Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1938-09-16
THE INTEGRITY
OF THE AMERICAS
]. E. JONES

The early ancestry of the Good
Neighbor Policy may be traced back
to the Administration of President
Monroe, who proclaimed his lasting
doctrine" The enduring friendship
between the Americas is symbolized
by a marble building in Washington.
Among the throngs of daily visitors
in this shOw-place are many men,
women and children from the Re-
publics of the South. They cherish
this building, with its tropical at
mosphere as part of their own part
nership in all America.
The Pan-American Union is an of
fetal international organization of
q American Republics whose major
purpose is to increase and develop
peace, friendly intercourse, and
commerce. It is controlled by a gov
erning board composed of the Sec
rotary of State of the United States
and the diplomatic representatives in
Washington of other republics.
When Frank B. kellogg was Sec
rotary Of State in 1926 the Pan-Am-
erican Union took notice of the blunt
statement of the American Secretary
towards Mexico, charging it with
confiscation of American farm lands
in a way that placed that cantank-
erous Republic ION trial before the
rest of the World" The complaint
smouldered through all these years,
and the debts have never been paid.
Ironing out differences with the
Southern Republics has usually been
affected through painless diplomatic
procedure. Secretary Of State Hull
is a master in the arts of friendly
compromises, and he received the
plaudits of All Americas in the ap-
parent successes of the Inter-Ameri-
can Conference at Buenos Aires in
December, 1886, which resulted in
the United States Senate ratifytng
two treaties and five conventions and
one protocol with the representatives
of the other 20 American Republics.
Thus the integrity of the Americas
was reafirmed. Now the Americas
face a new test. 1t is: Can the in
tegrity of All America be preserved,
with Communism rampant in Latin
America?
But on Labor Day, when the Ma
ton was engaged in everything ex-
cept laboring. Secretary Hull spent
the day at his desk in the State De-
partment. 1.-The note" from Mexico
was before him, and in brief it re-
asserted the refusal of the latter
Government to make provisions for
the payment of its debts and furth-
ermore defiantly asserted that land
grabbing would continue. Secretary
Hull had charged Mexico with acts
of delay and evasion never heard be-
fore in the history of the American
hemisphere" Other accusations par
aIelling that one had been brushed
aside by the Cardenas government
Little wonder that Washington
reads, with growing concern, such
statements as the following by for
mer United States Senator, from
Mexico: THE Mexican question is
something more than the deliberate
stealing of the mines, ranches, plan
tations and oil wells Of Americans.
1t deals, finally, with the character
of the neighborhOod we are to suffer
south of our border. under the good
policy"
II is because the Good Neighbor
Policy is a logical continuation of
the ideals of Monroe that it has
been accepted throughout the Am
ericas. Our own country, in trying
its best to maintain the high stand
ards of democratic government so
often reiterated in Latin-Americas
Conferences, and in the frequent ses-
sions Of diplomats in the Pan-Amer-
lean Union, clings tenaciOusly to its
text, that the business standards OF
should be higher than
hose of individuals.