REPORT OP THK SECRETARY GENERAL. 55 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME ON BEHALF OF THE DEPART- 

 MENT OF STATE BY HON. ROBERT LANSING, SECRETARY 

 OF STATE. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Congress: 



It is an especial gratification to me to address you to-day, not only as 

 the ofiicer of the United States who invited you to attend this great 

 Scientific Congress of the American Republics, but also as the presiding 

 member of the governing board of the Pan American Union. In this 

 dual capacity I have the honor and the pleasure to welcome you, gen- 

 tlemen, to the capital of this country, in the full confidence that your 

 deliberations will be of mutual benefit in your various spheres of thought 

 and research, and not only in your individual spheres, but in the all- 

 embracing sphere of Pan American unity and fraternity which is so near 

 to the hearts of us all. 



It is the Pan American spirit and the policy of Pan Americanism to 

 which I would for a few moments direct your attention at this early 

 meeting of the congress, since it is my earnest hope that "Pan America" 

 will be the keynote which will influence your relations with one another 

 and inspire your thoughts and words. 



Nearly a century has passed since President Monroe proclaimed to 

 the world his famous doctrine as the national policy of the United States. 

 It was founded on the principle that the safety of this Republic would 

 be imperiled by the extension of sovereign rights by a European power 

 over territory in this hemisphere. Conceived in a suspicion of mon- 

 archial institutions and in a full sympathy with the republican idea, it 

 was uttered at a time when our neighbors to the south had won their 

 independence and were gradually adapting themselves to the exercise of 

 their newly acquired rights. To those struggling nations the doctrine 

 became a shield against the great European powers, which, in the spirit 

 of the age, coveted political control over the rich regions which the new- 

 born States had made their own. 



The United States was then a small nation, but a nation which had 

 been tried in the fire; a nation whose indomitable will had remained 

 unshaken by the dangers through which it had passed. The announce- 

 ment of the Monroe doctrine was a manifestation of this will. It was 

 a courageous thing for President Monroe to do. It meant much in those 

 early days, not only to this country, but to those nations which were 

 commencing a new life under the standard of liberty. How much it 

 meant we can never know, since for four decades it remained unchal- 

 lenged. 



