The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-04-15
Roosevelt Speaks To 21 Americas On War
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"In this association of nations, whoever touches any one of us touches all of us. We have only asked that the world go with us in the path of peace. But we shall be able to keep that way open if we are prepared to meet force with force if challenge is ever made"
 Diplomats representing the other 20 American countries, which with the United States comprise the Pan- American Union, and representatives of other nations too, heard MT. RooS- evelt declare that universal and stable peace remains dream"
 War More Horrible
 "War, more horrible and destruc- tive than ever, has laid its blighting hand on many parts of the earth. Peace among our American nations remains secure because of the in- struments we have succeeded in cre- ating," the president said.
 Contrasting the wars raging in the old world with the amity existing in the western hemisphere, MT. Roose- welt said the Americas have no need to seek new international order because they have already found it.. He noted that in this hemisphere there have been no violent troop movements, disruption of nations, capturing of governments or up- roofing of innocent people from their homes"
 But in the Americas today we can have no illusions" he warned.
 "Old dreams of universal empire are again rampant" he said. We hear of races which claim the right of mastery. We learn of groups which insist they have the right to impose their way of life on other na- tions. We encounter economic com- pulsions shrewdly devised to force great areas into political spheres of influence"
 Affects New World Asserting that the disruptive in- fluences loosed abroad are of more than academic interest in this hemi- 1 sphere, MT. Roosevelt said that what happens in the old world directly and powerfully affects the peace and well being of the new world.
 To counteract such disruptive in- fuences, he said, the nations of the New World have set up procedures that now enable the Americas ito meet any eventuality."
 These include the Buenos Aires agreement to consult should peace be threatened; the Lima agreement to stand together to defend and maintain the integrity of every American nation from attack from beyond the seas; and the Panama agreement on ways and means to keep the war away from the western hemisphere.
 Prays God for Peace T pray God" MT. Roosevelt said, "that we shall not have to do more than that; but should 1t be neces- sary, am convinced that we should be wholly successful"
 The president noted indirectly the fate of small neutrals in Europe and enulclaCeQ the prlnclple that mo nation is truly at peace if it lives under the shadow of coercion or invasion"
 we have renounced, each and all of us" he said, "any right to in- tervene in each others domestic af- fairs, recognizing that free and in- dependent nations must shape their own destinies and find their own ways of life"
 He elaborated that theme, saying that peace among the Americas re- mains secure because "of the instru- ments we have succeeded in creat- ing" These instruments and policies he said, include liberation of nation. from fear of coercion; agreements that each nation shall respect the