And State Papers 575 



others. Over the entire world, of recent years, wars 

 between the great civilized powers have become less 

 and less frequent. Wars with barbarous or semi- 

 barbarous peoples come in an entirely different cate- 

 gory, being merely a most regrettable but necessary 

 international police duty which must be performed 

 for the sake of the welfare of mankind. Peace can 

 only be kept with certainty where both sides wish to 

 keep it ; but more and more the civilized peoples are 

 realizing the wicked folly of war and are attaining 

 that condition of just and intelligent regard for the 

 rights of others which will in the end, as we hope 

 and believe, make world-wide peace possible. The 

 peace conference at The Hague gave definite ex- 

 pression to this hope and belief and marked a stride 

 toward their attainment. 



This same peace conference acquiesced in our 

 statement of the Monroe Doctrine as compatible with 

 the purposes and aims of the conference. 



The Monroe Doctrine should be the cardinal fea- 

 ture of the foreign policy of all the nations of the 

 two Americas, as it is of the United States. Just 

 seventy-eight years have passed since President 

 Monroe in his Annual Message announced that "The 

 American continents are henceforth not to be con- 

 sidered as subjects for future colonization by any 

 European power." In other words, the Monroe 

 Doctrine is a declaration that there must be no 

 territorial aggrandizement by any non-American 

 power at the expense of any American power on 

 American soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile 



