Evening star., 1939-11-14
Security Zone Fixed
To Safeguard Peace,
We||es Emphasizes

OhoeTsecTetoTy OF Stote
Cites Pon-Americun
Cooperation in Forum
Sumner Welles, Undersecretary Of
State, discussed the security zone
around the Americas set up by the
Declaration Of Panama last night
in the National Radio Forum, ar
ranged by The Star and broadcast
over a Nationwide network Of the
National Broadcasting Co. The text
of his address follows:
The meeting Of consultation be-
tween the ministers for foreign
affairs OF the American republics,
which concluded It's sessions early
last month, was the first meeting
of this character which has taken
place in the history of the American
nations.
The need for such q meeting was
foreseen by the American govern
ments when they assembled, upon
the initiative of President Roosevelt,
at the Inter-American Conference
for the Maintenance of Peace held
in Buenos Aires in 1896. At that
extraordinary conference and at
the regular nter-American Con-
ference held at Lima in 1898, agree
ments were entered into which pro-
vided that in the event that an
American government believed that
there existed any menace to the
peace of the 81 American peoples,
the ministers for foreign affairs
of all the American republics, or
tl'eir representatives, would meet
for the purpose of consultation in
order to determine how best the
peace of the Western Hemisphere
might be preserved.
Consequently, the meeting at
Panama was not an inter- American
conference in the ordinary sense of
the term. 1t was a meeting held in
accordance with prior specific agree
ments for the sole purpose of deter
mining, in view of the grave world
emergency which had arisen, how
best the American peoples and their
governments could collaborate in
the task of preserving the American
republics from involvement in war
and from unnecessary and unjus-
tif1able prejudice to their legitimate
interests as the result of the hostil-
tiles which had broken out in Eu-
rope.
Three Major Problems.
The representatives of the Ameri-
can governments, when they assem-
bled in Panama on September %,
had before them for determination
three major problems.
First. the consideration of how
they could best, through common
endeavor and through practical
forms of cooperation, maintain un-
impaired their normal inter- -Ameri-
can economic and commercial life
during the continuation of the war.
The governments which they repre-
sented had all suffered greatly dur
ing the World War years. Many of
the republics which had maintained
their neutrality throughout that
conflict had seen their export mar
kets greatly diminished, and in
many cases, where profitable op-
portunity for export trade still ex-
isted the lack of shipping facilities
had made it impossible for them to
send their products abroad. In
other cases, war booms had ended
in fantastic overproduction, and in
consequent disastrous dislocation of
national economies. and even more
widespread had been rapid fluctua-
tions in exchange with resultant
prejudice to normal inter American
trade.
Moreover, it must be remembered
that during the years from 1914 to
1918 there had never been under
taken any joint effort to attempt
through collaboration to mitigate
the hardships encountered by each
individual republic, and we were all
of us persuaded that the experience
of that period demonstrated that by
JSAAAV AAAVSA lShll dCtlOll
damages which we as individual ma :
tions had suffered might to a very
considerable extent be now pre-
vented.
Advisory Committee Created.
At the Panama meeting, many gov
ernments presented urgent problems
for consideration and for study, but
it was the unanimous opinion that
the limitations of time made it i'm
possible for the meeting itself to
resolve the very far-reaching ques-
tions presented for our considera-
ton. 1t was consequently agreed
that the American republics would
constitute an Inter-American FL
nancial and Economic Advisory
Committee which should meet in
Washington on November IS, and
which should be composed of prop
erly qualified technical representa-
tives from each of the 81 republics.
1t was further agreed that this advi-
sorry committee would continue in