56 REPORT OP THE SECRETARY GENERAL. 



During that period the younger Republics of America, giving expres- 

 sion to the virile spirit bom of independence and liberal institutions, 

 developed rapidly and set their feet firmly on the path of national prog- 

 ress which has led them to that plane of intellectual and material pros- 

 perity which they to-day enjoy. 



Within recent years the Government of the United States has found 

 no occasion, with the exception of the Venezuela boundary incident, to 

 remind Europe that the Monroe doctrine continues unaltered a national 

 policy of this Republic. The Republics of America are no longer chil- 

 dren in the great family of nations. They have attained maturity. 

 With enterprise and patriotic fervor they are working out their several 

 destinies. 



During this later time, when the American nations have come into a 

 realization of their nationality and are fully conscious of the responsi- 

 bilities and privileges which are theirs as sovereign and independent 

 States, there has grown up a feeling that the Republics of this hemi- 

 sphere constitute a group separate and apart from the other nations of 

 the world — a group which is united by common ideals and common 

 aspirations. I believe that this feeling is general throughout North and 

 South America, and that year by year it has increased until it has become 

 a potent influence over our political and commercial intercourse. It is 

 the same feeling which, founded on sympathy and mutual interest, 

 exists among the members of a family. It is the tie which draws together 

 the 21 Republics and makes of them the American family of nations. 



This feeling, vague at first, has become to-day a definite and certain 

 force. We term it the "Pan American spirit," from which springs the 

 international policy of Pan Americanism. It is that policy which is 

 responsible for this great gathering of distinguished men, who represent 

 the best and most advanced thought of the Americas. It is a policy 

 which this Government has unhesitatingly adopted and which it will 

 do all in its power to foster and promote. 



When we attempt to analyze Pan Americanism we find that the essen- 

 tial qualities are those of the family — sympathy, helpfulness, and a sin- 

 cere desire to see another grow in prosperity, absence of covetousness of 

 another's possessions, absence of jealousy of another's prominence, and, 

 above all, absence of that spirit of intrigue which menaces the domestic 

 peace of a neighbor. Such are the qualities of the family tie among indi- 

 viduals, and such should be, and I believe are, the qualities which com- 

 pose the tie which unites the American family of nations. 



I speak only for the Government of the United States, but in doing so I 

 am sure that I express sentiments which will find an echo in every Repub- 



