Evening star., 1939-11-14

tions for the general problems which
affect all the American nations,
as we'll as for the specific difficulties
which may confront some particular
American government, and which
that government may desire to sub
NIT for the consideration of the
committee.
This committee, when it meets two
days from now, will have, in my
judgment, unique opportunity to
undertake task of the highest
significance and of the highest use
fulness. 1t is called upon to deal
with practical problems. and if it
is to be successful, the solutions it
recommends must in their turn be
feasible and practical. If it limits
itself to theoretical expositions of
doctrine, however unexceptionable
its recommendations may be, 1t will
completely fail to attain the objec-
tive for which 1t was created. II il
points out in a practical manner the
way in which existing and urgent
problems affecting inter-American
communications and trade can actu-
ally be solved, bluntly and realisti-
cally, it will not only have achieved
the purpose for which it was created
but it will have likewise demon
strated the best of reasons why close
inter-American cooperation of this
character should continue in the
future in times Of peace as well as
in times of war.
The second great problem with
which the American representatives
at Panama had to deal was the
question of the steps which the
American republics might best take
In order to maintain inviolate their
status as neutral nations. During
the World War the American
republics pursued no common neu-
trality policy. While the great
majority of the American govern
ments were signatories of The Hague
Conventions of 1899 and of 1907
many of them during the last war
demonstrated widely divergent
criteria both as to their rights as
we'll as with regard to their obi
gator as neutral powers. AT
Panama it was agreed that in the
interest of the peace of the hemi-
sphere as we'll as in the individual
interest of every American nation
an effort should. be made to fix
common inter- American standards
of neutrality without prejudice, of
course, to our several sovereign
rights. The meeting consequently
unanimously agreed upon the de-
claration termed the General De-
claration of Neutrality of the Ameri-
can Republics" in which are set
forth these common standards. AS
result, the American governments
will adopt similar dispositions with
regard to such vital questions as
those involving the rights of bellig-
erents within their several juris-
dictions and with regard to their
own rights and obligations as neu-
trails in their dealings with the bellig-
erents. The common determina-
ton which we have thus set up will
be of an importance that cannot
be overestimated in avoiding that
kind of friction with the bellig-
erents which has in past years
so often led to involvement in war
Would Guard Normal Relations.
Finally, at Panama the American
governments through their repre-
sentatives dealt realistically with the
all-important problem of how our
nations might best keep war away
from our New World. We were all
of us in accord that the sovereign
and independent nations of the
Americas, constituting, from the
northern boundary of the United
States to the southern tip of Cape
Horn, the greater part of a con-
tinent, were entitled by inherent
right to insist that so long as they
maintain their neutrality, the war
which had broken out more than
5000 miles away, and in which they
were in no sense involved, should
not interfere with nor destroy the
purely inter- American life of the
American republics. We all of us
felt that the lives of citizens of the
American republics, travelling from
one American port to another
American port, should no longer be
jeopardized as they were IN the
World War years, and that normal
and legitimate commercial rela-
tions between the American repub-
lies should neither be interfered
with nor destroyed as they were in
so many instances between 1914 and
1919.
This consensus of opinion took
shape in the provisions of declara-
ton of policy unanimously adopted
and which is known as the "Declara-
ton of Panama" This declaration,
in the name of all the American
republics. proclaims that as mat
ter of inherent right the American
republics are entitled to obtain of
the belligerents assurances that,
within a limited area of the waters
adjacent to American coasts, which
is required for the self-protection of
the American nations, and which
embraces normal inter American
maritime communitions, the bellig-
erents will not commit acts of hos
tility, nor undertake belligerent
activities.
should make it clear at the out
set that the provisions of this decla-
ration were in no sense original, nor
do they represent any new or star
tling theories. In the years 1914
and 1915 this very thesis, in one
form or another, had been advanced
by several of the American republics,
notably Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ar
gentina and Chile.
I have heard it alleged, however
that the Declaration of Panama is
bellicose In character and destined
to involve our own Government in
dangerous controversies. I have
further heard it alleged that the
United States Navy will have to
engage in the task Of patrolling all
of the waters comprised within the
security zone. Finally, I have heard
1t said that the Declaration of Pana-
ma is merely q collection of words