PAN
American understanding, departing from
this almost traditional tendency, spoke
70 his e0untYYman Of q new aspect q